04Nov Hello Zimbo! Happy Jam! Birthday You!
Hey Miss Zimbo Jam. Here’s wishing you the happiest of birthdays! May you continue to jam harder and harder. May you uplift Zimbabwean artists wherever they are in the world, inform Zimbabwean art lovers and entertain those who have some jam in them. Inspire and motivate. Jam the sweetness out of this sometimes torrid life. Keep on jamming! Keep on jamming! Keep on freakin’ jamming.
22Aug I Will Pikicha You
It’s Up! It’s Up! It’s Up!
Pictures compiled all over Zimbabwe. Uploaded in Bergen. Reuploaded in Turkey. Configured at the Book Café in Harare. Announced to you from Sopranos in Avondale.
It’s over 3,000 pictures of every day life, politics, business, arts, showbiz, music and personalities from Zimbabwe. It’s the big little sister of ZIMELPA.
We invite you to take a look at Pikicha.
14Aug Aripano Slows Down- a Little Bit
I am looking for an Internet connection. Dial up at home has really become awfully slow- and expensive. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve been spoilt by Bergen broadband. But no, at least before this I didn’t have enough time to take a shower while waiting for a page to open.
This has slowed down the implementation of several projects including updates on Zimbo Jam and approving new posts on Zimbablog.
Looking at other options. Wireless? UHF? Costs! Costs!
I am a Zimbo. I will make a plan.
21Jul Remembering ZIMELPA
When I was with Venekera Works, we ran an online picture gallery which we called ZIMELPA, short for “The Zimbabwe Entertainment and Leisure Photo Album”. ZIMELPA was part of itsbho.com and became quite popular in a very short time. There is something about telling a story with pictures that resonates with most people. Unfortunately ZIMELPA went down with itsbho.com last year. Don’t ask for details because that is another story on its own.
I am working on a bigger version of ZIMELPA which is going to go up on the Zimbo Jam. The concept is a bit wider this time- not just entertainment and leisure photos but all sorts of pictures that cover every aspect of life in Zimbabwe.
I have been going through the FungaiFoto archives during the last few months and am flabbergasted by how many pictures there are. I have also spoken to a few of my photographer friends and they are willing to contribute pics to the album. One step at a time I suppose. So far, I have added just over 2,000 photos to the gallery and we are only just beginning to tell this story…
Where can you see it? It’s still offline- but you’ll be the first to know when it goes up! I promise you I am going to scream so loudly about it that you will hear it- DEF.
The challenge now is to get it all up before I leave for Zim, where the bandwidth would make this akin to an entomological effort to get Mount Everest airborne…
14Jul The Jam Shop Draws Closer
There have been many starts and stops. Issues with the contract, with the shop, with the logistics, with our mental preparedness and so many other nitty gritty witties- but I do believe we are close to take off. The Jam Shop is coming…
23Jun Easy search for law.co.zw
I just added a big search feature on the law.co.zw home page- it hits you as soon as the page opens. With over 1,500 downloads, over 200 Zimbabwean law firms listed and MANY more updates to come I felt it was important to make it all as easy to find as possible.
18Jun Banner Ad Campaign for Law.co.zw Launched
Yesterday, I did the banners for the law.co.zw ad campaign and put them up on The Zimbo Jam.
The idea behind this campaign is to present the law with a more human face, in a way that the ordinary person can relate to and to incorporate a bit of humour into the ads. We’ll see just how successful it is soon enough.
See more screenshots: (more…)
17Jun Hopemasike.com & How to Improve your Google Rankings
The recently launched www.hopemasike.com is doing well in Google search rankings. Launched just over two weeks ago, it’s appearing within the first five results in a search for “Hope Masike”. Ditto for a search on her band “Kakuwe”. Searches for Kakuwe band members yield similarly pleasing results. E.g. Searches for Theresa Muteta and Blessed Rukweza give top ten listings for the site.
How did this happen? Here’s my take on it: (more…)
17Jun I’ve Also Been Digg-ing
A useful resource for driving traffic to any website is www.digg.com. You sign up, and if you find an article you like, simply “digg it”, i.e. submit it to digg.com. A link to the page you have posted, along with a brief summary, then appears on Digg and can be read by other users. If they like the story they too can “digg it” which is much like voting an article or “liking” something in Facebook. Once your post has a certain number of diggs it is moved to the home page of the section you posted it in. If the article reaches a critical mass of diggs it is moved to the digg home page. When that happens, you can be sure of some major traffic.
I haven’t been getting very good results with my diggs and I know why. I haven’t yet invested enough time on the Digg site to build my network. As with all social networks, you need to invest some time, making friends, making comments on other people’s posts (intelligent comments- not spam) and getting to know- and work- the neighbourhood.
It’s an investment, ya digg?
17Jun Max Soutter Blogs Business
I recently came across a unique blog that I loved immediately- it’s one with useful posts on making money in Zimbabwe. Most Zimbabwean blogs I know are about politics, so it’s refreshing to come across something like this every so often.
Max specialises in assisting Zimbabwean start ups to grow. He is the founder of the Business Setup Group (BSG), an organisation dedicated to helping entrepreneurs start up and grow buisinesses the smart way.
According to the profile on his blog he has worked with more than 200 businesses in 35 different industries He’s also invested over 3000 hours of research and study into the fastest growing businesses and fastest selling products.
Here are some articles to get you started:
Do check out the blog.