Now Available The Joomla Project announces the immediate availability of Joomla 1.5.15 [Wojmamni ama naiki]. This release contains important security fixes to some bugs that were introduced in version 1.5.14. It is strongly recommended to all Joomla Users to upgrade as soon as possible.   The Development Working Group's goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla community. For more info visit: www.joomla.orgDownload: Joomla 1.5.15Download: update package

Description: “It calls us to experience, feeds us with knowledge and seduces us in ambition.” Pulsing at a frantic pace, the technological revolution is raging, always bringing us new and innovative solutions to meet new challenges. If today is fiction, tomorrow's reality. Every day, millions are looking for something new in the Internet. This is something never seen... Something never heard before. So, is functionality and reliable solutions or the best products enough to your business success? Or do you need also the ultimate professional website presentation? Maybe you have got what millions are looking for. Are you willing to know? Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 6 Colors Themes Styles (Blue – Green – Pink – Red – Yellow – Orange) and 2 Backgrounds Options Build support for PhotoSlide GK3 component with exclusive built-in template module style. Build support for TabsManager GK3 component for tabs content display with exclusive built-in template module style. Build support for News Show Pro GK1 module with exclusive built-in template module style. Build support for News HighLighter GK1 module. Disable option for mainbody appearance on front page. Option of module as component by setting module on mainbody position. Option of Column position to left or right display. Configurable Column position width. Login and Register buttons options with modalbox effect display. Easy footer content configuration on template parameters. Build support for WYSIWYG editor with friendly Gavick Typography plugin. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for template language translation, using language file. 2 layout options: 2 columns (component + right) and 1 column (component). All 26 modules are fully collapsible and more 20 modules positions ready for tabs. Impressive built-in content style. Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects.. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7+, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with “QuickStart Package”.

new, support forum subscription plans We inform that as from this date on, the technical support of our extensions for Joomla is free only for GavickPro Members. Unlike what happened till now, those who do not have GavickPro Membership Subscription will not have unrestricted access to the support forum. However, we will maintain free access to all our extensions to download, provided with respective support Manuals and for free use. All those who wish to access to our technical support forum, will have to choose from the following subscription plans: 6 months access for €8 12 months access for €12 18 months access for €15 We know that this is not pleasant for most of you, but believe us that it was not easy decision to take. However, we must take her as a critical foundation to support all the projects that we are developing now and for those that we want to achieve in the future, so we can provide more and innovative solutions to our supporters.Thank you for your comprehension. From all GavickPro Team

Description: If Money makes the world go around, find it when at finance.com! Find guidance from analysts and experts reviews, online coverage of breaking news and current headlines about world economy. All the investments, finance and business careers, stock quotes and economic indicators, simply the most respected way to keep update to minute market information. T his month, GavickPro Studio releases his first template, built with completely pure css and provided with total color style user control. So, control your website success and guide your visitors to profit financial carrier with finance.com. Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 10 Predefined color themes. Full color template style user control with frontpage panel tool. Build support for PhotoSlide GK3 component with exclusive Image Show template style design. Build support for TabsManager GK3 component for tabs content display with exclusive template design. Build support for the News Show Pro GK1 module. Build support for the News Highlighter GK1 module. Build support for the new Gavick Weather GK1 module for weather forecast. Build support for the new Gavick Stock GK1 module. Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Option of module as component by setting module on main body position. Option of Column position to left or right display. Configurable Column position width. Configurable Header1 position width. Interface Login and Register buttons, with slide effect display. Style Switcher option on frontend. Enable/disable date on frontpage and customized format. Customize RSS icon button link. Easy footer content configuration on template parameters. Build support for WYSIWYG Friendly Typography editor plugin. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 3 layout options: 3 columns (component + inset + right), 2 columns (component + right or component + inset) and 1 column (component). All 21 modules are fully collapsible  and more 20 modules positions ready for tabs. Impressive built-in content style. Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option. Optional IE6 User Warning / Upgrade Notification. Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design. Joomla 1.5 Native. W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid. Fully compatible IE7+, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package".

Description: Let the sounds of music flow to inspire communication beyond all cultural boundaries with Hit Music. You can find your music in this month template shown in the most professional and astounding presentation. From the latest news, reviews to billboard music charts, articles, videos and much more, you will find all the rhythms in the most unexpected ways up to the minute breaking information from the world of music. Having a bad day? Need some funny songs to boost your mood? Listen to the song with your heart and say it loud - "Let my music fly with me far away!" Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 3 color themes: Red, Blue and Green. Build support for PhotoSlide GK3 component with exclusive Image Show template style design. Build support for TabsManager GK3 component for tabs content display with exclusive template design. Build support for the News Show Pro GK1 module (now with new features added, with special novelty of automatic creation of thumbnails ). Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Option of module as component by setting module on main body position. Option of Column position to left or right display. Configurable Column position width. Configurable Header1 position width. Login and Register buttons options with modalbox effect display. Style Switcher option on frontend. Easy footer content configuration on template parameters. Build support for WYSIWYG Friendly Typography editor plugin. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 2 layout options: 2 columns (component + right)  and 1 column (component). All 21 modules are fully collapsible  and more 20 modules positions ready for tabs. Impressive built-in content style. Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects.. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7+, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with Special 50% discount coupon to get JomSocial Component. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package"

Description: Get inside of the game with the most impressive news coverage. How amazing would it be if you experienced all of sports emotions? From being the ringleader of the fans to the coach; the only individual responsible for calling all the plays and making each and every crucial decisions -- display it all with an amazing, professional and mind-blowing new news report based template: We are presenting you ICKI Sports. It’s your call. Once you experience ICKI Sports, you will feel an ambition to host such an effective sports coverage site. Are you up to it? Get the new feature GavickPro template with unparalleled quality from our Production Team and turn it into your greatest tool for sports coverage. Your site users will stay tuned in and be the first to know the final result just after the game is over. It is possible because of all the versatile and functional features of the template. Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% CSS based. 2 Template Color themes: Both Red and Blue Built-In support for the new PhotoSlide GK3 component and the new GK Image Show module Built-In support for TabsManager GK3 component for tabs content display. Built-In support for the News Show Pro GK1 module (with respective plugin to work along with PhotoSlide GK3) Built-In support for GK News HighLighter GK1 module. Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Display option of module as component on main body position. Column, Banner 2 and Header 1 module position changeable width on template configuration. Login and Register button options for front page and with modalbox effect display. Style Theme Switcher. Compressed engine option for each of the modules. Integrated support for language translation. 2 site layout options: 2 columns (right + component) and 1 column (component). All 24 modules are fully collapsible wile 20 more modules positions are ready for tabs. Impressive integrated content style. Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7+, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package" to get site up and running in minutes

Description: Successful Business can be undertaken in various forms! To have a successful enterprise, you just need to be unique, think positively and believe in yourself. Ensure your presence on the top by using our new impressive Joomla 1.5 template which is dedicated to the corporate image. Above all, Corporate LTD employs the highest quality design and an imperative feature for all business presentations. Corporate LTD establishes the professional and visual necessary tools that will set a stage in your clients and visitors eyes; providing the perfect environment for your company’s presentation. Give air of confidence to your clients with Corporate LTD; the most professional Joomla 1.5 based template. Set your course to a new and bright business future with Corporate LTD. Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 3 colors style themes variations (blue-green-orange). Build support for PhotoSlide GK2 component and the new Gk News Image I module version. Build support for News Show GK3 module (with respective plugin to work with along with PhotoSlide GK2). Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Column position modules (left or right side) and width setting options. Show/Hide mainbody on frontpage option. Slider for banner position option. Default status for banner position option. Select style for user1-user3 module positions (Light - Grey) Select style for user4-user6 module positions (Light - Grey) Login and Register buttons options for front page and with modalbox effect display. Style Theme Switcher option. Bottom wrapper header option display. Bottom wrapper header text option display. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 2 layout options: 2 columns (right or left + component) and 1 column (component). All 24 modules are fully collapsible and more 20 modules positions ready for tabs. Impressive built-in content style. Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects... Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7+, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package".

powerful tool of exposure news, articles and content Congratulations!!!  You just found another amazing Joomla!1.5 extension. From probably the most powerful tool of exposure news, articles and content in Joomla, and without any doubt one of the most popular, acclaimed and sucessfull extension ever created, the Gavick News Show module is now a team. So, give welcome to the new News Show Pro GK1 module, ready to impress even more your website visitors. Especially for you, another gift from GavickPro Team. Now, you have two perfect partners, ready to help you achieve the more demanding standard of presentation, that all successful sites require.   And guess what? It's free! How about that?!...   You don't believe it!?... Well... So, it's not free...but we will give you 100% discount! What? You want more? Get it now!   An overview of News Show Pro GK1 module key features: Joomla 1.5 native. Content control display from any section, category or articles ID's. Left, right or bottom selection position of list with links. Horizontal and vertical news presentation (columns and rows configuration). Two modes: standard mode and category mode, Show text, image, author, date, section/category name and button "read more" option, with order customization. News amount sorted by date, order, frontpage order, random or hits. Use of multiple modules on same page with unique ID configuration. Pagination for articles and lists with links Timezones adjustment, date format and native language of month / days customization. Different language translation support included. Partnership with PhotoSlide GK2 (naturally, you need to install the PhotoSlide GK2 to use this respective plugin). On/Off front page articles display in modules. Clean (X)HTML in content. Easy and friendly administration. SEF URLs. Used Javascript Framework: Mootools 1.11. Option for compressed engine script use. Fully compatible: Firefox, IE7, Opera 9.5, Safari, Netscape, Google Chrome, Camino, Flock 0.7+. View the News Show Pro GK1 in live demoDownload the News Show Pro GK1 here More info at GK Tools

