INDUSTRY FACTS YOU CAN'T IGNORE IN 2020: WORDPRESS BLOGGING STATS

Thanks to WordPress, blogs are now taking over as the main source of new content added to the internet every single day. Ever since 2003, when the open-source CMS when live, it’s just been a steady climb in usage and domination year after year.

Today, WordPress now powers more than 60% of the sites on the internet today. And really, it shouldn’t be a surpise to many, as most web hosting solutions now offer WordPress as either a one-click installation or already have it built right into their core and ready to go live with every new account.

WordPress has also been a driving source for revenue, as there are so many different themes, plugins, customizations and freelance work associated to it. While WordPress in itself generates millions of dollars monthly, the whole WordPress community collectively generated well over a billion.

With so many stats and exciting features surrounding WP and the millions of bloggers who are actively using it, we pulled out seven of our favorite facts from this WordPress Blogging Stats Report, and broke them down for you in detail.

A Look at the WordPress Landscape in 2020

No matter where you look, it seems like the website or blog you are visiting is either running off WordPress or has some form of association with it. Even if it’s not running of WP completely, it’s likely running an application or tool that was first created with WordPress in mind.

This fun fact and many other stats are making their way around the internet as 2020 rolls out. Here are a few more to keep you excited and thrilled about where WordPress has came from, is today, and where it might be headed in the future.

1 – WordPress is the Most Popular CMS in the World

The name “WordPress” has always been synonymous with “blogging”, however, it’s never was the only player or solution in this space. Over the past several years though, it has become the dominant player and with no real competition.

Today WordPress users are producing more than 70 million new posts and articles per month, with 77 million comments being generated as a result of that content. Broken down into seconds… thats 27 new posts and comments going live every second!

2 – 1,000s of New WP Blog Posts are Going Live Daily

As we all know, WordPress makes the process of going live with a blog and new content extremely easy. There are no technical or design skills required. In fact, it’s so easy to run a content site through WordPress, that rough

3 – Blog Articles with More than 1,200+ Word Perform Best

We all know that content is king, but not all content is created equal. With SEO being the main focus for bloggers and content creators today, you need to make sure you have some really great stuff before pushing it out to the world.

Short articles and blog posts will no longer cut it. Now it’s all about super long and detailed articles

In fact, it’s been proven that articles with more than 1,200+ words often perform much better in organic search rankings versus lesser content. Remember this before going live with your next post.

4 – Over 21 Billion WP Blog Articles are Read Every Month

With more than a billion active websites and blogs on the internet today, there is more than enough content already out there… yet new stuff is coming out every minute.

Some will just be clutter, but others will act as useful resources. With over 21 billion blog articles being read every single month, its the social sharing and on-site enagagement from users that will often decide what is worth reading and what isn’t.

5 – More than 80% of All Internet Users are Reading Blog Content

Content, content, content… that’s the big discussion with WordPress and it’s massive impact on the internet today. With WP making it so easy to create content, it’s really no big surprise.

In addition to all of the other content stats we’ve already mentioned, heres another for you.

In comparison to all of the content that is read by users on the internet today, blogs rank pretty high up there. It’s reported that more than 80% of all internet users are reading blog content–whether they actually know that or not.

We are All Part of the WordPress Community

Software and CMS platforms continue to come and go over time, but most of us have no association with the brands of third-parties that help make them what they are. The same can’t be said about WordPress, as nearly all of us are running sites off the platform, adding new plugins and using custom themes as well.

In comparison to other solutions, it looks like WordPress is here to stay. Hopefully we can have another report and fun facts post just like this one in a couple more years and see how the progression and growth of WP has scaled even further!

The next time you open up WordPress and start writing a new blog or article of your own, now you will have a much better idea of how many people around the world are likely doing the same thing!

BEST WAYS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR MOBILE MARKETING

Are you on track to creating marketing strategies just for mobile? Today, there are 5.11 billion unique mobile users in the world. Mobile phones are affordable, convenient to use, and, well, mobile! Meaning that more and more interactions are going to happen on your audience’s phones than their desktop computers. 

You need to get in the game and focus on your mobile marketing to get more engagement and drive conversions.

It’s important to remember that people interact with their phones differently. Mobile platforms offer tremendous opportunities to win customers but they also come with challenges. You can’t approach marketing on mobile the same way as you do marketing for your desktop website.

The unique features that mobile phones offer means that you have to understand what works and what doesn’t. Let’s look at a few key ways that you can ramp up your business’s mobile website experience to improve your marketing outcomes.

Boost Your Site Speed

Improving your mobile site speed is very likely the most important step you can take to support your mobile marketing efforts. Over 40% of users will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Improving your site speed will create benefits in two significant ways:

1. Improved user experience: Visitors will stay on your site longer and have a better experience when your site is quick to load and navigate
2. Better SEO: Search engines prefer to give users websites that create a positive experience. A longer load time does not meet users’ expectations and as a result, it also affects site ranking. You can boost your mobile site SEO by simply improving the load time

Here are a few easy ways you can manage your mobile site’s speed.

