I am #TGSavvy, Are you?

Hi Guys,

Tech Girl is an upcoming technology website where all content is written by women for women and everyone else. This is written from the angle of how a women looks gadgets and feels about the same.It's the brainchild of Sam Wright who has been blogging since many years and found the gap in tech content writing and thought of filling the same.

She wanted to share whatever she learned all these years and came up with the Tech Girl #TGSavvy Bloggers meet to help fellow and new bloggers from Johannesburg and nearby areas.

Mustek Limited offered their conference and presentation room for the 60+ bloggers meet along with a lot of goodies for all the bloggers. Mecer is one of their Android & Windows tablets/laptop brand which is gaining a lot of popularity because of it's value for money.

The tablets looks great and offers a lot of capabilities considering it's price. Some of the tablets comes with earphones, 3G and leather covers.

The day started with the breakfast being served along with coffee, tea and cold drinks. Soon afterwards, we were all given goodies bag as we entered the conference hall at Mustek office in Midrand. 

The various sponsors for the goodies bag and breakfast/lunch are - Samsung (Notepad), Intel_Africa (Pen), Nedbank(Pen & tool kit with torch), Joburg Style (magazine), Macaroon (gift vocuher), Anni King (Gift voucher), Scoin Shop (Nelson Mandela Coin), Snapp Cab (Gift Voucher), Trinket Trove (3in1 bands) & Paint Night (Fizzers and gift voucher) and Mustek/Mecer (Small notepad, water bottle, Handy Tool kit).

Here is Sam with all the Mecer tablets on display for bloggers to check out. They also offered discount vouchers on the already value for money tablets. If anyone wants the voucher and wants to buy Mecer tablet, they can email me.

Tech Girl Editor started the presentation catering to both the Blogger and Wordpress users. I resonated with her knowledge about blogging but was totally unaware about the Wordpress thing. I tried to use wordpress but even posting a photograph makes me crazy whereas it is so easy on Google's Blogger. This workshop really took some of my fears of wordpress away and gave some real insights into both the worlds. 

Sam covered a lot of topics ranging from domain names, storage, content, customizations, ad sense & affiliate programs, themes, designs, plugins, hosting issues, web designers, c panel, backing up your blog, white screen of death, exporting your blog, migrating to other domains, security, hacking & Google Analytic. It was a lot of information that was shared for everyone to consume and think about. She also shared some of her secrets to increase traffic and make your blog interesting. 

Ultimately, Sam said that - Content is King, if you write well, then you are bound to succeed. Keep learning and keep asking for help from fellow bloggers. It's a community and it's meant to stay together and help each other improve on their skills as a blogger. 

After the presentation lunch was ready and bloggers enjoyed the lovely food spread containing vegetarian options also which are generally not available anywhere else I go for a launch event or party. 

Overall, I came home with a lot of learning and reflections that I thought of but missed them considering in this day to day job and work environment. It was a morning well spent and received some useful goodies too. I met some lovely bloggers Katchie from SA Bloggers, Meruschka from Mzansi Girl, Namitha from My eyes on the world during the meet and above all Sam Wright. I came to know about her during the #MissionSamsung second blogging challenge for #SamsungSmartTV as she was the chosen Top 10. Thanks to @SABloggers 's Sandy Nene for tweeting about this workshop and supporting this worthy cause. I definitely believe in the motto of #weblogforlove.

Follow Tech Girl & Sam Wright on twitter. For those who missed this workshop, Tech Girl will do special posts on all #blogging advices shared on their website soon. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com

South African Bloggers - Meet #MissionSamsung Community Challenge Winner

Hi Guys,

My interview as posted on WeBlogForLove website after winning @SamsungSA Community challenge for Round 1. The post that made me win is here.

• What inspired you to enter the challenge?

It was the most marketed and promoted challenge by the @SABloggers and @Webinfluential along with @SamsungSA asking for entries all over from Pretoria, Jozi, Durban and Capetown. I always wanted to be a part of Samsung brand and showed my interest to blog about their mobiles, tablets etc. In India, I missed the contest as I haven’t started blogging when they chose some people to become their “Samsung Mobilers” where they get new products as soon as they are launched to post tweets/blog, review and use the product. So a chance to be a part of Samsung community was my biggest motivation behind entering this challenge. I hope that now I have won the first Challenge as an outsider, I will get invites to various product launches/review to cover for Samsung. Fingers Crossed!

