Author: Jonathan Bossenger

Want to help build a new setup and management service for WordPress?

17 April 2018Announcements, Community Leave a comment

HowMightWe is looking for WP users to help them build a new WordPress setup and management service.

“One of our clients is a hosting company that wants to make WordPress easier to setup and manage. We have some wireframes of a concept and we would like some fresh eyes to see if we’re not smoking our socks. We need 5 people in total over 2 days. We want people that know a little bit about WordPress but they don’t develop sites, or design sites for other people. (i.e. not WP professionals). We want they people that want a site of their own and want to use WordPress to create it. We could be wrong, but we are imagining that it would possibly be creative people with a small business, or freelancers wanting to showcase their work. They need to have at least touched or played with or know a bit about WordPress.”

Dates: 25-26 of April
Time: 1 hour slots through out the day. (8am-6pm)
Gift: R800 each

For more information or, to book your slot, contact Dirmu via her cell at 082 956 9946 or via email at dirmugouws@iafrica.com.

Digital Marketing Workshop to grow your small business

26 March 2018Announcements, Events, Workshop Leave a comment
digital marketing workshop cape town mashup marketing

“I have a website, but I’m not making any sales or attracting new customers” – Most small businesses realise that digital is a big component of their sales and marketing, unfortunately around 80% of them believe that having a website is enough. Whilst a website is crucial, marketing your business online is something small businesses need to do on a daily basis to ensure their success. 

Digital Marketing has become an umbrella term for a variety of topics, often associated with social media management, it’s actually a wide spectrum of solutions. Marketing your business online isn’t just about having a Facebook Page, there are other social networks too you know. It is about using multiple online tools and solutions to marketing your brand, service and products online. It’s also about having a killer digital strategy which highlights the correct platforms you should be using i.e. Facebook doesn’t work for everyone!

This digital marketing workshop is aimed at beginner marketers as well as small business owners looking to acquire new customers whilst engaging their current customer base. Rooted in exercises, you’ll walk away with plenty of hands-on experience in content creation for both email and social, campaign analysis using tools like Google Analytics, and optimization across various channels. 

Is this workshop for you?

Whether you are a small to medium business or simply an individual responsible for marketing duties but lack digital experience then this workshop is definitely for you. If you are just passionately learning about digital marketing then feel free to join us as well. Our digital workshops help you understand what digital marketing is all about and equips you with the knowledge and tools to help you grow any business online.

What will you learn?

  • Social Media Management – which platforms does your business need and how to effectively manage them.
  • Facebook Advertising – why is advertising on Facebook important and best practices
  • The Power of Influencer Marketing – how other people can help market your brand
  • Email Marketing – why email campaigns are still the number one choice in marketing
  • Pay Per Click Advertising – Using Google AdWords to target new customers
  • SEO – Learn the tools and tricks to get onto the first page of Google
  • Websites – The importance of an effective website and how it’s the most critical part of your business
  • Content – How to develop a content strategy and write the correct content for your website, blogs and social media platforms.

Extra’s – these extra business tips will help ensure your marketing is constant

  • Effectively manage your business and marketing with cloud based solutions

Sign Up

For more information and to register, sign up here – https://mashupmarketing.co.za/digital-marketing-workshop-cape-town/

Brand Candy brings it’s nearly-famous digital training courses to Cape Town and Jozi

24 November 2017Announcements, Community Leave a comment

Brand Candy is owned and run by Richard Burgess and Janet Hancock. Amongst running the digital strategies of their clients, they have been up-skilling business owners and their teams on all things digital marketing since 2014. Their courses were borne out of a need for business owners to have a better understanding of how the online space could be better utilised in marketing their brands. It all started with the “Social Media for Business” short course, and with it’s crazy popularity, and constant requests, the “WordPress 101” and “Content Marketing for Irresistible Communication” courses are now also offered. In 2018, Brand Candy will be launching an advanced, targeted Facebook advertising course and a Search Engine Optimisation course for those with more in-depth needs.

The current courses are run on a monthly basis, and with an expanding customer base, Richard and Janet will be taking these training workshops to Cape Town in November this year, and to Johannesburg from March 2018.

The current offering of training courses are pitched to a small to medium-sized business audience, where the key decision makers have identified the need for their brands to be present in the online space. The comprehensive courses are four hours each, and cover the basics for getting started with managing a business’ online and social reputations.

Both courses are available in Cape Town next week, with limited seats – a maximum of six people per workshop. On Thursday will be “WordPress 101”, facilitated by Richard, and Friday “Social Media for Business” facilitated by Janet.

The cost of each of the courses is R1540 per delegate (incl VAT) and includes coffee in the morning and lunch in the afternoon. They start at 9am sharp and finish at 1pm, and will be held at the luxe offices of PR Lab and Kayser Baird in Black River Park, Observatory.

For more information, bookings and queries, visit the Brand Candy website here.

Direct booking link for the WordPress course:

https://www.brandcandy.co.za/product/wordpress-course-cape-town/

Direct booking link for the Social Media course:

https://www.brandcandy.co.za/product/social-media-course-cape-town/

Ticket sales and a Call for Sponsors

17 July 2017Announcements, Community, WordCamp Leave a comment

With 14 weeks to go till WordCamp Cape Town 2017 I’m starting to feel that combination of excited anticipation and nervousness that goes along with planning such an event. Today I’m happy to announce that two very important pieces of the WordCamp puzzle have slotted into place, the availability of WordCamp Tickets and the Call for Sponsors.

Ticket sales

Those who booked tickets last year will remember that ticket sales were in US$. This was because the WordCamp organising team did not have a local bank account available in order to process the funds. This year we are happy to announce that all ticket sales are in South African Rands and are being paid into a locally managed bank account. A big thanks to PayFast for helping us with the payment gateway process.

Head on over to our Ticket page and book your WordCamp tickets. We are offering an early bird special to all tickets sold before 15 August. Simply use the coupon code earlybird, for a 20% discount on all standard tickets.

Call for Sponsors

Without the past support of our generous sponsors, WordCamp Cape Town would not be affordable to the vast majority of the local community who attend. WordCamp attendees have two full days to gain insight from our speakers, network with other WordPress users and developers, and learn more about WordPress and open source. By donating to WordCamp Cape Town, our sponsors make this event a reality.

If you or your company would like to sponsor WordCamp this year, please head on over to our Call for Sponsors page, choose your sponsorship package and fill in the Sponsorship form.

 

We want to hear your WordPress story.

19 June 2017Community Leave a comment

 

When I joined @hlashbrooke in planning WordPress meetups I was full of vim and vigour to organise more meetups. I had just come from my first WordCamp and I was super excited to help the community grow. Sadly since then I have only managed to either plan or attend two meetups. Work, life, family, it all just seems to get in the way.

We started #coworkpress as a way to try and counter our lack of more formal monthly meetups but I realise that this does not fill the gap properly. So (in my usual gung ho way) I am going to try and see if I can setup something a bit more robust for the rest of the year.

Your WordPress story.

I want to hear your WordPress story. How did you get started with WordPress? What are you doing with it now? How are you using it to change the world? What do you love about it? What do you hate about it? What would you like to do with it in the future?

We all have our WordPress story and I want to hear yours. And, seeing as it’s your story, I want to make it happen somewhere that you are comfortable with. So I’ll discuss with you and find a meetup location that makes it easy for you to attend and comfortable to speak.

There are six months left until the end of this year, so I’m looking for six people who are willing to share their story. July is just around the corner, so if we can get someone for July already that would be great. If not, I’ll find someone, even if I have to do it myself.

If you are interested in telling your story, use the form below to get in touch.

