The Business Blogging Money Stats. An Infographic for the Sceptics

This article originally appeared on Utter Digital

Blogging for business is still met with quite a bit of scepticism in some circles. It can be a challenge to convince the hardline disbelievers that blogging can be a very worthwhile part of their marketing and it shouldn’t be ignored. The fact is, as with so many sceptics, people want proof. Rather than giving a few examples of individual businesses that have achieved great success from their blogging, I’ve collected data and statistics about business blogging from a host of sources, studies and research.

I’ve kept the sceptics in mind and weeded out a lot of the more generic blogging stats you find online. This post is focusing solely on the ‘money stats’. The ones I believe should convince the doubters that blogging really can work for your business.

In a nutshell, the stats and facts I’ve collected illustrate that blogging does indeed deliver on the many benefits content marketers claim:

Benefits of blogging for business

• Increased visibility for your business
• Increased favourability towards your business
• Blogging is a trusted source of information for your customers
• Consumers prefer blogs to traditional advertising
• Blogs can earn you more links
• Blogging helps to improve your search engine rankings
• Blogs increase website traffic
• Blogs influence purchase decisions
• Blogging can generate more sales leads
• Blogging ultimately leads to more sales

And here are the stats that prove it…

Business Blogging Statistics

 

• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors
• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those who do not
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not
• Companies with >51 blog articles experience a 77% lift in median monthly leads
• 2/3 of marketers say their company blog is “critical” or “important” to their business
• Blogs are 63% more likely to influence purchase decisions than magazines
• 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads
• 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site
• Blogs give sites 97% more indexed links & 434% more indexed pages
• Blogs on company sites result in 55% more visitors
• 95% of businesses with a blog report higher search rank
• 70% of us say blogs influence what we buy
• 71% who maintain blogs for a business report that they have increased their visibility within their industries through their blogs
• 58% say that they are better-known in their industry because of their blog
• 64% trust the information in a blog post by someone they know
• When it comes to purchasing decisions, business blogs are actually more influential than popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
• More than half of the brands that blog just once a month earned a new customer due to their content marketing efforts as well. (Rising to 82% of those who blog daily)
• Small businesses that embrace blogging see 126% more growth in terms of leads than those that don’t blog

A fairly convincing argument I’d say. Some of the blogging sceptics I’ve come across have never written a post, so perhaps it’s time to get started. And if your disbelief stems from a failed attempt at business blogging, maybe it’s time to change the way you’re blogging, rather than ditch it completely.

Thanks to those who have done the research and the studies to help demonstrate the point…

Sources: Hubspot, Digital Sherpa, eMarketer, MyPRConnection, Content Plus, Barn Raisers LLC, ThinkCreative

About the Author

Aine Bermingham is a digital marketing specialist and founder of Utter Digital, a fan of social media, blogging, search engine optimisation (SEO) and the sound of her own voice.

Connect with Aine on Twitter or with Utter Digital on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or visit the website.