Ali Setan yang dimarahi oleh PEMUDA UMNO

Azmil Mustafa telah menggemparkan komuniti UMNO yang menyebabkan mereka telah membuat laporan polis kerana menghina sultan.

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Keldai! Kau Tipu

Dalam sebuah ladang tinggal seekor keldai bernama Kautipul Bukulali dan seekor kancil bernama No Brand. Kedua-dua binatang ini berkawan sejak dari kecil lagi. Kancil No Brand telah melahirkan anak bernama Sakatan dan ia sangat sayang kepada anak kancil tersebut. 

Suatu hari kancil No Brand telah diajak oleh lembu Tong Na pergi ke hutan mencari makanan bernama ulam toya kesukaan Tong Na. Anak kancil Sakatan ditinggalkan kepada keldai Kautipul Bukulali untuk dipeliharanya buat seketika. 

Setelah lama kancil No Brand tidak pulang-pulang, anak kancil telah menjadi sayang kepada keldai Kautipul Bukulali dan menganggapnya sebagai ibu. 

Tidak lama kemudian, kancil No Brand telah kembali ke ladang. Namun anak kancil Sakatan telah menganggap keldai Kautipul Bukulali sebagai ibunya dan sentiasa mengekori keldai tersebut ke mana-mana. 

Kancil No Brand tidak senang hati kerana anak kesayangannya telah tidak menyayanginya. Lalu dia pun merayu kepada keldai Kautipul Bukulali memulangkan anaknya. Malangnya keldai Kautipul tidak mahu berbuat demikian. 

Keldai Kautipul : Ini anak aku. 

Kancil No Brand : Tidak, ini anak aku lah. Kenapa kau rampas anak aku. 

Keldai Kautipul : Jika kau tak percaya, kau lihat anak ini selalu mengikuti aku. 

Kancil No Brand tidak puas hati dengan alasan keldai tersebut, seraya berkata: 

Kancil No Brand : Jika kau masih berkeras, mari kita berjumpa dengan hakim. 

Keldai Kautipul : Ok, aku sanggup bersumpah dan cabar kau supaya bersumpah. 

Kancil No Brand : Ok kalau begitu, kalau aku benar, kau dilaknat jadi katak panjang. 

Mereka pun pergi menemui hakim untuk menyatakan masalah mereka. 

Keldai Kautipul : Tuan, kami ada masalah untuk diselesaikan. 

Hakim : Kamu berdua pergi la balik kerana hari ini aku datang haid. Jadi aku tak boleh mengadili kes kamu berdua.. 

Keldai Kautipul : Aik, bukan ke tuan adalah kucing jantan? Bagaimana bisa datang haid. 

Hakim : Jadi, kalau aku kucing jantan tak boleh datang haid, bagaimana pula kamu keldai boleh beranakan seekor kancil. 

Kancil No Brand : hahaha.. sekarang aku yang benar. 

Semenjak dari itu Keldai Kautipul Bukulali telah menjadi katak panjang akibat sumpahan sehingga hari ini.

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Dunia Kasih Sayang

Baru-baru ini saya ke Negeri Sembilan untuk mengunjungi rumah seorang saudara. Sewaktu kereta melalui hutan rekreasi Hulu Bendul di Kuala Pilah (kawasan sebenar), nun di depan sana, saya lihat ada sekumpulan monyet mundar-mandir di sisi jalan yang sibuk. Ia seperti buru-buru mahu melintas ke seberang jalan.

Saya terus memandu dan sewaktu kereta semakin hampir, saya terkejut kerana terdapat seekor monyet menggeletik di atas jalan. Ia baru dilanggar salah sebuah kereta di hadapan saya. Pantas saya menekan brek dan memperlahankan kereta.

Kereta semakin hampir dan dada ini berdebar pabila tertampak monyet itu terus menggelupur dan menghempas-hempas diri di atas jalan. Kakinya terketar-ketar. Di sampingnya ada darah dan cebisan daging.

Namun yang paling menyentak perasaan saya ialah apabila melihat perutnya yang buncit itu terburai, dan dari celah luka besar itu tersembul sesuatu berwarna KELABU. Tahukah pembaca, benda apakah yang saya lihat itu? Benda kelabu itu adalah ANAK yang masih dalam kandungannya! MashaALLAHhh..!

Pada ketika itu saya terasa tubuh ini menggeletar. Saya pasti, si ibu monyet tadi akan mati sebentar lagi. Begitu juga dengan anaknya. Nyawa si kecil pasti melayang sebelum sempat melihat wajah tercinta si ibu.

Sebaik melintasinya, saya pandang cermin sisi dan belakang. Saya nampak kawanan monyet tadi bercempera. Ia berlari-lari mendapatkan si ibu tadi, tetapi kemudian bertempiaran semula ke tepi jalan kerana hampir sahaja dilanggar kenderaan yang lalu-lalang.

