It’s been a while since I gave our readers an update on 5Pillarz performance and finances but insha’Allah from now on I will do it much more regularly, writes Roshan Muhammed Salih.
Alhamdulilah, we are now averaging around 5,000 unique visitors a day to the website and often we get a lot more than that.
Last month we had over 160,000 unique visitors to the site, around 70 per cent of whom were from the UK. Although we have readers from literally all over the world, our main audience outside of the UK is in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, the UAE and Malaysia.
Meanwhile, our Facebook page is growing really big now and we are fast approaching the 100,000 fans mark. On the other hand, Twitter has been more of an uphill struggle and we only have around 2,100 followers. Please rectify this by following us @5Pillarz!
Our articles are widely read and shared, masha’Allah, and our work has been noticed and picked up by many outside of the Muslim community. Best of all, the prominent Zionist, Islamophobic website Harry’s Place regularly complains about us so we must be doing something right!
Finances
In terms of our finances we are receiving around £450 a month from our readers which we use to sustain the journalism and technical aspects of our website. Specifically, this money allows us to pay our journalism expenses, take out some small adverts and cover any technical problems that need fixing on the site itself.
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We are really proud of our achievements on such a restricted budget and we are sure that all of our main competitors are operating on a substantially bigger budget than we do. So just think what we could achieve if we had their money! For any business dealing with the financial side of it all, it can be quite stressful if you don’t know where to begin. But once you do some research and you come across potential solutions such as getting assistance from a financial adviser or something similar to selective invoice finances, hopefully you’ll soon realise that there is a way around it and you don’t have to struggle on your own. The same goes for if you and your business are dealing with financial hardships. Nothing will change if you don’t ask for a bit of assistance. Even if you look into ways of how to borrow money with payment remarks (or låne penger med betalingsanmerkninger if this is your first language) or even look to take out a credit card to sort out your personal credit, this will hopefully be worth it in the end. The more help you ask for, the better it will be for your business overall.
But Alhamdulilah we have taken the decision not to accept any money from any entity or individual that comes to us with any strings attached. We feel the strength of the site is that it is truly independent and in no one’s pocket and therefore we can write what we want without fear of being financially pressured.
And that’s why our readers trust us and have a guarantee that whatever they see on the site isn’t there for the wrong reasons.
That said, we do need to find ways of financing the site better and ultimately it is only our readers’ support that will sustain us. So if you like what we do please do donate by clicking on the following link. Surely £5 a month on a direct debit isn’t too much to support this great community resource which is run on a voluntary basis?
https://5pillarsuk.com/support-our-site/
Editorial policy
I’d also like to say a word or two about our editorial policy because I do detect a sense of confusion among a minority of our readers.
There is one thing everyone should remember – 5Pillarz is a platform for DIFFERENT OPINIONS among the diverse British Muslim community and wider Ummah.
To emphasize: our community is comprised of different views and movements and therefore we DO NOT peddle one line. So don’t be surprised if you see two articles on the same subject on the same day with completely different viewpoints.
I know that all the other Muslim media outlets out there tend to follow one line which could be Salafi, Ikhwaani, Hizbi, Shia or Sufi etc, but this isn’t our style. Rather, we seek to bring the entire spectrum of Muslim opinion onto the website in an attempt to promote unity as well as tackle the difficult subjects which often divide us.
And that’s what makes us unique.
So please be ready to read several articles on the same day which you will love AND hate. And please be aware that we will not be pressured into changing our “broad church” policy no matter how loud the voices criticizing us are. After all, we know that the vast majority of our readers understand and support our efforts.
Finally, I’d like to briefly outline the future plans that we have for this site.
- Firstly, we need to increase revenue so that we can grow journalistically and technically.
- Secondly, we plan to change the name of the site to “5Pillars”.
- And finally, we plan to launch a 5Pillars mobile phone app which will be available on Android and Apple.
In the meantime, please keep reading, sharing, commenting and supporting us. Jazak’Allah Khair.
@RMSalih
