Speaker Spotlight: Andrew Gray

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Steve M

Now here’s a session and Speaker addition to WordCamp Raleigh that you won’t want to miss … Andrew Gray, is a partner at TayloeGray, a Wilmington, NC based Marketing and eBusiness Consulting firm.

Session:

“Speed Up Your Site Using Transient API for Caching”

Transient API is a great way to cache sidebar items and other fragments (HTML sections) of your site that don’t need to be created on every page load.

With a simple change to your template, you can dramatically reduce the load on your database and still have a dynamic site.

The presentation will include a basic overview of the transient API and how to use it in your template. Examples will include caching the tag cloud, most commented posts, and other side bar items.

Bio:

Andrew has been a web developer since the late 90’s, and his first commercial internet project was founding the Chapel Hill website Rent.com in 1999.

He is now a partner at TayloeGray, a Wilmington, NC based Marketing and eBusiness Consulting firm, where he develops client sites using WordPress.

TayloeGray’s highest traffic WordPress site is Hip2Save.com, a coupon blog with over 5M page views per month.

Other notable WordPress sites Andrew has created include CBradioshow.com (online radio station) and UNCWEC.org (the Entrepreneurship Center of UNC-W).

Follow Andrew:

Website: TayloeGray.com
Twitter: @TayloeGray

Speaker Spotlight: Aaron Brazell

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Steve M

We’re happy to announce another great Speaker addition to WordCamp Raleigh, Aaron Brezell, who is a WordPress developer & consultant, and the author of the WordPress Bible from Wiley Publishing.

Session:

“WordPress Social”

Examining how the WordPress ecosystem can help you build communities, leverage social networks, and integrate with the growing connectedness among Internet users.

Bio:

Aaron, who is often controversial but rarely wrong, is a WordPress developer & consultant and the author of the WordPress Bible from Wiley publishing.

He has been developing in WordPress for more than 4 years and is a strong advocate for resource sharing among communities.

Aaron’s past presentations include sessions at WordCamps’ San Francisco, Dallas, NYC, Atlanta, and Mid-Atlantic, where he is a lead organizer, plus others.

Follow Aaron:

Blog: Technosailor.com
Twitter: @technosailor

Speaker Spotlight: Syed Balkhi

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Steve M

Those of you wanting to learn more about WordPress and Social media, we added another great Speaker, Syed Balkhi, founder of the WordPress resource site WPBeginner.

Session:

“Unleash the Power of Facebook and WordPress to Build a More Interactive Community”

Learn how to create a Facebook Fan Page, embed the fan page into your website, and integrate Facebook comments into your WordPress comments.

Also, learn how to create a Facebook application which will allow your readers to put recent articles from your website into their own Facebook profiles.

Bio:

Syed is a WordPress designer / developer and founder of the WordPress resource site WPBeginner.com.

He has 7 years of experience working in the web industry and has been working with WordPress since 2006.

Syed’s past experience includes consulting with businesses and individuals on all different levels. He is mostly known for his aggressive marketing skills, creative designs, and SEO expertise.

Syed’s past presentations include sessions at Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar 6, WordCamp’s Miami, Fayetteville, and Atlanta.

Follow Syed:

Website: WPBeginner.com
Blog: Balkhis.com
Twitter: @syedbalkhi

Speaker Spotlight: Tracy Needham

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Steve M

Announcing another great Speaker for WordCamp Raleigh, Tracy Needham, who is the founder of Compelling Communications, LLC, where she helps businesses improve their marketing and sales, and also a member of our Raleigh WordPress Meetup group.

Session:

“It’s Easy to Create Killer Content for Your Blog”

Sure, there are plenty of places you can get free or nearly free content. But if you’re using your blog to market yourself or your business, crappy articles and a constant parade of guest posts are going to hurt far more than they help.

So join us to discover how to quickly and easily create compelling, quality content that keeps visitors coming back for more. We’ll cover how to write titles that “had them at hello,” painless ways to write posts that highlight your expertise, and even a few secrets from the copywriting world for building more rapport with your readers.

Bio:

For the last six years, Tracy has been helping small businesses around the country get more clients and more sales with marketing content that does the selling for them and marketing strategies that make better use of their time and money.

Tracy dishes the dirt on copywriting and small business marketing at Compelling Marketing Blog, which is an Alltop top blog for Marketing and was also named one of the top 100 marketing blogs in the world by The Daily Reviewer in 2009.

Tracy’s past presentations include the Raleigh Internet Marketing Mastermind Seminar, NC Assn of Professional Organizers, Triangle Business Leaders, and others.

Follow Tracy:

Website: CompellingComm.com
Twitter: @tracyneedham

Speaker Spotlight: Tracy Needham

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Steve M

Session:

“It’s Easy to Create Killer Content for Your Blog”

Sure, there are plenty of places you can get free or nearly free content. But if you’re using your blog to market yourself or your business, crappy articles and a constant parade of guest posts are going to hurt far more than they help.

So join us to discover how to quickly and easily create compelling, quality content that keeps visitors coming back for more. We’ll cover how to write titles that “had them at hello,” painless ways to write posts that highlight your expertise, and even a few secrets from the copywriting world for building more rapport with your readers.

Bio:

For the last six years, Tracy has been helping small businesses around the country get more clients and more sales with marketing content that does the selling for them and marketing strategies that make better use of their time and money.

Tracy dishes the dirt on copywriting and small business marketing at Compelling Marketing Blog, which is an Alltop top blog for Marketing and was also named one of the top 100 marketing blogs in the world by The Daily Reviewer in 2009.

Tracy’s past presentations include the Raleigh Internet Marketing Mastermind Seminar, NC Assn of Professional Organizers, Triangle Business Leaders, and others.

Follow Tracy: