Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems

by Sean Grant

www.slingshot.co.za | +27 35 772 4555 | +27 82 5777 340 | sean@slingshot.co.za

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"A content management system (CMS) is a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment." - Wikipedia, accessed on 19 Nov 2009 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system

The first web CMS that I encountered, SiteBuildIT, turned out to be a pyramid marketing scheme, encouraging customers to re-sell it's "newest" features, enlisting their own customers to maximise profits. Fortunately, I continued to search for my dream solution - a web CMS that would speed up the production of websites, and enable a number of interactive features that clients were asking for, such as a restricted area for private documents, or a Guest Book feature where visitors could share their opinion.

Soon I found what I was looking for, and it was called Mambo. It had just been release by a team of 'coders' (web programmers) and it was FREE and you could CHANGE the code to suit your purposes! This is a now a common phenomenon, and is referred to as Free, Libre & Open Source Software (FLOSS) and you have probably used one of the many web applications to emerge from this hot spot for technology innovation, such as Mozilla Firefox, Open Office or one of the social networking sites that harness the power of the similar technologies, such asFaceBook, YouTube, or Twitter.

When it comes to website publishing, the industry has really evolved quickly and dramatically over the last five years of which I have been actively consuming and producing websites built on a growing number of web CMS applications - WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, Plone, Yola and many others.

The basic premise of a web content management system is that users can register an account and add, edit & publish content (images, text, videos, files etc) in a controlled, safe manner. This type of web publishing was previously only possible after learning some complex programming languages, however it is now simple enough to register a new account on a website built using a CMS, and copy and paste your text from a text editor like MS Word and click the Send or Save botton, and your thoughts can be shared with the world wide web.

CMS's can cater for simple brochure ware sites like www.hilltonmanor.co.za, an SMME website that handles online event registration like www.vastratech.com, a large municipality with all of it's information demands like www.johburg.gov.za or an international travel site with online reservation and payment facilities like www.proteahotels.com.

Fortunately the setup cost for such a CMS ranging from R5,000 to R500,000 so that most businesses, organisations or individuals can find a budget to ensure that they get online quickly and effectively. If you do not have a budget, get started with Google's Blogger

Here is a comment from one such client, who is listed on on of our Joomla! CMS driven travel sites, www.sodwana-accommodation.co.za;

"Thanks for putting our info on the web - since day one we had regular response and on a daily basis there are enquiries for accomodation. We also appreciate your immediate assistance when we make changes. Suggestions that you have made when we asked for your help, seem to work very well! Thanks again!" Sarel Marais

This info can be put onto a website the same day that it is received from a client, because there is a content management in place, that allows for a rapid response time.

Introducing WebXchange, for safe web services.

I went to the mm conference last month. The mmc09 website was one of the most buggy websites I have every visited. This does not inspire any confidence in Joomla at all.



I would like to respond to this comment, as I am seeing a growing trend in poor, unprofessional Joomla! services in the market, especially within South Africa.

One of the benefits of the Open Source Software model is that you can choose whoever to work with. You are not obligated to purchase your products and services from a single country partner, like the Moodle or Microsoft model.

This however also creates one of the detriments of Open Source Software, in that you do not really know whom you are getting into bed with, until you are already financially and time committed, sometimes even after months or years of decent services from your chosen service provider.

As an experiences, professional Joomla! service provider, I am receiving more and more requests to "Fix my broken website" or "Repair my Joomla! template" or "Restart my web project". Of course this is proving to be a rather useful new income stream, but rather costly for the disgruntled, frustrated client, who sometimes has had not just one, but two or even three negative experiences with so-called "Joomla! experts".

Last week, someone approached me to quote on a website project that has been running for six months with a Gauteng based Joomla! web developer, who has failed to come up with the goods, despite a R40k investment on the client's part. He was willing to give all of that up, and to restart his web development project, since the developer is now avoiding his calls, and not returning emails etc.

In an effort to bring some regulation and quality control to the website services market, I have started yet another Joomla! initiative, that I am calling "WebXchange".

20 May 2009 4:03 PM

This is how the WebXchange works;

1. We have created a set of web forms that will survey prospective clients for their website development project, website training needs, web hosting request or internet related requirements.