Description: Get ready to publicize and report on all of the top-chart music stars! The show is ready as the spotlight moves along the excited crowd that hovers around all the celebrities. Amassed by television, magazines and media, you can also report on the show in a professional and elegant fashion. Everything is out there, you just have to capture the newsworthy events and major music announcements. The GavickPro Design Team is proud of releasing the MusicTube Template for Joomla 1.5, bringing both our existing and new tools to their full potential. Get ready to receive new and amazing News Image VI module for the PhotoSlide GK2 component. We are also proud of presenting in this February 2009 template, new News Show GK3 Pro GK1 version module which functions even better than before. You will be amazed with this template’s potential! We have also included the Tabs Manager GK2 component with a uniquely styled layout intended only to this template; while the News Highlighter GK1 module and Embed Media module can be utilized for streaming display. Prepare to rock on with MusicTube from the GavickPro Design Team! Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 3 color variations theme styles with front end switcher (Blue, Maroon, Pink). 2 background variations styles with front end switcher (dark - lite). Build support for PhotoSlide GK2 component and the new GK News Image VI module. Build support for the new version of the News Show Pro GK1 module (Now, with new powerful features added) Build support for Tabs Manager GK2 component and special design layout for Tabs Arts module. Build support for News Show GK3 module with special design layout. Build support for News HighLighter GK1 module, for news announcement (with special layout design). Build support for the GK Embed Media module. Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Header position width setting option. Column position modules (left or right side) and width setting options. Slide Login Form module. Scalable font size control. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 3 layout options: 2 columns (right column + component, left column + component) and 1 column (component). All 26 modules are fully collapsible. 2 module variations built-in. Impressive built-in content style. Last Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. Now with bottom slider sniper effect. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package"

Description: Some have said that life pushes us to be smooth or aggressive, comprehensive or demanding, careful or daring. No matter what you choose, you are who you are. During one’s development in early stage of life, a stable attitude is created which later on leads him/her for the rest of life and affects relations and interactions with other people. VIYO has the ability to reflect your attitude towards life. Should it be soft or charismatic; VIYO will serve as the perfect media portal to convey your personality and emotions. With the most stylish touch and inspiration from our designers, please welcome VIYO; our latest and one of the most creative Joomla templates! Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 2 theme color variations (light blue – brown) 6 background variations for each themes. Build support for PhotoSlide GK2 component and the Gk News Image III module (specific design for this template). Build support for the new version of the News Show GK3 module – v3.2.0 (Now, with new features added and more style control) Build support for the Gk Embed Media module. Disable option for main body appearance on front page. Slide Login Form module. Scalable font size control. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 2 layout options: 2 columns (right + component) and 1 column (component). All 26 modules are fully collapsible. 3 Module layouts built in. Impressive built-in content style. Last Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. Now with bottom slider sniper effect. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible with: IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with Adobe .PSD source files. Delivered with "QuickStart Package"

Description: Every single day, leave an invitation in front of the door for your customers with our latest template - eShop! The most amazing stores are the ones that have the latest and highest quality products; and those are open 24/7. Overall, this shop has an auspicious commitment of quality, variety and good service: three qualities your clients will pursue. GavickPro team invites everyone to embrace the new eShop template. It will successfully promote your online-business in every moment. Gavick Designers have added special features to allow this template to compete with the best; elevating its quality and elegance. We released in this template new and exclusive Gk VM Header Rotator II module; the perfect partner for the powerful PhotoSlide GK2 component. This will enhance any promotions or special products that you intend to market highly. We have also included a new and fantastic display effect for the Login Form and VirtueMart Cart modules. We have added some tabs for content display on each “product detail page” to catch your customers’ attention. Naturally, we could not leave out one of the most popular tools in the Joomla community – the News Show GK3 module for news, articles or content display. So get ready to start your business today with your eShop.com! Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 2 style variations (bright and dark) Build support for Virtuemart 1.1.2 Component. Build support for PhotoSlide GK2 component and the new GK VM Header RotatorII module (specific for this template). Build support for News Show GK3 Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for debug option. Support for language translation. 3 layout options: 2 columns (left + right+component), 2 columns (left or right + component) and 1 column (component). All 18 modules are fully collapsible. 2 Module variations built in. Impressive built-in content style. Last Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option. Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible with: IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome. Delivered with Adobe .PSD source files. Delivered with “QuickStart Package”

Description: See, hear and read the streaming media and flash interviews that you cannot afford to miss for anything else in the world! Your idols, favorite artists, top celebrities, new emerging stars, their projects and opinions are landmarks in the entire world art. YourFlash is the new GavickPro Theme with amazingly high quality and professional design that will shock your fans visitors’ by showing everything what is happening behind the curtains of the show. This template acts as a perfect team match with the Gavick PhotoSlide GK2 component, together with the new News Image III module and also makes use of amazing Tabs Manager GK2 component and Tabs Mix module tools. The YourFlash template will be a huge success in your community. Someone said "The show must go on…” and we have added “…with YourFlash template from GavickPro!" Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based. 3 color variations styles (blue – red - dirty yellow) Build support for PhotoSlide GK2 component and the Gk News Image III module. Build support for Tabs Manager GK2 Component and TabMix module. Compressed engine option for each modules. Support for language translation. 2 layout options: 2 columns (right+component) and 1 column (component). 4 Modules variations All 23 modules are fully collapsible. Impressive built-in content style. Last Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning/Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files. Delivered with “QuickStart Package”

Description: Extra! Extra! Read all about it!... There's a new Gavick Killer theme in town! GavickPro Professional Development Studio is happy to launch the new October Joomla!1.5 "The News II" template, pre-filled with new and exciting news. There are newsworthy items that should not be forgotten in minds of readers and various items that should be a lesson to the whole world. So embrace yourself in this project, take responsibility and release all of important news with the greatest credibility with The Second Version of "The News" from GavickPro. Enjoy yourself reporting, and impress your readers! Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based Build support for Tabs Manager GK2 component and the new TabsMix module. 3 color variations styles (green – blue - red) Build support for the PhotoSlide GK2 component and News Image I module. Build support for the News Show GK3 module. Build support for the new Gavick Highlighter module. Compressed engine option for each modules. 2 layout options: 2 columns (right+component), 1 column (component). All 25 modules are fully collapsible and 20 modules for TabsMix use. Header position width option setting on template configuration Impressive built-in content style. Last Gavick Suckerfish menu version, with 2 built-in options - Suckerfish menu and Mootools. 34 different styles moomenu animation effects. Speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9.5, Chrome Delivered with source Adobe .PSD. Delivered with "Quick Start Pack"

Description: Make the jump into another great Gavick template! Be different... but be yourself! ILife combines extreme action along with sudden and slight motion in order to shape ideas and experiences into special and radical sport events. The innovative color combinations will facilitate the highest quality of design. While designing and being pushed to the limit, we are happy to release for the first time a new and amazing Tabs Manager GK2 component, together with the new TabsMix module. This duo offers a perfect combination integrated into only one tool: fantastic and fully completed functions of both TabsArts and TabsMods modules. In addition, we have added the extra custom code presentation that will be totally free of any design or customizing limitations. The unquestioned quality of PhotoSlide GK2 component and the News Show GK3 module could not be excluded from the ILife template. So, once again they make their presence known and act as perfect partners in your websites functionality. Please welcome, new in town - the young Gavick Highlighter Module! Use it but don't abuse it! It is a tool that allows you to scroll through your interactive and special news items and articles. Quick Navigation: Live Demo! Download Support Forum Help File Vote Features: Tableless design and 100% css based 2 color variations styles (orange – blue) New Gavick Highlighter module. New version of Tabs Manager GK2 component and the new TabsMix module. Build support for the PhotoSlide GK2 component and News Image I module. Build support for the News Show GK3 module with PhotoSlide GK2 plugin. New compressed engine option for both News Image I and News Show GK3 modules. 2 layout options: 2 columns (right+component), 1 column (component) All 21 modules are fully collapsible and 20 modules for TabsMix use. Header position width option setting on template configuration Impressive built-in content style 2 built-in menu options - Suckerfish menu and new MooMenu (34 different styles moomenu animation effects, speed menu animation option Optional IE6 Warning / Upgrade Notification Lightweight, modern and very fast-loading design Joomla 1.5 Native W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid Fully compatible IE7, Firefox 2+, Firefox 3, Flock 0.7+, Netscape, Safari, Opera 9., Chrome Delivered with source Adobe .PSD. Delivered with "Quick Start Pack"

The Crystalline Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.2 with fixed to the front end color chooser and presets saving.

The Crystalline Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.1 for the ASE file loading/saving as well as fixes for the Color Chooser.

Crystalline, the March 2010 Club Template release, features the new Color Chooser, a powerful new addition that allows you to customize the theme style with great ease. With just a few adjustments, you can dramatically change the appearance of your entire site. The transparent nature of the template is what gives the Color Chooser its foundation, but the theme has many more features, mainly orientating around the Gantry v2 core, such as its complex administrator interface and 960 grid system, but other extras too, such as dynamic module variations and the Fusion Menu.

The Affinity Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.11 which contains compatibility fixes for JomSocial 1.6.287, issues in style2 and style6, as well as a IIS fix.

The Kinetic Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.2 which contains updates for adding cascading menuitem parameters and fixes for force positions.

