Steve’s Blog

Joomla Extension of the Month – December 06

Every month we try to dig out a Joomla! addon that: can be really useful to people in the day-to-day running of the site has been overlooked compared to more popular extensions is free! Our last two prizes have gone to mambots that successfully did jobs that are often done by much larger extensions (backing up the database and collecting RSS Feeds). This month the "Extension of the Month" is also given to a script that simplifies a difficult task – making forms. The winner is PerForms.   I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this, but it…

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Adding Headline Tags to Your Joomla Site

This week has been SEO week here at Alledia, so Friday afternoon must be time for another tip. This one is deceptively simple and comes courtesy of Veloniue Petros over at Over at the Joomla! forum he posted a deceptively simple solution to Joomlas lack of h2 and h3 headings. Google automatically thinks that it you have text wrapped up in headline tags then it must contain more important clues to your page contents than whatever appears in lowly paragraph tags Unfortunately, Joomla! comes out-of-the-box with headings that are wrapped up in long ugly code. By changing a few…

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Advanced Search Engine Optimization

Most of you with experience of running a website have the chance to dig into the world of Search Engine Optimization. Basic tasks include making sure your keywords are correct, trying to get more sites to link to you and checking to see where you rank on Google. However, with competition online becoming fiercer by the year, many companies see the value in a more detailed and advanced SEO strategy. In this month’s column we’ll discuss two of the most useful techniques, building more than one site and concentrating on your inside pages. Building More Than One Site A lot…

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The Open Directory Endures a Lingering Death

Love it or hate it, DMOZ.org has loomed large of webmasters heads for years now, but it seems likely thats its days are numbered.   By clicking here you can read our article from early this year about the history of the DMOZ and its importance, but technical problems are threatening to render years of credibiliy obsolete in just a month. No new submissions are being accepted and editors can’t login. In fact, they are not even being told what the problems are. A group are publicly venting on this forum thread.   For a centerpiece of the web, DMOZ…

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SEO Problems to Avoid in Joomla!

This is one of an ongoing series of blog posts about problems with Joomla and SEO, and more importantly – how to fix them.   As we find time we're going to expand and merge these articles into a longer and more comprehensive guide to Joomla SEO. Watch this space. Joomla produces your site name first and then your page title. For example, see this search.   Many Joomla sites will look like this when the ideal situation would be to have everything reversed:  Datso Gallery User Tab Plugin Released. Joomlapolis – the home of Community Builder. That way people…

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What’s the Warning in my Joomla Global Configuration?

Among the new features in Joomla 1.0.11 was a warning that displayed on the Global Configuration page. Its also one of the most common things we are asked about.   The main issue is security. When you're running a PHP script you need to know where your variables are coming from. If you turn registerglobals off this prevents users to your site from inputing their own variables. By doing this they can override your password variables and login to the restricted areas of your site.   By turning registerglobals OFF you can ensure that your script is in charge and…

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Advanced Search Engine Optimization Tips

We write an article every month for a magazine distributed around Atlanta. December’s article is a brief introduction to more advanced Search Engine Optimization techniques that small businesses can use.   We focus on two of the most useful techniques, building minisites and optimizing your inside pages.   Click here to read the full article.   

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A New Years Eve Party in Every Country in the World

A new site for you, launched this weekend using Joomla and a custom integration with Joomla maps.    This site aims to find a New Years Eve party in every country in the world. 243 countries in which to find some celebrating. You can add your own party and see if they can make it to every country in 35 days.   The purpose of the site is explained here and you can read more at NYEFun.com     Technorati Profile

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Solution to Suckerfish Menu Sticking in IE7

Since IE7 has come out, a lot of people have noticed that Suckerfish dropdown menus are allergic to it. The principal problem is that once they've dropped down, they refuse to scroll back up again. This affects a lot of Joomla sites using Suckerfish variations and also the Extended Menu module.   The solution is thankfully, simple. If your list menu ID is called "topmenu", you only have to add the following lines of code to your css:   #topmenu li:hover, #topmenu li.hover {    position:static;    }   Thanks to Built from Source for the original tip and to Sam from…

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How to SEO a Joomla Site

Joomla is a great CMS, but its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities leave a lot to be desired. This problem is well-know however, and a lot of developers are beavering away on solutions. Here are 6 essential tools to get your site off on the right foot:   1) Joomla SEF Patch   Its key benefit is that it allows you more control over the <title> tags. Instead of simply being "Home" or "Frontpage", you can add a more descriptive and keyword-rich title.   2) JPromoter (Commercial)   Allows you to generate meta data and titles for each page individually.…

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