According to the 2023 Report on the State of Marketing, blogs offer one of the best ROIs of all marketing channels.
Despite numbers showing how blogs can benefit business, some marketers and business owners wonder, “Do people still read blogs?”
I asked 325 people how often they read blogs to determine the current state of blog readership. Here’s what I know:
Are blogs still popular today?
My findings as a blogger who writes every day were encouraging. Most respondents (29%) are avid readers of blogs, reading them 1-4 times per month. 18% also read them daily. Only 17% have never read a blog.
Although the number of people reading blogs every day is higher than those who only read them 1-3 times per week, there are still more people who read blogs regularly.
We know that more people read blogs than ever before, but do they read more or less? According to our respondents, it is about the same or even more.
In the survey, 57% said that the amount of content they consume on blogs is the same as it was last year. 35% stated that their blog consumption increased. Only 9% of respondents said their blog consumption was less than last year.
What do people read? Do they read the blog content thoroughly or skim it?
According to a survey, 35% skim blogs the majority of the time. 38% max skimming with deep reading.
Only 6% of people skim the content and leave the rest without reading it.
According to our research, blogging is a great way to reach out and expand your business. Most people are still reading blogs, and they are not just skipping the information that interests them.
Additionally, blogging remains a valuable tool for search engine optimization. Nearly a -third of marketers use blogs that are optimized for search engines to attract and convert new leads.
Here are five innovative ways to help you attract a large audience, even if it is less likely that they will read your blog.
Try combining video and text to create your posts
Video will be the most popular marketing medium in 2023.
Video can enhance your blog and increase engagement because the video compels people to watch it.
We regularly add videos to the HubSpot Blog to provide more detailed information or expert tips about the topics we have written about. The blog post will be able to be read or watched by readers.
Here is an example of a post that included a video relevant to the topic.
In addition to improving user experience, adding videos can help web content appear in video-based searches. Video content is also engaging when shared on social media.
You can produce videos within your budget if you believe that creating videos is too costly or complex for your business.
This guide will show you how to create videos on a budget for your blog or any other platform by guiding you through the process of brainstorming, scripting, and shooting.
There are many AI Video Generators available to create videos quickly and easily.
Add original images or infographics to your content
Infographics can be created by anyone, even if you are not a graphic designer. As a journalist, I was often required to create graphics quickly for breaking news.
Canva was the only thing I had. I didn’t know Photoshop, and I did not have any experience as a graphic designer. It did the job.
It isn’t difficult, time-consuming, or impossible to create basic graphics with the apps and technology available today. Canva was used to create the first two infographics of this article.
You can use infographics to highlight your blog posts if you have a graphic designer on staff or if you are able to create graphics quickly. Here is an example of how the HubSpot Blog achieved this:
These visuals are beneficial to in gaining image search traffic.
Original images, like video content, can be shared and engaged on social media.
Actual data, quotes, and expert insights
Bloggers think that they can write short blog posts of 200 to 300 words. Although tiny posts with little effort might bring in some search traffic, your readers will not find them interesting or original.
This will make your content look more credible and trustworthy. It will not only make your content more believable, but it can also boost search traffic.
If you include data in your blog posts, bloggers and journalists who are looking for evidence to support their arguments may link to your posts.
Backlinks are also known as “links”. While being mentioned on other sites can increase brand awareness, they also enhance your authority with search engines.
Quotes are also a good way to encourage backlinks. Blog posts that include quotes from thought leaders can be shared or engaged on social media platforms such as LinkedIn.
Blogs that offer readers the chance to learn also attract many readers.
According to the survey, 61% said that they were drawn to the three most recent blogs because they wanted to educate themselves, learn something new, or find answers to questions not related to their school or career.
Use SEO strategies to increase traffic and ranking on search pages
You should pay attention to your organic traffic, which is likely to account for the majority of your views.
You can improve organic traffic using keyword analysis and other SEO techniques.
It’s easy to learn these strategies if you are new to search engine optimization or SEO.
Some tactics include adding alternative text or internal links to related blog posts in a piece of writing you are publishing.
This blog will help you learn some simple and effective SEO techniques.
Promote your content using the right platforms
Why? Although it may take some time for your blog post to appear in the search results pages, you can use social networks, emails, or other channels immediately after publishing a new post to get non-organic traffic.
Promoting any content on your website will increase brand awareness. According to our survey, 30% of blog readers discover new blog posts through social media and promotional positions.
Search engine results are only 18% of the blogs that people find.
You can gain more subscribers, share your posts, and engage with audiences that you did not have before you built a social media marketing strategy.
