It’s unfair to compare Blogging ROIs to direct mail ROIs (due to time of exisistence) yet that’s what some blogging enthusiasts have tried to do. Considering direct response as a whole, Madison Ave image ads lose out too.

The consideration of media, in my opinion, obscures the fundamentals of what I think Bob is addressing:
Bloggers who monetize their efforts will need to have an compelling offer and a call to action at some point in the process.

If it’s not for sales then another metric needs to be devised to cost justify it. Ultimately– and especially if you’re responsible to a client– these kinds of bottomline issues need quantification.

For years the overwhelming majority of businesses have found it somewhere from difficult to impossible to even cost-justify having a web presence in the first place (ask the Eisenbergs). In the marketplace people want the numbers.