Mungkin kepada pembaca sekalian, apalah ada pada nyawa seekor monyet. Ia hanya MONYET. Haiwan bodoh. Hidupnya di hutan, tidak setaraf dengan manusiawi. Tapi TIDAK kepada saya. Pulang bercuti, saya terus catatkan surat ini kerana tragedi yang saya sebutkan tadi sebenarnya telah mengingatkan saya kepada sebuah peristiwa seawal 1990-an.

Pembaca Blog Teman yang diRAHMATi Allah Azza waJalla,

Ketika itu usia saya masih di awal 20-an. Hari itu, saya dipamit oleh seorang bapa saudara untuk memburu di hutan berhampiran rumah. Saya bukanlah minat berburu, tetapi daripada bosan terperuk di rumah, saya terima ajakan bapa saudara saya tadi.

Masih saya ingat, beberapa jam berburu, matahari pun sudah menggalah, namun tiada kedapatan pun seekor haiwan yang melintas di hadapan kami. Pelanduk, napuh, rusa, ayam hutan dan burung yang selalu berlegar di hutan itu, seolah-olah bersembunyi jauh dari kami. Hutan itu sepi.

Saya bertambah rimas, pakcik pula saya lihat mula kecewa. Hari kian beranjak petang, pakcik menepuk-nepuk senapang RELAnya.

Bilang pakcik, “Kita balik ajalah, hari ni tak ada apa-apa. Mungkin esok ada habuan.”

Kami berjalan pulang, dan selang dua tiga puluh derap langkah, kami terdengar suara riuh-rendah di sebalik rimbunan pohon berdaun lebat di hadapan kami. Saya mengamati suara itu, ternyata ia datang dari sekawan monyet yang sedang memakan buah-buah tempatan.

Saya perhatikan pakcik begitu berminat memerhatikan tingkah nakal haiwan tersebut. Di bibirnya terukir seulas senyuman. Senyuman yang saya faham benar akan tamsilannya. Adakah pakcik hendak memuntahkan peluru senapang RELAnya menembak monyet-monyet itu?

“Haa.. Pakcik nak tembak ibunya, lepas tu pakcik nak ambil anaknya. Nanti boleh bela,” begitu jawapan pakcik.

Masih saya ingat juga, saya berulang kali mendesak pakcik supaya membatalkan hasratnya itu, namun hampa. Saya gagal mengendurkan niatnya. Tidak akan saya lupa kata-kata pakcik petang itu, “Daripada balik tangan kosong…” lalu dia mengancungkan senapangnya ke arah kawanan monyet tadi, dan…

DAMMM!!!

Demi berdentum sahaja senapang, bertempiaran dan lintang-pukang monyet-monyet tadi menyelamatkan diri. Hutan itu riuh dengan bunyi ranting jatuh serta jerit pekik haiwan berkenaan.

BUUUPP! Ada suatu benda yang jatuh ke tanah!

Saya terpandang seekor ibu monyet jatuh berdekatan dengan kami. Saya dan pakcik terus mendapatkannya. Dari perutnya bercucuran darah pekat. Anaknya yang tidak mengerti apa-apa terlepas dari pelukan, tercampak tidak jauh dari ibunya sambil menjerit-jerit.

Si ibu merengus-rengus memanggil anaknya dengan lemah. Ia cuba bangun dengan bersusah payah sambil tangannya mencapai akar-akar pokok untuk mendekati anaknya. Sang anak yang baru berjalan jatuh, bangun mendapatkan ibunya.

Si anak itu terus saja memeluk ibunya yang kesakitan. Masih terbayang jelas di ingatan saya bagaimana si ibu monyet tadi memegang tubuh dan menatap wajah anaknya puas-puas, kemudian dicium berkali-kali. Setelah itu dibawa si anak ke dada lalu disuakan susunya.

Saya dan pakcik terdiam melihat si anak menghisap susu manakala ibunya mengerang-ngerang perlahan seakan memujuk sambil menahan sakit. Hati saya tersentuh. Betapa si anak yang baru melihat dunia tidak tahu bahawa ibu tempat dia bermanja akan pergi buat selama-lamanya. Saya tidak mampu menyelami fikiran si ibu monyet tersebut. Namun, mungkin ia ingin memeluk anaknya buat kali terakhir, sepuas-puasnya kerana.. selepas ini, ibu akan pergi, nak. Ibu tidak akan dapat memelukmu lagi tatkala kau kesejukan, menyuap mulutmu bila kau merengek kelaparan, juga melindungimu bila kau disengat panas.

