Student assignments have included doing keyword research, optimizing their sites for Google, implementing link building campaigns and developing on line advertising plans.

We have 24 students in the class, and I'd thought I take a quick opportunity to show you some of the websites that are being worked on:

Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/marlboro-marketing-class-websites.html

Read original post at source site... http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/howtojoomla/~3/zbKyS9-wTXU/how-to-embed-a-google-map-into-a-joomla-page

British Telecom and Joomla

• BT's main web services area is about joomla Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:31:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/14-modern-seo-best-practices-for-2009.html SEOMoz just posted a great list of 14 best practices for modern SEO that they are using with their consulting clients. Some real interesting tips, like the lack of importance of H1 tags and  meta keywords.

  Keep reading for review of the 14, with some notes about possible Joomla implications.

  You can read more about these at SEOMoz: SEO Best Practices

  Title Tag Format

  Primary Keyword - Secondary Keywords | Brand
  Or
  Brand Name | Primary Keyword [...]

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/14-modern-seo-best-practices-for-2009.html

  ]]> about joomla Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:39:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/new-update-released-to-joomla-template-inspirion.html Joomlashack's Inspirion Joomla Template is one of the most innovative templates currently on the market. Its built using the 960 grid, a CSS system that gives you a tableless layout and a fast loading site, great for SEO!

  Its one of the first commercial professional templates to validate XHTML Strict. This is a high benchmark t[...]

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/new-update-released-to-joomla-template-inspirion.html

  ]]> about joomla Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:51:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/new-joomla-1.5-training-video-and-2nd-edition-of-book-released.html I am very excited that some great new resources to learn how to Joomla are now available, Joomla! 1.5: A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website (2nd Edition) and Fundamentals of Joomla! (Video Training)!

  The second edition of the book is an update of the best selling book on Joomla, bringing i[...]

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/new-joomla-15-training-video-and-2nd-edition-of-book-released.html

  ]]> about joomla Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:22:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/slides-and-podcasts-from-joomla-day-new-england.html Although its been a few weeks now, I still have not posted about what a great event the recent Joomla Day was in Brattleboro, Vermont. The organizing team did a great job with the event, and the lunch time barbecue was great.

  There are slides and podcasts of all the presentations available...

  Photos of the event (Thanks, Doug Patac, for doing these for us!) Elin's review of Joomla Day at Joomla.org Mitch Pirtle's slides from his extensions talk Barb Ackemann's resources for creatin[...]

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/slides-and-podcasts-from-joomla-day-new-england.html

  ]]> about joomla Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:26:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/new-joomla-directory-for-joomla-businesses.html Last week a great new directory was launched at joomla.org, the Joomla Resource Directory. Its a place where those that offer Joomla services can advertise their Joomla services.

  There are already many different categories, and it looks like that the listings will be free, but with an option for paid listings.

  The official blurb reads:

  "In response to overwhelming interest and requests from the Joomla community, the Joomla Project is pleased to announce the Joomla[...]

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/new-joomla-directory-for-joomla-businesses.html

  ]]> about joomla Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:35:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/joomla-classes-in-the-u.k.-london-and-cambridge.html It is that time of the year again ... I'm headed back the U.K. for a couple of weeks.

  Mainly the trip will be family-orientated as I've sisters who are graduating, getting married and having babies. There's a lot to catch up on!

  However, it's a rare vacation nowadays that doesn't involve Joomla in some way. So we're holding two Joomla training classes, one in Cambridge on June 25th and another in about joomla Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:45:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/seo-template-presentation-from-joomla-day-netherlands.html Joomla Day Netherlands took place this weekend and by all accounts it was a great success.

  There was the official release for Joomla's new Resources Directory, a presentation with useful security tips by Brian Teeman, and a really good overview of how to create a Joomla SEO-optimized template:

  Rene Kreijveld from Webcreatives.nl does a great job of explaining how to create a basic]]> about joomla Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:08:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/whats-your-favorite-joomla-analogy.html People who teach Joomla know they feeling ... things have been going well, but suddenly there's a blank look. The student's stuck on one point. You've tried a few ways to explain it, but they're not getting the big picture. You rack your brain and start, "well, Joomla's just like a ... " and you try to dig out a comparison.

  Here are my top five favorite analogies to help people grasp Joomla's key concepts. Please feel free to post your own in the comments.

  Read more...

  about joomla Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:42:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/nooku-code-jam-in-hamburg.html Last month, the team at Delius, one of our Nooku partners, organised the first Nooku Code Jam in Ghent, Belgium. Among the visitors where Sascha and Steffan from YOOTheme, creators of the Zoo extension. The Nooku Framework must have made quite an impression. Not only are they looking into using it for their new extensions, they also agreed to organise a second Nooku Code Jam in Hamburg, Germany on June 27th.
  Read more...
  joomla advocates Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:03:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/10-million-joomla-downloads-reached.html The Joomla project recently reached its 10 millionth download of its popular CMS, a great milestone for the project, and in only 4 years.

  Last year I estimated that over 30 million sites use Joomla, though obviously that number must be bigger now.

  Interestingly enough, last month I also did some work breaking down the trends of 1.0 to 1.5 downloads of Joomla, you can see the results in this graph.

  Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/10-million-joomla-downloads-reached.html

  ]]> about joomla Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:25:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/whats-happening-with-joomla.html Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
  "Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
  (Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
  I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
  Whatever's happening with us"
  If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
  If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
  People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
  comin down to visit]]> about joomla Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:49:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/are-smart-companies-now-supporting-several-cms-platforms.html I'm always on the lookout for business trends in our industry and I've spotted a significant new one in recent months. Increasingly CMS companies are supporting different platforms. The choice for each company is different, but the trend seems real:

  Examples of Joomla Companies Supporting Other Platforms
  

  • Rockettheme: Joomla and phpBB3
  • Joomlart: Joomla and Magento
  • JoomlaJunkie: Working on iTemplater.com and building for Joomla, Drupal and]]> about joomla Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:33:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/joomla-classes-in-nashville-and-charlotte.html Alledia is based down in the south of the United States in Atlanta. We started our Joomla training classes here and by the end of June we'll have run almost a dozen Atlanta classes.

    Its time to spread the Joomla gospel (the Jospel?) a little further around the south so early next week we're headed to Charlotte, North Carolina and the Music City of about joomla Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:17:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/thoughts-from-two-weeks-away.html In the last two weeks I've been in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York and even Alaska. Just one more short trip to Charlotte and Nashville left.

    The trip taught me something. For two weeks I kept in touch via email and cellphone but had no time for three things I'd been using every day. Two of them I really missed, the other ... not so much.

    Read more...

    

    Read original post at source site... http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Alledia/~3/DFYX7tUZiT8/

    ]]> about joomla Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:42:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/update-to-joomla-1.5.11-in-under-30-seconds.html Joomla 1.5.11 has been release, and it includes security patches, so its important to update. But getting your Joomla site upgraded to the new version can be tricky, especially if you are using FTP.
    
    

    Fortunately, there is an easier way, check out Joomlashack's tutorial How to Update Joomla 1.5 Versions.

    
    
    

    You'll need SSH access, and remember to back up first!

    
    

    Of course, if you want to never have to bother with updating Joomla or your extensions ever again, you can try aRead More...

    Read original post at source site... http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/update-to-joomla-1-5-11-in-under-30-seconds.html

    ]]> about joomla Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:35:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/nooku-framework-mvc-mapped.html More and more developers are getting familiar with the Model-View-Controller design principle for web applications and especially for writing Joomla components. There are many tutorials available, but text is so... well, linear! So we decided to try something different. API documentation (coming soon!) is very useful, but a class inheritance tree doesn't really illustrate 'what to use where' or 'how does it all fit together'. So we mapped out the new Nooku Framework based on real world use and this is the result:
    joomla advocates Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:14:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/how-to-set-up-registration-as-a-google-analytics-goal-in-joomla-1.5.html Over the last week I have been talking (How to Track Offsite Links for Google Goals i...) about how to use Google Analytics for your Joomla site to better track conversions, marketing efforts, and the usability of your site.

     Allowing users to register at a Joomla site is very very common. It also makes a great goal to track. Discovering the URL to use in the funnel path is a little tricky, as there is a confirmation email involved. When users register on a Joomla 1.5 site, they geRead More...

    about joomla Fri, 29 May 2009 08:18:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/sponsering-the-joomladays-nl-2009.html On June 12th and 13th you will be able to find us at the Dutch Joomladays in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

    

    We very proud to announce that with the help of our Nooku partners (Delius and CRBM) we are joomla advocates Mon, 25 May 2009 20:40:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/sponsoring-the-joomladays-nl-2009.html On June 12th and 13th you will be able to find us at the Dutch Joomladays in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

    

    We very proud to announce that with the help of our Nooku partners (Delius and CRBM) we are joomla advocates Mon, 25 May 2009 20:40:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/nooku-framework-codename-koowa-announced.html Raw coding talent and vision, that's what Nooku is about. It's creating a lot of excitement in the joomlasphere. After months of hard work we are revving up all engines.

    Nooku was launched as the extension that changed the way people manage multi-lingual websites with Joomla. In reality, there is a lot more below the hood. The true power is in the Nooku Framework that drives it. Nooku brings multi-lingual power and future-proof Web 2.0 development to Joomla.

    What if you combine the development speed of Ruby on Rails, the flexibility]]> joomla advocates Thu, 21 May 2009 22:05:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/joomla-advocates/nooku-framework-announced.html Raw coding talent and vision, that's what Nooku is about. It's creating a lot of excitement in the joomlasphere. After months of hard work we are revving up all engines.

    Nooku was launched as the extension that changed the way people manage multi-lingual websites with Joomla. In reality, there is a lot more below the hood. The true power is in the Nooku Framework that drives it. Nooku brings multi-lingual power and future-proof Web 2.0 development to Joomla.

    What if you combine the development speed of Ruby on Rails, the flexibility]]> joomla advocates Thu, 21 May 2009 22:05:00 +0000 http://www.joomlafeed.com/about-joomla/how-to-track-offsite-links-for-google-goals-in-joomla.html Google Goals. Love 'em, use 'em, make business decisions based on them.

    
    

    If you didn't know what a "Google goal" is, its a feature of Google Analytics. It allows you to set up a specific and discrete goal for something on your website. Examples might be:

    
    
    Making a purchase
    Downloading a white paper
    Filling out a contact form
    Downloading a file
    

    I'd thought I'd share some help I passed onto students from the Web 2.0 Marketing with Joomla Graduate Course. The classRead More...

    about joomla Tue, 19 May 2009 06:29:00 +0000