Newsletters are a versatile and time-tested method of communication, both in the mail box and the in box. I would be very surprised if the readership of blogs, newsfeeds and podcasts ever exceeds the readership of newsletters. Newsletters bring you information you requested to you in the most use-able, scan-able, save-able, and share-able form.

Ann Handley has been managing a marketing newsletter and web site (www.MarketingProfs.com) for a couple of years and they just recently added a blog. The entire article is a good one to read if you are looking for an overview of the pro’s and con’s of blogging.

The big advantage of blogs over newsletters is interaction with readers, but that interaction is not automatic nor is it easy to manage. There are many ways to interact with your audience and blogging may not be the easiest way for your business. Interaction needed? Absolutely. Blogging? Maybe.

Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog: What’s the Biggest Lie About Blogging?, 2006-Jun-29, by Ann Handley

The blog’s launch and growth has been significantly more of a challenge than I expected….
First: there’s the fact that blogs really aren’t widely read by marketers. At least, the marketers who subscribe to MarketingProfs. And at least, YET.

Other than a few high-profile blogs, blog audiences are fractured and their readership is a relatively small compared to, for example, newsletter readership. Last summer, only about 30 percent of US Internet users visited blogs, according to comScore Networks.