Well over 50% of blog reading women and female bloggers state they have made a purchase decision based on content found in blogs according to a recent survey.

The BlogHer/Compass Partners survey of over 5,000 US women provides some interesting insights into the relationships between women and blogging. Based on the survey results, here’s some key findings

- 36.2 Million women are participating in the blogosphere weekly

- 15.1 Million women publish at least one post weekly

- 21.1 Million women are reading and/or posting comments to blogs weekly

Women appear to have a strong affinity with the blogosphere. When respondendents were asked what they would forgo before no participating in the blogosphere:

– 43% would give up newspapers or magazines
– 50% their PDAs
– 42% would forego their i-Pod
– 55% would even give up alcohol!

Even when it comes to purchasing; blogs have a big impact on decisions on whether or not to buy. As a result of blog posts, 38% of publishers and 29% of readers have made a purchase based on a recommendation or customer experience posted on a blog.

32% of publishers and 28% of readers have *avoided* making a purchase of a particular product or service based on experiences posted on a blog. That somewhat ties in with what I was saying yesterday about the old “all publicity is good publicity” myth.

Anyhow, the BlogHer survey has a stack of other glimpses into the mind of the female blogger and blog reader, you can download the report here (PDF)

Related:

Marketing to women online (older article of mine, but still contains relevant points)