Today, it is a constant battle between websites to be read and visited. The more traffic you generate, the more popular your website is, and the more money you make. According to a survey done by Forrester Research back in 2006, search engines lead 81% of consumer and potential customers to websites. Now, in 2008, people seem to rely more on websites and have grown too lazy to go to a mall even for the smallest purchases.

Famous search websites such as Yahoo, Google, MSN, and AOL employ the help of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) service providers to be sure of their websites are of superior visibility and will always be at the top of list in search engine results. Professional Search Engine Optimization and search engine marketing companies worldwide keep on conducting studies and researches to boost traffic for many websites. Search Engine Optimization in itself is one of the fundamental parts of an online marketing strategy. The goal here is to make the most out of search engines. Studies show that keyword related marketing contributes to an average of 80%-90% percent of a website’s overall traffic. It is very important that a website tries to improve its search engine optimization. But how does a website go about generating web traffic thru search engines?

Joomla site success is about content and keyword. And you can improve on this area by creating more and more content on your website. If for instance a user searches for “watches”, you are halfway in winning the race if you can appear on the web search results, and this can be possible by having articles and content with the word watches or anything about watches in your website. The key here is having diversity and a huge number of articles for web content. A good vocabulary can help when it comes to writing articles. The more words you use the more chances that you can end up at the top of the list of the next search engine search.

After clicking, you also need to make the visitor of your website stay on your page. By clicking more links that can be found within your website (links that will read to further reading of an articles, more contents to read, etc) you can get more points and boost on the site on the site traffic.

Indeed, the marketing of Joomla sites thru the use of search engines can give a strong and powerful competitive edge over several competitors. And of course, good traffic for the website is never a bad news for a Joomla site developer. A large amount of site visitors is a very clear indicator that you are making the most of your site, optimizing it, and the best thing of all – bringing in more money.

Though they are quite important when it comes to traffic generation, still if you can use the search engine friendly urls in the sites it would be great from the perspective of both you and the search engines. Now this is quite popular now-a-days to design your website with Joomla which is a series of scripts written in PHP programming language. This is possible to use the SEF urls in the Joomla sites.

Understanding the requirement of using SEF urls in the Joomla sites, the makers have updated the Joomla version and they have also developed some tools to turn on the settings. In the Global configuration you have to execute few steps. First of all you need to install the Joomla to the system. Then you have to set the option of “SEF urls” on and then save it in the system.

Then add the “Suffix” to the urls and again save it. The fourth step would be turning on the “Use Apache mod_rewrite” option and saving it in the system. If you are looking forward to make the site absolutely perfect from the Seo point of view then the first two steps mentioned above are important wherein the last two are optional.

In fact if there is no such compulsion you not really need to perform the last two steps in most of the cases. The reason is that not performing these will not affect the search engine ranking much.

Now that you have got an idea about using the SEF urls in the Joomla site you should understand the reason and impact of it. We all know that whenever a search is performed by a user the search engine spiders crawl through the web and find out which website is most relevant to the searched keywords.

Depending upon the relevancy they index the sites in the result pages. Now the usage of the SEF urls will make the most important keywords describing your site to appear on the URL section. This will definitely impress the search engines and they will feel that this is the most relevant page for their visitor.

Hence they will not take much time to index your site to the initial pages. This is the reason why many people are taking keen interest in putting the SEF urls to their Joomla sites. The makers of the software also understand the fact clearly. And keeping this in mind they have designed the option of using the Sets in the Joomla sites.

It completely depends on you how you would like to see the website. If this is a retail or shopping website then you can add the features like shopping carts, product details and reviews. The rich look of the site can be obtained suing the shadow and brightness effect. Then there are options like using the simple styles where you have a lighting effect all over the site especially on the layout and also opt for the slide show option.

The CMS system can be designed with Joomla and this is always very efficient in handling the important files of the websites. It allows the users to edit or create content and also manage the image and audio files of the website. The security measures, plugins etc are other essential features of Joomla that can make your website just perfect from all aspects.

The first step towards using the Joomla for the development of your website is to install it in the system. Once the Joomla installation is done you are free to design the required areas. There are two types of Joomla installations. You can either opt for the default installation or do it manually.

The installation guidebook for the manual installation of Joomla contains quite a number of important features. The initial part will definitely contain the title and details of acknowledgements. Then it will tell you about the minimum features which you must have in your system to develop a website with this software.

Then it will help you out with the options of remote as well as local hosting. The password is another important fact that the installation manual talks about. In case of any sorts of errors you will have to refer to the CHMOD 777 components which will allow you to install the matter in your system without any mistake.

Finally you will have to check whether the installation is complete. When there are errors, you will have to wait till the installation is complete then create a different file that should be uploaded in the system.

You can download the manual for Joomla installation from the websites which specialize in free Joomla applications.  Fantastico is also another option that can prove to be quite helpful in web hosting. In order to install the Joomla application you need to use the web services.

There are quite a number of parameters which you will have to maintain while installing Joomla to your system. As these options are easily available on the web you are free to select this service from any of the resources that you fell is convenient for you and make sure you are following the instructions accurately.

