41+ Mind-Blowing Blogging Statistics In South Africa

Last updated on January 4th, 2023 at 10:02 am

Blogging is becoming a way of making a livelihood for a lot of people in South Africa with bloggers estimated to be over 150 and more joining the industry every day. 

The blogging industry is vastly growing in the country and creating income for more people through brand deals, affiliates, and other online businesses.

The amount the bloggers make when working part-time in South Africa is estimated at USD 100 TO USD 200 per month. Depending on whether you want to become a full-time blogger or do it as a hobby, you can much a lot of money from being an influential blogger in South Africa.

To become influential in your blogging career, you first need to choose a niche you are confident and familiar with and showcase your expertise to the world. You also need to understand how blogging works in South Africa and strategize smart moves to grow your brand and get recognition. 

A great deal of understanding the ins and outs of blogging in the South African sector is by accessing real-time and reliable data of the domain’s statistics.

I know it’s a lot of work, that’s why I dedicated my time to do the work for you. From intensive research, I will be providing you with this information in regards to the 2022 South African blogging industry.

Top blogging statistics in South Africa in 2022

Below are the most important 2022 blogging statistics you need to know if you are or plan to become a blogger in South Africa. 

1. There are 600 million blogs on the internet, worldwide in 2022 (by Earth Web).
2. More than 6 million posts are uploaded each day (by Earth Web).
3. 39,719 websites in South Africa use blog technologies in 2022 (by trends.builtwith)
4. According to The Content Marketing Association, content marketing accounts for 20% of marketing spend globally reported by IAB-SA.
5. 60% of marketers report that content marketing generates demand/leads as stated by Content Marketing Institute.
6. 73% of marketers report successfully using content marketing to nurture their leads, while 64% of marketers report successfully using content marketing to generate sales and revenue (by Content Marketing Institute).
7. 77% of internet users read blogs as posted by Social Media Today (by Ahrefs).
8. According to an article by Chicago Tribune, 59% of links shared on social media are shared without ever being read. But Twitter’s new prompt to get users to read before sharing has led people to open articles 40% more often (by Vox).
9. 65% of B2B buyers cite vendor websites as one of their most highly influential content types. This is followed by third-party websites (48%) and third-party articles by independent publishers (39%) (by MarketingCharts).
10. 77% of bloggers report that blogging drives results (by Orbit Media).
11. Bloggers who publish more often are more likely to report “strong results” (by Orbit Media).
12. Bloggers who include 10+ images per post are the most likely to report “strong results” (by Orbit Media).
13. Long-form content gets an average of 77.2% more links than short articles as analyzed by backlinko.

14. There is a strong positive correlation between word count and backlinks, but only up to 1,000 words. For posts longer than 1,000 words, there is a strong negative correlation between word count and backlinks (by Ahrefs).
15. There is a moderate positive correlation between content length and organic traffic, but only up to 2,000 words. For posts longer than 2,000 words, there is a moderate negative correlation between word count and organic traffic (by Ahrefs).

Best South African blogs in 2022

Some of the top-listed bloggers in South Africa who you can reference their work.

• Lifestyle Bloggers

1. Sheri Greenway, SA Fashion Girl
2. Fiona Rossiter, Inspired Living
3. Meg Sproat, Boring Cape Town Chick
4. Lovilee Lifestyle Blog
5. Chereen Strydom, For the Beauty of it 
6. Kathryn Rossiter, Becoming You
7. Liezel, 9Lives
8. Minkys

• Travel bloggers

1. Kate Els, IndiKate
2. Anton Crone, Safarious
3. Meruschka Govender, Mzansi Girl
4. Natalie Ross, Tails of a Mermaid
5. Dawn Jorgensen, The Incidental Tourist
6. Ishay Govender, Ypma – Food and the Fabulous
7. Roxanne Reid 

• Food bloggers

1. Sam Linsell, Drizzle & Dip
2. Alida Ryder, Simply Delicious
3. Nina Timm, My easy cooking
4. Melissa Delport, The Truffle Journal
5. Dale Murray, Daley Food
6. Usha Sings, Healthy Vegetarian Foods

How much do bloggers earn in South Africa in 2022

The best ways to make money as a South African blogger are by placing ads on your blogging site, selling private ads, Affiliate marketing, and selling digital products. Below are facts about bloggers’ revenue;

1. It is estimated that the average amount a blogger makes in South Africa in 2022 is between R1,850.00 to R3,400.00 per month(by ZA recruitment).
2. The most popular monetization method for bloggers is Google AdSense, followed by affiliate marketing. However, for high-income bloggers, AdSense ranks third; bloggers are 2.5 times more likely to sell their product or service than use AdSense (by GrowthBadger).
3. Bloggers make the vast majority of their income from ads, affiliate products, sponsored product reviews, their products, and online courses (by RankIQ).
4. 45% of bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year sell their product or service, while only 8% of lower-income bloggers do that (by GrowthBadger).
5. 33% of bloggers do blogging as a hobby and don’t earn any money at all (by TechJury).
6. According to Bloggers Making More than $50,000 per Year, Quality Content Is the Most Crucial Element (by Earth Web).