The Dominion Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.6 and includes updates for adding cascading menuitem parameters and fixes for force positions.

The Reaction Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.6 and includes updates for adding cascading menuitem parameters, fixes for force positions, and fixes for frontend editor appearance when using RokPad.

The Kinetic Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.1 which contains an updated version of Gantry and also resets the default settings for better compatibility on first install.

Kinetic, the February 2010 Club Template release, has a versatile and flexible design, styled with scrupulous precision, and founded on the functional, feature rich Gantry v2.0 core. The theme's impressive collection of preset styles, and complimentary module variations are key to the design's appeal, offering an array of stylistic tools to refine your content. Kinetic also sports a triple level splitmenu, similar to the menu system deployed on the RocketTheme site, as well as Fusion still being available.

The Affinity Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.10 and has compatibility fixes for the latest version of JomSocial 1.6 as well as a js fix for RokSortable.

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.10 has bug fixes for PHP4 .

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.10 has bug fixes for missing files and backwards compatability.

RokNavMenu has been updated to version 1.7.14 which makes the dropdowns fusion container inherit all the classes from its parent element.

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.9 which adds basic icon support for tabs.

RokDownloads has been updated to version 1.0b9 which fixes the corruption of the Uploader jar file.

The RokBox RokNavMenu plugin has been released, which provides the ability to load RokBox elements via RokNavMenu menu items.

RokCandy has been updated to version 1.0, with fixes an issue with missing macros and bad tokens.

RokDownloads has been updated to version 1.0b8 fixes numerous reported errors, and adds file size adjustment on save.

RokGZipper has been updated to version 1.8, which fixes handling of single files when JS folder is unwritable.

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.8 which fixes a compatible issue with RokGZipper, and an error relating to the dispatcher.

The Nexus phpBB3 style has been updated to version 1.4 with a minor bug fixes.

All of the RocketTheme phpBB styles have been updated to the latest phpBB 3.0.7 release and are now available in their respective style download sections.

Kinetic, the March 2010 phpBB3 Club Style release, has a versatile and flexible design, styled with scrupulous precision. The theme's impressive collection of preset styles, and complimentary module variations are key to the design's appeal.

The RokBB3 administration module has been updated with RokBox support under "Global Configuration" mode.See documentation. To update module, download the latest package from the phpbb3 download section and replace files in in your phpbb3 installation.

phpBB3 styles has been updated to basic RokBox support. RokBox files are now preloaded into every style and enabled by default.

The Affinity phpBB3 style has been updated to version 1.1 with some important bug fixes.

The Hyperion phpBB3 style has been updated to version 1.2 with a minor bug fixes.

The Dominion phpBB3 style has been updated to version 1.1 with a minor bug fixes.

Dominion, the February 2010 phpBB3 Club Style release is equipped with new and awesome features like RTL support. This month style features also 6 unique preset styles (both light and dark), configurable layout and so much more to explore!

Reaction is the January 2010 Club Template release.Reaction has 6 unique style variations in 18 combinations. Each preset style has 3 background levels: Low, Medium & High, which represent different levels of detailing. Therefore, with a simple parameter switch, you can pivotally change the theme from a conservative to a vibrant design.

A few days ago I blogged about what we wanted Gantry to be, in this post I'm going to delve into how Gantry looks and works. Gantry involves a bit of a paradigm shift when it comes to thinking about how a template works and is configured. We've tried to make this as simple as possible while still allowing the most flexibility so I'm going go over it from front to back.

When I was writing the previous blog post about Mac applications I had a need to add some custom elements to provide the layout that I wanted. Now it's quite common for people to just input some tags in their content but don't do it! It might 'work' but it's not valid XHTML. All style declarations should be in the element of your page. Unfortunately it's not very easy to add style declarations here when you only need them for one page. Traditionally you would have to edit your template CSS file and add the elements there. It's a hassle and also it means those styles are going to be in the CSS for every page of your site, if you need them or not.

2009 has been a very busy year for RocketTheme. At the start of the year we introduced our new RocketTheme version 2.0 site which was a complicated process to say the least. With that launch we also unveiled our phpBB3 Style Club that now contains nearly 30 fantastic styles for phpBB3. In June we launched our Extensions Club that provides access to some really unique extensions for a small membership fee. We also made this club complimentary for our existing Joomla template club members. This month we introduce our new WordPress Theme Club into the RocketTheme family.

The Crystalline Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.2 with fixed to the front end color chooser and presets saving.

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.10 has bug fixes for PHP4 .

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.10 has bug fixes for missing files and backwards compatability.

The Nexus phpBB3 style has been updated to version 1.4 with a minor bug fixes.

All of the RocketTheme phpBB styles have been updated to the latest phpBB 3.0.7 release and are now available in their respective style download sections.

The Crystalline Joomla 1.5 template has been updated to version 1.5.1 for the ASE file loading/saving as well as fixes for the Color Chooser.

Crystalline, the March 2010 Club Template release, features the new Color Chooser, a powerful new addition that allows you to customize the theme style with great ease. With just a few adjustments, you can dramatically change the appearance of your entire site. The transparent nature of the template is what gives the Color Chooser its foundation, but the theme has many more features, mainly orientating around the Gantry v2 core, such as its complex administrator interface and 960 grid system, but other extras too, such as dynamic module variations and the Fusion Menu.

RokTabs has been updated to version 1.9 which adds basic icon support for tabs.

RokNavMenu has been updated to version 1.7.14 which makes the dropdowns fusion container inherit all the classes from its parent element.

RokDownloads has been updated to version 1.0b9 which fixes the corruption of the Uploader jar file.

DWho's Online module (mod_dwhosonline) shows members, guests and robots on the site. Different user groups marks with different classes. Additional functionality to show total members and latest members (newest registered users). User name can be linked to the user profile. Supports users avatars using DAvatar content plugin. Supports link to PMS: uddeIM and Messaging. Able to set timeout for users activity. Features: *) Counts members, guests and robots *) Option to set timeout for users activity *) Options to hide Usergroups and individual Users form the memberlist (hidden users can be count as guests) *) Prefilled and configurable list of search bots and other robots for detection (you can load signatures from text file and specify manually in the parameters) *) Option to show latest members list *) Option to show any random members of the site *) Option to show total members (linked to users´ list) *) Support of users avatars and robots icons using DAvatar content plugin *) Members names and avatars can be configured as links to the users profiles *) Support of link to PMS: uddeIM and Messaging *) Different user groups wrapped with individual "class" for better layout design *) Options to trigger content plugins for the module content (onPrepareContent and onBeforeDisplayContent) *) Parameter to specify extra SQL WHERE condition (for advanced users)

SB Menu is a simple, easy-to-use and flexible module for the famous content management system Joomla! It is powered by Joomla!'s default menu/navigation system and tweaked to allow for a more easy to use, templatable menu system. SB Menu's menu structure and themes are based on the works of Tom@Lwis. SB Menu provides basic customization to change background color, text color, border color and width along with a few themes that come pre-installed. As SB Menu is still new and a baby, more options and themes will become available in later versions. We support the module of SB Menu, however, we do not take blame for any bugs or faults that may arise from installing/using this module. Any changes to the code we recommend be made via an experienced web developer. SB Menu - CSS Drop Down Menu Features include: * Search Engine Friendly (SEF) * Supports Joomla 1.5.x NATIVE * Submenus (dropdown, slide out, etc) * Expansion symbols to show submenus * Customizable. Simple options to customize the look of the default themes. Such as background color, text color, border color and width. * Modular, with themes. Creating or modifying themes is easy. * Easily deployable. The code and files are well organized. * Cross browser. Configurations available for Windows Internet Explorer 5 or later, Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or later, Opera 7 or later, Apple Safari 2 or later, Google Chrome 1, etc. * JavaScript only for IE6. Minimal JavaScript code only for IE 6 or earlier. Uses Mootool, and has source files for jQuery and others if needed. * Super Fast. * Continuous development. The project is constantly revised and improved on and is available for all active members to download at any time.

9th March 2010: 1.13 Release + Added customizable dropdown all text + Fixed checkboxes output + Added syncronization + Fixes on searching sql + Added new Quality Scores for associations for ordering based on Quality Score priority. + Added Icons and finalization of Clone Form and Import Attributes from VM features. redVMPRODUCTFINDER is a brand new Joomla 1.5 native MVC component for VirtueMart that allows you to build your own virtual search engine for your webshop or webshopcatalog. Install the component and in seconds you can be on your way in building you own front end search engine for VirtueMart - and the best of it all is we havent changed a single line of code in VirtueMart! redVMPRODUCTFINDER has native SEF support and generates on the fly SEF urls for all search resultats so you can use it to create your own custom virtual categories for your webshop along with creating an ocean of pure searchablility for your webshop. Make it possible to search on Size, Colors, Flavours, Material, Price Ranges or what ever you feel would make it easier for your webshop users to find what they are looking for using redVMPRODUCTFINDER! redVMPRODUCTFINDER includes the following features: Unlimited amount of Types, Tags and Associations Dynamical options for search type (Dropdown and Checkbox) Select to show long or shot product description from VirtueMart products 100% control over layout trough the unique CSS tagging system Form management - Can add fields to a form Plugin - The search form can now be used wherever a plugin can be used Search result page will go back to where it came from (page where plugin is used or the component page) SEF / SH404Sef native support Refine search function Link to search result function with SEF urls created on the fly!!! 100% MVC Structural build - make your over template overrides English and Danish languages (looking for more - contact me if you are interested in translating to your native langauge). and much more... redVMPRODUCTFINDER is licensed under GPL v.2 but requires a subscription to download.