2. This survey enters a closed, controlled area (thanks to the Salesforce CRM) that is monitored by a few hand chosen Joomla! professionals, who can deliver a project on time, within budget and with the utmost attention to detail.

3. A WebXchange administrator (that's me for now) qualifies the lead, requesting any additional information that is needed (site map / Graphics / navigation), conducting a website review / scoping exercise. At this stage the Lead becomes an Opportunity.

3. WebXchange members who are interested / able / willing to submit a proposal contact the client and find out any other specific details that are needed.

4. Within the week, a client should receive one or more proposals that they can choose from. Whoever they choose, they are not at risk of dodgy service, that is unfortunately common place in the web industry, where everyone and their uncle is a website developer.

5. A WebXchange administrator will follow the progress of the project, and act as an intermediary, only by invitation, ensuring that services are provided to meet the original request.

We are already seeing a rapid growth in this service, and entered the 75th lead into the system last week, and currently have five number of South Africa's best web developers, trainers, search engine marketers, hosts and project managers signed up and using the system.

In the future, we plan to extend the reach of this service, and to increase the number and quality of service providers, so that anyone who needs something done on the web can post a service request, including WebXchange members who have more than enough work on their books.

Take a look at the WebXchange here: http://www.joomla.org.za/joomla-exchange.html

Please contact Sean should you have any ideas, questions, comments etc.

And remember, we want to hear about any positive or negative experiences that you have had related to your recent website relates services. Post a comment on www.joomla.org.za under your service providers listing in the Service Providers Directory. If your supplier is not listed there, add them, and post your comment once they are published.

Hope that this new initiative saves people lots of pain and suffering, and makes for a happier and healthier Joomla! community here in Africa.

PS: Here is a very good reason for foreign clients to do business with South African service providers: 1 GBP:11.95 ZAR & 1 USD:7.34 ZAR & 1 Euro:10.96 ZAR

~ For more information visit www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

Joomla! into Africa

Johan, aka Namib Coder, one of our past Learn Joomla! trainees send me links to a few of his recent Joomla! website releases, which led me to review a few other countries on the continent.

Check out these African websites that are running the Joomla! Content Management System under the hood....


From Botswana;

• www.gov.bw - the official Government of Botswana website

From Kenya;

• www.kenya-adventures.com
  

From Namibia;

• www.iway.na - Namibia's leading wireless internet service provider
• www.telkom.na - Namibia's main network operator
• www.iipingep.iway.na - self-care website service package

From Republic of Congo;

• www.hotelresidencemarina.com

From South Africa;

• www.mmc09.co.za

From Swaziland;

• www.swasa.co.sz

From Uganda;

• www.iccu.or.ug

From Zimbabwe;

• www.mczmethodist.org

As you can see, Joomla! is quickly becoming the CMS of choice in Africa. Personally I think that the openness and accessibility of the web to all Africans has the potential to solve many of the challenges that we face, so we should see an increasing number of Joomla! and other free content management systems being adopted in the continent.

While the quality and completeness of these sites varies greatly, and I still see many sites that convey a lack of understanding about how the CMS works, there is certainly a noticeable uptake in the uptake of Joomla! across the continent.

Well, Joomla! just works, doesn't it?

Keep it Joomla!

~ For more information visit www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

New Year ... new Blog ... new Business mmmmmmmm?

Now that the New Year has kicked in, if you are in business like me, the 5th of the month means that you have 20 days to make the most of your time to get those invoices out before the month end debit orders, mortgage payments etc.

Hang on! Don't tell me I have lost you already... unless you are one of the lesser privileged, pressurised employees who is reading this on 19 Jan 2009 after your month off from The Corporation, in which case there is not much that you can do about the end of the month financials anyway, except work harder, smarter and impress your boss, whose job you secretly are aiming to take over.

We wouldn't be human if we did not at the very least set some goals and those infamously challenging New Year's resolutions, so here goes...

Besides buying mountain bikes for my wife and I, and kitting the family out with helmets and finally getting the last two training wheels off of my youngest son's new birthday bike, I have decided that 2009 will be the year of blogging our web consulting business and non profit organisation into the limelight.

Although I have dabbled in blogging for the last few years, truthfully I have never really given myself to regular online publishing. This does seem rather amiss, considering that my trusty Google Mail Contacts "suggested" 2628 contacts who should be in My Address Book (...and who said that artificial intelligence was still way off?).

Not blogging seems even further amiss since our main business these days is Joomla! project management & Joomla! training and supporting ordinary folks in the skill of developing and managing their own website, using the new media that are available, like Joomla! content management systems, or for the less complex website; Google's Blogger, or Moodle learning management systems, for the increasing need for educational content to be available online - lots of online stuff, as you can tell from the previous, less than comprehensive list.

They say that if you aim at nothing you will surely hit it. So, in light of the fact that 2009 is here.. and that we DO want to achieve growth in business, develop new and maintain and enhance our existing customer's service experience by empowering them - by all means - to assist them to make the most of the goodies that we sell to you, a blog presents the ideal, user friendly, neutral, non-threatening medium of communication, that you can read on your own terms, at your convenience, in your office. The same, of course, goes for your customers.

A Blog is a "personal web log" or an informal conversation that you have with others. Rather than a formal website, which is expected to answer the 4WH questions (What? /Where? /When? /Who? /How?) a blog gives one the liberty to shoot the breeze, as you would with your mates in the clubhouse.

A common mistake that we often make is that we write for the web instead of writing for our customer who is really the one whom we need to convince to share their hard won money with us. Try this tactic that I often recommend to our trainees - rather than typing your article, speak it out onto a dicta phone, then type it as you listen to the playback. You may be surprised at the difference!

Now, you may be thinking that you need to be an expert before you can start blogging. NOT true! As the saying goes, there is always someone who knows less than you do, and as far as many are concerned you may just be the "expert" in your local area for your service or product offering.

For example, while I may be able to tell you much about the web, I would gladly take the advice of a handyman, like Alan of ADS Renovations, who was at my place today, to put together a quote for some alteration work that we are planning. Left to me, the alterations would not only be hazardous, messy and unattractive, but in Alan's care we expect that the job will be well done. Now if Alan had to blog about how to contract a reliable handyman, or how to do the alteration, or how to check work done before making final payment, then people like me would be quick to listen.

Or Andries from AT Air, who responded to a call out within one hour on one of the hottest days in Zululand and only charged us R150/hour for the service, and helped us to decide to spend another R600 to move a poorly placed airconditioning unit that has given us problems from day one, due to the wrong placement. Having been in the industry for 30 years, he could tell the other "professionals" in town a few things about airconditions... using a blog of course!

Or how about sports, which I last played in school (that's about 15 years ago, as I matriculated in 1992) - people would much rather hear Willem Swanepoel from Zululand Sports telling them how to choose that next mountain bike, than me who last worked on a decent bike back in the 90's, so I have suggested to Willem that he start a sport advice and commentary blog, which we registered today during a web promotion strategy for his new website by the same name.

You see, we all know something that someone else does not, and we generally like to make decisions based on recommendations, suggestions and confirmations, even if they do not always work out, in general the best advertising is word of mouth, and when that happens online, we begin blogging our way to better business, better opportunities and better bottom lines in business, greater visibility in the community and develop a sense of sincerity and integrity, when what we blog about adds real value to those around us.

For an easy entry into blogging, check out www.blogger.com and within 5 minutes you will be publishing your "expert" advice online. Most blogs allow for comments so be warned that if you publish nonsense, you may have to face the firing line, but if you share meaningful, useful information, be prepared for praise and grateful appreciation from your clients.

Happy New Year and Happy New Blogging!

Dr Joomla!
Making the Most of the Web

~ for more information see www.learnjoomla.co.za ~

The state of Open Source & Joomla! in Southern Africa

Further to my blog post earlier this month about the Open Source in ICT Conference [http://joomlajournal.blogspot.com/2008/05/joomla-day-south-africa-joomla-open.html]...

I have returned from the event, which was professionally organised by Business Zone, with mixed feelings about the state of open source software in the Southern African internet landscape.

The conference was attended by about 45 delegates from a variety of government departments [Defence, Education, Intelligence, Social Development] corporate banking [FNB], internet research specialists [Arthur Goldstuck], web related smme's [Slingshot], corporate consultants [VOX], open source developers [UWC] and NGO's [Joomla! Southern African Portal, FLOSS Portal, NetDay] amongst others. All in all a hetrogenous, almost eclectic mix of clients, service providers, producers and consultants.

