Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tired of follower hunting?

Let me just answer the question plain and simple: Yes.

I am guessing a lot of people feel the same way. Let me explain.

Obviously, I am not going to get to the point right away. First of all, here’s a little history:

Roughly two years (or more) ago, I started a blog titled ‘Naina’s Dilemma’. I wanted to write about a fictional character Naina, and follow her story through blog posts about her post-graduation life and mid-nagging-mom-to-get-her-to-find-a-suitable-husband life (phew! That was a long one!). She was eventually going to get married during the course of the blog. I was new to blogging and wanted to see what it was all about. I secretly wished I would get many comments on the blog and my blog would become a hit with people from the same cultural background as myself. However, after a couple of months (like two months), I got tired. And I deleted the blog. I was disheartened and thought that this was the end of my blogging ‘career’. I was a failure, I thought.

deletedblog

Then, last year, I decided to start another blog after I had shadowed an optometrist. I wanted to write down all my shadowing/optometry experiences in one place and when I got interviewed (hopefully) at a optometry school, then I could tell them all about my blog. Who knows? Maybe they would be impressed. 

I had two posts on that blog when I decided to delete it and move all those posts to another all-encompassing blog, Rukhpar Mor. I had commented on a couple of blogs with this same nickname (which I had made up in a matter of a minute when I was commenting on a blog for the first time) and thought that it reflected a lot about where I was in my life. This new change of blog name and address took place in September 2009. A new blog had been born.

A few months into blogging at Rukhpar Mor, I decided that I really did want to have a separate blog for my optometry experiences because I didn’t want all my thoughts to get muddled together in one big mush of a mess. So the optometry blog (now called ‘The Ocular’) was reincarnated.

Two months ago, the blogging fever got the better of me and I started yet another blog called ‘Destination Orange County’. I have decided to blog about my adventures/dining/aimless-roaming-around in Orange County in one secure place.
With these new additions to my writing life (which previously only consisted of endless journaling and essay writing), I decided that I did not care about getting any followers. I just wanted to let out my feelings and share my thoughts/experiences/emotions/anything with whoever might be fortunate enough to come across my blogs. Secretly, however, I prayed. I prayed that I would fill my blog with great content that would attract readers. I prayed that my readership would grow to a vast number, the size of facebook users.

Then, one day, wham! I thought to myself: “I need to start commenting on, and following other blogs. Maybe that way I could grow my followership" But I was still too picky. I went around the internet and found a couple blogs that I thought were interesting and followed them. I started to comment regularly. I got some of my earlier followers that way. Everything was sunny and bright on my side of the fence.

Last month, however, I got frustrated again. I wasn’t getting anymore followers! So I looked around for ideas to grow my readership. I found out about two different networks-Sisterswhoblog and 20somethingbloggers. I decided to join and see if it would help. Luckily, I was able to increase my followers from 10 to 19!!!!!!!! ( yes, this deserved that many exclamation points). I was, needless to say, on the greener side of the grass once more.

But now, my dear reader, I am becoming a follower-holic. I have been spending hours and days on these networking sites and leaving comments along with my blog name for prospective followers. I am getting weary and tired, like a sailor caught amidst a storm. My head has been hurting from spending too much time in front of the computer screen (at first, I thought it was dehydration, but I have been chugging down numerous glasses of water to no avail).

I have decided that I am thankful to my Lord for the followers I have. I will focus on writing great content that will benefit my current peeps (followers) and maybe new followers will make their way to this blog. I will (at least for the time being) not stalk other blogs to get more followers on mine.

In the meantime, I want to send a message to all my lovely followers:

peeps
I really appreciate that all you women (yes, all my followers are women!) are following me. I want you to know how much it means to me. I also would like to ask you peeps to write me a comment and let me know what kinds of topics interest you. I want to write content that will be interesting to those that are following me, so that they can come back over and over again to leave comments. I love you all! :)

21 comments:

azzah said...

Dear sister, i love fashion so yeah i'd love to know more about hijab styles from my sisters all over the world.. :)

http://walkmethere.blogspot.com

Rukhpar Mor said...

Salam Azzah,

InshAllah, I will post some hijab style ideas....I am a new hijabi so it will take some time to figure out a good style:)

Ghadeer said...