Introducing the NEW eWeather Forecast Module! The existing eWeather Module shows the current conditions, but this NEW module shows the forecasts! NOTE: This module requires version 1.4.1, or higher, of the eWeather Component, which can be obtained at the link below. http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/external-contents/weather/3731 CHANGELOG -1.4.1- ** This is the initial release of the MVC version of the eWeather Forecast module. ** Renumbered all the component and module releases at 1.4.x to keep them all straight. -1.3.4- ** Modified the way this module handles the eWeather Component's configuration parameters. ** NOTE you must upgrade to eWeather Component version 1.3.21 to use this version of the eWeather Forecast Module. -1.3.3- ** Fixed problems with Search Engine Friendly setting. -1.3.2- ** HTML Validation fixes. Big thanks to Keith Mueller (KMSpecialties.com), who did all this work. ** Added begin/end module comments with version number. ** Using eWeather Component's DisplayLinks() function. -1.3.1- ** This version uses a class to contain all the operations, so the forecast module can run on the same page ast he current conditions module. -1.3.0- ** Initial release

This module, in conjunction with the eWeather component, will display today's current conditions, in a module position. --- NOTE: The screenshot shows the Purple Small Icon Pack applied. --- NOTE: This module requires version 1.4.1, or higher, of the eWeather Component, which can be obtained at the link below. http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/external-contents/weather/3731 CHANGELOG -1.4.1- ** MVC version of the eWeather Module. ** Modified to match the new SEF routing mechanism in com_eweather_1.4.1. ** Renumbered all the component and module releases at 1.4.x to keep them all straight. ** This version of the module requires com_eweather_1.4.1. -1.2.10- ** Modified the way this module handles the eWeather Component's configuration parameters. ** NOTE you must upgrade to eWeather Component version 1.3.21 to use this version of the eWeather Module. -1.2.9- ** Fixed problems with Search Engine Friendly setting. ** Fixed problem where the Module Class Suffix was not being used when generating HTML. -1.2.8- ** HTML Validation fixes. Big thanks to Keith Mueller (KMSpecialties.com), who did all this work. ** Added begin/end module comments with version number. ** Using eWeather Component's DisplayLinks() function. -1.2.7- ** Fix for "Fatal error: Unsupported operand types in .../includes/router.php on line 148" -1.2.6- ** Added some defensive code to check for places where eWeather Module built a file name string from invalid Weather Channel data. -1.2.5- ** Added the ability to show/hide a "Select your city..." link on the module. This will work exactly as it does in the component: the user can select their individual city, and it will be saved in the database (for logged-in users) or on the user's computer as a cookie (for non-logged-in users). NOTE: This feature defaults to "hide." You can change the setting through the Module Manager.

eWeather is a Joomla! component which will display a visually appealing weather forecast and current conditions, on your website. The weather data is supplied by a FREE XML, from The Weather Channel: http://registration.weather.com/ursa/xmloap/step1 Features: -Front End- ** Clean visual presentation weather data feed ** Allows users to select own city -Back End- ** New overview and management of installed regions/countries ** Default configuration of a City ** Weather forecast for up to five days ** Date/Time format freely definable ** Proxy definable -Icon Packs- ** Purple Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,3904/Itemid,35/ ** Stardock Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,3905/Itemid,35/ ** Weatherpod Orange Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,3906/Itemid,35/ ** Red Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,4622/Itemid,35/ ** Green Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,4623/Itemid,35/ ** Yellow Small - http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,4639/Itemid,35/ --- NOTE: The screenshot shows the Purple Small Icon Pack applied. --- CHANGELOG -1.4.1- ** MVC version of the eWeather Component. ** Fixed all the XHTML Validation errors on the front-end of the component and on the module. ** Older versions of the component will not work with the new version of the module, and the older versions of the module will not work with the new version of the component. ** Renumbered the component and module releases at 1.4.x to keep them all straight. -1.3.22- ** I updated all the Argentina cities. I also added the province name to each city. I need to figure out a better way to handle coutries that have states/provinces (like Argentina, USA, and Canada). ** I also fixed all the language files. I had broken them somewhere along the road, and I didnt notice until several people mentioned it. ** Modified to explicitly use the non-lite version of the xml-domit parser. -1.3.21- ** Updated Slovakia cities. ** Added Fiji cities. ** Added Slovenia language files for the front-end and back-end from Samo Straser. Thanks Samo! ** Updated Greek language files and Greek cities. Nikos Kyrloglou provided these changes. Thanks Nikoky! ** Changed the way the configuration parameters are stored. They are no longer stored in a PHP file in the filesystem, since that was causing permission problems for several users. They are now stored in the database. ** NOTE that upgrading to this version requires that you upgrade to the latest mod_eweather, mod_eweather_forecast, and raf_weather modules, since the older versions of those modules are not compatible with this new configuration parameter scheme. -1.3.20- *

This module displays the realm status informations parsed from the realm status XML delivered by Blizzard. As the delivered xml data for European and US realms is not the same it is important that you pick the right Location! Included features so far ... Works for EU and US "World of Warcraft" realms. can display name,status(up/down),realm type, language languages supported so far:englishgermanspanishfrench Added error handling New in v1.3 - Option to display realm maintenance informations New in v1.4 - maintenance informations are now shown in users local language (only wow-europe has different languages so far I guess) New in v1.5.5 - altered error handling ToDo Include parameters to switch between text or image ouput re-code the "stand alone" version more templates more languages - looking for translator for russian Participation ... If you feel you can contribute to this Module with code, localization, ideas than please contact me. Credits: French translation by: Rémi Poulie - Ramlos (Thorium|EU) Spanish translation by: Sergio muñoz Peña Please rate and review this module. This is a free module and such feedback is kind of a small loan for the time and work a developer put into such module.

Extend joomla with Multi Sites and user sharing. This allows multiple domain names or sites to have their own joomla configuration file using the same joomla installation. Possibility to share the users, and extensions like VirtueMart, Community Builder, JomSocial, ... With this new feature you can share the joomla files and folders to create totally independent web sites. This simply the maintenance of Joomla as you have only one instance to update for all the websites. With JMS you can both create website from the back-end and from the front-end. You can use website as template to create new slave site. When you decide to propose the creation of websites from the front-end, you can add a plugin to create a bridge with your own system to process the payment or whatever else. As each website has its own joomla configuration. You can decide to use: - One database for all the websites. In this case, you must specify different database table prefix for each websites. - Two databases (One master database and One slave database). This architecture is advised when you want to install JMS on an existing website and you are limited in the number of databases you can create (or disk space). - As many databases than there are websites. This is the most flexible architecture where each websites works with its own database. This is generally the architecture adopted by joomla when you ceate multiple websites. The content of each website is totally independent. This means that the content (articles, news, forum, users, ...) are NOT shared. The setup of each configuration site consists in using the standard joomla installation mechanism. In the administration of a 'Slave' site, you can re-install/uninstall extension previously installed on the 'Master' site. The 'Master' site is the one where you have installed the Joomla MultiSite component and where you manage the 'Slave' sites. Additional control are performed during the installation/uninstallation of an extension in a 'slave' site. Before executing the standard joomla installation, it is verified that the extension you request to install has exactly the same name and same version number to avoid inconsistency between all sites. This additional control is performed to ensure that you will overwrite the current installation with identical files that you originaly installed. On 'slave' site, the uninstall of an extension consists in a joomla standard cleanup of the database. The files present on disk for this extension are not deleted to avoid disturb the other sites. With the new version 1.1, you can also replicate a website into the same database to avoid re-installing the extension in each slave site. For Unix platform, it is also possible to deploy a slave site into a specific folder. In JMS 1.2.x, you can also share user and some limited number of extension. It is also partially compatible with Joomla! 1.6. Templates and Languages are automatically shared between all sites.

ARI Sexy Lightbox v. 1.2.0 is ready. It contains new Joomla! system plugin which helps use sexy lightbox in any Joomla! content. Updated extension can also create thumbnails for images from Joomla! content and show original images in sexy popup. ARI Sexy Lightbox is Joomla! lightbox module which provides possibility for showing image galleries, Flickr galleries, external pages and HTML content in sexy popup. Main features: * User friendly interface; * Can display external pages and inline content; * Provides ability for creating image galleries based on images from specific folder(s). Can generate thumbnails and cache data for decreasing server loading. Supports gallery mode (shows all image on page) and single image mode (shows the first thumbnail and provides ability for navigations between gallery images); * Can display Flickr photos based on Flickr photoset ID(s) or Flickr user ID(s); * Supports 4 themes: white, black, Spanish white and Spanish black; * Highly customizable; * Supports possibility for showing additional image parameters (such as description, title and other) which you can define in CSV file; * Can display lightbox automatically when page is loaded; * You can change gallery layout. It requires minimum HTML knowledge; * Can display module in Joomla! articles with help ARI Sexy Lightbox plugin; * Contains Joomla! system plugin for using popup on any page; * Supports ability of creating thumbnails and lightbox for inline images in Joomla! content. Only wrap necessary content with {arisexylightbox} tag; * Works in modern browsers: IE6+, FireFox, Opera, Chrome, Safari and other; * It is open source and under GNU/GPL license.