Mata si ibu monyet itu menyorot lemah ke arah kami. Tangannya memeluk erat si anak seolah-olah enggan melepaskannya, biarlah ia mati bersama anaknya. Tubir mata ibu monyet, saya lihat digenangi air, masih tidak lepas memandang kami dengan pandangan sayu. Mungkin ingin menyatakan betapa kejamnya manusia. Dosa apakah yang aku lakukan hingga aku ditembak? Salahkah aku bebas ke sana ke mari di bumi indah ciptaan ALLAH Ta’ala ini?

Tubuh ibu monyet itu berlumuran darah... begitu juga dengan si anak yang masih di pelukannya. Beberapa detik kemudian, dengan kudrat yang masih berbaki, kami lihat si ibu mengucup anaknya kesekian kalinya. Perlahan-lahan tubuhnya terkulai di tanah, bisa penabur dari muncung senapang pakcik tadi tiada daya ditanggung jasad si ibu monyet.

Si anak menjerit-jerit memanggil ibunya supaya bangun dan melarikan diri dari situ, tapi si ibu… sudah tidak berNYAWA lagi. Puas menjerit, si anak menyusu semula tanpa mengetahui sebentar nanti tubuh si ibu akan menjadi sejuk dan beku.

Di saat itu perasaan saya terlalu sebak. Saya perhatikan pakcik. Dia beberapa kali menggetap bibir cuba menahan air matanya daripada tumpah ke pipi. Tapi bila melihat si anak monyet tadi menjerit dan menggoncang-goncang tubuh ibunya, akhirnya takungan air mata kami pecah juga. Saya betul-betul kesal dengan apa yang berlaku.

Suasana sunyi kembali. Si anak monyet itu kami rangkul dan bawa pulang. Biarpun ia terus menjerit-jerit dan tidak rela berpisah dengan ibunya yang telah kaku.

Di dalam perut kereta, saya hanya mengunci kata. Begitu juga pakcik. Pada ketika itu saya dapat merasakan betapa kejamnya kami kerana membunuh satu nyawa yang tidak berdosa. Biarpun monyet itu hanya haiwan yang hodoh, tapi mereka juga punya perasaan, ada rasa kasih kepada anak, rasa sayang kepada ibu. Tapi kita MANUSIA…? Mana hilangnya aqal WARAS kami??

Selang dua minggu kemudian, anak monyet tadi mengikut jejak ibunya. Pakcik memberitahu saya, anak monyet itu tidak mahu makan dan asyik menjerit-jerit sahaja. Mungkin ia RINDUkan ibunya. Apabila malam, keadaan bertambah teruk dan akhirnya.. MATI (noktah).

Kini saya sudah bekerja dan berumahtangga. Peristiwa tadi sudah saya ceritakan kepada anak dan isteri saya agar mereka mengerti bahawa haiwan juga punya perasaan berkasih-sayang. Yang KEJAM adalah manusia, walaupun kitalah satu-satunya makhluk yang Tuhan anugerahkan aqal fikiran. Tidak lupa saya memberitahu mereka betapa agung dan sucinya kasih sayang seorang wanita bergelar IBU.

Pakcik? Dia sudah jarang berburu. Jika terserempak kawanan monyet sekalipun, pakcik tidak akan menembaknya..

* Pertama kali saya baca kisah ini ketika sedang menjaga anak-anak didik saya yang sedang menghadapi ujian bulanan sekitar Mac. Beberapa orang 'anak-anak' saya perasan akan kehadiran air mata yang mengalir di pipi. Ya, barangkali emosi saya tersentuh pabila berkait dengan kes-kes sosial remaja kini. Ya ALLAH.. KAU lindungilah kami dari seksaan azab NERAKA-Mu dan tunjukilah serta pimpinilah kami ke jalan yang lurus, ameen..

Ukht Murfiqah – Firaqiyatoun, Malizia. 

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Monyet Mangkok Hack

Pada suatu ketika dahulu di dalam sebuah hutan berlaku pergaduhan antara 2 ekor binatang iaitu kancil No Brand dan kambing Mah Ngembek . Pergaduhan berlaku disebabkan perebutan terhadap seekor ikan Bojan Buntal yang dijumpai. Masing-masing mendakwa Bojan Buntal tersebut adalah kepunyaan mereka. Setelah pergaduhan itu berlarutan, mereka bercadang untuk membawa ke mahkamah untuk di adili oleh hakim monyet Mangkok. Oleh kerana kambing Mah Ngembek mahu menguatkan hujah bahawa ikan Bojan Buntal tersebut adalah kepunyaannya, dia pun memanggil 4 ekor ungka bernama Mustilam, Modugong, Lekong Bunchit dan Guntai untuk mengumpulkan bukti sambil mempengaruhi hakim kerana mereka dari keturunan yang sama. Setelah ditetapkan hari perbicaraan, hakim monyet Mangkok pun bertanya kepada kancil No Brand dan kambing Mah Ngembek tentang perbalahan mereka. Kambing Mah Ngembek melalui 4 ekor ungkanya telah membentangkan hujah tetapi kancil No Brand berhujah tanpa bantuan sesiapa. 

