Number of US Bloggers in 2024: Demographics, Revenues, and Best Practices

Internet Live Stats reported that there were more than 2.5 billion blog posts published worldwide each year, which equates to 6,912,000 blog posts per day and 4,800 blog posts per minute. A recent survey of more than 1,000 bloggers reveals that, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 46.50% of bloggers have been writing more, which can be attributed to the fact that they have more time to do so while staying at home. The increase in productivity seems to pay off as nearly 55% of bloggers reported that they gain more traffic. Furthermore, more than 35% have earned more revenue during the pandemic compared to over 25% who said they earned less.

Despite the pandemic, these numbers only prove that the blogging industry can thrive and survive a global crisis. Different factors, however, still come into play, including the amount of time and effort spent on blogging and the quality and relevancy of the content.

How many blogs are there?

There are more than 600 million online blogs across different platforms such as Wordpress, Blogger, or Livejournal, according to some of the latest figures from Growth Badger.

Out of over 1.7 billion websites, 600 million are blogs, Tumblr alone is home to over 400 million blogs. And while WordPress powers over 34% of the Internet, it only houses about 60 million blogs. Nonetheless, the platform sees over 70 million posts and more than 50 million comments every month.

WordPress users produce 70.5 million new posts and 52.1 million new comments each month. Over 409 million people view more than 21.1 billion pages per month. The number of people reading content on WordPress has fallen slightly since 2016-2017 but remains well above the numbers from 2015 or earlier.

To put this into context, in 2019, there were a total of 6.7 million people who published blogs on blogging websites, while another 12 million use social networking sites to write blogs. Social media is useful and is much easier to use when writing shorter blogs. Even though owning a blog website is good for a business, a good number of Internet users turn to social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to search for information.

Which country blogs the most?

It should come as no surprise that the US is the number one country in terms of the number of blog posts. Below are the top fifteen countries based on the reported number of blog posts.

When you divide the number of blog posts by population, we get the number of blog posts commensurate to the population—giving us an idea of the ranking of countries where blogging is popular the most.

Blogger Demographics: Data by Gender, Age, etc.

Contrary to popular impressions, blogger demographics aren’t dominated by younger people. As a matter of fact, there is a fair spread of ages amongst bloggers. Those in the age bracket of 40-49, 50-59, and 60+ each represent approximately 20% of the total bloggers, with the percentage of those age under 30 being a little bit lower.

Surprisingly, the blogosphere is a gender-neutral environment with women making up 50.9% and males 49.1% of bloggers.

Who reads blogs?

Though one would think that the younger generation would be the ones who read blogs the most, 30% are actually between the ages of 31 and 40, while more than 37% are 40 to 60 years old. Only 17% of blog readers fall between 25 and 30 years, while a measly 10.3% are 19 to 24 years old.

What percentage of blogs make money?

The last few years solidified the role of blogs as mainstream media, a political tribune, and a catapult for their owners toward fame and glory.

One out of three bloggers monetizes his/her online activities. About 10% of which are making over $10,000 per year. And then there’s the very few lucky ones or more accurately, the top 0.6% who are raking in a whopping $1 million+ earnings.

Only a little over 13% of bloggers earn enough to make a living out of it, while about 24% make some meaningful side income, which amounts to $100-$1000 per month.

How much does a blogger earn?

According to Glassdoor, on average, a blogger in the US earns about $32,692. Like everything else in life, you need to put in the work to earn a decent amount of money.

The chart suggests that even bloggers at the low-end of the scale are making $42 an hour on average. Most of these are part-time bloggers who have a 9-5 job.

How do bloggers get paid?

Most bloggers, about 7 out of ten, use affiliate marketing to make money. A little under six-in-ten bloggers use sponsored posts and about half use pay-per-click ads like Google or other PPC networks.

Which type of blogs are most popular?

Listicles are the most popular blog post format among business blogs. It has become a popular way to feed information to readers in bite-sized morsels.

Making use of statistics in blog posts improves consumer trust. If you’re not backing up your content with hard numbers, you are likely to be dismissed as white noise. Data also helps build trust.

Orbit Media reports that “How-to articles” are the most published content format.

But when it comes to what works best, it’s a different story. Below is the list of top content formats that produce “strong results.”

Blog readers like to see visuals like video, images, graphs, and stats in posts since it breaks up the text and backs up the points bloggers are making. When these elements are added, blog posts show improved results.

What are the benefits of blogging for businesses?

According to 81% of US online consumers, they consider blogs as their trusted source of information and advice. Blog reader statistics show that a remarkably high number of consumers in the US rely on the advice they get on blogs. This gives marketers a tremendous amount of influencing power.

Consumers ranked blogs higher than Twitter for shaping their opinions and also higher than Facebook for making purchase decisions.

Almost 50% of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. If you’re a marketer, your content should cater to multiple stages of the sales funnel. Some of your content might be top-of-the-funnel, which will draw in new leads, while some of it works subtly towards converting these newcomers into paying customers.