ARI Slider v. 1.3.0 is ready. It can show menu items title in nice tooltip. ARI Slider module creates apple-style slideshow based on Joomla! articles. Main features: * Easy to use; * Scrolls Joomla! news with nice sliding effect; * Supports navigation between menu items; * Can define your own layout for slider items and title for menu items using predefined variables such as: article title,article intro text, article full text, read more link and other; * Supports auto rotation of slider items; * Can display menu items title in nice tooltip; * Customizable; * Works in modern browsers: IE6+, FireFox, Opera, Chrome, Safari and other; * Supports multiple instance of module on one page; * Can be embedded into Joomla! articles with help 'ARI Slider' content plugin; * Open source and under GPL license.

One is warm, sunny and on the beautiful Pacific Ocean. The other is cold, rainy and on the grey Thames (I'm allowed to make fun of it ... I was born in its suburbs) San Francisco and London and nearly 5500 miles apart and you might not think they have much in common. Normally you'd be right, but this is an exception. Next week we've got two Joomla classes, one in each city: London - March 10 (Beginner) San Francisco - March 12 (Beginner) Read more...

This week's tutorial explains how to add metadata to your Drupal site. By default, Drupal has no fields for metadata. Check the source code at http://drupal.org and you'll see what I mean. To fix that issue, we recommend a module called Nodewords. Read more...

Following on from other newsletters where we showed you how to set up Joomla on a Mac and also how to develop locally and moving your site to a live server, this week we're going to walk you through installing Joomla locally, on a P.C.. We're going to use WAMP for this tutorial. WAMP stands for "Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP" which are the different elements that allow you to run Joomla on your computer. Here's how you do it: Read more...

Would you like to be able to update your Joomla site and automatically send that update to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, Ning and dozens of other sites? This tutorial will show you how. Our first part will be to create an RSS feed to export all our new posts. From there we'll use Twitterfeed.com and Ping.fm to distribute the posts to all our social networks. Read more...

This tutorial was requested by a student who is learning the Drupal basics. They turned on "Clean URLs" in the Drupal admin area and were surprised to see that the URLs remained largely unchanged: Old: /?q=node/3 New: /node/3 The student's comment was: "that's still a silly address for my About Us page. I want the address to be /about-us/." The solution is the "Pathauto" module and let's show you how to set it up: Read more...

This tutorial will show you how to take an RSS feed and import it into your  Joomla site. Each item on the RSS feed will become a separate Joomla article. We use this technique for a couple purposes: Distributing our content to other Joomla sites. For example, we use this technique to showing these tutorials on Alledia.com. Importing blogs and news on a particular topic from other sites. This way people can read them all in one place. We're going to use a component called 4RSS from 4RSS.com. Read more...

Last week I was fortunate enough to be elected to the Open Source Matters board along with 5 others. After having a very U.S.-centric board, it's great to see such a wide diversity of new members. Add a Aussie and a penguin and we'd have someone from all seven continents :) Marko Milenovic - Serbia Javier Gomez - Spain Jacques Rentzke - South Africa Robert Deutz - Germany Akarawuth Tamrareang - Thailand Read more...

This tutorial will show you how to take an RSS feed and import it into your Wordpress site. Each item on the RSS feed will become a separate Wordpress post. We use this technique for a couple purposes: Distributing our content to other Wordpress sites. Importing blogs and news on a particular topic from other sites. This way people can read them all in one place. We're going to use a plugin called FeedWordPress. Read more...

I must admit I knew nothing about RSSeo before starting this review despite having used other RSJoomla products before. After few minutes of using it, I realised it was very familiar: RSSeo is similar in many ways to iJoomla SEO which we reviewed last last year. Both are essentially quick and easy ways to manage your site's metadata, plus some additional SEO tools. Whereas there were very few metadata options available last year, RSSeo joins iJoomla SEO as a worthy option. Read more...

In this tutorial we'll show you how to add a "Print This Page" button to Drupal. The main reason you'd want to do this is as a courtesy for your readers. Many still print things they read online and you don't want them to waste that expensive printer ink just to print your logo and theme as well as the article. This is a themed tutorial because our sister newsletter with Wordpress tutorials is covering the same topic this week: Creating Printer-friendly Versions of Wordpress Posts. Without this solution you'd likely need to create a separate CSS file with styles specifically for the printed page.  Fortunately the Print Module makes this much easier. It will automatically create a printer-friendly version of each page. As an added bonus and it can also do "Email to a Friend" and "Download as a PDF" link (if your server has the correct features). Read more...

mindmap is a content plugin for Joomla that easily display mindmap in your articles. * Mindmap (*.mm) has to be on your host, you can not display currently remote mindmap, aka url starting with http:// You can put anywhere in your article the following keywords {freemind uri= width= height=} All these parameters are mandatory uri has to be a path to a local freemind map files examples: * {freemind uri=images/stories/maps/mymap.mm width=400 height=400} mymap.mm being in images/stories/maps/ * {freemind uri=mymap.mm width=400 height=400} mymap.mm being in root folder of Joomla! Features # Native Joomla! 1.5 plugin, # Code produced is XHTML 1.0 Strict, # Tested in the following browser Firefox, Opera, Chrome, IE 8 # Approved at Joomla Extension JED, # GPL v3.0, # Non commercial.

This Joomla module will dynamically list down the links to related articles with thumbnails for the displayed article. It support a lot of customizing options, see the administrator panel screenshot Features * Native Joomla! 1.5 module * Next 10 or more articles for the current article from the same same category with thumbnails Thumbnails * Are created from the first images found in your introtext, * For articles without images or when none are found you can provide a path to a default image * Are saved in Joomla! /cache directory and are created only once for an article as it is required additional CPU * Currently the oldest thumbnails get removed 5 by 5 when you will have more then 500 thumbnails in /cache Others * Support for SEF friendly URLs * Code produced is XHTML 1.0 Strict, * Tested in the following browser Firefox, Opera, Chrome, IE 8 * GPL v3.0, * PHP5 object oriented with enough comments for you to be able to understand the code :-) * Non commercial. Donations are welcomed but not necessary as I earn enough money. I prefer you to keep the advertisment link as it make more users discover my work!

Twitter badge a twitter module for Joomla! A very simple module with a great output layout that require flash 9 for properly operations. Features # Native Joomla! 1.5 module, since it is a Joomla! module, it is easily customizable and can be place anywhere in your Joomla! template, # It allow all operations of Twitter on your blog! people can reply or follow you in one click # Use official Flash 10 widget from twitter # Code produced is XHTML 1.0 Strict, # Tested in the following browser Firefox, Opera, Chrome, IE 8 # Approved at Joomla Extension JED, # GPL v3.0, # Non commercial.

Buzz is a new way to share updates, photos, videos and more, and start conversations about the things you find interesting. Share updates, photos, videos, and more. Start conversations about the things you find interesting. You're already following the people you Email and chat with the most in Gmail. Follow your friends and get recommended Buzz from others — all within Gmail. Features Native module for Joomla! 1.5 Use latest PHP5 Caching Skinnable CSS layout and style Dead simple code that use www.simplePie.org RSS parser

JooTube allows you to quickly create a module which randomizes a selection YouTube videos in a module. Simply enter a comma separated list of videos in the module parameters and enable. Also with a support for links right beneath the module (typically for "More Videos").

The Sobi2Importer will migrate your data from Remository into Sobi2. You have control over how data is imported. You can choose whether categories should be merged with an existing Sobi2 one, ignored or created. You can even choose a parent Sobi2 category. Most Remository fields match up with equivalent fields in Sobi2. However for those that don't, you can match those up to custom Sobi2 fields to make sure the data is reserved. Files will be imported into Sobi2's downloads plugin (required). The first Remository screenshot will be imported as Sobi2's main image. But, if you have Sobi2's gallery plugin installed, all of Remository's images will be imported. If you also have Sobi2's ratings and reviews plugin installed, Remository's ratings will be imported as well. Migrates JComment's comments from Remository to Sobi2. Others such as Remository's built in commenting system, JomComment, YVComment, etc will be added soon. Using a Sobi2 clone? No problem! Simply change the name in the Sobi2Importer's parameters and you'll be able to migrate data into it as well. Imported data is tracked to prevent duplicate entries. However, you can clear the logs if you need to reimport.

We come up with good solution for Joomla image gallery slideshow. This package for Joomla contains xml Gallery component and CatPro module. The component let you add the categories and images under categories. The module helps in showing the component images in the front end. Please have a look at parameters to see the beauty of this Joomla package.

This PowerPlay component + Module is an excellent solution for your Joomla Gallery. Using the xml joomla gallery component you can add unlimited number of categories and images under those categories. You can publish / un publish those categories and images. You can order the images to show in joomla flash gallery component. The module will shows the categories and images added in the component. Using this module, you can have power to control more than 50 parameters from admin.

Basic Tags is a no-frills, functional, article tagging implementation. Why would you want to use a basic tagging implementation when there are so many robust tagging extensions already on the Joomla market? Because Joomla BasicTags is simple, uncluttered and easy! Borrowing from a less-is-more mentality, we designed a system that's well-integrated, easily themeable, with subtle-interfaces that doesn't confuse your users.

JMatrix will list your Section/Category articles in a tabular form. You can choose whether or not to display author, creation date and article hits. Various sorting options are available and you can highlight some of your articles to attract visitor's eye.

Recently, Open Source Matters received an unsolicited proposal for the management of http://demo.joomla.org. After consideration and consultation with the Community Oversight Committee, the OSM board the Community Oversight Committee determined that, in the interest of fairness, others should also be invited to submit proposals. Open Source Matters is requesting proposals for the management of the Joomla!® demo site (http://demo.joomla.org). The existing Joomla!® demo site has been highly successful, with an average of 25,000 registrations monthly. OSM reasonably expects the number of registrations to increase with more prominent displays of the links to the site on the joomla.org family of websites. The joomla.org sites now receive approximately 5 million visits per month. This is an open and competitive process. Responses to this RFP ("proposals") received after December 9, 2009 will not be considered. To learn more about the detailed requirements, please read the complete Request for Proposals.

The Joomla! Project plans to have major multi-day conferences beginning as early as November 2010. Community members in a city or region who would like to consider hosting a major conference are encouraged to submit expressions of interest followed by formal proposals. The Request For Proposals gives instructions for putting together a proposal. The events team will work with interested groups to prepare proposals. Up to four events will be planned in a 12 month period starting in November of 2010. There will be a maximum of one event per quarter and one per continent. The events will last 3 to 5 days. Local organizing committees will choose the theme of each conference and manage the program with the support of the events team and Open Source Matters. Community members and potential organizers are encouraged to use the events forum for discussion of ideas and proposals.

The first ever Joomla! event specifically for third party developers will be in New York City on December 5 and 6.Focused on the transition to Joomla! 1.6, the Joomla! Developer conference will feature all four development coordinators (Louis Landry, Sam Moffatt, Ian MacLennan, Mark Dexter), master Joomla! developer Andrew Eddie, Hannes Papenberg from the 1.6 release team and MooTools team member Aaron Newton. Joomla! 1.6 is currently at alpha 2 status, so this is the time for extension and custom developers to begin working with its new features such as Access Control Lists, JForm, nested sets and other enhancements. The conference is appropriate for developers who have experience working with Joomla! as extension developers, custom developers, and in house staff. Tickets are $100. The Joomla! Project thanks Rochen Performance Hosting, Joomla! Showroom and the Joomla! User Group New York for their sponsorship of the event, which, among other things, is supporting the attendance of six student and young non commercial developers at the conference.

Joomla! is a finalist in the "Hall of Fame" and "Best Open Source PHP CMS" Awards sponsored by Packt Publishing. We'd encourage all Joomla! fans to vote for Joomla for both awards. With the exciting news about the implementation of Access Control Lists (ACL) in Joomla 1.6 and the incredible growth of all parts of the Joomla Project, now is a time to celebrate the great successes of this community. Over 1000 sites in the Site Showcase, 3500 extensions in the JED, 150 Resources in the JRD and almost 13 million downloads, what a great set of accomplishments by everyone in the Joomla community. Remember that you can also vote for best extension and best template and nominate someone who you think is a Joomla MVP. There are so many great contributors who could be nominated. Think of all those people who make the JED, JRD, Showcase, Forums, JoomlaCode and Joomla itself possible. Thanks to everyone who nominated Joomla for the Best Open Source PHP CMS Award and for all you do to support Joomla.

Since many of our customers find Mighty Analytics very useful and helpful the new version is even more advanced and full-featured. Besides all existing features we added few more improving its functionality. First is the great ability to view analytics reports from the front end The system of adjusting the rights of reports viewing and creation is very flexible now. The level of user access for every report is set by administrator from the backend (registered, editors, admins only and so on). This option allows your users to view your reports. This may be helpful if you sell banners space on your site or want to allow your publishers see how many times their articles were read and more. Next is that reports may be bind to one user or group of users. So for example if you need to see the report about articles created by just one user or by the concrete group of users you just set the required user or group and get the desired report. The new series of reports for Mighty Commerce was developed. This option allows to customize reports in such way that it may be viewed by vendor (to see the level of sales or profits) and by customer or by both. All reports are now may be converted to graphics editor as an image. New report for Mighty Resources. The ability to create different reports with different settings based on just one plugin.

It is good news for all our users. We developed more free plugins for Mighty Analytics. Now free analytic plugins available for Core Joomla Article Manager, Core Joomla User and Community Builder. Mighty Analytics is your ultimate tool to analyze your website data. It creates flash charts and diagrams using data from your database and shows reports from the frontend. With the help of new plugins you can: Show user registration progress based on Joomla core user table. Show report on last login value. See how often users return to site. Show report by hits, section/category relation, by top authors etc., and much more. Once you try Mighty Analytics it becomes your indispensible assistant in your marketing efforts. You can download plugins from downloads section.

We congratulate all Ladies with International Women’s Day marked on the 8th of March and announce 8 days of 8% discounts for all Mighty Extensions Products. The discount is available from the 1st of March to the 8th’ of March. To get the discount enter promo code 8March-Womens-Day into your order.   Hurry up! Don’t miss your spring discount! Want to know more about the International Women’s Day? Read our blog.

You can visit our demosite by link http://demo.mightyextensions.comFor getting access you may use login 'demoadmin' with password 'demoadmin' at Front-End and Back-End.

Today we release Alfa version of Mighty Assistant component. It is not merely a new extension. It is a new customer experience. This component is developed to make life of our customers much easier. Mighty Assistant completely changes the Download Section, Release & Update log and License Manager. This component is a convenient tool allowing to control all downloads and subscriptions, be in the swim of news and updates, to know current version and license state, go through installation process, check System Requirements and much more from one place. This component is a free extension only for MightyExtensions clients. The only thing that you need to do is just to install it on your website, open Mighty Assistant, synchronize and see what is new.

Some Good news for Resources Joomla component. We released new Advanced field called Media. This field allow Flesh multi upload files of formats flv, mp4, mp3, aac, jpg, png, gif and then display it as playlist in JW player. This great field to create music albums, picture galleries, video galleries or mixed galleries. Any way in our age of high multimedia information it is great way to present material.We think that we've been able to create this plugin very clear. So you are welcome to test.Another steps is to embed multi uploader to File field and Gallery and improve/add themes for Gallery to display pictures.In the future you also may expect new relational fields that is implemented more clear and allow create not only one-to-many but many-to-many relations as well. 

We released new Member v 2.1.10. There is not anything special just important bug fixes. Also please, update PayPal plugin to v 1.15. It is very important for new version.So we recommend every one update immediately.

Analytic 2.0 is going to be next generation site analysis. It will allow visitors of the sites not only to see publicly available reports but generate private reports. Private report will show analytics only on data posted, viewed, commented, ... by currently loged in user. Something like "Statuses of my tickets in support desk" or "Seller sales" or "Order statuses". Yes text means a lot, but chart diagrams sometimes may say more about your site then any advertisment. And charts usually not lie unlike text advertising does sometimes :) so visitors can have deeper confidence to your site. Try yourself here, and tell us what you think?

Touch 1.1.7 Today we released Touch 1.1.7 which is very stable. To be true, Touch is much more then we expected it to be. We tried to create profiling system for b2b ecommerce websites based on our Commerce solution but it turn out to be very powerful social network application with no analogy on today’s market. Resources 1.5 Next version of Resources we release coming week is 1.4.7. It is a last 1.4 series. So harry up to report all errors if you want them to be fixed there. After 1.4.7 next version will be 1.5.0. We do not plan many new features there, though we prepare some surprises. The main goal of 1.5 is optimization. We will optimize DB, queries, we will implement 2 levels of cache for whole HTML pages and on the query level. We already have scheme where number of queries decreases to 30%. The expected speed growth at least 70%. Analytics 2.0 New Analytics is just about to be released. It is in testing mode. The main new feature is: reports are visible on frontend. In fact it is accessible only from frontend. Users can see reports for their own items. Foe example for ecommerce, sellers will be able to see sale reports, or user may see report on popularity of own blog items, or, ... almost whatever you can imagine. I mean the same as it used to be but on frontend and with more features in there. Beta testers are welcome.

Joomla! is one of the most popular Content Management Systems all over the world and wins new admirers every     day. Though Joomla! is not the easiest CMS among existent its appeal is under the great functionality it offers for   webmasters. Joomla learning process becomes easy in the modern world due to huge amount of Joomla tutorials. One of such tutorials The Joomla Book - A Users Guide to Joomla 1.5 by Barrie M. North I want to review here. The first thing that I found very significant is that author was very thorough to describe all the details of Joomla structure and made it easily understandable for even complete newbie in Joomla world. The Manual starts from the introduction to what is Content Management System and Joomla history. You will also learn from this book all the nuances of Joomla installation process;  Joomla! administration basics; Step by step description of the content organization on your website; Creating menus and navigation; What are Extensions and what potential they give you; How to expand your content and how to get traffic to your website. As addition you will learn how to create a pure CCS template and at last few chapters at the end are devoted to creating concrete sites (school site, restaurant site and blog site). All the material is supplied with detailed screenshots, quick notes and summaries which you can come back periodically to consult. In general book is written in easy understandable language with comprehensively explained terminology. Appendixes at the end of the book will provide you with help sites and forums, Joomla case studies, SEO notes and how to install WAMP. As a conclusion I want to add that book will be very helpful for novice and medium experienced Joomla users and definitely deserves consideration of those who plan to manage their website on one's own.

