The history of this blog goes back to a period when I was translating books and some of my mails sent to a few correspondents went viral. In regards translations, I just couldn’t find the strength any longer to allocate time to a time-consuming, thankless and financially unsustainable activity. In regards my emails, I viewed it with horror that my mails should become spam in other people’s inboxes.
Thus when a well-wisher suggested that blogging might provide a supplementary income to free me for more translations, I also realised that this might be a platform to record my thoughts without being a party to spam. You read my article by your volition, not because your inbox has been spammed. May the brother who made the suggestion be rewarded. He has saved me from causing difficulty to others in this regard. However, as Google disapproved advertising on my blog, his original intention of income generation never saw the light of day.
After 30,000 hits and very few comments, other well-wishers have made suggestions. Your input however would also be appreciated. Please comment or mail me. Bear in mind that I am not very IT savvy, I need media that will not take much time and am not in a position to invest in anything expensive.
I finally agreed to start tweeting https://twitter.com/sulayman_Kindi
Admittedly I still don’t have the full hang of Twitter.
YouTube
I have been asked to make my articles available on audio and upload them on YouTube. I suppose a recording on my phone might suffice, but any suggestions on software for editing, inserting a third party clip in between etc?
Transcripts
I have been asked to make transcripts of podcasts (really don’t have time for that). Any suggestions?
Website
I have been asked to mature beyond blogging and start my own website. As simple as my blog may seem, it really took a lot of learning to get the basics running. Is there a way to start a simple website without having an IT degree, import everything from the blog and redirect anyone who clicks on the blog to the website?
Any constructive criticism, suggestion and comment will be welcome.
Assalamu 'alaykum,
ReplyDeleteThese are my two cents on your issues :
1) On Twitter, you should:
-follow more of your colleagues or friends if they are there
-interact more with known and unknown people (not unnecessarily of course) who share same visions as you
-when you have many followers/interactions, link your old blog posts there in successive tweets so that your blog gains traffic (not with "new blog post" as a tweet but the actual title and with #hashtags). Also put your blog address under your picture by editing your profile (https://twitter.com/settings/profile)
In my opinion twitter should be the platform for you to make people know you. This is where one can interact with lay people easily and gain traffic. Even facebook is getting outdated.
2) YouTube is sure a usefool tool, but (for most people) there needs a visual for the video, otherwise people don't waste time to only "listen", they prefer mp3 (audio-only files). Other mawlanas have done it, but they (often) have attractive visual while playing the audio (done by techy people), or have they own person filmed. And also (most) people prefer short videos (10-15 minutes maximum) unless it is a specified issue (eg crusades).
In my opinion the podcasts for CII radio are OK (at least for me). You can download them and attach them in your blog (click on "add media" when creating a new blog and upload the file) if you want.
3) I don't see the benefit of transcripts, as podcasts are the developpments of your blog posts that are already written. That can come later if you wish but imho that is not the priority and would be time-consuming.
4) Personal website will attract more people than a simple blog. Wordpress proposes such a feature for a few dollars a year and I believe it will make it easy to import all articles. (https://kindi313.wordpress.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=domains&action=search_form)
meanwhile you should also consider having only one blog (keep either blogspot or wordpress and redirect).
Again I'm not tech-savvy but this is the input I can give based on my experience. Other people might agree/disagree.
Asalaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu ml.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your articles and I think you're doing a great service to the ummah in highlighting the issues that plague us. At times I feel you are ahead of your time even, but that's what interest me. As an avid reader of your articles, I do have some suggestions.
1) don't be too hard on yourself. I think you've done great work so far with the blog. It's not always easy to do especially when you're new to it.
2) stick to one blog. I see you have a blogspot and a wordpress going. I would ditch the blogspot and stick to Wordpress as it offers way more flexibility and custom options going forward.
2) I happen to be an it analyst and my job is really to understand what peoples needs are before implementing an IT solution. Once the need is understood, the appropriate technology follows. So, my question to you is, what exactly do you want to do? Does this need to make money for you? Do you just want to establish an audience and get your ideas out to the public? Do you want to build an online community that can discuss what you've written about on your site? Bottom line is, really define what your need and desire is first - the technology to support comes after.
3) Twitter is a good vehicle to bring people to your blog too and also to set a tone of the ideas you have to offer. Although, I recently killed my twitter act. as i found myself wasting too much time I on it.
4) like the other commenter said youtube is pointless unless you have recorded video to show. Ppl don't like to use youtube for listening - that's where podcasts come in.
5) podcasts can be recordings of your lectures or interviews with others that can easily be hosted to your site. Transcripts are not necessary.
6) The current blog could perhaps be enhanced with more neutral colors and graphics, use of a simple theme that better organizes your articles in categories i.e. History, language, conquests current issues etc. another section for podcasts etc.
There are loads of wordpress tutorials and easy step by step guides online to help you build out your blog the way you want to. Take it slow your content and articles speak for themselves.
7) As a follower of your blog I really like that you involve your community in your work. I've seen a positive trend start where shuyukh are interacting more and more with there followers online. One shk. poses Fiqhi questions on Facebook daily and people suggest answers as he monitors who got it right or wrong and provides reasons. It's great to have that connection. Something to consider.
Jazakallah hu khairan.
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as salaamu alaykum
ReplyDeleteJazakumullah khayaran to you and to other respondents. Forgive me for not being able to respond fully right now in a manner you all deserve. I must however mention the reason why I maintain the cumbersome process of double blogging. I started with Blogspot as the simplest platform I could manage. I then considered Wordpress as a more professional platform and with the intention of hopefully getting some interaction from readers. Wordpress did work in the sense that there are some comments here compared to almost nothing on Blogspot. On the other hand, there were still 50 times more hits on Blogspot than Wordpress even when I was only posting a link on Blogspot and full articles on Wordpress. The impression I get from the stats is that there are two different sets of audiences. As such, although its extra time and repetitve, I feel forced to maintain both for the time being.
Walaikum-asalaam wa rahmatullah dear Ml.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a general email address that could be provided to contact you? I have some additional comments and thoughts that I'd like to take offline.
Jazakallh-hu khairan.