In the past, the way of handling this kind of problem is that, from the example used, the technical terms and other hard to understand terms and information on your site have available links and buttons. Once the user’s mouse cursor hits on these buttons and links, a guide window with the necessary information will pop up, answering most questions your website visitor may have. However, this solution has been proven in the past to be time consuming and a little not so easy to manage. The user has to click on the link, wait for seconds (or minutes depending on the server connection) for the window to appear and then after reading, click the mouse button once more and close the window. With AJAX, things can be a lot a lot simpler and easier.

Using tooltips that can display help on AJAX based websites; it is possible that the moment the mouse pointer it above the term or information that needs further explanation, the guide or explanation window will appear immediately, almost in split seconds. And once the mouse moves away on a different direction, the window simply disappears. You as a website user, which will you prefer? I am most certain that the AJAX way with guide windows will win with a landslide victory.

If you are a website developer and you are think that using tooltips making your website AJAX based will cause a big impact on your web pages, you may want to think again. This AJAX feature will not affect the size of your web pages. Further, this method, the use of tooltips making your website AJAX based, is rapidly becoming more popular. It used on news portals, entertainment portals, banking websites, and many more.

Right now, there is an easy and simply way to make Joomla AJAX enabled. You can specify any link found in the document or script and make this link an AJAX link. IF you try to click on this tooltip in the content of the script in the main body, it will fade out fast and in a new content in the made body will fade in. The transition is done fast and smoothly.

After platform comparison, some users think that it is still early to launch Joomla 1.5. To make it easier, let us compare the two platforms based on categories. If you are after many plug-ins and hassle free use (stability and less bugs), then you may agree when some think that being new, Joomla 1.5, there are still a few bugs and the stability of this version is always in doubt. As for Joomla 1.0, being around for a longer period of time features more plug-ins and templates one can choose from.

When it comes to users, studies and recent surveys show that many end users (personal web creators, those making the website for themselves) prefer to work with Joomla 1.0. However, may developers use version 1.5. Developers who work with many outside or third party extensions may find it easier to work with the 1.5 version. If you are a developer and you the website you are making needs a lot of third party extensions, then Joomla 1.5 may work better for you.

Being an updated version, Joomla 1.5 offers some features that may not be found in the 1.0 version. For example, Joomla 1.5 allows you to preview what your website looks like after making some changers. You do not anymore need to save it then view. Aside from the quick and easy preview button available, version 1.5 has a better menu that allows you to do what you want to do with lesser mouse clicks. Joomla 1.5 also improved on the user interface that allows you to manage media files (songs, videos) better, You can upload man files all at one time and the thumbnail feature give you a detail view of the file you are uploading. On top of this, Open ID and LDAP are supported in Joomla 1.5. You now have more option rather than your user account (which is the case in Joomla 1.0). Company intranet websites will find it a lot easier to work with Joomla 1.5 since existing user accounts can be used for new Joomla websites.

Indeed, Joomla is one of the most impressive content management systems you find today. It even continued to make things easier by coming up with an updated platform, Joomla 1.5. A number of useful and important improvements have been made and added to make the already magnificent Joomla 1.0 better for all of us.

Themes Club is website that offers ready made and custom made templates for your Joomla site. It can help you with the stuff you need to get your Joomla site up and running. With the use of the Joomla Content Management System, an accessibility report of your web content can be produced and can be submitted for checking and verification. For example, if you have just created your C508 Joomla template, this will appear on your verification checklist and a report will be processed and generated.

Aside from Themes Club, there is also the Joomla Content Management System that allows site developers to construct and make inventive and creative applications. These applications can range from those that are made to serve company purposes and even personal leisure.

This Joomla package can be easily installed to almost any computer and once installed; it can be used and is already ready in a span of only a few minutes. Many website developers consider this as a big help in making things easier. They enjoy more and easier access to programming codes which in turn they can change and modify to suit their needs, such as programs for several business and company websites, community-based and entertainment portals, and search sites where users can locate and access information and answers to a number of queries and concerns.

On the other hand, Ajax presents several advantages that can be used to enhance your Joomla website. With Ajax, your site visitors will have better experience while going through and browsing your web pages. Without even hitting the refresh button or pressing F5, web applications will take affect quickly. Also, with Ajax, by simply exchanging only the needed date with your server, Ajax can save its share of bandwidth and therefore boost the speed of the application. This in turn will result to better performance and better enjoyment for your site users. There are a number of examples of the many web applications that can be made possible thru the use of Ajax. Famous examples of these Ajax web applications include Gmail and Google Maps. Also, the frameworks made by Ajax are available and comes in a range of broad solutions which offers client and server components to light-weight client template libraries that can really help in working with JavaScript and other query based templates.

Also, currently there are external and third party extension packages that can be bought separately that can be useful to a Joomla software program. These extensions, such as Content Management System are created based from the framework patterned to tailor fit Joomla sites and lets website creators to modify and change applications to enhance query based templates to satisfy their own needs. Joomla sites even allow easy download of the external applications.

