Category: Serious Matters

Yeah Merdeka!

We scream at the top of our lungs as if we had played some part. This independence that our ancestors fought for, what was it for? More importantly are we really independent?

My friends, no.

in·de·pend·ent. adjective

1.free from outside control; not depending on another’s authority. “the study is totally independent of central government” synonyms:freethinking, free, individualistic;More

2. not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence. “I wanted to remain independent in old age” synonyms:self-sufficient, self-supporting, self-reliant, standing on one’s own two feet “her grown-up, independent children”

Look at our life. We work to pay for a house we live in. We work to pay the car to get to office. We work to pay our debts. But without these debts, can we truly live a happy life?

The world we know today is filled with materialism, which creates ample room for optimism and false happiness. Ask yourself, how long did a new cloth made you happy? New shoes? New car? In the end we want more. We want the better version, we constantly upgrade to fit our lifestyle.

Until we can find a mechanism to free ourselves from unnessary worldly worries, then I say, we are still mentally colonized.

Ps: you might want to look into zuhud.

I’m sure we will hit the crossroad eventually. My time has come.

I have worked for 5 years in this organization. I have seen people come and leave, the good and bad of managers, the failing strategies, the lazy execution, the de-moralizing team and more. I can look at the numbers, opportunities, data, and gut feeling again and again, but is the grass really greener outside? Or yellowish of the same nature? Recession is coming. People stop buying houses. Purchasing power has declined.

The big question is, should I pack my bag or endure this?

Blogging used to be fun, especially when you received comments, whether it’s funny, thought provoking, witty, shitty, including the plain boring yes-sir-what-ever-you-say-is-right. All these comments are makes a blog lively.

Now you’ve got to compete for attention, popularity and time. I have facebook, twitter, instagram and whatsapp to blame for that. And 3/4 are owned by facebook.

What does that tell you? The limited attention that people pour in to reading blogs.

But the trend are subsiding, people tend to ditch mainstream. People are looking back for quality content to put them out of misery. Someone they can relate to. Something they can share a passion with. Some means of making additional money. Whatever it is, everybody is looking for something.

So here are 3 points that will make your blog spring back to action.

1. Focus on Title & Content.

If you write like a robot, you probably end up reading your own content. Even Siri can perform humanly response, you can do better. Readers naturally spend 5 seconds (or less) and decide to continue reading and the next 5 seconds for the intro. So make that 10 seconds count. Never EVER EVER EVER (3 times) write a misleading title. If you were caught once, you’re doomed. Nobody likes to be cheated.

2. Simplistic Design.

Let me tell you something, people hate banner ads. HATE as in you being handed out flyers as you reach the ground floor from the 1st floor escalator, you tell yourself to just throw it away no matter how cool the design is. More banners = more people hate it. Indirectly, this will affect how they feel about your blog. Mobile friendly is no longer an option (NH is not mobile friendly *knocks on head*), it’s a must.

3. Speed of Loading.

Nobody has the patience to wait for your website to finish loading. Cut down on the images or at least warn people of the slow loading so they can decide to read now or later. Use proper CSS, remove the javascript that you dont need. Reduce the plugins. Install WP-cache. There are loads of things that can be done to improve speed. If it takes more than 5 seconds to get a response, you’re dead my friend.

The judgement is, does your title suck? If no, proceed. Then is it too much clutter (filled with banner)? If no proceed. The last, is it slow? If no then read.

As always, good luck. Do let me know if you have further points to add. Would love to hear your input.