It remains difficult for bloggers to report the news, but new research proves the effort can prove worthwhile.

A new study from Pew Research, highlighted on eMarketer, shows that people are increasingly reading the news. The only catch, and the big benefit for bloggers, is these people are going online with various devices to read the news. Since blogging is an online activity it makes sense that there is opportunity for bloggers, including business bloggers, to achieve a share of readership.

From Users access news content on multiple devices:

People are no longer taking one path to access news. Instead, they are spreading their consumption across multiple devices. Thirty-four percent of news consumers using a desktop or laptop also read news on a smartphone, while 17% of news readers using a PC supplemented their news consumption by reading content on a tablet. A sizeable number of smartphone news consumers, 27%, also used tablets to get news, according to Pew.

There is more interesting information in the article including what I believe is a key opportunity for business bloggers.

The opportunity is with the people searching for news via search engines along with those that look for aggregated news.

Many people are using search, social, and news organizers to find their news. These are three key areas of opportunity for bloggers.

Search

With search, bloggers can win in the rankings against the big players. The well-known news organizations will always have their brand recognition. It takes time to compete with that. Search seems to have some brand bias as well, but where the big players miss is in the niche news. Your industry likely has some room for news reporting and interpretation. You can either report your own news of what’s happening in the industry or you can aggregate (organize) the news from other sources and provide context and insight as an expert in the field.

I often use plumbing as a basic example. If you are a plumber you could track the news happening in the industry. Let’s say there is a new standard being used with piping in commercial properties. Contractors will want to know about the news, but they will also want to understand how it affects them.

If you can provide the answers you will have a successful blog. And if you’re playing things right with your post you can win the search results when contractors search for related keywords.

News Organizers

It takes work to organize the news, but if you can do this work for your readers (target customers) you can provide real value. Collect the relevant news happening in your industry and become a resource for your readers. I don’t think it’s enough to do this on its own. Also look to provide context and insight into the news.

Social

Social sharing is obviously the smallest opportunity listed above, but it does appear to be a growing source of news and information for people. Look to take advantage of this growing opportunity. If you can write original blog posts that are valuable for readers, you can find yourself having article shared on various social networks.

One key to remember is that it’s important to get subscribers. You want people to opt-in at the source of the information, which is your website. Look to get people signed up for email newsletters or even your social channels.

Subscribers are good to have.

There is opportunity for business bloggers in the news business. People are going online to find the news. Become their resource and you can win their business.