The Science of Blog Post Promotion [Infographic]

Blogging is one of the best "inbound marketing" tactics you can use to bring traffic to your business' website.How does it work? Every post you publish adds another indexed page to your website, giving you yet another opportunity to be found by search engines. Once a post is published, promoting it on social media platforms gives you another chance to expose your business to people who might not know about it. If you're just starting a blog, check out these free blog post templates that will help you bring some organization to the effort. We've also collected a few tips that will help you make your blog more efficient and have even written about the best ways to create killer images for posts. As for the science of blog promotion, you'll find plenty of detailed information in this infographic from First Site Guide (it's text-heavy, so scroll down for a text summary if you're reading from a mobile device).

The numbers and science behind the perfect blog post and its promotion

• 6.7 million people post on blogging sites
• 81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs
• 77% of Internet users read blogs
• 46% of people read blogs more than once a day

• 33% of B2B companies use blogs
• 53.4% of bloggers are 21 to 35 years of age
• 23% of Internet time is spent on blogs and social networks

The optimal post is equivalent to 7 minutes reading time or about 1,500 to 1,600 words.

The Google search engine results page (SERP) position

The list of elements ideal blog posts should include:

• Headline
• Introduction, with a hook
• Subheadings and lists
• Images and photos
• Tips and advice
• Videos

• Relevant links to other sources
• Tables and diagrams
• Relevant quotes
• Conclusion with a call to action

Ideal blog title

How to cook an ideal headline:

• 8 out of 10 people will read your headline
• 2 out of 10 people will read your whole blog post

• Good headlines spark interest and invite readers
• Best headline length is 50 to 70 characters or 6 to 8 words long

Sure-Fire Headline Formulas:

• Little Known Ways to…
• Now You Can Have…
• Are You…
• The Secret of…
• If You’re…

• You Can…
• Here’s a Quick Way to
• Do You Make These Mistakes?
• Five Signs You Should Never Ignore

Types of content

• E-books
• White papers
• Viral campaigns
• Infographics
• Videos
• User-Generated Content (UGC)
• Email-shots
• Visualizations
• Podcast
• Press releases
• Long form copy

• Cartoons
• Case studies
• SlideShare
• Polls
• Audio bites
• Blog articles
• Industry news
• Forum posts
• Photos
• Blog comments
• Status updates

Posts with videos attract three times as many inbound links as plain text posts

The use of video content for marketing increased 73%.Articles with images get 94% more views than those without. Use of infographics grew 51%.

Blog posts frequency vs. social shares

The 13% of posts published on weekends rake in the most social shares. Blogs posted on Saturdays have the greatest share of social interactions, at 18%.

The use of backlinks

The more backlinks to you, the better your ranking.

• Online answers
• Press releases
• Online directories
• Customer reviews

• Social bookmarking
• Blogs and communities
• Influential links
• Social networks

Backlinks affect your ranking in the SRPS (Search Engine Results Page) and also contribute to building your page rank.

Facts about social networks

Facebook

• 1 billion active users

• 2 billion pieces of content each day

Twitter

• 560 million active users
• 5.7 thousand tweets happen every second

• 4 out of 5 users are active

LinkedIn

• 240 million active users
• 79% of users are 35 or older

• 75% of users make $50,000 to $100,000 a year

Pinterest

• 80% of users are female
• 20% of users are male

• 50% of users interact with food-related content

Instagram

• 300 million monthly active users
• 70 million photos per day

• 2.5 billion likes per day

Google +

• 6.7 minutes, average time spent monthly
• Top demographic: 25-34 years old

• 1.5 pictures uploaded every week

Blogger

• 70% of users say they read blogs in the morning
• Mondays are the highest traffic days for the average blog

• Average frequency of publishing a blog post is at least one post every 30 days