Priority Regular Product Commerce Item Type Component, Module, Plugin, Special Link to file 1 com_commerce(php5).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 331) Link to file 2 com_commerce(php4).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 137) Link to file 3 com_commerce.sql-patch.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Kb | Hits: 15) Link to file 4 fields_commerce.unpack.first.zip (Size: 206 Kb | Hits: 2673) Link to file 5 com_resource.update-for-com_commerce.v.1.4.7.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 13) Link to file 6 Mighty Commerce_Introductionv 1.2.pdf (Size: 551 Kb | Hits: 1364) Link to file 7 mod_commerce_categories.v.1.0.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 15) Link to file 8 mod_commerce_products.v.1.0.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 15) Link to file 9 mod_commerce_sellers.v.1.0.zip (Size: 5 Kb | Hits: 17) Component Added - a new parametr in the option Product Cart Type - "Credit System" - Option to buy products on credit system. If a user is allowed to have a negative balance, it can make purchases without replenishment balance. If not - then for a start, he should put into your account to store some money. Added - A new layout Cart templates for customers.To create a new template, the user must put the necessary items to the cart, and in your shopping cart click Save as template. Author template determines whether the template is available to other users or not. Added - Added - When creating coupons, a new option "Use Max Times Limit Per User" - which determines how many times a user can use this coupon Added - Invoices for commerce are now available in pdf-format Added - Export orders to Excel file (for both buyers and sellers.) Added - on back-en in the configuration of the component, a new option "User profile link". This parameter determines which component will create a link to user profile Added - a new option "Show Seller configurations as" - which determines what style will be applied in seller settings Added - a new option in the configuration component "Register activity" Added - a new option in the configuration component "Show Misc info in Customer email" that defines the add box email_alert in a letter to the buyer or not Plugins Added - a new field of "product_suite" It allows you to create sets of products a particular user. Articles can be selected only from 1 category. Added - plug-in  field addtocart, added a new option "Show 'Pile up a balance' alert", which allows you to show or not the seller (ie the author of the article) the message that he should fill up the balance Added - plug-in field price, added a new option "Allow additional prices", which determines whether the seller may impose additional costs on the products Updated plugin product_property_rent Updated plugin type_communities Updated plugin type_karma Updated plugin type_downloads Updated plugin type_subscribtions Updated plugin type_pincode Modules Updated Module Commerce Cart Added new Module Best Sellers Added new Module Sellers Added new Module Products Added new Module Commerce Categories  

Priority Regular Product Analytics Item Type Component Link to file 1 com_analytics.v.2.0.1.zip (Size: 756 Kb | Hits: 7051) Updated - on the back-end added a new option "Allow save chart as image", which allows you to hide or display a link to save the chart as a picture; Updated - on the back-end added a new option "Start date", which allows you to specify the date from which data should be selected to display the report. If the date is not selected, the default is taken (current date - 1 month); Updated - on the back-end added a new option "Finish date", which allows you to specify the date until which the data should be selected to display the report. If the date is not selected, then by default, it takes the current date; Fixed -  file export.php

Priority Regular Product Invoice Item Type Component Link to file 1 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php5).zip (Size: 644 Kb | Hits: 37321) Link to file 2 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php4).zip (Size: 600 Kb | Hits: 1774) Fixed minor bugs from previous version

Priority Regular Product Membership Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_jcs(php4).update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.5.2.zip (Size: 334 Kb | Hits: 789) Link to file 2 com_jcs(php5).update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.5.2.zip (Size: 349 Kb | Hits: 3264) Link to file 3 plg_jcs.component.4.4.2.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 6134) Link to file 4 plg_jcs.content.3.4.1.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 5207) Updated - plugin content controller, component controller; Fixed - displaying the price list subscription plans; Fixed bugs with previous versions.

Priority Regular Product Touch Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_community.update.from.(php5).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 850 Kb | Hits: 586) Link to file 2 com_community.update.from.(php4).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 823 Kb | Hits: 138) Link to file 3 people_touch_plugins_all_in_one.zip (Size: 186 Kb | Hits: 2985) Upload files joomfish, for translating the names of groups and categories of group; Fixed plugins - Community Resources groups Integration plugin, Community Juser plugin, Community Member plugin; Fixed bugs with previous versions.

Priority Important Product Analytics Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_analytics.v.2.0.1.zip (Size: 756 Kb | Hits: 7051) Link to file 3 reports_commerce.zip (Size: 94 Kb | Hits: 154) Link to file 4 reports_user.zip (Size: 18 Kb | Hits: 2061) Link to file 5 reports_joomsuiet_content.zip (Size: 195 Kb | Hits: 662) Link to file 6 reports_joomsuite_bill.zip (Size: 26 Kb | Hits: 69) Link to file 7 reports_joomsuite_user.zip (Size: 20 Kb | Hits: 771) Link to file 8 reports_joomsuite_member.zip (Size: 53 Kb | Hits: 557) Link to file 9 com_analytics.icon.pack.zip (Size: 291 Kb | Hits: 729) We present  a new version of the component Mighty Analytics. Besides all existing features we added few more improving its functionality. Updated components, all plug-ins, and created new plug-ins for component Commerce. All changes and new features, read the News section

Priority Regular Product Resources Item Type Plugin Link to file 1 fields_advanced.unpack.first.zip (Size: 887 Kb | Hits: 5237) Link to file 2 fields_core.unpack.first.zip (Size: 571 Kb | Hits: 11169) Updated Core Fields Fixed bugs in the fields: URL plus Video Url Picture File Audio Image Updated Advanced Fields Fixed bugs in the fields: Related Child/Parent Gallery2 Files Media Subscribtion Social bookmarks

Priority Regular Product Resources Item Type Plugin Link to file 1 fields_core.unpack.first.zip (Size: 571 Kb | Hits: 11169) Link to file 2 fields_advanced.unpack.first.zip (Size: 887 Kb | Hits: 5237) Updated Core Fields Fixed bugs in the fields: Images Checkbox Radiobutton Url Multipleselect Select Simple Updated Advanced Fields Fixed bugs in the fields: Gallery Subscribtions

Priority Regular Product Membership Item Type Plugin Link to file 1 plg_paybill.1.4.3.zip (Size: 10 Kb | Hits: 733) Added - Now, for each subscription plan, you can determine the taxes

Priority Regular Product Commerce Item Type Component, Module, Plugin Link to file 1 com_commerce(php5).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 331) Link to file 2 com_commerce(php4).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 137) Link to file 3 com_commerce.sql-patch.1.0.0.beta4.zip (Size: 1 Kb | Hits: 82) Link to file 4 plg_type_videotype.v.1.0.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 141) Link to file 5 plg_type_picturetype.v.1.0.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 142) Link to file 6 fields_commerce.unpack.first.zip (Size: 206 Kb | Hits: 2673) Link to file 7 mod_commerce_cart.v.1.2.2.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 1056) Link to file 8 plg_type_download.v.1.3.2.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 786) Component Added - Now in Cart Manager displays all the core coupons, regardless of the amount of the order, but applies only if the amount of the order corresponds to the amount specified in the coupon. Notice: core coupon can only be created by the site administrator, or the seller to the level of access as the administrator; Added - Coupons manager, when you create a coupon, a new parameter - "Invisible". This option determines whether the coupon is displayed in the list of core coupons Cart Manager or not. But while it may be applied; Added - When you change the order status is now also sent a notice to the buyer; Added - On the back-end, when viewing the details of the order the administrator can change the status of the goods, if payment method= PERSONAL, he is a seller, or payment method = GLOBAL he is the administrator of the site. Plugins Added - a new plugin "plg_type_videotype". Use it to sell injected video; Added - a new plugin "plg_type_picturetype". To get the original image size, the buyer must purchase the product. Moduls Fixed - in the module mod_commerce_cart corrected the rounding of prices. Please, do not forget to update the component to install the Sql Patch 1.0.0 beta4

Priority Regular Product Registration Item Type Component Link to file 1 com_juser(php5).update.from.v.2.7.0.to.v.2.9.26.zip (Size: 855 Kb | Hits: 4643) Link to file 2 com_juser(php4).update.from.v.2.7.0.to.v.2.9.26.zip (Size: 861 Kb | Hits: 1054) Added - new option "Show system messages"  - This option is needed for what would turn off the system messages during registration. Used  with  option "redirection after registration", in cases where additional instructions contained on a page redirect. Fixed bugs from previous version.

Priority Regular Product Touch Item Type Component, Module, Plugin Link to file 1 com_community.update.from.(php5).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 850 Kb | Hits: 586) Link to file 2 com_community.update.from.(php4).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 823 Kb | Hits: 138) Link to file 3 people_touch_plugins_all_in_one.zip (Size: 186 Kb | Hits: 2985) Link to file 4 mod_community_events.v.1.2.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 355) Link to file 5 mod_community_group_members.v.2.0.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 426) Note:   All plug-ins that integrate with the Resource must be edited and resaved. Component Add - Parameter to Order sections in group Add Parameter to some Resources Blocks to show records from groups or not. Fix - Filter search apply from predifined list to other user lists Add - All templates as profile as list now have avatar width and height parameter Add - all plugins/blocks that show user lists now have parameter in what template  

Priority Important Product Assistant Item Type Component Link to file 1 com_mighty.assistant.v.1.0.Beta.2.zip (Size: 567 Kb | Hits: 799) We are proud to present our new component - Mighty  AssistantCurrently alpha version.This component is developed to make life of our customers much easier.This component includes the ability to install the license, so if you install Mighty Assistant, the component license Manager disappears. If you need a component license Manager reinstall. Notice: Please read the instructions (the button help).Always make backup befor run any update. More information can read in our news.