Monyet Mangkok : Apa masalah kamu berdua? 

Kancil No Brand : Saya menjumpai ikan Bojan Buntal ini dahulu. 

Kambing Mah Ngembek: Tidak Yang Arif, saya dulu jumpa ikan ini 

Monyet Mangkok : Apa bukti kancil jumpa dulu? 

Ungka Mus Tilam : Dia tak jumpa dulu, tapi kambing jumpa dulu kerana dari jauh kambing nampak dan dia terus mengembekkk 

Ungka Guntai : Betul tu, yang Ariff, oleh kerana kambing mengembek dan kancil tak berbunyi, maka kancil tidak boleh dikatakan nampak dulu ikan tersebut. 

Kancil No Brand : Tapi saya yang hampir dengan ikan. 

Monyet Mangkok : Kalau macam tu, saya ambil keputusan.. untuk memberi ikan sama banyak dengan memotong ikan menjadi dua. 

Setelah di perdengarkan keputusan tersebut, kedua pihak setuju. Malangnya hakim monyet Mangkok telah memberi ikan kepada kancil bahagian yang besar dan kambing bahagian yang kecil. 

Maka kambing Mah Ngembek mengadu kepada hakim semula. 

Kambing Mah Ngembek: Kenapa bahagian saya kecil tapi bahagian kancil dapat 

besar? 

Monyet Mangkok : Kalau macam tu biar saya makan sebahagian ikan sikancil supaya jadi sama banyak dengan bahagian yang diperolehi oleh kambing. 

Namun bahagian ikan yang dimakan oleh monyet banyak. Apabila kancil No Brand buat perbandingan, bahagian ikan nya adalah kecil berbanding bahagian yang diperolehi oleh kambing Mah Ngembek. Maka kancil No Brand tidak puas hati, lalu mengadu semula pada hakim Mangkok, 

Kancil No Brand : Ini tidak adil kerana bahagian saya kecil tapi bahagian kambing besar. 

Monyet Mangkok : Kambing, sila bawa ikan kamu ke mari, oleh kerana bahagian kamu besar, saya perlu potong agar sama dengan bahagian sikancil. 

Hakim telah makan bahagian ikan yang diperolehi oleh kambing Mah Ngembek. Setelah dibuat perbandingan, bahagian ikan sikancil No Brand lebih besar pula. Akhirnya kedua kancil dan kambing tidak memperolehi ikan kerana habis dimakan oleh hakim monyet Mangkok. 

Monyet Mangkok: Padan muka kamu semua, aku dah kenyang. Wahai kambing Mah Ngembek, walaupun kamu cuba pengaruhi aku dengan ungka-ungka kamu, tapi aku tak mudah dipengaruhi. lain kali perkara yang boleh dirunding janganlah dirumitkan. HAHAHA

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Kura-kura dan Arnab Era Gen Y

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race.

The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.

He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ.

The hare woke up and realised that he'd lost the race. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.

This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with. 

But then recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this story. It continues. 

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some Defect Prevention (Root Cause Analysis). He realised that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax.

If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles. 

The moral of the story？ Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. 

If you have two people in your organisation, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organisational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap.

It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn't end here. The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realised that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. 

He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. 

The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river.

The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race. 

The moral of the story? First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency. 

In an organisation, if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you.

If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement.

The story still hasn't ended. 


The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realised that the last race could have been run much better. 

So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. 

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back.

On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story? It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure.

The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could. In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort.

Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things.
Important lessons are:
• that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady;
• work to your competencies;
• pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers;
• never give up when faced with failure;
• and finally, compete against the situation. Not against a rival.

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Saya atau Kamu?

Manusia cenderung kepada kelakuan agresif, asertif atau pasif. Menurut kajian watak asertif adalah lebih baik berbanding yang lain. Antara sifat watak ini adalah:

• Bangun memperjuangkan hak seseorang walau apa keaadan sekalipun.
• Membetulkan situasi apabila hak seseorang diceroboh.
• Menghormati dan memahami perasaan orang lain dalam situasi atau keadaan tertentu.
• Berinteraksi dengan matang ketika berhadapan dengan orang yang bersifat ofensif, defensif, agresif, bermusuh, menyalahkan, dan menyerang.
• Terus terang, tidak defensif atau manipulasi tingkah laku. Mereka yang menggunakan tingkah laku ini, tegas menghadapi masalah, bantahan, atau ketidakselesaan terhadapnya, dan niat mereka jelas.
• Ungkapan  "Saya", digunakan untuk memberitahu orang lain bagaimana mereka rasa tentang situasi, keadaan, atau tingkah laku orang lain.
• Sedia mengambil risiko apabila mereka menjadi agresif, melelas, atau menyerang. Mengambil risiko bertingkah laku ini bukan takut kepada penolakan, tetapi kerana kepercayaan rasionalnya bahawa `` Saya berhak untuk mempertahankan hak saya.''
• Pemikiran yang rasional dan berpegang kepada prinsip diri, menghormati hak-hak
• Cara sihat mengendalikan hubungan interpersonal.
• Mencari  penyelesaian ``win-win'' dalam mengurus masalah antara dua pihak individual.