• Start by testing your current mobile site speed. You can use free tools to test site speed and learn if you have any load time issues
• Bring down the size of your site page weight or overall size to less than 1000kb
• Reduce image sizes and remove carousels

Improving your mobile site speed will ensure the success of your mobile marketing. Make it a priority and keep testing it over time.

Write Content for Mobile

Since mobile screens are smaller, reading content on them can strain the eye. It’s essential to optimize your content and make it easier for people to consume it. You can optimize your website for mobile phones with a few key changes.

• Break text into small paragraphs consisting of 3-4 sentences
• Use conversational or a casual way of speaking that is easy to read and engages people
• Structure your content using headings, bullet points, and number lists so that it is easy to scan content
• Create more video content as it is easy to consume on a mobile screen and is very engaging

Optimize for Voice Search
Along with the content suggestions just mentioned, you need to optimize your mobile site content for voice search. People use voice search and voice commands to interact with their mobile phones. Getting your site to appear as a result for specific voice queries will boost traffic and conversions to a greater degree. Here are a few ways you can build content for voice search.

• Provide information such as store timings, location, store holidays, and other business details. People often look for location-specific and local information when using their phones. Adding appropriate business information helps search engines to pull up the answers when such queries are made.
• Answer questions and create an FAQ page. Your audience will ask questions and expect clear and specific answers when they use voice search to get information. Your website can appear as a result if you provide helpful answers to user questions related to your business or industry.
• When writing answers or creating content, keep it to fewer than 30 words as it’s the ideal number of words when giving an answer.
• Use long-tail keywords and phrases in your mobile content. This is because people will use a natural way of speaking and will express their queries as full questions. Your answers need to be prepared to answer such questions and should include relevant long-tail keywords

In these ways, you’ll have your content optimized to bring in more engagement, traffic, and better search rankings.

Leverage Social Media Stories

Stories on social media are said to be the first true content format that’s created for the mobile phone. They are short videos or images that people create – adding emojis, text, and hashtags. Stories last for just 24 hours and then they disappear, making it a way to share more personal and interesting information.

The vertical format is engaging and popular with users on social media, especially the newer generations.

Stories generate high levels of engagement and many brands today use it as a regular part of their social media marketing.

When creating stories, it’s important to focus on building a relationship than promoting yourself. Your content should not be over-promotional and instead, should offer users entertaining and helpful information.

Use Call-to-Action Buttons

People are prone to make mistakes in typing and navigating when interacting with mobile sites. You can boost user experience and improve engagement by giving people the ability to perform actions with minimal effort.

Add call-to-action buttons as a way to help your site visitors use your pages easily. If you’ve listed your phone number, add a button that allows users to call you with one click. Include share buttons with your posts and add visible call-to-action buttons to subscribe. Create simple registration forms and sign up buttons that allow people to sign up to your membership site.

In short, help people to minimize the number of steps they have to take to accomplish a task on mobile. You can also improve user-experience by adding wallets to make the checkout process on your website faster.

Grow Your Business with Better Mobile Marketing

The widespread use of mobile phones and platforms gives your business many opportunities to engage your audience.
It’s vital to create content and leverage the right features and platforms that cater especially to mobile. Use the tips given here to give your mobile marketing a boost in the right direction, and you’ll see great returns over time.

KEYS TO CONSTANT HAPPINESS

 

The following article is based on principles from the #1 best-selling book, Happiness Is Free and the Sedona Method Course.

These principles will show you how to access your natural ability to let go of any unwanted thought or feeling on the spot, even when you are right in the middle of life’s greatest challenges. 

 

This will free you  to quickly and easily have all that you choose, including the following:

 

- less stress
- improved self-esteem and confidence
- greater financial abundance
- more loving relationships
- more radiant health and well being
- an expanded sense of peace, love and joy in life . . . and much more!

 

The following points can be used as daily reminders to live and enjoy the Free Happiness that is your birthright.

 

1. Look for happiness in the right place. 

We spend most of our time looking for happiness in all the wrong places. If you simply look within, you can discover the source of unlimited happiness now. Also, if you examine those things that you think make you happy, I think you will find this pattern inside. When you satisfy a particular desire, even temporarily, your mind gets quieter and the happiness that is your natural state is able to shine through a little more. If you allow yourself to catch this process as it unfolds inside of you, you will learn to take happiness directly from it's source within you and you will enjoy everything that you have or do more fully.

 

2. Stop rushing past life. 

Have the attitude of, "I have all the time in the world," even when working on a deadline. You will not only feel happier but you will get things done more easily and quickly. If you catch yourself rushing, simply let go of pushing yourself as best you can and allow yourself to take one step or one action at a time.

 

3. Let go! 
This is the core of the Method! Most of us spend way too much time holding onto what was. If you let go of what was, and stop dragging it into the present or projecting it into the future, you can enjoy what is now.

 

4. Accept what is. 
When we want to change what is, we suffer. If you just let go of wanting to change what is as best you can, even for a moment, you are immediately happier. Plus, you no longer have to hold onto your problems in order to change them, and they often change or clear up all by themselves. 