Highlights of the event for me were the networking opportunities that happened on the fringes, in the form of business card exchanges, with the possibility of follow on business relationships, collaborative ideas that seemed right to both parties who had not previously heard of one another and exposure to a healthy range of ways that open source software is being used and employed in innovative, traditional and unconventional ways through a number of Case Studies delivered by experts in their respective professions.

Lowlights of the two day affair were the apparent lack of accredited / approved service providers, incidents of poor project management, failed implementations and impersonations by under-qualified and inexperienced consultants, coupled with a general lack of awareness of industry trends and conditions that surfaced during the stimulating and challenging debates and question and answer interactive times following some of the presentations.

The way forward is not necessarily clearer to me, however most of the delegates indicated that they had benefitted from the Open source in ICT conference, and we have undertaken to maintain communication by means of another wonderful tool in the Google Box, which I have setup and cordially invite anyone interested in developing, using, changing, deploying, migrating to or managing open source technologies in their industry / organisation / company / community.

You can find and join the Open Source in ICT user group here: http://groups.google.com/group/open-source-in-ict

Relating this to Joomla! is the next challenge, as the demand for Joomla! powered websites increases at an alarmingly exciting rate, with requests for training and project work coming through my inbox on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, sometimes with the unfortunate reason that the first service provider has under-performed or in some cases simply abandoned the project, leaving clients high and dry with incomplete websites, that should by now be fully functioning content management systems.

This paints an opportunistic picture for those who do deliver on time and over and above expectation (like the Joomla! developers whom we refer our project requests to), however for clients it may mean paying dearly for school fees before they find a development partner whom they can rely on and trust to produce the Joomla! powered goods they are willing to pay for.

I would be interested in comments from clients and developers alike, who may be able to shed more light on this rapidly expanding industry of website content management, not only using Joomla! but also Plone, Drupal, Mambo, Zope and a whole directory of smaller, less well known open source systems.

That's all folks.

Sean

All 4 Joomla!
& Joomla! 4 all

Joomla! Day South Africa, Joomla! @ Open Source in ICT Conference, Learn Joomla! Club

I do not normally blog, being either too busy or too lazy to spend my limited time rambling on about my humble opinnion about things. It normally takes some doing for me to get up close and personal with a rather uninspiring blank editor window and pretend that this is actually a two way conversation.

However when notable events come along, it seems right and honourable to share them with all of you - whoever you happens to be - so here are just a few of the journalisticaly justified happenings that I feel to share with you.

This week sees the first Joomla! Day South Africa event to grace the beautiful shores of Durban, and we are trusting for a healthy interest and turnout for the event, which I am helping to organise in my capacity within the Joomla! Portal of South Africa, along with Mat of Raramuridesign and Brendon of Brilliant Web. We even managed to get a press release onto www.joomla.org here: Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban

So hurry along to www.joomla.co.za and get registered...because it is just a day away.


Next week sees me fly off to the Open Source in ICT Conference in Johannesburg - Jozi, as it is fondly called by all who have a twinkle of gold in their eyesight - where I am to present a talk entitled 'Joomla!: Building an Open Source Community in South Africa' which you can checkout on the previous link (unless you are going to be at the conference, in which case i would wait to avoid knowing exactly where I am going with the discussion.

I have also been asked to Chair the Conference, which I am looking forward to, although the open source crew are generally a rather loose bunch of cannons, so it will probably come with it's challenges. It does cause one to wonder, what is really pressing in ICT related to Open Source, I mean given the opportunity to steer a conference, what would really benefit the open source community at this point in time. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to post them as comments on this article.

For anyone interested in attending the conference, or at least seeing what all the fuss is about, I have posted the Conference Brochure here...

Well, just remember that I will be delivering another popular Learn Joomla! workshop in Midrand, JHB following the conference, so if you need to get your head around Joomla! fast, check out the event registration here: Learn Joomla! in Midrand, JHB [15-16 May ]

Lastly, I found a great pressentation that answers the question: What is Joomla! although I do not know who created it... It offers a super Overview of the Joomla! CMS for anyone who may have heard about Joomla! but does not really know what it can do, or even whether it is safe to deploy mission critical information that way.

