Starting a blog is perhaps the easiest way to get started with content marketing, so it’s no surprise that businesses continue to jump into the blogging game.
The question is…
What are you trying to accomplish with a blog?
Assuming you have a strategy and didn’t dive into blogging just because “everyone else is doing it”, the goals of your business blog are likely along the lines of conveying your expertise in your industry, helping customers solve problems, and, ultimately, attracting and retaining more customers.
How do you accomplish the goals mentioned and what does it take to push your blog to the top of your industry?
The team at Orbital Media Studios recently surveyed over 1,000 bloggers across the globe about their blogging habits and discovered some interesting trends. Below is a brief outline of Orbital’s findings that will help you understand the key ingredients to take your blog to the top!
Getting to the Top is a Time Investment
Based on the study, the majority of bloggers (54%) spend no more than two hours on a single blog post and only about 13% spend more than four hours per post.
How long does it take to write a typical post?
When an inexperienced blogger is tasked with writing a post, one of their first questions is usually, “How many words should it be?”
The truth of the matter is word count shouldn’t be the focus — nobody reads a 300 word blog post because it’s 300 words or a 900 word blog post because it’s 900 words. People read blog posts that deliver genuine value, regardless of their length.
With that said, however, much of the data suggests that longer posts perform better than shorter posts. This is likely due to longer posts being more well-researched and thorough, which equates to being more helpful and more value delivered.
It should go without saying that those who invest more time into their blog posts tend to see greater returns on their efforts. This makes good sense when you observe the blogosphere, where the majority of content producers are operating on a principle of quantity over quality, rather than quality over quantity.
Key Takeaway: If you want to break through the noise of the millions of new blog posts published daily, be willing to invest the time to write high-quality, well-researched, thorough posts that focus on helping people solve problems.
More Often Isn’t Necessarily the Key to Success
The majority of bloggers (54%) in the study stated they post at least on a weekly basis and a significant portion (28%) responded that they post multiple times per week.
How frequently do you publish a new post?
It’s no surprise that bloggers who spend more time writing each post tend to publish less frequently.
There’s a common idea that posting more frequently means your blog will rise to the top more quickly. This is true, but only with a couple caveats:
The frequency of your posts is irrelevant if your posts are mediocre. Higher quality + less frequent always beats lower quality + more frequent.
You need to have a sizable audience of loyal readers before you start focusing on frequency.
The challenge most new blogs run into is an “If you build it, they will come” mentality. Instead of focusing on writing a few extremely high-quality posts and promoting them heavily, most blogs start by publishing far too much (usually mediocre) content with little promotion.
As a result, these bloggers typically get burned out very quickly, because their posts aren’t getting read and their blog isn’t growing.
Personally, I’m a fan of the 80/20 rule, which is a staple strategy of many of the most successful business bloggers out there. The 80/20 rule in this context simply means you spend 20% of your time writing great new content and 80% of your time promoting that content.
This principle is important when you launch your blog, because it allows you to start actively building an audience rather than just hoping they’ll show up. Most importantly, if you’re focusing less on frequency, more on quality, and more on promotion, more people will visit your blog and will be immediately impressed with the value being delivered.
These are your future email subscribers — your most loyal readers and biggest fans.
Key Takeaway: The majority of bloggers are publishing new content frequently. However, a large portion of this content is unlikely to be high-quality, well-researched, or thorough. Posting more often isn’t necessarily the best strategy, unless you can ensure no loss of quality and you already have a strong audience.
The Promotion is Happening, but Where?
It seems most bloggers are going the “free” route when it comes to blog promotion — social media and search engines being the two most prominent promotion channels.
How are you driving traffic to posts?
Somewhat surprising is the relatively low usage of email marketing to promote blog content. As I’ve discussed before, your email list is significantly more important than your social media presence, as your social media presence is subject to the terms of that particular social network.
As we saw with Facebook algorithm changes over the past year, your audience on social media doesn’t belong to you by any stretch of the imagination. Your email list, on the other hand, is something that can’t be taken away against your will, provided you don’t break commercial email marketing laws or etiquette. Your email list is pure gold in the digital marketing arena.
Key Takeaway: Social media is certainly a promotional channel worth investing time into, but it’s also clear these channels are flooded with content. The competition for eyeballs, much less clickthroughs and extended attention, is steep. If you’re not building an email list, start today! The faster you can grow your list, the faster your blog will grow and the more loyal blog readers you’ll have.
Knowing the Numbers Makes a Difference
According to the study, 22% of bloggers rarely or never check their analytics and 27% only “occasionally” do so.
How often do you check analytics?
If you’re following the 80/20 rule discussed above, having access to blog analytics is crucial.
As you’re promoting your posts, you need to monitor where the best traffic is coming from to get a better idea of how to reach your target reader. After all, there’s no reason to invest time into using a promotional channel that doesn’t deliver results.
Beyond knowing where to focus your promotional efforts, analytics will also provide a clear picture of which posts are most popular. You can use this information to think of future content ideas and optimize your most popular past posts to serve as evergreen content.
Analytics are your best pal when it comes to blogging efficiently and effectively, but I will add a word of warning that you shouldn’t obsess over analytics, especially when you first launch your blog. Don’t check your analytics every five minutes or even every day. It’s not only wasted time, but also discouraging to see the results of the small picture rather than long-term positive trends.
Key Takeaway: Knowing the numbers behind your blog will help you understand what content your readers are looking for, but don’t obsess over the numbers. Focus on long-term positive trends instead of short-term peaks. If you’re not monitoring analytics, take 10-15 minutes to set up Google Analytics for free on your website.
Suggestions for Blogging Success
The survey results discussed above only scratch the surface. If you want to see the details of Orbital’s full study, check out their recent blog post.
Based on the data above, taking your blog to the top is largely dependent on a few ingredients:
Invest the time to write incredible content. Nobody reads boring, mediocre content, regardless of how short or long the post.
Publish content at a frequency that makes sense in the context of your blog’s history. Consistency, quality, and promotion combined will always conquer frequency alone. Focus on building a loyal reader base before concerning yourself with frequency.
Promote intelligently! Having a strong social media presence goes a long way, but don’t let it become your only channel for promotion. Start building an email list immediately and nurture it will for long term success.
Keep an eye on the numbers to get the most out of your time investment. Analytics will help you steer the ship without relying on guesses about who your readers are and what content they want.