The Experts Speak: 10 Joomla Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

A Special Report
Merav Knafo, CEO, iJoomla.com
10/1/2010

Table of Contents
1. Think carefully before using a 3rd party SEF extension ............................................................................ 2 2. Ignoring Title Meta Tags ........................................................................................................................... 2 3. No Website Goal ....................................................................................................................................... 3 4. Not Taking Measurements ........................................................................................................................ 3 Setting up goals:........................................................................................................................................ 4 Creating Google Analytics Funnels............................................................................................................ 4 How to Use Google Web Optimizer in Joomla.......................................................................................... 4 5. Choosing the Wrong Hosting Service ........................................................................................................ 4 6. Writing in a Language Only You Can Understand ..................................................................................... 5 7. Don't Take Site Security Lightly But Don't Be Paranoid ........................................................................ 6 8. Not Having a Backup and Restore Plan .................................................................................................... 6 9. Don't Hack your Core Joomla Files So That Theyre Unsafe or Hard to Upgrade ..................................... 6 10. Not Doing Usability Testing..................................................................................................................... 7

See list of products at the end of this report

Creating a Joomla website isn't rocket science. With a touch of help from a few good teachers and a little bit of practice, you can become pretty good at it pretty quickly. But the basic know-how isn't enough to guarantee you won't make some of the most fundamental yet most common mistakes. I've asked some of the biggest Joomla experts what they consider the biggest Joomla mistakes. This is what they told me:

1. Think carefully before using a 3rd party SEF extension

BY default, Joomla create URL's that contains a whole bunch of code, or "parameters" - for example: http://mydomain.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=13 A few years ago, it was a popular misconception that Google could not understand these URL's as well as something such as: http://mydomain.com/joomla-articles/top-10-joomla-mistakes and your rank in the search engine would be lower. There was little evidence of this theory, and Google has since officially stated it had no merit. However, there is something more subtle at work. It has been shown that URL's that are easier to read will encourage humans to click on them in search engines results. Thus, there is no effect on rank, but there is some effect on the click through rate. Joomla has a built in SEF features, and there are also several other 3rd party SEF extensions. There is not much difference in the core features of these. Unless there is a very significant feature in one of the 3rd party SEF extensions, Barrie North, author of the best selling book on Joomla recommends sticking with the core SEF. He says "your URL's are your most valuable possession, and its wiser to have the core code be responsible for them". He emphasizes that SEF is *not* SEO and there is little rank advantage to be gained through it. However, if you choose to use a 3rd party SEF extensions, these are the most popular ones: SEF Advanced Encrypted, limited to one domain, 40 Euro. (This one is my favorite because its simple to use and very reliable) (http://www.sakic.net/products/sef_advance/) Sh404 SEF - $35 (http://dev.anything-digital.com/sh404SEF/) AceSEF $0 - $59(http://www.joomace.net/joomla-extensions/acesef)

2. Ignoring Title Meta Tags

Barrie also points out that there are two vital factors in SEO:

The keywords in the title meta tag (the text that appears in the blue/top bar on your browser); he keywords in links that connect other pages to your site.

You cant control which keywords other sites use when they link to your site, but the title meta tags are totally under your control! Or at least they should be. Joomla 1.5 though creates the title meta tags from your article title; it doesnt allow you to enter a title meta tag by itself. Thats a big loss. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways around it: 1. Use keywords in the article title. For example, if youre looking to rank high for the phrase Organic dog food, the title of the article could contain the phrase, for example: Where to find the best organic dog food in San Diego. Its an effective solution, but it could make your article titles longer than they should be and less readable. Also, you can only squeeze one phrase into a short article title. 2. A better approach is to use a tool that allows you to enter a title meta tag thats different from your article title. iJoomla SEO lets you not only manage all your article meta tags in one convenient place (rather than having to open the article, enter meta tags, save and repeat), but also allows you to specify a title meta tag and even monitor your keywords on Google. Heres a more information about iJoomla SEO:

http://www.ijoomla.com/ijoomla-seo/ijoomla-seo/index/

3. No Website Goal
Before you start working on your Joomla site, you need to know what you want it to achieve, recommends Barrie. Are you looking to increase revenue, share information, promote a product? The emphasis of your site will change depending on that goal. For example, if your goal is to sell products, the selling process needs to be easy and understandable (see mistake #10, and avoid it to ensure a super easy selling process.) If your goal is to persuade people to call and make an appointment, be sure to include a phone number in large font right at the top of your site. Knowing your goal will help you to put the emphasis on the right aspects of your site.

4. Not Taking Measurements

Youve put up a great site packed with fantastic features. A month goes by, two and you have no clue whats happening to your site. You dont know if anyone has seen it. You dont know how many people have clicked past the front page. And you dont even know whether the marketing dollars you spent on Google AdWords were well spent or money down the tubes. According to Steve Burge, founder of Alledia.com and OStraining.com, you need to start measuring stats and as soon as possible! Luckily thats easy. All you have to do is sign up to Google Analytics (if you have an AdWords account, you have one already.) Install a little plugin called BIGSHOT, publish it and youre getting the numbers. Heres a video tutorial that explains how to add Google Analytics to your site:

http://videos.ijoomla.com/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/268/google-tools/settingup-google-analytics-on-joomla/
Youll also need to set goals to measure sales and conversions. Here a couple great videos for that too:

Setting up goals:
http://videos.ijoomla.com/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/268/google-tools/settingup-google-analytics-on-joomla/

Creating Google Analytics Funnels

http://videos.ijoomla.com/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/113/google-tools/how-tocreate-google-analytics-funnels-in-joomla/

How to Use Google Web Optimizer in Joomla

http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-tutorials/how-touse-google-web-optimizer-in-joomla

5. Choosing the Wrong Hosting Service

Choosing the wrong hosting service can be very risky, warns Steve Burge. With the wrong security, your site is more likely to be hacked. With the wrong permissions, your site will be impossible to work on. With the wrong backup plan, all your months or years of work can go down the drain overnight. Steve offers two simple tips for selecting a hosting service:

1. Ask them a question and see how fast the response is. When you really do need an answer, youll need it fast! 2. Avoid any hosting company offering any "unlimited" anything. Both of those are great suggestions. Its also a good idea to select a hosting service that specializes in Joomla. Theyll have the tools for upgrading/installing Joomla and the right permissions to allow you to do what you need to do without creating a security problem. Steve Burge recommends RochenHosting.com for Joomla hosting. You can find out more about their pricing and plans here:

http://www.rochenhost.com/business-hosting
Rochen is also the official host of Joomla.org. These guys know everything there is to know about Joomla hosting, so give them a try!

6. Writing in a Language Only You Can Understand

Want to know how to write a really bad online article? Steves got you covered there too:

Write the article text on your website as if you were completing an essay for your teacher or as if you were writing a corporate report, both of course require you to use the largest and more verbose vocabulary and the most convoluted sentence structures because as all know people online love to read you rambling on and on without ever getting the point, in fact you should go and get a thesaurus and find even bigger words ....

Okay, you get the picture. When youre writing online, make sure your articles are easy to understand and fun to read. Short words. Short sentences. Short paragraphs. Those are the kinds of articles that people share with their friends on social media, the kind that people link to and promote. If you want others to read your articles, link to your site and give you some Google Juice, keep your articles simple, fun and interesting. Barrie recommends Scribe service to help you make your articles attractive not just to humans, but to Google as well. Scribe is an SEO service that analyzes your content and tells you how you can make it better for search engines and get ranked higher. http://www.compassdesigns.net/joomla-blog/scribe-seo-for-joomla-is-released