The ``you win and I lose'' solution is a passive solution where one individual gives up his rights to another.

The ``you lose and I win'' solution is an aggressive solution where one individual ignores the rights of another in order to get his way. 

The ``you lose and I lose'' solution is a total passive solution where both individuals give up their rights. A healthy resolution is impossible. 

The ``you win and I win'' solution is an assertive solution where the rights of both parties are recognized, respected, and utilized in reaching a healthy compromise.

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Kaid Wanita

Wanita memiliki perancangan yang hebat. Kelebihan ini telah dirakamkan oleh al-Quran yang menceritakan tentang isteri Menteri Mesir (riwayat Israiliyyat konon menamakannya Zulaikha) dalam kisah Yusuf: 

“Ini adalah perancangan kamu (kaum wanita), dan sesungguhnya perancangan kamu (kaum wanita) itu hebat”. (Surah Yusuf: 28).

Gambar Hiasan

Perkataan Arab yang al-Quran gunakan dalam ayat berkenaan ialah Kaid yang bermaksud perancangan yang mempunyai unsur licik dan muslihat. Sebab itu Louay Fatoohi dalam bukunya The Prophet Joseph menterjemahkan perkataan Kaid sebagai scheme yang bermaksud tindakan yang licik dan perancangan sulit yang kadang-kala membabitkan tipu daya (ms 86. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust).

Atas kelicikan itu, ramai lelaki yang tewas. Wanita ada kuasa ‘licin’ dan licik. Walaupun Nabi Yusuf tidak tewas, tetapi ramai lelaki selain nabi yang tewas dengan ‘kaid’ atau perancangan halus dan ‘sulit’ wanita. Senjata rahsia wanita pada tubuh, air mata, suara, bahasa, jelingan, pujuk rayu dan sebagainya. Walaupun bukan semua mereka ada kelebihan tersebut, namun bagi yang berkelebihan jika perangkapnya mengena, sukar untuk lelaki terlepas daripadanya, kecuali mereka yang memenangkan takwanya atas godaan atau kaid tersebut.

Nabi s.a.w pernah bersabda:

“Aku tidak tinggal cubaan yang lebih hebat ke atas lelaki lebih dari wanita” (Riwayat al-Bukhari dan Muslim).

Sabda baginda juga:

“Sesungguhnya dunia itu manis lagi hijau dan Allah menjadikan kalian berketurunan di atasnya. Allah melihat apa yang kalian perbuat. Takutlah kamu kepada (fitnah) dunia dan takutlah kamu kepada (fitnah) wanita, karena sesungguhnya awal fitnah yang menimpa Bani Israil dari wanitanya” (Riwayat Muslim).

Maka, tidak hairan berapa ramai pemimpin yang gagah, terkenal, tetapi ditewaskan oleh wanita idamannya, atau isteri kesayangannya. Betapa banyak reputasi pemimpin dirosakkan disebabkan seorang bernama WANITA.

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Apa Niat Kita Menulis?

Setelah beberapa bulan blog yang teman sukai tidak diupdate, lantas teman bertanya kepada empunya blog "tuan, kenapa lama tak update blog?", dan lantas tuan punya blog menyatakan dalam senyuman dengan kata "Mula-mula je semangat, lepas tu senyaplah".

Ayuh kita tafakkur sejenak dan tanyakanlah pada diri sendiri, apakah kita mentajdidkan niat sebelum menulis blog, empunya diri yang menulis punyai jawapannya. Andainya ilmu yang ingin dikongsikan itu amat bermakna maka silalah tebarkan kalimah-kalimahnya, supaya menjadi amal jariah dan ilmu bermanfaat yang akan diamalkan oleh orang lain. Andainya blogger menulis kerana ingin menempah populariti atau pangkat melalui dunia maya, maka tulislah apa sahaja karangan yang sedap dibaca, susunlah kalimah-kalimah pujangga, usah difikirkan ianya bermakna atau tidak. Usah difikirkan tentang integriti dan responsibiliti. 

Dosa si tangan itu bukan semestinya merompak dan mencuri harta manusia, bukan semestinya melukakan badan sesiapa, tapi dosa tangan dan jari-jemari itu boleh bermula dengan sebab salahnya tulisan yang disebar pada manusia atau sebab tidak dititipkan jari menaip untuk perkongsian ilmu yang bermanfaat.