• Is there a specific blogger who you thought would win besides you?

This is one thing I am missing on at the moment. I don’t get enough time to go through and read the blogs of my fellow bloggers. I do check their blog once in a while to see what I can do visually to my blog and which other badges/communities I can be a part of. I did check the chosen 10 bloggers for Round 1 on Samsung Promotions website from which I found some are famous celebrities whom I have been following (on twitter) for advice on social media. I have not checked CapeTown Guy’s winning entry but will definitely go through once I have the NX300 in my hands to capture the same kind of photographs that made him win.

• When did you start blogging?

I started blogging on 27 Dec 2012 on the occasion of my best friend’s birthday with a purpose to share my life with others. Soon I became a member of various blogging communities and learned a lot from them. I purchased my domain with the first cash prize I won in a blogger meet. It was great beginners luck and then I started to market my blog well based on the learning I could gather from fellow bloggers. I have helped a lot of interested friends open their blogs when they saw my achievements in the same.

• Was this the first blogger challenge you’ve ever entered?

Yeah, this was the first blogger challenge I have entered in South Africa. It was a great opportunity to write about something I am so passionate about and then chosen to be a winner amongst many. I am really thankful to the organisers and the brand.

• What has it taught you?

This has taught me that Dreams can always be fulfilled, no matter where on earth are you, if you have the perseverance and enthusiasm to keep going. I never thought I will win but I wrote the same on the last day of submission with a cup of tea and mood to write about the product. Everyone loves photography and I wrote about the product which makes this feasible for everyone. Every time I will hold NX300 (prized possession) in my hands, it will bring an achievement motivation to keep writing and moving forward.

• Will you enter any other blogger challenges?

Yes, with more enthusiasm and motivation I definitely will enter more competitions. I participated in SonyMoviesSA – Amazing Spiderman2 #SAReviewContest but lost the same. Generally, I miss them as I am not aware about any blogging contest happening also.

• Why do you think it is important for bloggers to participate in such?

Competitions keeps you active and on the top of things as you constantly think about what to write, how to write and when to write? I love participating in blogging contests because I measure my writing and luck with other fellow bloggers. It’s also about the idea which no one else has thought (as per your thinking) and when you present yours, you know that you will be the winner. But it’s important to read the winning entries so as to benchmark yourself and get a lot of ideas for improving your writing. Blogging is all about enjoying the expressions in your writings.

• Do you own any thing from Samsung?

I bought my 32” Series 5 – LCD TV way back in 2008 and another one in 2012. Other than that I got Samsung Chat phone which I bought in London. My parent’s have installed Samsung Split AC 2 Ton in their room. I also received a S5 I am FIT Sipper in Sandton City Mall after doing 194 steps in a minute.

• Why do you love this brand?

I loved Samsung for its great picture quality in terms of my LCD TV. I have enjoyed a lot of movies, TV series etc on my LCD TV. I have literally lived my life watching a lot of TV on Samsung LCD TV. Touchwood, there has not been a single incident of repair since 2008 in my Samsung LCD TV whereas I have seen many complaints in Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and LG LCD/LED of my friends/relatives who bought it after mines. Hats Off for the quality and that’s the reason to buy one more for my parent’s room.

• Why do you think it is important for bloggers to stay loyal to brands they love?

It’s a selfish world. People change their loyalties all the time. Bloggers do need to think what’s best for them as well as their blog. I have been following Gionee, Samsung, Nokia, LG, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, Sennheiser and many other brands for long time with no success. At the end of the day, I want to review a lot of products and whosoever will send me products to review, I will be loyal to them only. I even offered to blog for 52 continuous weeks (One post every week) in return of their latest mobiles/gadgets reviews on various social media channels i.e instagram, google+, facebook as well as on my blog. Hence, Loyalty will only come if brand trusts you with their latest products and gives you access to them. A blogger doesn’t want his blog also to look like an advertisement channel for a single brand featuring nothing new but his self purchased ages old Panasonic FZ5 camera or HTC mobiles. But Good news is that, I am still available to any brand that shows interest in my blog and wants me to write 52 posts mentions of their product for their best product in return.

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Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com