Salam

You're welcome! I decided to follow you because I think your blog's worth it! (Thanks for following me back :P). It's true that when we just start blogging, we feel really disheartened, but just like any other 'venture' in life, it takes time, patience and perseverance to succeed.

Hope your blog continues to grow prosperous!

Rukhpar Mor said...

Walaykum Assalam jnana,

Thank you so much for the kind words. JazakAllah Khayr:) Yeah, I really need to practice being patient:)

amel said...

Assalamu Alikume
I think we'r all going through the same thing so don't worry and write about any topics that you like writing about because I realy enjoy reading you topics.XXx

http://al-motahajiba.blogspot.com/

Rukhpar Mor said...

Walaykum Assalam Amel,

Thank you!! JazakAllah Khayr.

AJ said...

i know how you feel! i started a blog a few months back and then decided to delete it as well but i couldn't help but start a new one. thanks for following. can't wait to see what you have to say.

over and out.
A

Bubbli said...

followed :)and u just gave me inspiration for a new post =D gotta go get typin lol

Rukhpar Mor said...

@A thanks:)

@bubbli, can't wait to read your post:)

Anonymous said...

lol. i love ur posts and i know what u mean..well actually i dont. but i used to have an amazing blog with a few thousand followers and then i got sick and my hubby said its the evil eye. so I took down the blog and haven't been back until a few months ago. but ofcourse i started it without my pick (well at least without a full face pick) and with my middel instead of first name. its beeen sooo hard getting ppl back to my blog especially since i deleted all my friends on FACebook. erg. so annoying. but wtv. im cool with it and i think u should keep blogging cause u have awesome stuff going on!!

love
anya

Rukhpar Mor said...

Salam Anya,

A few thousand followers!! Whoa! You must have had a great blog:)
InshAllah, I hope you get the same number of followers, plus a thousand more!! Ameen!!:) and then you could refer them to my blog:)

Hazel from Hazel Loves Design said...

Loved this post... I agree I am in the 'stalking' stage!! I did a little dance when my followers got to 30 the other day!! hahaha!

So anyway, just so you know it is worth it, I have come via 20SB, so maybe the networking sites do some good??

:) Hazel

PS Your newest follower :)

Hazel from Hazel Loves Design said...

PS What is sisters who blog?? :) Hazel

Rukhpar Mor said...

Hi Hazel,
:) Hah I guess it DOES work!! That makes me happy. Thanks for following me. Now, I'm following you as well:)

Sisterswhoblog is basically a networking site for Muslim women (we like to call each other sisters) to share blogs and get followers, similar to 20sb.

I'm so excited to have you here:)

Rania of StyleWhimsical said...

Hi, Rukhpar Mor!

I'm your friend on SistersWhoBlog, and you miss out following me... :)

It's an interesting post! Thanks for sharing your feeling. I think everyone who is blogging ever feel the same, especially at the first time they start blogging. But, I think we need to keep move on, do what we passionate about, and just keep learning to improve our blog and blogging skills. This might be brings more followers to our blog.

And yes, just like Azzah said, I'd like to see your hijab style too :)

Rukhpar Mor said...

Hello Rania,

Yeah I am following you now!!=)

I agree that we just need to keep writing about what we love and not worry too much about other stuff=)

Thanks for following me!!

b.p. said...

I love this post! It is so true. I used to do that same, but now alhamdulillah I am not focusing on that anymore. We are luckier than others who have 0 followers. =) I like that you blog about your daily life. Those blogs are most interesting to me!

Rukhpar Mor said...

Yeah, you're absolutely right=)
Thank you for commenting here..=)

m, said...

Wonderful blog. I really enjoy reading!

WhiteOrchid said...

lol yep, I've been there too! :) ...Good post!

Unknown said...

Assalamualeikum dear ukthi!
I love this post very much! I too have been going through the same thing, wanting more and more followers, just to be "known" on the WORLD WIDE WEB! :O But Alhamdulillah, since I read your post, I realized how right you are, alhamdulillah. In reality we should just be thankful for what Allah swt has given us instead of wanting more, more and more all the time. JazakAllah khair for your post, ukthi. :)

FiamanAllah!

-www.thecreativemuslimah.blogspot.com

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