If you don’t feel blogging is important, or if you aren’t taking or making the time to blog, just read the stats below!  Blogging has taken the place in many situations as the first in news or the first in a forum to express your opinions freely.  Many times I will read a story or an important news item in a blog before I ever see it in the local newspaper or other print media. 95% of all major newspapers nationwide have blogs of their own as well.  There’s a local news station in Portland that seems to get their “latest” news from blogs because as I listen I hear what I just read on the Internet!

Blogging numbers are increasing and will only continue to do so.  A blog will be seen as even more important in the years ahead as a vehicle for free speech on Mainstreet.  In fact, an on-line presence is absolutely mandatory for today’s real estate professional.  What was once considered a luxury is now a necessity.

People are turning to blogs to get the latest and most recent information where you get many varied opinions.

“(Y)ou cannot afford to close your eyes to them (blogs), because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself.  And they’re going to shake up just about every business-including yours….Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective.  They’re a prerequisite.”   – BusinessWeek , May 2, 2005

Here are some recent stats from BlogWorld:

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs .
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
• Technorati™ is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
• Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
• 51% of blog readers shop online .
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

If you’re still not convinced on whether to blog or not, Technorati™ just completed a survey of the blogosphere and below is only part of their results. For the rest of the report, go to Technorati’s™ latest state of blogging report.

Global Snapshot of Bloggers

Demographics	U.S. Bloggers	European Bloggers	Asian Bloggers
Male	57%	73%	73%
Age
18-34 years old	42%	48%	73%
35+	58%	52%	27%
Single	26%	31%	57%
Employed full-time	56%	53%	45%
Household income >$75,000	51%	34%	9%
College graduate	74%	67%	69%
Average blogging tenure (months)	35	33	30
Median Annual Investment	$80	$15	$30
Median Annual Revenue	$200	$200	$120
% Blogs with advertising	52%	50%	60%
Average Monthly Unique Visitors	18,000	24,000	26,000

Global Bloggers by Gender

Demographics	Female	Male
Personal Blog	83%	76%
Professional Blog	38%	50%
Age
18-24 years old	9%	15%
25+	91%	85%
Single	29%	36%
Employed full-time	44%	56%
Median Annual Investment	$30	$60
Median Annual Revenue	$100	$200
% Blogs with advertising	53%	54%
Sell Through a Blog ad Network	16%	7%
Have Affiliate ads	41%	32%
Have Contextual ads	61%	73%

 

 

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).