News Blog

In October 2014, the DNN Website Design team was given the task of creating a website for Random Harvest and their 7 business centres.

Random Harvest chose to use a DNN content management system (CMS) for the following reasons:

• DNN CMS features a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) HTML editor. Meaning it allows you to view what you are editing / creating in a very similar display to what the end result will look like. It is an easy-to-use and update CMS, allowing on-page editing without vast technical knowledge.
• Random Harvest needed a CMS that was scalable and could grow as quickly and as large as the business.
• With huge numbers of plant picture files Random Harvest needed the DNN Software CMS, which has an excellent file management system.
• Random Harvest needed a CMS that featured many modular extensions that are easy to deploy and integrate well with the core DNN Software system
• They required a CMS that enabled digital marketing management and made social bookmarking easy. 

The Random Harvest Website

The project involved creating a website that was multi-functional and enabled effective digital marketing for all 7 business centres.

Their business centres are as follows:

• A retail nursery
• A wholesale nursery
• Random Harvest Tea garden
• Farm and gift shop
• Country Cottages (Guesthouse accommodation)
• Conference centre facilities
• Random Harvest Farm

The aim of this website was to create a single platform where each business centre could be found, viewed and accessed by potential traffic.

Therefore our team had to create a website that included the following:

• A responsive design website (refer the image on the right which is a screenshot of the responsive design for the Random Harvest blog) that enabled ease of viewing across all devices (mobile, tablet, desktop)
• A flexible and scalable web design solution that enhanced the important aspects of each business.
• Effective navigation to ensure user experience across all 7 business centres.
• A professional aesthetic website design that created the perfect fusion of nature and business.
• An online gallery for each business centre.
• Bulk emailing with newsletter opt-in, and automatic subscription management.
• Newsletter archive with social bookmarking
• An event calendar
• RSS feed and several blogs for each business centre
• Basic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 
• Google map location
• Custom modular development for Wholesale Client signup and Wholesale client management process

Digital Marketing with ITM Website Design Cape Town

In November 2014 the website had been completed and was ready to begin the digital marketing phase. DNN Website Design utilises the digital marketing services of ITM and therefore the project was handed over. ITM then set to work to create a digital marketing strategy tailored to Random Harvest's digital marketing needs and wants.

This online marketing strategy included: 

• Improving SEO by using advanced SEO methods  
• Creating the appropriate social media channels (Facebook, Google +)
• Developing an audience on such channels.
• Researching effective and relevant keywords 
• Researching and creating website content including such relevant keywords
• Establishing a content marketing strategy
• Writing blogs targeting each business centre's niche market
• Sharing blogs via social networking channels