Blog vs. Newsletter: What’s the Business Move?

If you’ve looked into making money online, you couldn’t have missed the concept of ‘blogging as a business’. It’s a popular topic. And there are many blogs (I call them content websites) that come up for sale in online business listings.

Yet there’s a new model that is similar and just as a passive — a newsletter. We’ve seen some newsletters sell for a lot, such as the Industry Dive group, getting acquired for 525m. Along with many other small ones being sold on Duuce and Flippa.

Personally speaking I would not buy a blog, but I would acquire newsletter! Blogs do have the potential for high volumes of organic search traffic, the reality is that the search traffic is never guaranteed, and your audience is never owned. Newsletters on the other hand can thrive with multiple sources of paid traffic, your audience is owned, and you can write what people want to read, not what satisfies search intent (and the search engines also steal). Newsletters also have more valuable monetizations options.

I’ll break that all down for you, and but let’s start with an overview.

Business Model Overview + Pros and Cons Summary

Blogs are fundamentally a website that publishes content to (hopefully) rank high in the search engines and capture readers from organic traffic. They’re primarily monetized by display ads or affiliate links.

Newsletters capture email addresses and serve content directly to their subscribers via email. They can be monetized with affiliate links in the content, ads/sponsorship in newsletter, and also subscription fees.

Blogs:

• Pros:

  • Potential for high search traffic if optimized correctly

  • Can improve SEO and drive organic traffic over time

  • Offers a broad reach, attracting new readers continuously

  • Flexible content formats, including long-form articles, tutorials, and multimedia

• Cons:

  • Dependence on search engine algorithms, which can change unpredictably

  • Requires continuous SEO efforts to maintain visibility

  • Content can be scraped and used without proper attribution

  • May experience a disconnect between content optimized for search engines and what readers prefer

Newsletters:

• Pros:

  • Direct communication with subscribers, ensuring content reaches your audience

  • Independence from search engine algorithms

  • High engagement rates with personalized and exclusive content

  • Opportunities for immediate feedback and interaction

  • More predictable and stable audience engagement

• Cons:

  • Requires consistent effort to grow and maintain a subscriber list

  • Risk of high unsubscribe rates if content is not consistently valuable

  • Limited reach compared to the broad audience potential of a blog

  • Dependent on email deliverability and open rates

Audience Ownership Blog vs Newsletter

I’m starting off by explaining this because it is really the fundamental equity driver.

With a blog, your audience can consume your content on the website and then bounce. You have no way of reaching them again. You own nothing.

With a newsletter your audience is owned in a database, that you can reach at any time via email. You have an asset.

Blogs Are Dependent on fickle/unscalable Search Traffic.

Success of a blog depends entirely on getting organic search traffic from Google. That means the business has substantial channel risk. Not only do you have to get the site to rank well but you have to maintain it. Year after year, going back to my early days in the business world, and most recently with the 2024 Helpful Content Update, I’ve seen Google change the game of seo and take websites that were getting a ton of traffic and whack that traffic to nearly zero by reorganizing the serps. Along with that the traffic is not scalable — there is no literal playbook for ranking and no way to increase your traffic on demand. For those still considering a blog, it’s essential to understand the risks involved and take steps to minimize them.

Newsletters Can Scale Subscribers

One of the key advantages of newsletters is their ability to scale subscribers rapidly through paid ads. Unlike blogs, which rely on the organic discovery of content through search engines, newsletters can directly acquire subscribers by running targeted ad campaigns. This means you can simply "click a button" to launch ads on platforms like Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn, and start driving sign-ups immediately.

This approach is not only scalable but also highly predictable. You can control the flow of subscribers based on your ad budget and targeting strategy, allowing you to scale your newsletter audience quickly and efficiently. Whether you’re looking to add hundreds or thousands of new subscribers, paid ads give you the power to grow your audience on demand.

Who Are You Writing For?

When you’re running a blog, you’re often writing for two audiences: your readers and the search engines. This dual focus can sometimes lead to content that, while optimized for search, doesn’t fully resonate with your readers. On the other hand, newsletters allow you to write exclusively for your audience, delivering the content they care about directly to their inboxes.

This means you can be more creative, personal, and responsive in your content creation, building a stronger connection with your subscribers. You’re not constrained by SEO rules, so you can focus on what truly matters: providing value to your readers.

Monetization of Newsletter vs Blog

Newsletters often have an edge over blogs due to more direct and potentially lucrative revenue streams. While blogs typically rely on display ads and affiliate marketing, which can yield inconsistent returns without high traffic, newsletters benefit from more predictable income sources. Subscription fees are a significant advantage, with successful newsletters charging between $5 to $15 per month per subscriber, and some generating hundreds of thousands annually. Additionally, newsletters attract high-value sponsorships, commanding CPMs as high as $20 to $50, compared to the $2 to $5 typical for blog display ads. This is due to the highly engaged, targeted nature of newsletter audiences, which also leads to better conversion rates for affiliate marketing.

On That Note:

While both blogs and newsletters have their merits, newsletters offer a more controlled and scalable approach to building and maintaining an online business. The ability to own your audience, the predictability of growth, and the freedom to create content that directly engages your subscribers make newsletters a more attractive option, especially if you’re looking for a more stable and reliable business model.

If I were in the market for acquiring an online business, I would lean towards newsletters for these reasons. The direct connection with your audience, combined with diverse monetization opportunities, provides a solid foundation for long-term success in the digital landscape.