The big debate between Justin Boeckman (Element Fusion's Internet Marketing Director) and me right now is whether or not the day of the email newsletter has come and gone.  Recently Feedburner (which has been purchased by Google) began offering a way for a website owner to make it possible for their visitors to subscribe to their blog posts via email.  (Read Element Fusion's blog post about this.)

Boeckman thinks the traditional email newsletter is preferred by owners because it is delivered within an html design that the sender can control.  Plus, most email newsletter solutions (even like Breeze which is offered by Element Fusion) offer sophisticated reporting for tracking purposes.  So, he’s probably right in thinking that this method of communication will be with us for a while.  But in my experience, many email services block the html design elements from going through anyway.  So why not let people come to your website to read your news if they want to see it all “pretty” or simply read the guts that get sent to them in their email program using Feedburner and the blog?

I am inclined to think that many business owners (especially those using a content management system like Water or Sky that includes an integrated blog) will love being able to communicate news out to interested parties in this new manner.

Another reason I like the idea of using email fed blog subscriptions better (and think the users of the worldwide web will to) is that it allows for a steady trickle of information in bite sized chunks rather than a once-a-month delivery of a newsletter that is too big to read all at once.  I don’t know about you, but I just archive the newsletters that come my way and promise myself I’ll read them later.  But I never do.  However, I think I’ll actually read a quick blog post on a single subject when it is delivered to me. 

Please let me know your thoughts.  I’m trying to blog as soon as I think of something rather than waiting till I think I’ve got it all figured out.  So, if I’m way off base here, please let me know.