WordCamp Cape Town 2017 – Call for volunteers and speakers

23 May 2017Announcements, Community, WordCamp Leave a comment

It is with great excitement that I announce that the WordCamp Cape Town 2017 call for volunteers and speakers is now officially open!

Every year, local and national WordPress users volunteer their time to help make WordCamp Cape Town happen. Our volunteers help manage the venue and keep the event running smoothly, while our speakers provide engaging workshops and talks to provide our attendees with the mental stimulation they need to go forth and build bigger and better websites, eCommerce stores and blogs with WordPress. Without them, WordCamp simply wouldn’t exist.

This year we have some big things planned, so we need as many hands on deck as we can possibly get. If you’ve never spoken or volunteered for a WordCamp before, I highly encourage you to give it a bash this year. We have a great organising team and with the right group of volunteers, I’m sure there is nothing we can’t accomplish this year.

Visit the WordCamp Cape Town website for all the relevant information, or go straight through to the Call for Volunteers or Call for Speakers announcement posts.

WordCamp Cape Town 2017 – Call for organisers.

24 January 2017Community 1 Comment
WordCamp Cape Town 2017

New Year, new resolutions, new WordCamp. While it is still months away, the time has come to start planning the WordCamp Cape Town 2017 and we’re looking for people to be part of the organising team.

If you were on the team last year, your experience and knowledge would not only be greatly appreciated but welcomed with open arms. If you are keen to help organise the next WordCamp, we’re always looking for fresh ideas to make our yearly ‘grand meetup’ something special.

If you are ready to play a vital role in the planning and organising of the next Cape Town WordCamp, fill in your details below and hit that submit button.

The Cape Town WordPress community thanks you.

 

WordPress Global Translation Day recap

14 November 2016Community, Events, Meetups 5 Comments

Saturday 12 November 2016 was the second WordPress Global Translation Day. It was my first event, not only as translator but also as co-event host. I was a little nervous as I would also mostly be meeting the attendees for the first time, so I had no idea how things would go down.

Fortunately the WordPress community is a great place, and this is because of the people in it. From the moment the first attendee arrived to when we eventually packed up for the day we had a blast, translating WordPress into our chosen languages, telling stories, cracking jokes and just generally having a good time.

Attendees included (from left to right in the picture above) Shabier, Wesley, Rosy, Sello and myself. Wesley, who submitted the locale request with the help of Trisha from the Johannesburg meetup group, was also translating Xhosa for WordPress for the first time. Not only that but Rosy started working on Sotho and Sello on Setswana. By the end of the day we had two translation files for these languages that we’ll be looking to submit requests to be added as locales for WordPress. We’re almost halfway towards adding all 11 official languages, just in one day.

At around 12pm we had the opportunity to share the live stream with Petya Raykovska (the WordPress Polyglots team lead) and the team from Johannesburg, led by Trisha. We had a few feedback/echoing issues but it was good fun to be able to share our story with the translation teams around the world. It was also pretty amazing to see all the other teams from Europe and India and share in their fun.

After a great lunch from Woolies and Vida (sponsored by the great folks at WooCommerce) we had a group Skype with John Parkinson, a volunteer with WordPress TV from Ohio in America, who is putting together a short video showcasing the day. Afterwards we had another Skype with Trisha and the team from Johannesburg, sharing stories and meeting our Gauteng counterparts. I for one am looking forward to seeing them all again in person at WordCamp Johannesburg this coming weekend.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, Ashleigh Norris and the team from The Business Center for the amazing venue and WooCommerce, who sponsored our data and lunch for the event. Also thanks to my co-host Hugh for helping with getting the sponsorships in place (and checking in with me from time to time to see how things were going.) To Petya and everyone in the Polyglots team, thanks for organising this amazing event. I’m looking forward to the next one

Finally a big thanks to Shabier, Wesley, Rosy and Sello for taking some time out of there day to help translate WordPress in their languages. I look forward to seeing you all again at our next meetup!