7. Don't Take Site Security Lightly But Don't Be Paranoid

Site security is important but its not something you should lie awake at night worrying about, says Ron Severdia, author of "Using Joomla" (http://www.usingjoomlabook.com/) and a member of the Joomla Leadership Team. Make sure that your permissions are set correctly, that your users are set at the permission level they need and that your server administrator knows what he or she is doing. Heres a forum post that describes what permissions are, and how to set them correctly in Joomla:

http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?t=121470
Ron also recommends using a plugin like jSecure to hide your administrator login page. You can find more information and a download link for jSecure here:

http://www.joomlaserviceprovider.com/component/ ambrasubs/file/view/5/7.html

8. Not Having a Backup and Restore Plan

Your site is also only as safe as your last backup, says Ron. Use a tool like AkeebaBackup to keep regular backups (preferably remotely from the main server). You can learn more about this extension here:

http://www.akeebabackup.com/

9. Don't Hack your Core Joomla Files So That Theyre Unsafe or Hard to Upgrade
Every time you hack the core Joomla files, there is a chance that those changes will be overwritten next time you upgrade, If you do have to hack a file, create a document that outlines exactly which files youve modified, so that you can repeat those changes easily if you need to, and you wont lose all your work and that will make updates smooth. One common mistake, says Ron, is misunderstanding how layout overrides and CSS works. With careful planning and a knowledge of Joomla's built-in MVC, you probably won't ever need to change a file, he says.

Finally, Merav Knafo, founder of iJoomla.com and usabilityttesting.tv, added the last, vital and very common mistake.

10. Not Doing Usability Testing.

Every website owner, not just Joomla users, should perform usability testing. It's the only way to know for sure how your site appears to someone seeing it for the first time. Because you already know how to use your site and perform different tasks, it's impossible to see the problems and obstacles that are clear to a firsttime user. You need an objective point of view. A usability tester will perform set tasks on a website in order to measure the site's ease of use, the time it takes to complete those tasks, and the user's perception of the experience. It can be performed by users with different levels of expertise and its now very easy to do. For expert usability, you can turn to usabilitytesting.tv. For $299, it offers a comprehensive testing with a critical expert eye. A cheaper option, that costs only $39, asks regular users not experts to test your site. Submit your test request to UserTesting.com, and within hours, youll receive a video of the test together with a short report. Its a very quick and efficient way to test the usability of your site. I recommend it highly. Ideally youd want to combine both testing methods but if your budget is limited, then even just the second option will give you a huge amount of insight into issues on your website. The effect of usability testing was proven to double ROI. That could means doubling your income! Now thats a mistake worth avoiding! ****************** This concludes this special report for the biggest Joomla mistakes as described by the biggest Joomla experts. I hope you found it helpful. Watch out for more Joomla tips and tricks from me, and if you have any comments, do send them along. Merav Knafo Founder merav@ijoomla.com iJoomla.com

iJoomla Products:

iJoomla SEO - Allows you to manage your meta tags and keywords, monitor your keywords on Google,
create automatic internal and external links and more.

iJoomla Ad Agency- A comprehensive ad serving extension with support for 7 different ad types, rotating banners, live payments and much more.

iJoomla Magazine - Gives you easy, professional magazine layouts for your Joomla website with mini articles, authors profiles, quotes and more.

iJoomla News Portal - Create a dynamic news site with full style and layout control, you can have it up and running within minutes.

iJoomla Surveys - Set up online surveys, collect and analyze the data, export your date, view reports and more -- all on your website

iJoomla DigiStore - Turns your Joomla website into an ecommerce solution with shopping cart. Easy to set up, within minutes you can start making money from your site.

iJoomla SideBars - Make your articles more exciting with sidebars with video, article teasers, RSS Feeds and more!

iJoomla RSS Feeder - Allows you to turn your sections and categories into RSS Feeds, create an RSS page just like on USAToday.com, full integration with FeedBurner.

iJoomla Search & Archive -Have a full archive page and an advanced search page on your site. Search results include images, word count and more!