Semoga para penjenguk blog menemui blog-blog yang lebih bersih niat hatinya dan lebih 'alim ilmunya. Semoga kebaikan yang kita impikan itu kita jua beroleh manfaatnya.

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Ten tips writing Blog.

Ten tips writing Blog.

1. Make your opinion known
2. Link like crazy
3. Write less
4. 250 Words is enough
5. Make Headlines snappy
6. Write with passion
7. Include Bullet point lists
8. Edit your post
9. Make your posts easy to scan
10. Be consistent with your style
11. Litter the post with keywords

1. Make your opinion known
People like blogs, they like blogs because they are written by people and not corporations. People want to know what people think, crazy as it sounds they want to know what you think. Tell them exactly what you think using the least amount of words possible.


2. Link like crazy.
Support your post with links to other web pages that are contextual to your post.

3. Write Less
Give the maximum amount of information with the least amount of words. Time is finite and people are infinitely busy. Blast your knowledge into the reader at the speed of sound.

4. 250 is enough
A long post is easier to forget and harder to get into. A short post is the opposite.

5. Make Headlines snappy
Contain your whole argument in your headline. Check out National newspapers to see how they do it.

6. Include bullet point lists
We all love lists, it structures the info in an easily digestible format.

7. Make your posts easy to scan
Every few paragraphs insert a sub heading. Make sentences and headlines short and to the point.

8. Be consistent with your style
People like to know what to expect, once you have settled on a style for your audience stick to it.

9. Litter the post with Keywords.
Think about what keywords people would use to search for your post and include them in the body text and headers. make sure the keyword placement is natural and does not seem out of place.

10. Edit your post
Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

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21 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website Sticky

What is a ‘Sticky’ Site?

A sticky website is one where a first time reader arrives and finds it difficult to leave.

Not because the site owner captures them in a ‘RickRoll’ or a series of windows asking them if they REALLY want to leave – but because something about the site motivates them to explore it further – and more importantly to make a decision to (and takes some steps to ensure that they) return again to it.

21 Techniques to Make Your Site Sticky

The following 21 techniques are ways that you can make your blog or website more sticky. They come from my own experience of blogging over the last 5 years. As a result of basing this on personal experience I’m going to show you quite a few examples of what I’ve done (after all i know my own sites best). I’d love you to add your tips and show examples of what you’ve done in comments below to make it a more useful resource for readers.

1. Make Your Invitations to Subscribe to your blog Prominent

One of the most important things to do is to have a prominent call to action for readers coming to your blog to subscribe to it.

In fact I’d recommend having more than one invitation – one prominent one above the fold and prominent in your sidebar or navigation area and then a second one below your post. This means that people are triggered to subscribe whether they have just arrived on your blog or if they’ve just finished reading a post (a ‘pause point‘).

This is what I do on my blogs and my tracking shows that both get a fairly even number of people using the two options.




2. Educate Readers about Your Subscription Methods

One of the most read posts here on ProBlogger is my ‘what is RSS‘ post which I have below my Subscription link. It’s there simply to educate readers on what RSS is and in doing so sell them a way to connect with my blog. Interestingly enough – quite a few other bloggers around the web now link to the page to educate their readers too.

Similarly – I occasionally will write a post on my blogs that invites new readers to subscribe. Sometimes I think we mistakenly assume that all of our readers have been with us for a long time and all know how to use our site – however many of your newer readers might not know the full story.

Here’s one of these posts that I ran on DPS last year. The day after I did this my RSS subscribers jumped considerably. It was just a matter of educating my newer readers of the blog on how they could connect better with it. You’ll also note that at the end of the post I asked readers to let me know how they follow the blog. This was for two reasons:

Firstly I wanted to involve older readers who already knew all the information in the post. It somehow seemed to make the post more relevant for them as it invited them to participate.

Secondly it was about social proof and showing newer readers how others used the site. I think the comments section reflected some of this.




3. Good Blog Design

I’ve always believed that a good blog design is an important part of helping readers to decide whether they’re going to hang around and track with your site over the long haul.

Readers make judgements about your site within seconds of arriving at it – if they see something cluttered and confusing they’ll be less likely to want to return.

Good design highlights your content, helps people navigate your site well and creates a good impression – and first impressions matter!

Keep your design simple, familiar and obvious and you’ll be on the road to a sticky site.

PS: A common mistake that I see bloggers making is to crowd out their content with too many ads above the fold. If a reader arrives at your site and has to scroll to see the content you’ll increase the numbers of people who simply hit the ‘back’ button on their browser.




4. On Site Branding

Work hard at building a brand that is attractive and draws people in.

