Qysh Me
15 posts on Qysh Me.
I spent a decade building Qysh Me, a how-to site in Albanian that started with two of us answering questions readers were already asking and ended up past 100,000 Facebook likes, with a recipe section that became its own thing and the first Albanian how-to app, before Dua acquired it. Along the way I learned to keep a big WordPress site fast on slow connections and cheap phones, design for phones years before that was normal, build a writer community, and do SEO in a language with almost nothing to compete with. Here are the articles from that build.
- What I Learned Building Qysh Me September 1, 2021
Lessons from launching an Albanian-language educational platform in 2011, before edtech was even a word people used in Kosovo.
- Qysh Me Has Been Acquired by DUA November 30, 2019
Qysh Me has been acquired by Dua, a network that aims to connect Albanians around the globe. We believe in Dua's mission and its leadership.
- Keeping a Growing WordPress Site Secure and Updated March 8, 2016
A popular WordPress site is a target. The unglamorous maintenance discipline that kept Qysh Me safe and online as its traffic and reputation grew.
- WordPress at Scale: Taxonomy, Categories, and Search October 14, 2015
As Qysh Me grew into hundreds of how-to articles, structure became the product. How we organized WordPress so readers could find things.
- 100,000 Facebook Likes: Qysh Me's First Big Milestone March 5, 2015
Four years after launching Qysh Me, our Facebook page crossed 100,000 likes. What that number really meant, and the slow, unglamorous work that got us there.
- How We Grew Qysh Me's Facebook Page August 19, 2014
Facebook was where our audience already lived. How Qysh Me turned useful how-to content into a growing, engaged page, and why we shared value instead of links.
- Taking Qysh Me Mobile: The First Albanian How-To App May 20, 2014
By 2014 most of our readers were on phones, so we built Qysh Me an app and billed it, half-jokingly, as the first Albanian how-to app.
- Designing Qysh Me for Phones First January 28, 2014
Long before mobile-first was standard, most of Qysh Me's readers were on phones. How the small screen made the whole product better.
- Building a Writer Community Around Qysh Me June 11, 2013
Qysh Me could not scale on two people alone. How we brought in contributors, kept quality high, and turned readers into writers.
- SEO in a Language Google Barely Knew November 20, 2012
SEO for Qysh Me meant ranking in Albanian, a language with almost no digital content at the time. Why that emptiness was an advantage.
- Qysh Me Gatu: When the Recipes Became Their Own Thing August 25, 2012
How Qysh Me's cooking section grew into a vertical with its own identity, its own audience, and the first ads we ever sold.
- Our Content Engine: How We Planned Qysh Me's Articles May 16, 2012
The editorial system behind Qysh Me. How real questions people were already asking became a repeatable how-to content engine.
- The Numbers Behind Qysh Me, One Month in 2011 November 5, 2011
A single month of Google Analytics from Qysh Me's early days: 44,111 visits, 163,950 pageviews, and a traffic mix that quietly explained the whole business.
- Making WordPress Fast on Kosovo's Internet October 8, 2011
How we optimized Qysh Me's WordPress site for slow connections and cheap phones, and why performance doubled as an SEO strategy.
- Why We Built Qysh Me on WordPress April 12, 2011
Why a two-person team building Albania's first how-to portal chose WordPress over a custom build, and what that choice let us do.