Who are South African bloggers’ target audience in 2022

1. 20. 59% of Shoppers Claim They Do at Least Some Research on A Blog or Product Website Before Buying Online or At a Store (by Earth Web).
2. 21. 53% of Survey Respondents Say They Will Quit Browsing on A Website Where the Images Don’t Load (by Earth Web). 
3. 62% of Millennials say that company websites or online content help them decide whether to buy a product or not (by Earth Web).
4. How-to posts are the most popular kind of blog content at 77%, then news and trends at 49%, and e-books and guides are third at 47% (by Earth Web).

The ultimate blogging length and frequency

Regularly Publishing from Good Blog Writers Plays a Role in Creating a Blog’s Credibility. The length of your blog also affects its performance in getting links or social shares.

1. Engagement starts to drop for posts with a reading time longer than seven minutes (by Medium).
2. 73% of people admit to skimming blog posts, while 27% consume posts thoroughly (by HubSpot).
3. 75% of the public prefers reading articles under 1,000 words (by Contently).
4. The average blog post takes just over four hours to write (by Orbit Media).
5. The average blog post is 1,416 words (by Orbit Media).
6. Bloggers Publish New Blog Posts Once a Week on Average (by Earth Web).

Blogging content statistics in South Africa in 2022

1. The majority of bloggers add around two to three images per blog post (by Orbit Media).
2. 41% of bloggers are conducting and publishing original research (by Orbit Media).
3. Only 26% of bloggers work with editors (by Orbit Media).
4. The most common complaints about content—are too wordy, poorly written, or poorly designed (by Adobe).
5. Load times of >5 seconds result in 90+% bounce rates (by Google).

Blogging platforms in South Africa

Which are the best blogging platforms in South Africa? Below is a list of the top-rated blogging site hosting platforms.

1. WordPress
2. Olitt
3. Squarespace
4. Gator 
5. HubSpot CMS 
6. Wix
7. Drupal
8. Weebly
9. Tumblr

Blogging Headline Statistics

1. “Very long” headlines (14-17 words) outperform short headlines by 76.7% in terms of social sharing (by Backlinko).
2. Headlines with a question mark get 23.3% more social shares than non-question headlines (by Backlinko).
3. 91% of bloggers write only a few headline drafts (around six) before publishing (by Orbit Media).

Blogging SEO statistics

1. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine (by BrightEdge).
2. 90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google (by Ahrefs).
3. Only 5.7% of pages will rank in the top 10 search results within a year of publication (by Ahrefs).
4. The average page in the top 10 is 2+ years old (by Ahrefs).
5. The average top-ranking page also ranks in the top 10 search results for nearly 1,000 other relevant keywords (by Ahrefs).
6. Generally speaking, the more backlinks a page has, the more organic traffic it gets from Google (by Ahrefs).
7. There’s no correlation between Flesch Reading Ease scores and ranking positions (by Ahrefs).
8. 71% of bloggers say SEO is the most important source of traffic (by Orbit Media).
9. 85% of bloggers are doing keyword research (by Orbit Media).
10. Bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year tend to put a lot of emphasis on SEO. Their #1 traffic source is typically Google organic search; also, compared to lower-income bloggers, they are 4.3 times as likely to conduct keyword research (by GrowthBadger).
11. 71% of bloggers are updating old content (by Orbit Media).

Blogging marketing statistics in South Africa in 2022

Every blogger in South Africa and globally wants their content to get as many views as possible. That brings the blog marketing and promotion topic. Facts surrounding that topic are as follows;

1. Only one-third of bloggers regularly check their blogs’ traffic analytics (Statista).
2. Social media is the most popular channel for driving blog traffic (Orbit Media).
3. 70% of bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year say they are active or very active promoters of their blogs compared to only 14% of lower-income bloggers (GrowthBadger).
4. Bloggers who collaborate with influencers get better results (Orbit Media).
5. Bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year from their blogs are over twice as likely to focus on getting email subscribers as compared to lower-income bloggers. They also use 343% as many email-collection methods as lower-income bloggers (GrowthBadger).
6. 97% of bloggers promote their blog posts via social media, and 66% use email marketing to direct people toward their content (Statista).

A lot of research has not yet been contacted on specific blogging issues in South Africa and most of the data is from global studies. 

However, blogging is an online project and mostly affects all of us similarly despite our different geographical locations. A lot of issues affecting bloggers apply globally. 

It’s important for all new and expert-level bloggers to understand the trends and issues affecting the blogging industry, to be able to maneuver their way through the sector.