Stay in touch, and remember that we now offer desktop sharing and skypecall support,

Support Resource

Get Support Now Sean

This is free for anyone who has attended one of our "great", "mind blowing", "amazing" workshops - Hey, I didn't say so, it came through Feedback from Trainees.

If you have not managed to get one of our workshops, but would like to benefit from our Site Enabler Guide, watch out for our forthcoming Learn Joomla! Club, which will enable you to subscribe to a suitable package including various other goodiess like the latest Joomla! 1.5 E-Book, and the Joomla! Junkie's templates, along with our dedicated training and support, which is also delivered online in manageable two hour sessions.

We really have been blessed to train some key clients lately, including Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, The Work Force Group, Ten 2 One Media & Design, Virtual Networks, Omega Red, Scraper Board Art, SitePro and Global Power Generators this past month or so.

Thank you too to our faithful clientelle amongst others Tasima, Walk Through the Bible, World Health Organisation, Department of Agriculture, Protea Hotels North Coast and many others...

May you Joomla! happily...


South Africa ~ courtesy of www.joomla.org.za ~

Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban

The South African Joomla! community is pleased to invite you to the first Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban, an event to be held May 9 and 10, 2008, at the Varsity College, Durban North. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa, a popular destination for tourists, and considered to be the busiest port in the African continent. It is an ideal location for those interested in Joomla! to gather. Joomla! Days offer an excellent opportunity to learn, network with other Joomla! users and developers, and discover ways to contribute to the Joomla! project. The South African Joomla! community has been hard at work to ensure that this year's Joomla! Day events are at least as informative and fun as the three successful South African events held during 2007. The Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban Agenda calls for two complete days of activities: Day 1: Business Community Friday, May 9, is designed around the needs of the business community. Those who have roles like Web master, business decision maker, and marketing manager, will find helpful, relevant topics. The Business Community Day is a non-technical event focused on helping make the business case for using Joomla. If you want to determine whether or not Joomla is suitable for your business site, this is the session for you. Day 2: User Community The agenda for Saturday, May 10, focuses on the Joomla! user community. This is a technical and business session, covering topics of interest for those who install and manage Web sites for themselves or for clients. Topics on this day will cover Web site security, migration, templating, extensions, hosting, and business strategies for Web site developers. Joomla! Day South Africa events are run by the Joomla! Southern African Portal , a non-profit organisation. If you are interested and able to attend, register online. Your registration includes refreshments, a Joomla! T-shirt and an information packet. Joomla! Days are well attended worldwide. A key benefit of attendance is the opportunity to connect with hundreds of members of the Joomla! community, including speakers, designers, site builders, and developers. We wish the very best to our South African community members and hope all who attend enjoy Joomla! Day South Africa - Durban.

~ courtesy of www.joomla.org ~

[Reminder] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 6 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, this is a reminder for

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 6 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction:
What are search engines?
How does Google Work?
Why is it so important to succeed online?
Competitor Analysis
Target Audience Analysis
Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity
internal links
external links
quality content and copy writing
submitting your sites to search engines
blogs
site maps
meta tags
meta descriptions
keyword research
email newsletters
images and alt tags
Misspellings
Brief overview of content management systems
How they can save you money and keep your site “alive”

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size.

For more information about our other training courses see http://www.sling-shot.co.za
More event details»

 

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

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[Updated Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 6 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

Details for the following event have changed:

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 6 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction:
What are search engines?
How does Google Work?
Why is it so important to succeed online?
Competitor Analysis
Target Audience Analysis
Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity
internal links
external links
quality content and copy writing
submitting your sites to search engines
blogs
site maps
meta tags
meta descriptions
keyword research
email newsletters
images and alt tags
Misspellings
Brief overview of content management systems
How they can save you money and keep your site “alive”

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size.

For more information about our other training courses see http://www.sling-shot.co.za
More event details»

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

 

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

To stop receiving future notifications for this event, decline this event. Alternatively you can sign up for a Google Calendar account at http://www.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar.

[Updated Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 13 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

Details for the following event have changed:

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 13 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction:
What are search engines?
How does Google Work?
Why is it so important to succeed online?
Competitor Analysis
Target Audience Analysis
Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity
internal links
external links
quality content and copy writing
submitting your sites to search engines
blogs
site maps
meta tags
meta descriptions
keyword research
email newsletters
images and alt tags
Misspellings
Brief overview of content management systems
How they can save you money and keep your site “alive”

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size.