First time readers should know what your blog is about at a first glance. Use your blog’s title, it’s design, taglines, post titles, about pages, logo and navigational elements to communicate what your blog is about.

Also – do something to differentiate the brand of your blog. It could be a logo, image, color scheme, blog name….




5. Make Your Blog Personal

One thing that I’ve seen a number of bloggers do really well over the last year or two is brand themselves well on their blog. While it’s not essential to have a blog that is centered around your personal brand I find that when you do add a personal touch to your blog that it can connect with readers in a powerful way.

The fact is that some readers are more interested in connecting with a person than a collection of content.

Adding your photo, writing in a personal tone, using video/audio and including personal details and stories of how you engage with your topic can give your blog personality which will draw some of your readers into a relationship with you.




6. When you get a rush of traffic to one particular post….

When the spikes in traffic come along you need to be ready to act (and act fast – because they can be momentary).

Add invitations to subscribe to your feed within your post. Something along the lines of ‘enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to….’ can work really well.

It can also be worthwhile adding links at the end of your post to ‘further reading’ on posts that are getting lots of reader to them.

Sometimes when you get a spike it can even be worth writing a ‘welcome’ post. For example if I get a mention in a mainstream media publication that sends significant traffic I’ll often do a post that welcomes people but also gives them a ‘tour’ of the site (example).

Another clever move is to quickly write up a followup article to the one that is getting all the traffic. For example – if this post suddenly got a burst of traffic I could quickly write a post ’10 more ways to make your blog sticky’ and then add a link to that post at the end of this one (update: actually I wrote one called 7 more ways to make your blog sticky). This shows readers that you’ve got more to say on your topic than just one post. Every extra page view is a step closer to them subscribing (if the pages they view are good quality).

These ‘hot posts’ are really important to optimize (learn how to optimize popular posts).




7. Get Interactive

Getting someone to DO something on your blog means that they’ve invested something into your blog and increases the likelihood that they’ll return.

Interactive blogs are often also sticky ones. Interaction could include

Comments

Competitions

Polls

Projects and Memes

As a result it’s worth spending some time Learning how to get readers to comment on your blog – and exploring other ways to make your blog more interactive. Get your readers involved as much as you can!

The other bonus for ‘giveaways’, ‘special offers’ and ‘competitions’ is that when you do them regularly some readers will subscribe because they don’t want to miss out on future giveaways. The current competition might not interest them but they sure want to know when you do one in future.




8. Add a ‘subscribe to comments’ feature to your blog

This draws those who comment back to continue the conversation and increases the chances of them becoming loyal readers.

You’ll find that only some readers will ever use this – but even if just a few do you’ve had a win.

I have this enabled here at ProBlogger (I don’t have it on by default – those leaving comments have to choose to subscribe because I don’t want to inundate them with comments) and at any given time there are several hundred people subscribed to comments on posts. I use this subscribe to comments plugin to run mine.

PS: just be aware that if you get a lot of unmoderated comment spam it can be a little embarrassing to have this feature – I learned the hard way.




9. Respond to Comments




This is a particularly effective way to draw readers back to your blog – particularly in the early days when you don’t have a lot of readers commenting to follow up.

There are two main ways you can do this:

respond to comments with comments

respond to comments with emails to the comment leaver

Showing those that comment on your blog that you’re interacting with them can make a real impression and will often draw them back time and time again.




10. Offer alternative ways to subscribe


Some readers will respond well to your prominent invitation to subscribe via RSS (see #1 above) but others will be more open to connecting in other ways.

I generally offer three subscription methods:

RSS

Daily email updates (RSS to Email)

Weekly newsletter (summary of the blog from the last week plus some exclusive content)

More recently I’ve also been offering readers the ability to track with my blogs via Twitter and send my latest posts to my Twitter account via TweetBurner.

Why so many options? The answer is simply that each reader has their own systems in place to consume content and connect with websites – so offering a variety of methods increases the chances that you’ll be doing something that they are familiar with.




11. Promote social media connecting points

Similarly – some of your readers will respond very well to your invitations to connect on other social media sites.

For example I have some readers on DPS who are Facebook junkies. They refuse to subscribe via RSS or email but religiously read my blog by following my Facebook profile which pulls in my latest posts.

Another small group of readers here at ProBlogger follow this blog through Technorati’s favorites feature. While I prefer to read blogs using an rss reader like Google Reader – their rhythm of reading content revolves around Technorati. As a result I’m happy that I promoted my Technorati profile (you can favorite ProBlogger here).

While you might not see the sense in people following your blog in some of these social media sites others do and at the very least promoting them can potentially reinforce your brand.




12. Highlight Your Best Content

A great way to convince readers to become loyal is to get them reading more than one of your posts (especially if they are your best posts). You can do this by linking to other posts within your content but also suggesting further reading and ‘best of’ posts around your blog.