 

5. Give from your heart. 
The giver is truly blessed. Whenever you give without wanting anything in return, even if it is just an understanding ear, you are instantly happier. The key is in not expecting to get anything from giving. If you want to get something back, you are not truly giving and you miss the blessing of happiness that true giving brings.

 

6. Give love instead of trying to get it. 
If you look for others to give you love, you will often be unhappy. However, if you allow yourself to be as loving as you can for no reason at all, you will instantly feel happier. As Lester Levenson used to say, "Love, love, love and you will always be happy."

 

7. Be present with what is.
If you are simply present with whatever you are experiencing now, as opposed to what was or what might be, you will find there is no end to your happiness. As best you can, take breaks from trying to assign meaning and a history to the sounds, sensations and pictures that arise in your awareness. Another way to say this is to welcome whatever arises in your consciousness as best you can.

 

8. Live life wide open. 
Even if there are supposed threats around you, when you close off from your environment, you are only locking in suffering and holding away happiness. The more you simply open inside you let the pain you already have out and you become transparent to the pain that appears to be coming from outside of you. When you are truly open the pain can't stick to you.

 

9. Pick agreements.
If you look for things to agree with just as they are, you can find them, even at your darkest hour. Every time you pick an agreement with what is in your experience, you experience more happiness.

 

10. Expand your awareness.
As you expand your awareness, you expand your ability to feel happy.  You can do this quite simply by allowing your awareness to be as contracted as it is and as expanded as it is. The more you embrace both sides, the more you can recognize the vastness that is your basic nature.

 

11. Accept the possibility of Happiness now. 
Most of us are waiting for something to change in order to give us an excuse to be happy. If we decide it is possible to be happy, whether or not that something ever changes, we can become happy now.

I recommend that you print this email so that you can have these principles available for you to work with on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy working with these simple principles. I promise that if you allow yourself to be open to exploring any one of them, you will find yourself with a smile on your face, happy to be alive here and now. And I encourage you to check out our new book.

- Hale Dwoskin

WAKE UP TO A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT LIFE

Are you ready to wake up? Ready to open yourself to new possibilities? Ready to create a new way of looking at life? You might ask, "Is it possible?" And I say a resounding, "YES!" Not only is it possible, but it's also something we should strive for daily. Waking up, seeing reality for what it is, precisely as it is without regrets of the past and fears of the future, is what we're destined for! I know it's a big ask, but it's what we need to do to live fulfilled lives.

Here's how it works: Whenever you are doing something, and you say or think, "I have to…", change it to "I Get To…" For example, as you are doing the dishes, you might say or be thinking, "I have to do the dishes." You might even grumble a bit. Even if you're not speaking or thinking it specifically, it's a feeling inside, one of obligation or being a victim to what you are doing. That feeling is, "I have to do this."

As soon as you feel that or notice you're saying or thinking, "I have to do this," stop yourself and say, "I Get To do this." When you consciously do this, you'll start to notice three things:

1. You immediately feel compassion for others. You don't have to do the dishes; you Get To. Twenty thousand people will starve to death today on the planet. And you Got To have a meal. Wow, you Get To do the dishes.

2. From that feeling of compassion rises a sense of gratitude. With each scrub of the dish or pan, you feel grateful for your life, no matter what's going on in it.

3. Finally, with compassion and gratitude welling up inside, you become inspired to live a better life, do more, tap into your "true self," and begin to create something better for the world. Action for a higher purpose, whatever that is for you, becomes a dominant thought.

Cleaning the cat box? You Get To. Rushing out the door to get the kids to school? You Get To. Here's a big one: Mourning the death of a loved one? Yes, you Get To. This isn't a quirky "just get over it" attitude. It's a profound realization of knowing life is as it is, and your acceptance of it as it is the highest form of living.

There is even more to Get To. Do you meditate? Or have you wanted to? I've meditated for over 30 years, sitting with monks in temples in the mountains of Hiroshima, Japan, attending a 10-day, silent meditation in the hills of central California, and even, after meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta, meditating under the Bodhi Tree where the Buddha is said to have found enlightenment.

But now my meditations are different, and they tap into the Get To principle in a profound way. The basic premise is to recognize that everything we are experiencing is "content of consciousness." Notably, the thoughts that are arising as you sit quietly are merely content that is emerging in consciousness. It is not you. Everything is coming out of nothingness, and we are the experience of all that is arising. It's a very profound viewpoint to have and fits Get To perfectly.

You see, when you say, "I Get To," you let go of the victim's viewpoint of what's happening, and your mind gets quiet as you allow what is happening to be just as it is. When you smile, it makes it all that much sweeter.

We've all had our ups and downs and twists and turns in life. We're all heading for a certain death that we mostly don’t think about. But as we start to wake up from the dream of our thoughts and the victim mentality that comes with saying “I have to”, and start thinking and saying, "I Get To," your life begins to change, and you feel, well, just fine.