Nearly two-thirds (63%) of businesses that publish a blog say first-time visitors account for more than 80% of the traffic to their blogs, according to a survey from Compendium.
Although most business blogs tend to have a small, core group of
loyal readers, the study reveals just how small those groups are, relatively speaking; the overwhelming majority of traffic to most business blogs consists of first-time visitors.
Below, other findings from The Corporate Blogging and Social Media Trends Survey, which polled 266 companies about blogging traffic, visitor trends, and Twitter use.
B2C Companies
First-time visitors come from two major sources: referring sites and search engines. Among B2C companies surveyed, nearly one-half (49%) say natural search refers 41% or more of the traffic to their blogs.
In addition, nearly three-quarters (72%) of B2C companies say first-time visitors account for more than 80% of the traffic to their blogs.
B2B Companies
Some 64% of B2B companies say first-time visitors account for more than 60% of traffic to their blogs, while 40%—10 percentage points less than B2C companies —say natural search refers 41% or more of the traffic to their blogs.
B2B Companies Use Twitter More
Overall, less than one-half (43%) of all companies surveyed say they use Twitter. However, 87% of B2B companies use Twitter, compared with just 28% of B2C companies.
"As more traffic is being driven to corporate blogs through organic searches and more first-time visitors are landing on blogs, companies need to develop blog and social media content that is appropriate for this audience in order to be effective," said Chris Baggott, CEO and co-founder of Compendium.
"A keyword-optimized blogging and social media content strategy geared towards first-time visitors is a valuable tool for marketers to increase conversions."
About the data: Findings are from The Corporate Blogging and Social Media Trends Survey, conducted by Compendium among 266 B2B (30%) and B2C (70%) companies that publish a blog. The survey was conducted online from December 19, 2009 to January 19, 2010.
