Facts and Figures Relating to Online Blogs on Cheap Hosting Platforms

A recent survey, by Technorati of roughly 7,200 bloggers, indicates that at least 19% of self-employed professionals consider their blog to be their “company.” Other surprising facts emerged too, including demographic data confirming that 2/3 of all bloggers may be male and that at least 11% say blogging is their primary income.
Blogging platforms are now one of the key tools used by small businesses to market their products and services on affordable hosting platforms. Generally, deploying a blog on a website is as simple as clicking a button provided by the hosting provider.

At least 81% of those surveyed said they had been blogging more than 2 years and in many instances may be putting in at least 10 hours of blog updates every week. 65% said they also thought that blogs were finally starting to be taken seriously and 27% said they thought newspapers would not be around by the year 2020.
With regard to social media, the facts and figures accumulated painted the following picture:

• 87% of all bloggers use Facebook
• 81% use Facebook to promote their blog
• 64% use Facebook to interact with readers
• 45% say Facebook drives more traffic to their blog than it did a year ago
• 73% of hobbyists and 88% of professional bloggers still use Twitter
• 34% of bloggers say Twitter is a more effective traffic source than it was a year ago
• More than half of all bloggers link Twitter to their blog

With advertisers warily circling new opportunities in the mobile sphere, there is important news for them, too; 90% of the respondents said it is critical that advertising on their sites (desktop and mobile) align with their values.
At least 33% of hobbyist bloggers and more than half of professional bloggers say that a brand’s overall reputation influences their willingness to write about it.
With regard to the trustworthiness of a blog in the eyes of the consumer, the following facts emerged:

• 46% trust traditional media less than they did 5 years ago
• 35% believe blogs are taken more seriously
• 19% believe blogs are written better than traditional media sources

“Blog accuracy perception continues to rise, the credibility of mainstream news outlines continues to erode, mommy bloggers are the toughest to pitch, more brands are compensating bloggers and brands like Vogue, Samsung and EBay are all more invested in blogger outreach programs than they were a year ago,” said On The Record Online.