Author: Ally Simpson

Northern Ireland Aeropress Championship

Posted by | May 26, 2016 |

June 1st 2016, see’s the return of Northern Ireland AeroPress Championship! This years event is in the Black Box, in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. This is a really special year for coffee enthusiasts, as the World AeroPress Championship is being held in Dublin later in June as part of the global event World of Coffee. This event will see thousands of coffee professionals and enthusiasts descend upon Dublin to compete in various competitions and to take part in many different coffee related events. But how about that poster eh for the Northern Ireland Aeropress Championship ? Great work from local lads Glenn Kennedy & Tim Farrell. As always, the Northern Ireland Aeropress Championship is free entry for spectators. Alongside the competition, there will be beer from Boundary Brewing, the Belfast debut of the Picture Bus as well as great music & we’ll be sure to squeeze some coffee in there somewhere! Competitors, bring your fan clubs…fan clubs, bring the noise! To register for spectator tickets & get more info go here. Last years Northern Ireland Aeropress Championship winner was Ballymena’s very own Jonathan Hickinson from Middletown Coffee Co. The winner goes forward to compete for Northern Ireland at the World Aeropress Championship. This years event promises to be great fun. Check out their updates here to keep up with latest info about...

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The promotion of Ballymena

Posted by | May 18, 2016 |

Promotion: – the act of moving someone to a higher or more important position or rank in an organisation – something that is done to make people aware of something and increase its sales or popularity How: the promotion of Ballymena By writing about your business and/or organisation, Ballymena Today continues to invest in Ballymena’s online presence. Our community is growing daily. The content we create and share continues to maximise the social media presence of Ballymena and, of everyone who engages with us. Your engagement with us is crucial and will enable you and your business to be better connected. Ballymena Today is becoming a recognisable Ballymena town centre brand. However, we are not only here for the town centre and are not restricted or confined to certain streets. If you are on the outskirts of the town centre or in a nearby village we can still help you. You don’t have to pay to attend a networking event or sign up to a club. There are no strings attached. Right from the outset our focus has been on the promotion of Ballymena, Ballymena people and Ballymena businesses. Everything we write here on Ballymena Today is completely FREE and available to you and your business. If you are in the Ballymena Borough why not get in touch with us for a chat. We’d love to help you be better...

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Print is not dead

Posted by | May 5, 2016 |

The acceleration of the Internet and social media over the past 10-15 years has hugely affected the print world. All the way back to when the Internet became available to the general public, people have been saying that ‘print is dead.’ Newspapers have shut down, magazines have ceased to exist and it would seem we all read, communicate and consume via screens now. Or do we? There was a time when everything was printed on paper. Newspapers, books, flyers and pamphlets. Look at the recent emergence and almost instant death of The New Day. [See story here.] The New Day was an experiment of sorts but, essentially still a newspaper. Perhaps newspapers are dying. Or dead. That’s another story for another day though. Now, the speed at which we can communicate means sharing information – good and bad –  is easier and, is also almost always free. Anyone can tell their story to a captive audience on the Internet, through social media, instantly and in-the-moment. Before you consider print If you are going to create, design, edit, re-edit, re-create and re-design until you are happy with content enough to then pay for it to be printed, you probably need to really care about the content. In other words, it needs to be valuable. And it needs to be worthwhile, especially to your intended audience. In 2016 so far, I’ve lost count of the amount of...

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Reaching real people in Ballymena

Posted by | Apr 7, 2016 |

Including our writing on The Directory Page we have now published over 1500 articles online, all of which are reaching real people in Ballymena. Our community has grown steadily over the last few years so, we thought we would share a few simple statistics with you. Reaching Ballymena On most days over 2500 people will look at and read at least one or more of our articles on Ballymena Today. We share all of our articles to our Facebook page where over 6000+ people are reached every week. Our combined follower count across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is also now close to 4000 people. We are reaching a lot of people. This is crucial information for us and enables us to understand how we can keep reaching real people in Ballymena with good, interesting, original and valuable news and information. Real people in Ballymena We have always focused on our local community here in Ballymena which is why we prefer not to pay for followers on social media or to attract readers to our articles with Adwords and similar schemes. The stats we have, show us that over 90% of our audience online is in Ballymena and the surrounding borough. This has happened organically as we have repeatedly created original content. We are dedicated to writing about and reaching real people in Ballymena and we are achieving this. This is FREE! Everything we write here on...

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Your Ballymena Business concerns

Posted by | Mar 31, 2016 |

If you speak to any business owner and ask for their concerns you are likely to get a variety of answers, depending on location and business type. However, a few factors that cannot be escaped will concern almost all businesses. Your Ballymena business concerns are important and we are here to help you. Your concerns and some facts We recently carried out a quick online survey to get some facts and opinions on what the biggest challenge is for businesses in & around Ballymena. Here are your answers. 1. The Effect of Online Shopping – 49% The first online sale took place over 20 years ago [we wrote about it here] and shopping has never quite been the same since. The pace at which we have all adopted online shopping is remarkable and statistics show that 95% of people in the U.K. now shop online regularly. In other words, it escapes almost nobody. If you are a local business selling a product or service, online shopping is an unavoidable challenge. Online shopping is here to stay. You cannot compete with the Internet’s big hitters when it comes to variety, price and delivery. It’s silly to try and take them on, however here are so many more things you can do. Is your business online? Are you building a community of supporters? Do you engage with your customers online? Can you be found easily online? Are you telling a...

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