For more information about our other training courses see http://www.sling-shot.co.za
More event details»

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

 

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

To stop receiving future notifications for this event, decline this event. Alternatively you can sign up for a Google Calendar account at http://www.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar.

[Invitation] Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban @ Wed Feb 13 9am - 3pm (Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog)

Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog, you are invited to

Search Engine Optimization Workshop - Durban

Wed Feb 13 9am – 3pm
(Harare)
Durban, South Africa (map)
Calendar: Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog

Search Engine Optimization Workshop

This course is relevant for website owners, designers, business owners and company marketers.

Time: 9:00 to 16:00pm

Included are :

* refreshments on arrival and a midmorning tea/coffee break with snacks
* lunch
* mid-afternoon tea/coffee/juice break
* Notes for the course

COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction:
What are search engines?
How does Google Work?
Why is it so important to succeed online?
Competitor Analysis
Target Audience Analysis
Techniques of raising your Page Rank & Popularity
internal links
external links
quality content and copy writing
submitting your sites to search engines
blogs
site maps
meta tags
meta descriptions
keyword research
email newsletters
images and alt tags
Misspellings
Brief overview of content management systems
How they can save you money and keep your site “alive”

Cost: R2,500 pp
* Plus Travel Expenses where necessary.
10% discount if more than one person attending the course from the same organisation OR
20% discount for registered charities

Phone: (035) 7724-555 / (035) 7722-712

International requests are welcome as travel costs are minimal if the group is a sufficient size.

For more information about our other training courses see http://www.sling-shot.co.za
More event details»

Will you attend?

Yes |No |Maybe

 

You are receiving this courtesy email at the account slingshotsean.j00ml1j0urn1l@blogger.com because you are an attendee of this event.

To stop receiving future notifications for this event, decline this event. Alternatively you can sign up for a Google Calendar account at http://www.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar.

Invitation to join Sean Grant's network on WiZiQ

Invitation To Join WiZiQ

Hi Joomla JournalEmail-to-Blog ,  I am a member of this educational platform, WiZiQ. Please join my network on WiZiQ; we can then have live, online sessions and share educational content. Joining WiZiQ is free and takes a few seconds. Simply click on this link http://www.wiziq.com/Register/Default.aspx?K0uf8slD72gaHJE3c1w0VU%2fnGDWy%2fKXL7Xg2G8BiIk%2bg997BH1fzzw%2f8Q4DeliNIi7eFMtfzFg8%3d to join. Regards, Sean Grant

Update on Project

Welcome to Friday - Weekend!. I hope that all our supporters enjoy a wonderful weekend of rest and family. Our latest newsletter can be found here for those of you who missed out on the great things that have been happening at iKhaya LikaBaba. Also don't forget to keep an eye on the blog for daily updates and comments from our volunteers. Further exciting news is that we have created a Facebook group: so come on and join. It's a great place to ask questions and connect with us on a personal level. To join the iKhaya LikaBaba group on Facebook click here. (You will only be able to join the group if you already belong to Facebook.) Your Subscription: Change your subscription Unsubscribe Powered by Joobi   Copyright 2007 iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies. EMAIL | WEBSITE +27(0)35 772 4557 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665 PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880 ~

Project Progress and Plans

(If you are receiving this newsletter for the second time, my apologies.)   As some of you have been keeping up on the blog you would have seen that Rebecca has been in Ngwelezane Hospital who have been looking after her with a chest infection but the good news is that she is due home tomorrow. Not having her here has left the house very quiet and empty and so we are looking forward to fetching our little girl. We have really enjoyed getting feedback on both the blog and the website . If you have any ideas or thoughts on iKhaya LikaBaba, feel free to email or call us. We know that there are many caring individuals out there. We would love to hear from you. Whether you have an idea on how to fundraise, or a contact that you may have or how to do things better or more effectively - let us know! One of the ways that you could assist us is to forward our newsletter to your mailing lists and encourage your friends/ collegues/ business partners/ clients to sign up for our newsletter . The more people who know about what we are doing the more we can grow this project. The need is great. Even today on the news there was an article about how abandonment is on the increase on a local as well as international level. The value of these little lives seemingly have become nullified. At iKhaya LIkaBaba, we believe every child deserves to be loved and cared for. Are you considering volunteering at iKhaya LikaBaba? Well don't hesitate, we need you! We especially need volunteers for the following: * spending time with the babies especially for weekend visits * international volunteers who want to spend some time here, helping with the babies, staying with local families and becoming part of the family of iKhaya LikaBaba. If you would like to get involved in any one of these areas please contact us . We would love to have you on board. You may feel like you have little to offer, or that you are inexperienced or unqualified. We need caring individuals who are prepared to sacrifice of their time and energy and offer a child a hand, a smile, a hug and friendship. For those of you who like shopping: Our most pressing needs at the moment are: an intercom system (as we have a constant stream of visitors at the gate who are always having to hoot or shout to get our attention if we are inside), camper cots, prams, baby products.       Upcoming Plans 1. Our next phase of growth is to increase the size of the babies' room as we do not intend to live like sardines in a tin. This extended room will allow ample space for the volunteers as well as space for a sleeper couch for the night mother that we will eventually employ in the future. 2. Employ a full time house keeper. A young couple in Empangeni have volunteered to pay her salary for the first year which is fantastic. 3. Employ a night mother. Having only Rebecca at the moment and her needs of feeding every two hours has made us realise that we cannot manage 6 babies at night as well as during the day. For this reason we want to eventually employ someone who will take responsibility for all the night wake ups. (Currently the only reason we aren't doing so is due to funding, so if you're wanting to sow financially into this area, please contact us ) Wall of Fame Companies or individuals who have made a contribution to iKhaya LikaBaba this week. No gift, service or donation is too small and we appreciate each one of these individuals: Rene and Cobus Nel, Lythan and Justin Emslie, Trish and Luke Harel, Vanessa and George Patterson, Debbie Roberts, Megan and Mike Mills, Debbie Davidson, Anne Henderson, Hans-Christoph Neumann, Ann Dilon, Mark and Cindy Neumann, Arlene Robertson, Paul and Niki Scherzer, Wendy and Andrew Oxley, Belinda and Brett Poupard, Empangeni Child Welfare, Janet Harris, Dr Lizzie Thirsk, Ngwelezane Hospital Ward B, Dr Andre Naude If you have missed any of the previous newsletters, you will find the list of all our previous communications here . In our last newsletter we were asked to include the bank details as some readers have a very slow connection. So here are our bank details, should you want to make a contribution to what we are involved in. Account Name: Ikhaya LikaBaba Bank: Nedbank Account No: 1303124955 Branch/ Sort Code: 13033040 Swift Code: NEDSZAJJ Once again thank you to everyone who has taken time to read this newsletter and I hope that you will find your purpose and role in iKhaya LikaBaba.   Your Subscription: Change your subscription Unsubscribe Powered by Joobi   Copyright 2007 iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies. EMAIL | WEBSITE +27(0)35 772 2712 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665 PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880 ~