The basics effect of using social media marketing (or SMM) and social networking is to generate traffic for your Joomla website. Social media starts a back-and-forth conversation with your target market and audience, creating a venue for discussions and sharing for views and opinions. Thru this, you or the company can have the ability to virally sell and market your Joomla site. If you can come up with content on your site, something that is cool, unique, and compelling an enough to make users go to your site, read, and post responses and comments, you can certainly provide a significant increase in your website traffic.

This interaction, however, how the website communicates to the users, depends on how the site content and information is presented and how it is perceived by the target audience. Today, there is a Joomla based module available that provides more appealing visuals to site visitors and more importantly, is has the feature that allows a user to click on an icon from the screen and be redirected to a social book marking site. This will further bookmark your site online for better reference and increase in site traffic. Also, as competition is getting steeper, some sites offer more than just bookmark sharing. To further take lead in social media marketing, they add features that allow site visitors to add reviews, post notes, and create their own discussion and focus groups. Feed subscriptions and automatic notifications help a lot.

Definitely, the increase in site traffic will be greater if the site or any of its content is being discussed and talked about at the right places online and by the right audience. If the type of you business depends on website traffic and more site visits, or on how many ads your site contains, then social media marketing is what you should work on.

It is very important to be patient. It takes time for your Joomla site to be on the number one spot of sites your audience want to visit. It takes a while for the buzz to go around your target network. Also, it is important to focus your time in efforts in one platform instead of focusing and spreading yourself on too many sites. Focus on one Joomla site at a time and you will see how long your site can go.

Now-a-days you will find most of the popular companies opting for the better templates as this plays an important role in representing their companies. Some of them prefer to use their company logo and themes to create the templates for the content titles, layouts for the front pages and other content solutions. 

This is the system which can be used to make the templates customized to suit the requirement of the companies. You will definitely like the enhanced and revised features of Joomla 1.5 while designing the ideal templates for the websites. 

There are thousands of resources available over the internet who is offering the Joomla 1.5 template designs and themes. There are more than a thousands of themes from which you can choose the ones you like for the layouts or titles of your website. It can be a funky template or a stylish yet elegant one. 

This all depends on your preferences as you will get a lot of them already designed for you. For an example if you consider a popular template you will get a lot of features in it. It can have a clean front page layout with lighting effects. The custom solutions for the content can be according to the magazine or news styles. 

The options are simply unending with a large number of modules on the web page and rows of contents that can be placed on it. Then there are free Joomla 1.5 templates available which will make your website look fresh and tidy. These are just perfect for the people who own the online retail businesses and need to feature quite a number of products on their website and add reviews for those features. 

They will highlight the required parts of the content on a particular web page so that it can catch the eyes of the visitors easily. There are tabs added on the page so that the users can browse the pages with equal ease. 

Then there are other Joomla 1.5 templates which will add a rich or bright look to your website. The business owners who like to give a straightforward look to their website can have the option using the Joomla 1.5 templates that provide features like slide shows and spotlight effect on specific contents. 

Streaming images with the help of these templates will make the site look brighter. The rich appearance can be created by using the templates that concentrate of a combination of brightness and dark lighting. The module variation is also important while adding a rich look to the websites. You can select the templates according top your choice with the great features of Joomla 1.5.

If you feel that this is too much of hassle to develop the site and then go live with it then there are professional retailers and developers who develop the websites with the Joomla 1.5 and you can purchase it with them. The templates can have variety of themes which will add a lot of dimension to the websites. 

The front page of the website creates a lot of impact on the visitor who come to your website for the first time and this is the reason why it should look great and flawless. Now the templates can be rich, straightforward, soft or professional and they can be designed with Joomla 1.5. Still there are many websites who use the older version of Joomla wherein the Joomla 1.5 version has more enhanced features ready to create a better website with attractive looks and useful applications. 

The initial steps towards developing the website with Joomla 1.5 will need some planning. First of all you need to install the Joomla 1.5 software which is available for free over the internet and then create a basic structure for the contents and applications. Then the next step involves choosing the Joomla templates which needs to be ideal to match the purpose of your website. 

If this is a shopping website that you are planning to develop then the layout should have options to feature the products and adding reviews. When the website is all about entertainment then go for the combined effect of brightness and dark that makes your site look richer. 

You are free to choose your preferred theme from the Themesclub templates. Then you will need to install the extensions for Joomla 1.5 which will allow you to customize the programming features of the website development task. Then there are security measures provided by Joomla 1.5 which you should include to protect the website.  

The upgraded features should be used to get a better website security. There are various components and plugins available with this software which can be widely used while the development of the website. A website development needs good search engine optimization features so that the site gets good page ranking and this should beaded in the task list.  

CMS system that allows you to handle all the essential files for the website can be designed with Joomla 1.5 because this is the most popular option in the market. If you need some support while using the Joomla 1.5 software you can get that easily from the websites that offer the same for free. If you have hired a professional Joomla consultant then he can help you to manage and maintain the website.