As of August 2026, 40.7% of all websites run on WordPress, according to W3Techs’ live tracker, more than every other content management system combined. On WordPress.com alone, users publish 70 million new posts a month. But writing one well takes real effort: the average post now takes 3 hours and 25 minutes, and most bloggers still would not call the results strong.
The numbers below cover how many blogs exist, how they get written, how they get read, and how they get monetized, plus what a blogger legally owes readers when a post is sponsored or contains an affiliate link.
How many blogs are there in 2026?
WordPress remains the backbone of the open web. As of August 2026, 40.7% of all websites run on WordPress, per W3Techs’ live content-management-system tracker, which gives it a 58.9% share among sites that use a CMS at all. Another 30.9% of websites run no detectable CMS, and every other platform, from Shopify to Wix to Squarespace, splits the remaining share.
Figure 1: Share of all websites by platform, August 2026. Source: W3Techs, live tracker.
Scale at the platform level is enormous. WordPress.com’s own activity statistics page reports that its users publish about 70 million new posts and 77 million new comments every month, while more than 409 million people view over 20 billion pages across the network monthly. That figure covers only WordPress.com’s hosted network, not the much larger population of self-hosted WordPress.org sites, so the real global posting volume is higher still.
How long does it take to write a blog post that performs well?
The average blog post is 1,333 words and takes 3 hours and 25 minutes to write, according to Orbit Media’s 2025 Annual Blogger Survey, based on responses from 808 content marketers collected in August 2025. That is down from 4 hours 10 minutes in 2022, a sign that templates, outlines, and AI-assisted drafting have shortened the process without necessarily shortening the post.
Length still correlates with outcome. Only 21% of bloggers describe their results as “strong,” with 60% reporting “some results” and 11% calling their results disappointing. Among bloggers who publish posts longer than 2,000 words, though, 39% report strong results, nearly double the overall rate.
Figure 2: Share of bloggers reporting “strong” marketing results overall. Source: Orbit Media, 2025 Annual Blogger Survey, n=808.
AI use has become close to universal in the drafting process. Orbit Media found that the share of bloggers who never use AI dropped from 65% to just 5% over 24 months, though only 10% use it to write a complete article outright; most use it for idea generation or edit suggestions.
Figure 3: Recent milestones in blogging time-to-publish and disclosure enforcement. Sources: Orbit Media, FTC.
How do bloggers make money in 2026?
Revenue per pageview varies enormously by source. The 2026 Blogging Income Survey, a fifth-year running survey of 129 bloggers conducted between January and April 2026, found digital products pay an average of $535.90 per 1,000 pageviews, versus $100 for sponsored posts and paid services, $55.85 for physical products, $34.66 for affiliate links, and just $33.16 for display ads.
Figure 4: Average revenue per 1,000 pageviews by monetization source, 2026. Source: Blogging Income Survey 2026, n=129.
Getting to that income takes time. The same survey found bloggers wait an average of 21 months (12 months at the median) before earning their first dollar, and an average of 49 months, roughly four years, before reaching a full-time income. Still, 24% of bloggers who eventually go full-time get there within 2 years of starting. Because the sample is drawn from the survey author’s own audience of course and community members, treat these figures as directional for engaged, actively-growing bloggers rather than a random sample of every blog online.
| Revenue source | RPM (per 1,000 pageviews) |
|---|---|
| Digital products | $535.90 |
| Sponsored posts | $100.00 |
| Services | $100.00 |
| Physical products | $55.85 |
Table 1: Top-earning blog monetization sources by revenue per 1,000 pageviews. Source: Blogging Income Survey 2026, n=129.
What are the disclosure rules for sponsored and affiliate blog posts?
Any blogger who accepts payment, free products, or an affiliate commission in exchange for a mention has a legal disclosure obligation under the FTC’s endorsement guides. The rule is simple to state and easy to get wrong in practice: if a reasonable reader would not otherwise realize a connection exists between the blogger and the brand, that connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, near the claim itself, not buried in a footer or an “about” page.
Enforcement has real teeth. Following its January 2025 inflation adjustment, the FTC’s maximum civil penalty for a knowing violation of an order on deceptive endorsement practices rose to $53,088 per violation, up from $51,744, and each undisclosed post can be treated as a separate violation.
Figure 5: The FTC’s basic disclosure test for sponsored content and affiliate links. Source: FTC endorsement guides.
The safest approach for any monetized blog is a standing, site-wide disclaimer that covers affiliate relationships and sponsored content, paired with an in-post disclosure on every affected article. You can generate a disclaimer that covers affiliate links, sponsorships, and income claims in a few minutes, then keep it linked from your footer and referenced at the top of every monetized post.
For a deeper look at how often influencers and bloggers actually disclose in practice, see our influencer marketing disclosure data, and for how commission structures on the largest affiliate programs have shifted, see our affiliate and commission program data.
The Bottom Line
Blogging in 2026 is bigger and more commercial than the “is blogging dead” headlines suggest: 40.7% of all websites still run on WordPress, and WordPress.com alone processes 70 million new posts a month. What has changed is the bar for a post to actually work. Only 21% of bloggers call their results strong, length and depth predict which posts clear that bar, and the money increasingly comes from digital products rather than $33 to $35 RPMs on ads and affiliate links. None of that changes the legal baseline: any post that earns money from a mention needs a clear disclosure and a current, published disclaimer, or the downside is now a $53,088-per-post problem, not just a reputational one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of websites run on WordPress? 40.7% of all websites run on WordPress as of August 2026, according to W3Techs’ live tracker, giving it a 58.9% share of the content management system market specifically.
How long does it take to write a blog post? The average blog post now takes 3 hours and 25 minutes to write, down from 4 hours and 10 minutes in 2022, according to Orbit Media’s 2025 Annual Blogger Survey of 808 content marketers.
How much do bloggers earn from affiliate links versus digital products? Digital products earn bloggers an average of $535.90 per 1,000 pageviews, far more than affiliate links at $34.66 or display ads at $33.16, according to the 2026 Blogging Income Survey of 129 bloggers.
What happens if a blogger does not disclose a sponsored post or affiliate link? The FTC can fine a blogger up to $53,088 per violation for an undisclosed sponsored or affiliate post, following the agency’s January 2025 inflation adjustment to its maximum civil penalty for deceptive endorsement practices.
Sources and References
- W3Techs. (2026). “Usage Statistics and Market Share of Content Management Systems.” Live tracker, accessed August 2026.
- WordPress.com. (2026). “Activity” official statistics page. Reported monthly posts, comments, readers, and page views for the WordPress.com hosted network.
- Orbit Media Studios. (2025). “2025 Blogging Statistics: Blogger Data Shows Trends and Insights Into Blogging.” Annual Blogger Survey, 808 respondents, collected August 2025.
- Productive Blogging. (2026). “Blogging Income Survey 2026.” 129 respondents, surveyed January to April 2026, fifth year of the survey.
- Federal Trade Commission. (2025). “FTC Publishes Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts for 2025.” Official press release, published following the January 17, 2025 Federal Register notice.
Note: All figures verified as of September 2026. Blogging behavior, platform share, and FTC penalty amounts change over time, so headline figures are refreshed at least twice a year.
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