Blogging Statistics and Trends for Small Business Owners

By Julee Klein, Marketing Consultant & President​

The State of Small Business Blogging in 2021 and Beyond

If you’re a small business owner or an entrepreneur looking to start your own blog, you may feel overwhelmed when thinking about creating a blog strategy from scratch. A lot of resources, time, and tactics go into creating a successful blog, but without knowing where to start, it can be easy to feel discouraged.

With over 3.5 billion searches on Google every day, it’s clear the impact and reach that blogging has. But without the know-how to make your blog stand out, readers can easily get lost in a sea of content. That’s where we can step in to show you how your business can benefit from blog article content done right.

For some background, blogging and article content creation have exploded since the early ’90s, and the landscape is constantly changing. With more than 576,000 websites created each day, it’s estimated that 77%​ of internet users read and interact with blogs.

The Benefits of Small Business Blogging

According to Demand Metric, 60% of people will seek out a product after reading content about it, so business blogging can be a great way to bring traffic and potential customers to your website. Of marketers, 60%​say that inbound marketing — such as blog content —is their best source for quality leads. Ensuring that your blog posts are high-performing can build brand awareness and grow your sales. 

But success is not limited to eCommerce or B2C industries. According to Content Marketing Institute, in 2020, 13% of B2B marketers said blog posts are the highest performing when nurturing leads and Demand Gen Report found that over 71% of B2B buyers read blog content during their purchase process.

It’s clear that the future is bright for business bloggers, but predicting what trends are worth incorporating into your strategy can be more difficult. Let’s look at what makes a successful blog and how writing an optimized article can increase your website traffic.

The Anatomy of a Successful Blog Article

Articles with longer headlines, usually over 14 words, and contain more than 3,000 words in the body copy are proven to perform better in backlinks, traffic, and social shares. The same goes for content that is organized with subheads and separated with visuals. Blog posts that include an image every 75–100 words get twice as many shares as those without them.

While some small business owners don’t put much thought into headlines or the length of their articles, in reality, you could be missing out on significant opportunities to increase shareability. Headlines in the form of a question get 23.3% more social shares, and blog posts that take 7 minutes to read earn the most engagement.

We recommend aiming for articles that are between 2,000-4,000 words long. We find these are the most successful, especially if you have a specific niche or are selling to a target audience. However, the industry you’re in and the type of blog post you’re creating can also play a factor in the optimal article length. Remember to keep the readers’ best interest in mind and structure your content to help them best.

For more up-to-date blogging ideas and trends, explore the following infographic from WebsiteSetup that outlines the state of blogging in 2021 and beyond! Creating blog content can be inexpensive and provide you with more leads, more sales, and better brand recognition. Incorporate a few of their blogging statistics and strategies to help you make data-informed decisions this year. 

But do blog articles actually lead to purchases?

Marketing powerhouse, HubSpot surveyed almost 300 consumers to learn if they had ever made a purchase from a brand after reading that brand's blog post. A slight majority, 56%, said yes. And while a small sampling of consumers, this does confirm that blogging and producing blog article content can be an effective way to market your small business brand and sell your products and services.

If you're convinced and committed but struggling to get your small business blog off the ground, review our helpful content marketing ideas cheatsheet or consider outsourcing your marketing and bringing in experienced reinforcements. 

By Julee Klein, Marketing Consultant & President

Julee Klein is the President of Julee Klein Marketing LLC, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Morgan Hill, California. JKM is focused on serving small business owners in the greater Silicon Valley area. You can get in touch with Julee on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @JKMktg

​

---