For example – here at ProBlogger on my front page the ‘best of ProBlogger’ section is one of the most clicked upon parts of my site. This small section of the site sends people deep within the blog to some of my best work – hopefully resulting in quite a few new loyal readers.

At DPS I have a small section on my sidebar called ‘Digital Photography Tips’ which is a list of ‘sneeze pages‘ (or compilation pages of my best posts in certain categories). Again – these are there simply to draw people deep into the site and get them viewing some of the best the site has to offer (and hopefully to convince them to subscribe).




13. Create Momentum With Your Content

When you give readers a sense that you’re creating more content that they’ll want to read you give them a reason to subscribe.

For example when a reader reads the first part of a series of posts on a topic that they find useful you can count on them wanting to read the rest.

I wrote about this in a post on creating a sense of anticipation on your blog.




14. Consider Removing Dates on Old Posts

This one could be a little controversial but I find that when old posts are not dated that it doesn’t create a ‘oh this is old’ type reaction in your readers.

I’ve seen this numerous times here on ProBlogger where posts written back in 2005 have attracted comments like ‘this is old’ or ‘out of date tips’ – even when the content has been of a ‘timeless’ or evergreen nature.

Personally I think that you should consider the type of blog you have before doing this. For me it works on DPS where I’ve never had dates on posts – but not here at ProBlogger where I have a topic that is more time specific (I’ll write more on this topic in coming days).




15. Give Incentive to Subscribe


Over the last few days I’ve had a small competition going on Digital Photography School where I’m giving 3 subscribers to my newsletter there a copy of a great photography book.

1500 new subscribers later (and counting that small incentive is one of the best $50 I’ve ever spent.

Give away a book, free ebook or report, download or some other incentive to those subscribing to your blog’s feed or newsletter and you could give some readers the little extra incentive to connect that they needed.

It need not be anything expensive (or that costs you anything at all) – just make it a small bonus and see what impact that might have.




16. Keep Posting Frequency Up

One thing that I do as a blog reader deciding whether I’ll subscribe to a blog or not is to head to the home page and see how often they’ve updated recently.

There’s nothing more frustrating as a reader than to find some great content and be hungry for more only to find that the blogger hasn’t update in 3 months.

I don’t think you need to update every day – but something in the last week shows that your blog is up to date. You can also highlight this by showing your most recent posts somewhere in your sidebar.




17. Create an Engaging About Page


Another thing that I often do when I go to a new blog is to look at it’s ‘about page‘.

I like to know who is behind a blog, what their goals for it are, how it started and other information about what the blogger is on about.

This is an opportunity to sell your blog to and make a connection with prospective readers who are going out of their way to find out more about you – so use it to tell your story and draw readers in to journey with you.

PS: whatever you do – don’t let your about page be the default about page that comes with your blog.




18. Add a Community Area or Forum

One of the best things that I ever did with my photography site was to add a forum.

I cannot express to you just how sticky that area of DPS is!

While readers come to the blog once a day to read new content – some of them come to the forum ALL DAY – racking up literally hundreds of page views a week.

Forums won’t attract all of your readers (I suspect they attract some personality types and not others) – but they will connect with some and help make your site a lot stickier.




19. Social Proof

Does your blog have readers already? If so (and even if it’s just a few) highlight this in any way that you can and you’ll show other first timers that they’re not the only one reading your blog.

People attract people and a site that is obviously being read by others will draw others into it.

This can be difficult in the early days of a blog when you don’t have a lot of activity – but as it builds show it off.

Highlight new comments, show subscriber numbers when you have them, quote readers comments, find a way to slip your stats into a post occassionally etc.

It’s a bit of a snowball effect – once you have readers they’ll bring others in.

One thing that I occassionally do at DPS on my subscribe page (a page dedicated to talking readers through 3 subscription options) is to not only highlight the options but to tell people how many people are using them. In this way those considering subscribing get a sense that they’re actually becoming a part of something that has momentum and thousands of others joining.




20. Target Readers with Specific Messages


Here are a few tools and plugins out there that enable you to present specific messages to certain readers coming to your blog based upon where they’ve arrived from and if they’ve been to your blog before.

LandingSites is a WP plugin that shows readers arriving from search engines related posts on the search term that they’ve searched for.

What Would Seth Godin Do is a plugin that welcomes new readers to your blog with a special message and invitation to subcribe.

Got any other plugins and tools for targeting readers with specific messages? Feel free to share them in comments below.




21. Sticky Content


Lastly (and most importantly in my mind) – the key to sticky sites is sticky content.

You can have the best designed site in the world with lots of the above features – but unless readers who come to it find something that connects and brings them life in some way – you’re unlikely to get them back tomorrow. Writing engaging content needs to be your number one Priority.

Darren Rowse

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