A lot of people ask me to share some tips on how to keep maintaining their online personal blog, drive lots of traffic, and keep people coming back.

[source]

How to get a personal blog started

1. Choose an overall theme to your site. I know it is personal, but you have to have some type of focus point to your site. For example, I am known to write very direct and to the point posts. I don’t sugar coat anything, and I chose the idea of rebellious as a way to represent my ideas to the world. Quick and dirty, but to the point, because that’s who I am. So, ask your self these questions:
   1. What do I want to represent to the world? A reiteration of what happened in my daily life or journal of thoughts that lead to discussions about certain issues related to my daily life?
   2. What writing style should I follow? Should it be complex or simple?
   3. Who are my main target audience?
   4. Should I stay focused to one idea all the time, or be unpredictable every day and bring something new to my audience?
2. Should you start a blog from scratch? Scratch means the following:
   1. Buy your own domain name. I prefer this route, because you want your web presence to be unique online. It’s like your name. You are a unique person, so why not have a unique name online?
   2. Install a platform that you are already familiar with and practiced using. I have used WordPress.org for a long time. Before I started this blog, I already knew how to use WordPress and I have used it for other projects. My suggestion for those that are familiar with programming or web design, to test WordPress first and play around with it before committing to it. If not, get someone else to do it for you.
   3. Choose an interface style or theme. I know many people have the hardest time with this, and would rather download a free WordPress template, or buy cheap ones if they are deeply committed. However, if you spent the time buying a domain, buying hosting space every month, then why not spend a bit of time to customize your site? Make it personal. It has your name on it. You don’t want to dress like half the people out there, right?
   4. Spend time upgrading your site. There are many plugins out there that will enhance your site’s functionality.
3. Should I monetize my blog? I know many people want to make money online, especially with their blogs. It’s not that easy, and I don’t recommend you doing it from the get-go. You need to attract visitors first, and many of your visitors are not stupid. If they don’t know who you are, and they realized that your site is still new, and they see advertisements permeated all over the site, then they know you are not being sincere in your writing. You are no longer writing for your self and them, but to only make money off of them. I didn’t start putting advertisement on this blog till after 1.5 years maybe into it.

How to drive traffic and maintain a loyal audience

I know this is the hardest thing about maintaining a site. How to get audience? Is submitting your blog to search engines enough? Should commenting on several blogs just to get your name out there enough?

1. Write a lot of different things. Write anything, and everything possible. Don’t limit your self, or think that “someone” out there is watching. Everyone is watching. Stop this fear from writing and knowing people you know in person might be reading it. Who cares?
2. The more you write, the more search engines are attracted to you. Search engines’ bots love new content. The more you write on a daily bases, the more the bots will go through your site and index new content. The more differing thoughts you have, the more keywords it can pick up.
3. Join social networks.
   1. I use Entrecard on a daily bases, and it is the number one tool for me, as a personal blogger, to attract various audience, and to also see what is out there. The more you drop, limit 300 a day, the more exposure you have online to various people all over the world.
   2. I use Stumbleupon every now and then. I find it a great tool for others to help you advertise certain posts to certain categories.
   3. I use Facebook every day. I find it the most personal way to tell others, I will talk to you. I will be more personal with you, using PM, Wall posts, comments, etc. I am not just a person sitting behind a screen writing blog posts. I am like you, and I don’t mind being friends and getting to know you personally, and vice versa.
   4. I use Twitter all day long. It is the number one way to find me online, and quickly ask me a question. I try my best to answer as soon as I can. I try to write about what I am thinking, how I am feeling, and share some cool links I find online.
4. Get others to subscribe to your site. Everyone will tell you that you must have an RSS feed, and an email subscription link. I agree, however, what I really love is when people bookmark your site to their favorites, or know your link by heart. That’s when you know what you really attracted others and gained a loyal audience. You made your mark online, and people now know who you are.

How to make money from a personal blog

I honestly don’t have a definite answer. I make money because my website traffic is high, and I have great internet exposure from the several keywords or phrases from my blog posts. However, I had this site for over three years. In the beginning, I read a lot about making money online in the 1000′s of dollars, but I didn’t know how to take those tips and apply it to a personal blog. I found it to be a great challenge. So I decided to focus more on attracting people to come on a daily bases, and have fun with my blog instead. I stay interactive with my audience and show them that I am really just like them. If I end up making 1000′s of dollars from advertisements every month, then great. I know it is nearly impossible and I doubt I will ever, but we can only hope eh? Otherwise, I will do what I have always been doing, writing to tell a story about me, the world that I live in, and the way I perceive many issues in life. Then, things can keep developing from there, right?

And like the song says, “Que Sera Sera! Whatever will be, will be!”

Cheers!

Advertising, Advice, Blah Blah, Facebook, Random Thoughts, Tweets

I should be the last person on earth to be asked this question, but people always message me asking, “what is your take on arranged marriages in Islam?”

