What Is the 80/20 Rule for Blogging? – Blogging From Paradise

I am not a numbers guy.

But the 80/20 rule for blogging rings true.

80% of your metrics originate from 20% of your content.

Picture yourself publishing 1000 blog posts. 200 posts comprise 80% of your results. Ballpark, of course; this is a rough estimate.

I resisted this rule until I looked closely at my metrics. Like it or not, the basic ratio is true. The Pareto Principle is a suggestion but I feel like human psychology never changes. People predominantly think a certain way. All posts generate some traffic but only a few take off significantly. Readers gravitate to a small percentage of content. The remaining blog posts attract modest interest because the world possesses a limited attention span.

I intend to go above and beyond each time I publish a blog post. But a small percentage of content hits the mark consistently. I follow a blogging system yet no one hits a grand slam for every at bat. I thought some of my best-performing posts to be duds at first. I thought some of my duds would be my best performing posts at first.

A small ratio of your blog posts hits hard.

80% of Results

Think:

traffic
engagement
income

Scour statistics. Notice how most numbers originate from roughly 20% of your blog posts.

I easily see this through blog comments.

My post:

11 Successful Bloggers to Follow

generated 9 comments.

A small percentage of my posts spawn most comments on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.

20% of Content

Look at your blog posts.

What posts perform best? What type of content generates the bulk of organic traffic? What style of post nets the majority of blogging income?

Dial in. Spot patterns. Do what works best. Cull what works not or what underwhelms metrics-wise.

Make cause and effect work for you.

I’ll give you an easy one.

I published this post:

How to Sell Stuff through Your Blog

with aspiring pro bloggers in mind.

The post ranked #1 on Google for the specific term.

Independent of search volume, anytime my post reaches position 1 within 10-12 hours I take note because this falls within the 20% threshold.

What did I do to make this a high-performing blog post?

Practical Ideas

I selected a simple title promising a clear benefit
I shared practical tips via long-form content
I mixed helpful strategies with personal experiences
I distributed the blog post aggressively between multiple channels

Spot what works best after scanning statistics. Work out the cause-effect relationship at play. Follow specific steps to honor your blogging system. Keep doing what works.

Different Ways the 80/20 Ratio Works for Bloggers

Roughly 10% to 20% of my readers:

read my blog posts without fail
buy my online course and eBooks
drop genuine blog comments at one time or another (probably more like 5% to be honest)
share my blog posts via X, Facebook and LinkedIn

A small ratio of readers drive referral traffic and referral income. 80% to 90% of readers just read blog posts for the most part without engaging in any other way. Read. Jet. I appreciate these people because I am here to help the readers. In life, most of us consume then hit the road to benefit from consumption. This is how the world tends to go.

Take care of loyal readers. Serve all but focus on a few. Bond with action takers. Co-create with committed followers. Let everyone else do as they do without manipulating people. Resist the urge to engage in wasted motion. Reach out to readers who resonate with your content. Honor this basic blogging ratio. Save work. Save time.

Comments Trial Run

I drop 1-2 genuine comments on respected blogs as a trial run.

I proceed to play “comment tag” with bloggers who drop comments on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.

I seek resonance with the 20%. 80% of bloggers never stop by my blog to publish a genuine comment after I comment authentically on their blogs. This is OK. I never take it personally. I look past these 8 out of 10 bloggers as non-resonant individuals. We are not an engagement match.

80% of Bloggers Never Make $100

The age old income metric rings true.

I came across this statistic as a new blogger.

80% of bloggers make $100 or less through their blogs. 20% make more than 100 bucks. Worldly judgments aside, the 80/20 financial ratio is telling.

Squeeze into the 20 percentile. Do as successful bloggers do. Learn from the 20% portion not the 80% crowd.

Surround yourself with successful bloggers. Follow their guidance consistently.

Spam Application of the 80/20 Ratio

Spammers waste 80% to 90% of their time (or more) to get 20% to 10% returns (or less) because of the scattershot approach.

Spammers look at statistics like a hanging bat; from an upside-down perspective.

Thinking in reverse wastes most blogging time. Think of someone who cuts their winners to run with their losers. Spammers do this all the time. My inbox proves it. One out of ten spammers bothers to address me by my first name. 100% of spammers never do enough research to understand that I never reply to spam emails because I do not trust strangers who try to benefit from using our platform predominantly for their ends. If they did even a shred of research they’d help me with no strings attached to build a bond.

Think Like a Reader (20%) Not a Blogger (80%)

Most bloggers struggle by thinking like a blogger. Most blog to address their needs, be it financial or otherwise. Most blog about what’s on their mind not what readers want them to cover.

The small percentage of successful bloggers thinks like a reader. I query what blogging tips readers Google via semantic search or the “people also ask” feature. I imagine the problem from the reader’s perspective. I then baby-step the reader from problem to solution with a blog post.

Readers find my blog because I think like a reader before publishing anything here. I solve their problems not my wants.

Drive traffic by creating content from the vantage point of readers. See the issue through their eyes. Picture yourself in their shoes. Join with their mind to create attractive blog content. Boost organic traffic by being in the 20 percentile of bloggers who think like readers.