How to make an effective blog post?

The average reader only spends 37 seconds reading an article or blog post and 43% of people admit to skimming blog posts. So in order for a blog post to be effective, it needs to stand out, since people’s attention spans have obviously decreased. In addition, the competition has increased over the years.

Backlinko reported that the average word count of a top-ranked Google post is 1,890 words. Hence, the average blog post is now 1,236 words long, a 53% increase since 2014, Orbit Media reports.

Number of blog posts you should publish in a month?

The latest trends show that bloggers don’t publish posts as often as before. Considering that they used to publish several times a week, they now only publish several times a month.

This can be attributed to the fact that longer blog posts take longer to write, as a result, bloggers can’t publish as many posts as possible.

More than quantity, publishing quality content consistently helps Google understand what your blog is about. At the same time, readers have a reason to return to your site.

Research conducted by HubSpot identified what they call “compounding” blog posts, meaning posts whose traffic grows steadily over time. One compounding blog post generates as much traffic as 6 regular posts combined. One in 10 blog posts is compounding and it generates 38% of all blog traffic.

HubSpot research also found the most common title of blog posts that successfully compounds. Consider using the following common terms on your next headline.

What are the trends in blogging?

From data-driven to long-form content, to using interactive media and voice search, blogging trends are essentially a portion of content marketing trends at large. The key to a successful blog still relies heavily on the habit of writing daily. Blogs that publish new content every day enjoy 5 times more viewership than those that don’t.

For businesses, blogging is reportedly one of the best content marketing tactics and 76% of B2B marketers engage in it. B2C marketers, on the other hand, deems visual content to be the most important element of their content marketing strategy.

Suffice to say, blogging remains alive and well in 2021 and has been reinforced to keep up with the demand of this day and age of social media. Blogs are more than just blogs nowadays. Content does not mean blog posts alone. It also means eBooks, podcasts, infographics, and videos.

This takes blogs to new heights and provides people with solutions in formats in accordance with their own needs, which in most cases, eventually lead to more shares.

Key Insights

• Increased Blogging Activity: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in blogging activity, with 46.50% of bloggers writing more and 55% experiencing increased traffic.
• Monetary Gains: Over 35% of bloggers reported earning more revenue during the pandemic, showcasing the financial potential of increased blogging efforts.
• High Volume of Blog Posts: More than 2.5 billion blog posts are published annually, averaging 6,912,000 posts per day and 4,800 posts per minute.
• Global Blogging Dominance: The US leads in the number of blog posts, highlighting the country’s significant influence in the blogging sphere.
• Diverse Blogger Demographics: Bloggers come from a wide range of age groups, with a nearly equal gender distribution.
• Content Engagement: Blogs are a trusted source of information for 81% of US online consumers, influencing opinions and purchase decisions significantly.
• Effective Blogging Strategies: Quality content, longer posts averaging 1,236 words, and consistent publishing are key strategies for effective blogging.
• Monetization Methods: Bloggers primarily earn through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and pay-per-click ads, with some achieving significant financial success.
• Content Formats: Listicles, how-to articles, and data-driven content are the most popular and effective blog post formats.
• Business Benefits: Blogging is a crucial content marketing tactic for businesses, driving consumer trust and engagement.

FAQ

1. How many blog posts are published worldwide each year? More than 2.5 billion blog posts are published worldwide annually.
2. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected blogging activity? The pandemic has led to 46.50% of bloggers writing more, with 55% reporting increased traffic and over 35% earning more revenue.
3. Which country leads in the number of blog posts? The United States leads in the number of blog posts published.
4. What are the demographics of bloggers? Bloggers come from various age groups, with a nearly equal gender distribution: 50.9% women and 49.1% men. Age groups 40-49, 50-59, and 60+ each represent about 20% of bloggers.
5. How do bloggers make money? Bloggers primarily make money through affiliate marketing (70%), sponsored posts (57%), and pay-per-click ads (49%).
6. What is the average income of a blogger in the US? The average income of a blogger in the US is about $32,692 per year.
7. What are the most popular types of blog posts? Listicles and how-to articles are the most popular types of blog posts.
8. How often should bloggers publish new content? Bloggers should publish quality content consistently, ideally several times a month, to maintain reader engagement and improve search engine rankings.
9. What percentage of blogs make money? One out of three bloggers monetizes their activities, with about 10% making over $10,000 per year.
10. What are the benefits of blogging for businesses? Blogging helps businesses build consumer trust, influence opinions, and drive purchase decisions. It is a key content marketing tactic that can lead to increased brand visibility and customer engagement.

References:

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By Jenny Chang

Jenny Chang is a senior writer specializing in SaaS and B2B software solutions. Her decision to focus on these two industries was spurred by their explosive growth in the last decade, much of it she attributes to the emergence of disruptive technologies and the quick adoption by businesses that were quick to recognize their values to their organizations. She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.