All I can say, it still happens and it will never change. Do I agree with it? It all depends on your personality and the way you were raised. Not everyone follows it. The world changed so much, that parents or families in general don’t necessary force it at all. They prefer that their sons and daughters find their other half through a process of love. The reason such liberalism in thinking regarding such a sensitive topic in our modern times is more common, is due to the fact that the previous generation, or our parent’s generation, has suffered from these arranged marriages.

Life came to a point that it was rushing so fast. More women were educated, becoming more liberated, and are working and helping out with the family’s income. So, their “role” in the family changed drastically, but the mentality of the way many people perceive it till now has not. That’s how problems arise from these arranged marriages and the overall perception of it.

[source]

Do I think Muslims ever marry out of love then if they go through the process of arranged marriages? Umm…

Many people, especially Muslims, till now believe arranged marriages are better. The groom and bride are forced to believe that love develops after marriage. It should never be before that. That’s fine. The way Muslims perceive it, love can easily fool someone’s emotions, and the devil will occupy those two people and cause them to commit sinful actions. Which is true, it happens a lot, and God does not forgive such actions. It is even a sin in other religions, not just Islam. But I believe that people who end up in such a position because they are very weak. They are weak in personality and faith. If all Muslims followed only the basics of their religion, then no one would have to worry about arranged marriages or forcing a girl to marry too young, or any other weird story that many people hear about every day. However, there is always evil in this world that messes up people’s judgments.

Do I believe in arranged marriages in general? Umm…

If we want to base this on the great method of keeping up with damn statistics, and personal experiences from you, yes you the reader, then, ah, I hear about breakups and divorces more than anything in our world. In Canada, the divorce rate is hovering around 38% yearly, and in the United States, around 45%. Isn’t that a bit too high? Seriously, if the majority of those people married out of love, spent so much money on a wedding, home, furniture, appliances, and even procreating, then why in the world did it end in divorce? Wasn’t it a marriage based on love? So what would be the odds that an arranged marriage is better or worse than that?

For arranged marriages, I don’t know what the statistics are, but I got many people telling me, the odds of marrying out of love or arranged marriage is almost the same, and most likely the same number of people will end up in divorce. Therefore, don’t think arranged marriages are such a bad thing. Like I said, you are asking me, Mona, if I think it is ok. I think marriage in general is not ok! I am anti-marriage and anti-love. Happy? No, I am just joking I swear, but many of you already know my take on this whole marriage business. It ain’t easy, and I am old enough to know that a person needs to control their emotions and think before signing their life away, and be part of someone else’s life. I like things to last forever, and I am not willing to jump into the band wagon because everyone else is. And I believe that resorting to an arranged marriage is like accepting vanilla over chocolate, and I damn love my chocolates!!

For the final time, marriage is different people. Arranged or out of love, married life is SO different. So, this question that people keep asking me, and thinking that it is so backwards and our religion is so oppressing for women, and life, etc, need to really stop. There is no right answer. It is all based on experience, and I experienced neither to really come up with a really really good answer. All I know that love is over rated. Life is a lot more than that, and we should never let our emotions take over logical life choices.

I keep hearing Syrians or even Lebanese saying this regarding marriage, “Marriage is like a watermelon. You don’t know how it tastes like till you open it. It could be sweet or sour. You never know.”

HOWEVER! I can sense the odd few anal people right now that will counter argue that phrase! They will say that you can pick the exact sweet type of watermelon. Science changed things. . . Blah blah blah .. spare me .. spare me this argument. It is pointless!

Advice, Blah Blah, Culture, Random Thoughts, Religion, Sleepy Post, They said what?

What happens when you try to weight both critical life options in the palm of your hands and try picking which one is more important, like job or marriage? Answer: you end up with a bad migraine and a mother who will never understand you. Actually, no one understands me, and I am trying so hard to keep it that way to eliminate the migraine!

Yes, I have been suffering from severe migraines. I do see little specs of light, and my head feels like it is going to rip from the inside and explode! That’s what happens when people only mention these two things to me. I get people who won’t stop talking about work, and keep giving me endless advice thinking they know best. So what do I inevitably end up doing? I ignore them until my mind settles and I am back to normal. I try to tell them, “ok, you know best. You know it all, but I am not in a state of mind to listen to it!”

Then, you got people like my mother, who thinks that it is about time I got married, because I am beyond old and I am approaching the God forbidden word, THIRTY! I have been forced to have this conversation with her the past week, but she won’t get it. This is her constant nagging:

Mom: “How do these girls find guys to marry, and they are much younger than you. They find a guy and it doesn’t seem so hard. Or they go on the internet and find them one.”

When I hear that, I want to shoot my self. I want to open the window in my bedroom and jump out of it. That way I can permanently damage a body part, and not have to hear her nagging me with the same phrase over and over.

I answer her: “I do not go out of the house. I am not going to find a guy off the net that I can only interact with through a screen. And yes, I blame you guys for all this!”

