Blair MacGregor

Gary Vaynerchuk posted a video earlier today that speaks to what some consider to be a “debate” between quality vs. quantity when it comes to content. His view is that ultimately those who will win biggest will be doing both. He made the point that despite what people think, “quantity” in the aggregate is coming, whether we like it or not (in fact, I would go so far as to say it’s already here.)

I would add something else to this equation that Gary alluded to towards the end of the video: consistency. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing fiction, a content blog to promote your startup, or a newsletter. Without pushing through the slog and doing the work on a daily basis, it’s extremely tough to build the kind of committed, passionate audience it takes for you to build a successful company, brand etc. Even if no one reads what you’re writing/recording, it’s vitally important that you get yourself in this habit. I speak from experience having a litany of stops & starts in my entrepreneurial life that (unsurprisingly) led to a lot of failed projects precisely because I didn’t exhibit that kind of consistency. That’s why my newsletter for mobile startups goes out every weekday, irrespective of the quality of news on that particular day. Even if it’s a slow news day, I ship. Period.

Seth Godin recently wrote his 5000th straight blog post. He’s been writing every single day since 2004. To me, that’s astounding. He refers to it as “the drip”: a steady flow of content that, over time, builds itself into a reservoir of goodwill and authority.

That’s also why people consistently do the wrong things in the SEO space; the entire black hat industry of SEO is built on the avoidance of having to put in the hours to do the work it takes to build an authoritative site. People get tired of hearing the “content is king” cliche and want to quantify the amount of effort needed to become a thought leader to see if it’s “worth it” financially. The point is, it’s never not worth it. Quality & quantity are great. But it takes consistency to give your content an authoritative voice.

One of the more talked about themes in the startup world (and when it comes to business in general) is the balance between focus and forward-thinking. How can we continue to be the best at whatever it is we’re providing for our users, customers, subscribers etc. while continuing to look for new opportunities to keep them engaged and active?

I run an e-mail newsletter with about 50 subscribers so far, consisting mostly of folks I’ve either connected with in-person and built a relationship with offline or others I’ve spoken through cold e-mails. I’ve done very little other promotion.

It started out as a simple proposition: a collection of news, articles, tutorials that people in the mobile startup community (founders, hackers, designers, marketers etc.) would find interesting. For the last two months, however, I’ve segmented the NYC folks as a trial balloon and provided them with not just our normal news but some additional content I saw as being a value-add:

-An events roundup specific to mobile/app-centric events, classes that goes out on Mondays
-A jobs roundup with a curated list of job opportunities from various providers that I hand pick (Indeed, Startuply, AngelList etc.)
-A curated list called Zen, consisting of what I think are compelling & original instances of mobile UX/UI elements, again hand-picked by me.

In other words, something that looks a little more like the Startup Digest model.

What I’ve found is that not only are clicks still overwhelmingly on the news articles, the open rates on those days tend to be below average.

Certainly, the sample size is hardly enough to make a concrete decision either way. But every startup has to make important decisions, especially early on, without having all the facts.

The idea for Breaktap has always been about serving what I feel is an underdeveloped market: startup news focused exclusively on mobile-first startups, platforms and anything that would be considered to be “post-PC”. While the execution of that idea has changed based on my own premonitions and constraints (e.g limited time to come up with original content), I’ve always intended for this to be a resource for news first and foremost.

I’m thinking that’s where I should keep my attention focused rather than potentially driving them away what they signed up for in the first place.

Via Slate:

A new report released this week from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that Facebook remains the leading social network among American teenagers. It’s also the most reviled. While some teenagers interviewed by Pew claimed they “enjoyed using it,” the majority complained of “an increasing adult presence, high-pressure or otherwise negative social interactions (‘drama’), or feeling overwhelmed by others who share too much.”

In other words, Facebook—as any adult with a profile knows—feels a lot like high school. “I think Facebook can be fun, but also it’s drama central,” one 14-year-old girl said. “On Facebook, people imply things and say things, even just by a ‘like,’ that they wouldn’t say in real life.” Said another, “It’s so competitive to get the most likes [on a Facebook picture]. It’s like your social position.” Ninety-four percent of American teenagers maintain a Facebook profile, but that doesn’t mean they have to like it. “Honestly,” one 15-year-old girl told Pew, “I’m on it constantly but I hate it so much.”

About Me

So here’s a blog post. I’ve tried several times on several different platforms over the years to maintain a blog regularly. It hasn’t worked out. But I’m giving it another shot. This time, I think things are a little different.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Blair MacGregor. I run a daily e-mail newsletter for the mobile startup community called Breaktap. We’re starting out with a small audience of mobile startup founders and early adopters and are looking to grow the brand into a profitable, influential media entity. We have a long way to go. But I like where we’re headed.

I also do search/inbound marketing consulting for small business owners & startups, leveraging my 5+ years of experience in the SEO space to help grow their businesses. I’ll be setting up a page for that soon but if you or someone you know is interested, feel free to get in contact with me.

Before that, I was the founder of Skyline Source Media, which owned and operated a number of high-traffic sites in the social networking space, including myspacesurveyfun.com & customizemyprofile.com. I started it when I was 22 and had no idea what the hell I was doing. But I managed to turn it into a profitable business and had an absolute blast in the process. It’s also where I discovered my passion for entrepreneurship & new technology.

If I’m not working, I’m usually reading, playing video games or watching sports. I’m a die-hard New York Islanders fan, which undoubtedly has taken years off my life. But they’re getting better. And with the impending move to Brooklyn, things are looking bright for maybe the first time in my adult life. I’m going to miss Nassau Coliseum though.

I’ll probably blog about all of these things concurrently but I’ll try to stick mostly to startups & technology. Hopefully you’ll find some of it useful.

Contact Me

The best place to reach me is e-mail:
blair.macgregorATgmail.com

You can also follow me on Twitter and see what I’m up to on LinkedIn.

I’m also on Hacker News.