New Year, New Hope for Abandoned Babies

Thank you to all of you who gave us feedback. We were so encouraged. Its wonderful to know that there are so many people who care. First off however, let me apologize on behalf of my husband Sean. He wrote the last email and it seems his first paragraph offended a few people. He was unfortunately trying to do the impossible (type an email at one in the morning after having virtually no sleep the night before). So for those who did give us feedback and for those who didn't but thought "how rude" - apologies all round. We had a number of requests asking for photographs of Hamilton and Rebecca. We don't have many as we are using my rather complicated phone (all phones are complicated if they do anything other than an sms or call) and so downloading pictures has not been the easiest thing especially as our computer doesn't seem to be speaking to the phone. Sounds a little like an alien invasion if you ask me. As for being technical and keeping up with the times we have added some little video clips onto the blog , as well as the website so that you can see the children and their visitors live! We potentially can care for 6 children at a time per home. It's only a few in the bigger scope of things but we are hopeful that adoptions and foster care will happen quickly thereby allowing us to accommodate more. Our plan in the long term is set up more homes like ours and help others to do the same. Also for those of you who would like to find out what happens at iKhaya on a day to day basis (well almost), we have created a blog . Sounds rather technical doesn't it, by now you must be impressed, but it gives you a more in depth look into the days of our lives (sounds like a soapie I know). It includes little snippets of what the children do We were also very excited after our last newsletter, to get some interested parties who are considering adoption and foster care . Please contact us if at any time this is something you would like to consider. We are happy to answer your questions. As much as we love having these little ones, our aim is to place them into forever families through adoption and foster care. There are so many ways to get involved with this project. We really have tried to accommodate everyone, so that you can get involved in very different ways. Some of the ways that you can get involved include the following: financially , monthly debit order , go shopping , adopting, foster care , volunteering your skills and talents , invite us as a guest speaker , pray for a baby , sponsor a child and more. As you can see there is ample space for your creativity and situation . We would love each one of you to be part of this. We have realized that though these children are part of our family, we are hoping to get a wider community involved. Wall of Fame Companies or individuals who have made a contribution to iKhaya LikaBaba this week. No gift, service or donation is too small and we appreciate each one of these individuals: Dr Lizzie Thirsk, Rene and Cobus Nel, Lythan and Justin Emslie, Kerry and Wyett Benade, Christi Smith, Yvonne van den Bergh, Dr Andre Naude, Rene and Cobus van der Rheeder, Michelle and Vince Reid, Thandaza Covenant Church, Kate and Chad Bain, Niki and Paul Scherzer, Anne Fourie, Janet Harris, Arlene Robertson, Abigail and Ryan Smith, Yolandi Joubert, Elinor Olivier, Mel and Jakes Olivier, Medipark Pharmacy, Slingshot, Haloweb, Sue and Erik Bernon, Debbie Robertson Remember there is an opportunity for each one of you to get involved. Even if you are remotely situated there are ways that you too can make a difference in the lives of these babies. For a list of ways in which you can get involved click here . http://www.orphan.org.za We are currently in the process of setting up an Orphan Network where we can share ideas, exchange resources and generally work together in influencing communities. We would like to use it as a platform to give a number of organizations exposure and profile and harness this collective knowledge mass to draw attention to the good work that often goes unnoticed because it may happen off the beaten track or the workers are remotely isolated and generally under capacitated which means that we often don't have the energy to communicate and publicize our many success stories, challenges and pressing needs. We believe in the philosophy of TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) and invite you join us and particpate in creating a highly visible and dramatically impacting Orphan Network throughout Southern Africa. We wish you all a very special 2008 and look forward to meeting with each one of you whether through email, phone or visits. Your Subscription: Change your subscription Unsubscribe Powered by Joobi   Copyright 2007 iKhaya LikaBaba - House of the Father for Abandoned Babies. EMAIL | WEBSITE +27(0)35 772 2712 / +27(0)82 5777 340 / +27(0)79-893-8665 PO Box 3884, Empangeni, 3880 ~

Joomla!Day South Africa - East London

JOOMLA! DAY IN EAST LONDON is just around the corner! Scheduled for the 13 October 2007, starts at 9:00 am at Clarendons High School for Girls. With successful Joomla! Days having taken place in Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier this year, we are hoping for a good run in East London as well. We hope you will stretch your Joomla-legs in the Eastern Cape Province with us on the day!

The aim of the day is once again to build relationships with participants and Joomla! Users, to exchange ideas, build for the future together and blow wind in one anothers sails. All are welcome, the Joomla! amateur, the Joomla! fundi and developer... we are calling Joomlarians of all breeds to attend and participate.

The cost for the day is R250 per person. Interested people are urged to register online before the day, at www.joomladay.co.za, where you can make payment and receive confirmation of your booked seat as well. Please note that your seat will only be confirmed once confirmation of payment has been received.

DETAILS OF THE EVENT:

When: Saturday, 13 October, 09:00 - 16:00
Where: East London, South Africa (download map)
Cost: R250.00 pp
Registration & Payment: www.joomladay.co.za

Joomla!Day South Africa - East London
A gathering of all Joomla! users in South Africa - end users, managers, administrators, developers and service providers to the Joomla community. A day of networking, presentations, discussions and fun - all around the Joomla content Management System. Registration is essential as seats are limited. Cost: R250 pp incl. T-shirt, CD, refreshments etc.

JOOMLA! TRAINING IN EAST LONDON:
Joomla! Training is also happening before the event, the details follow.

Read more...
~ courtesy of www.joomla.org.za ~