If you are wondering what I am blaming them for, then I will make a long story short, I ain’t going to discuss it ever on my site or to anyone outside my family. It is no one’s business how I ended up like this. The past with the ass hole was bad enough, however, the future is going to be a lot worse if my parents don’t change. It is not my fault I am stuck in a rut cause of them. It is not my fault that I am unemployed (they actually drove me to quit my job because they noticed I was about to crack, and they didn’t like my job at all from day one), and now I can’t find a new job and get out of this town. There are a lot of things that I blame them for, but it seems they don’t care. I also blame them for one last thing, the white or grey hair growth since I was 25. And yes, I blame most of it on being an Arab!

Mom: “How come all those girls have jobs? Why can’t you get a job?”

When I hear that, I want to go and lock my self in a room and scream my lungs out!

Mom: “How come your friends are getting married now. They are younger than you right? That’s why.”

I answer her: “How can people that went to highschool with me, and were in the same classes with me in University be younger than me? Mom, you are going to be shocked now, but they are older than me! I was the youngest one in the group. Remember I was born in December! And the rest of the girls I knew where 1 or 2 years and even 3 years older! Why is it that everyone that is getting married or engaged now is YOUNGER THAN ME?!”

That’s a scene I had in the kitchen earlier today. It’s ok. No damage done. Just some screaming and anger from my side, because my mother does not understand AT ALL!

That’s another problem that I suffer from. When you are stuck 4 months face to face with people, and you have no excuse to get out of the house. (Mine used to be work and school.) Inevitably, you start developing a serious personal problem like I am now. You start hating your self, hate interacting with people, and wishing you can accelerate time until you reach a point in your life that God has written for you that is just a tad bit different than it is right now!

Oh believe me, I am not angry. Why would I be angry? Angry is not a strong enough word to describe how I am feeling right now. Maybe a bit furious and about to explode. Maybe I am about to commit horrible atrocities on my self if I cannot resolve this problem anytime soon. Maybe my social interaction with other human beings is about to diminish, if it hasn’t already, and end up being anti-social like I was a few years ago. I honestly don’t know how else to describe my utter disgust from my life right now. If I say I hate my life, then I would be lying. I am beyond that state. I am far from it, and I am on the other side of the playing field now.

Some people would suggest a drink for me. It’s ok, I don’t drink. However, I went earlier to the mall and I devoured a Haggan Daz icecream in 45 seconds, and ate a Kit Kat Chunky in 1 minute. This is the first time I have eaten chocolate in weeks. I think the chocolate effect has worn off now, and that’s why I ended up writing this horrible post.

God help me.

Advice, Angry, Blah Blah, Random Thoughts, They said what?

The more I talk to various people, the more I realize that I am way normal. So normal, that I am hanging out permanently with my other peepz at the peak of the social normal scale. I am on the top enjoying cleaner air, but maybe less oxygen. Meh, who needs oxygen!! Oxygen is SO overrated. Stay tuned for an explanation of that messed up concept in future rebellious nonsense thoughts. Why you may ask that I am claiming my normality, finally?? Well, I thought I took things seriously. I thought of my self as a major drama empress. (Not queen. I was beyond royalty at various cracking points.) lol Seriously, some people amaze me!

Here is what I have learned from observing people’s behaviour and online socializing:

1. People cannot take advice from me. They love to give it to me, and enforce it upon me, but once the tides have turned, bam, they take major offense by the words that I vomit through the keyboard.

2. I cannot express my self truthfully at all. I feel like I always have to crack a joke or sarcastic reply to gain people’s friendship. Once I have a serious talk, then it all goes down hill from there. That proves to me that people are way over sensitive.

3. If I spaz or reply back angrily, because they offended me, then they no longer want to talk to me ever again. So, if you do it to me, I am ok with it? Do you guys think I am that insensitive to take it?

4. If I give a general opinion about them, then they take it as a major offense! Why the hell do you ask me sometimes what I think of you? You are so asking the wrong person. I don’t lie when it comes to people’s obviously messed up personalities and actions. No one is perfect, but some things ARE OBVIOUSLY WRONG! I don’t draw any lines when it comes to telling people what I really think of them.

5. Once they get mad at me, or take offense by me telling the truth, the first thing they say, “Your blog sucks! All you write is nonsense and turn it into a chat room about nothing.” So, why were you a part of this nonsense to begin with? Like I said earlier, they only like my sarcastic humor. They don’t realize that I sometimes act like a serious person. You should see me in a suit. I look like an 18 year old executive about to lead the world into oblivion. Ha ha ha.

6. Most importantly, I don’t care if they don’t want to talk to me again. Less human beings to interact with on a personal level, the better!

The end.

Wasn’t that a lovely post?

Should I explain now why I think oxygen is overrated? lol Or does anyone else want to take a wise crack at my messed up concept? Ha ha!

Advice, Blah Blah, Random Thoughts, Ranting as usual!, They said what?, Whatever!

I always thought this way!!

Could this be any more true?

Advice, Blah Blah