It's long been understood that blogs attract visitors. The huge shift toward the introduction of blogs by thought leaders, businesses and your everyday web user has been well documented over the past few years. What's interesting is just how dedicated blog readers are, as shown by a new study released by Advertising Age and online market research service Vizu Answers.

With popular blog search engine Technorati now tracking more than 70 million blogs (and welcoming more than 175,000 new blogs each day) there's no shortage of blogs for readers to choose from. Vizu Answers shares that more than 1.6 million blog posts are made each day.

So how many of those blogs are getting read? Well, the study says that roughly 31% of blog readers follow more than three blogs on a regular basis with nearly 70% stating that they read their favorite blogs daily. In fact, 16.7% of those surveyed said that they read more than ten blogs on a regular basis. (Though folks like me are obviously skewing the average...since I scan roughly 150 blogs on a daily basis.)

What makes a blog readable? Well, it should come as no surprise that the quality of writing plays a big roll in the popularity of a blog. Nearly 44% of those surveyed said that the quality of writing determines which blogs they will read regularly while 51.5% say that the quality of writing helps them determine the credibility of a blog. This underlines why it is so important to make sure that your writing is up to par if you plan on launching your own blog. (It also shows why businesses that plan to blog need to make sure they either have a strong writer doing the blogging or a good editor standing by to preview any posts.)

The way that readers find blogs is also worth noting. More than two-thirds claim that they find blogs by following links from other blogs. In fact, less than 20% of readers rely on search engines to help them find quality blogs. This is both good and bad news for new bloggers. It's good news in that there's less need to focus on search engine optimization (which takes time and effort) in order to draw new visitors.

It's both good and bad news to learn that bloggers need to focus more on gaining incoming links from other bloggers to build up their readership. It's good in that the need to rely on human judgement rather than search engine algorithms forces bloggers to create higher quality content that is both interesting and unique. It's bad in that breaking into blog circles can be difficult, especially if your blog focuses on an already saturated market.

What the findings really underscore however, is the value of viewing link building as relationship building. I've written about this concept many times over, but studies like these really point out the value of building virtual bridges and earning your reputation in an online community. Well placed links to other blogs, interesting commentary on what others are saying and thoughtful remarks in a blogger's comments section are all excellent ways to catch the eye of other bloggers and to earn those coveted links that will send traffic to your newly created blog.