Priority Regular Product Membership Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_jcs(php4).update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.5.2.zip (Size: 334 Kb | Hits: 789) Link to file 2 com_jcs(php5).update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.5.2.zip (Size: 349 Kb | Hits: 3264) Link to file 3 com_jcs.sql-patch.2.5.1.zip (Size: 940 B | Hits: 243) Link to file 4 plg_jcs.component.4.4.2.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 6134) Link to file 5 plg_jcs.content.3.4.1.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 5207) Link to file 6 plg_paypaypal.3.8.5.1.zip (Size: 17 Kb | Hits: 2855) Link to file 7 plg_payoffline.2.5.7.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 3485) Link to file 8 plg_pay2co.2.6.zip (Size: 18 Kb | Hits: 1241) Component Added - option "Date From" - if you specify this option, the subscription is activated on the day specified in the Date From,regardless of the date of purchase. Added - option "Date To" - if you specify this option, the subscription expires on the day specified in the Date From, regardless of the date of purchase. Added - option "Plans to be deactivated" - deactivates the selected plans with the purchase of current Added - On the plans (for back-end), information on how many subscriptions purchased, now displayed in the following format: (total number of subscriptions / subscription active / inactive / expired subscriptions) Added - In the history of subscriptions is now possible to trace how the coupon was used to purchase Plan Plugins: Added -  parameter Subscription Sign (Picture) for subscribed users. This parameter defines Picture Location (relative to Joomla root directory) that will mark article title for logged in users who have a subscription. Added - option "Place text after image" this parameter defines Text Alert that will mark article title for logged in users who have a subscription. Do not forget to Update install the SQL patch 2.5.1

Priority Regular Product Commerce Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 3 com_commerce(php5).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 331) Link to file 4 com_commerce(php4).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 137) Link to file 5 fields_commerce.unpack.first.zip (Size: 206 Kb | Hits: 2673) Link to file 6 plg_type_download.v.1.3.2.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 786) Link to file 7 plg_type_tangible.v.1.2.1.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 687) Link to file 8 com_commerce.sql-patch.1.0.0.beta3.zip (Size: 1 Kb | Hits: 127) Link to file 9 Mighty Commerce_Introductionv 1.2.pdf (Size: 551 Kb | Hits: 1364) Added - new parametr "Confirm Seller by subscription".This option allows users to become sellers if they have a subscription plan; Added - In the option "Show CPanel buttons", added button  to "My profile"; Added - new  settings in for Standart sellers, Silver Sellers and Gold sellers; Added - for frontend, when you create a coupon users with id = 62 will be available additional 2 parameters: "Parameter: Is Core" - Specifies whether the coupon is core or not (this coupon will be available to any user in the Cart manager); "Order sum is more than" - Specifies the amount of the order in which the coupon will be available for use; Added - The plugin product_property_rent appeared the option to choose the period for which will be specified affect on the value of the product; Fixed - bugs from the previous one version Please, do not forget to install sql patch 1.0.0 beta3

Priority Regular Product Resources Item Type Component, Plugin, Template Link to file 1 com_resource.update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.4.7.zip (Size: 1 Mb | Hits: 4713) Link to file 3 com_resource.templates.v.2.13.zip (Size: 1 Mb | Hits: 3764) Link to file 4 fields_advanced.unpack.first.zip (Size: 887 Kb | Hits: 5237) Link to file 5 fields_core.unpack.first.zip (Size: 571 Kb | Hits: 11169) Link to file 6 plg_filters.unpack.first.zip (Size: 43 Kb | Hits: 1031) Link to file 7 mod_jsc_filters.v.2.2.5.zip (Size: 5 Kb | Hits: 3211) Component Added - now in the section "about", the component, you can see the version of installed templates for articles; Added - search fields; Fixed - bugs from the previous one version. Plugins Updated field Related Parent2/Child2 - option "strict to user" setting now looks like a list of all groups of users; Updated field Gallery2 - added new option "Watermark". Now, to upload pictures you can display a watermark; Updated field YouToube; Updated field Chek Box; Template Updated template calendar - now date  Created article is displayed correctly. Module Updated module Filters - fixed bugs

Priority Regular Product Invoice Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php5).zip (Size: 644 Kb | Hits: 37321) Link to file 2 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php4).zip (Size: 600 Kb | Hits: 1774) Link to file 3 plg_paywire.v.1.2.zip (Size: 7 Kb | Hits: 425) Link to file 4 plg_paycheque.v.1.2.zip (Size: 7 Kb | Hits: 471) Link to file 5 plg_paycash.v.1.2.zip (Size: 7 Kb | Hits: 514) Link to file 6 plg_payoffline.v.1.6.1.zip (Size: 8 Kb | Hits: 1136) Updated - Paymentplugins ; Fixed -  Admin alert messages; Fixed - Other bugs from previous versions.

Priority Regular Product Touch Item Type Component, Plugin Link to file 1 com_community.update.from.(php5).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 850 Kb | Hits: 586) Link to file 2 com_community.update.from.(php4).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 823 Kb | Hits: 138) Link to file 3 people_touch_plugins_all_in_one.zip (Size: 186 Kb | Hits: 2985) Link to file 4 mod_community_events.v.1.2.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 355) Link to file 5 mod_community_groups.v.2.0.3.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 458) Component Add - Prefiltered list no may set different template. In any template you can hide of show order box or filters. Fix - Prefiltered list text search. Add - history layout advansed with few features like: show number of activities in type select, label for RSS link more informative, link to group as filter and link to group homepage, ... Plugins Fix - Guest book block some untranslated texts. Fix - Twitter plugin icon for activity Fix - Icons in menu for Resources Favorited and Visited plugins

Priority Regular Product Resources Item Type Plugin Link to file 1 fields_advanced.unpack.first.zip (Size: 887 Kb | Hits: 5237) Link to file 2 fields_core.unpack.first.zip (Size: 571 Kb | Hits: 11169) Link to file 3 plg_filters.unpack.first.zip (Size: 43 Kb | Hits: 1031) Updated Advance Fields: Related Parent2 Related Child2 Media Gellary2 Updated Core Fields: picture Checkbox Video Audio Telephone Updated -filters plugins: Added - new filers plugins for relate parent2/child2 fields Updated - filters plugin for select-relate fields

Priority Regular Product Invoice Item Type Component Link to file 1 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php5).zip (Size: 644 Kb | Hits: 37321) Link to file 2 com_jsbill.2.1.1(php4).zip (Size: 600 Kb | Hits: 1774) Updated components to work correctly, payment PayBill plugin in IE8.

Basically this required customization template code, you need replace JoomSuite comment to JomComment code, this was discussed already. See for details here: Integrate Content with JomComment - http://mightyextensions.com/index.php?option=com_resource&controller=article&article=1746&category_id=32&Itemid=37 and here: Integration of Jcomments - http://mightyextensions.com/index.php?option=com_resource&controller=article&article=3169&Itemid=0 Code for JomComment is: {php} For example to have replace core JoomSuite comment to JoomSuite everywhere you need: open the file:components/com_resource/views/article/tmpl/default.php line:11 {php} Change it to integration code above this is simple example for integraion to have more comprehansive integraion like to show how many comments are placed in this item requirted more close customization.

Here is explanation how to set properties inside "Properties" parameter: Property name :: addtional price :: symbols color :: checkbox status , i.e. you have to divide with :: each characteristic from others. Property name is title of property (size, color and etc.). Additional price allows to variate product price depending on certain property. Symbols color is color of property name. Checkbox status defined is proferty selected or not when seller adds a product. Here is an example, size - m::-7::green::1size - s::-5::green::1size - l::0::green::1size - x::0::green::1size - xl::+5::green::1size - xxl::+7::green::1 You also may pass any of characteristics, for instance, size - m::-7::::1or size - s::::green::1or size - l::::::1orsize - m

1. Login to 2co account. 2. Go to Look & Feel Section for v2 or to Account->Site Management in VA panel. 3. In approve url enter http://mysite.com/index.php?option=com_jcs&task=create&pay=success 4. And pending url http://mysite.com/index.php?option=com_jcs&task=create&pay=fail Where mysite.com is your domain name. 5. On the same page find Secret Word parameter and enter anything there. The same word you should enter in 2CO plugin parameters on plan creation.

If a non-logged in user tries to access the area allowed to registered users only, they are taken to the core joomla login page where the ‘Create an account’ link leads to core joomla user registration page. If you need the link to lead to Mighty Registration form, do the following:Open the components/com_user/views/login/tmpl/default_login.php file and correct this piece of code (line 61):....echo JRoute::_( 'index.php?option=com_user&view=login' );..... to this one: ....echo JRoute::_( 'index.php?option=com_juser&task=register' );.....

The following requirements must be met in order to have MightyExtensions components work properly. Server Requirements : ionCube loader installed Apache version 1.3.x or above MySQL version 4.1.18 or above php 4.x/5.x Joomla Requirements : Joomla 1.5.14 or above FTP turned on and properly configured Required PHP Extension: GD2, MB_string iconv (for File Manager) Incompatibility: Blue Flame ajax plug-in MAC os X Server platform Internet Explorer 6.0  

There's another way to provide users ability becoming sellers - is sell them a subscrpition. Please make sure that you install Mighty Membership component and its plugins before you start to implement "seller by subscription" scheme. To learn more about Membership component you may here. 1) Create subscription for each seller type: Standard seller subscription Silver seller subscription Gold seller subscription 2) Go to the section which you create for the shop and set subscription according seller level, i.e. you open tab Commerce find: Standard sellers settings and set "Standard seller subscription" plan in Confirm Seller by subscription Silver sellers settings and set "Silver seller subscription" plan in Confirm Seller by subscription Gold sellers settings and set "Gold seller subscription" plan in Confirm Seller by subscription After that you may add link (Mighty Membership -> JCS SUBSCRIPTION FORM LAYOUT) "Become Seller". Or close article adding ability in commerce section type with "seller's" subscriptions.

Resource cannot start working before it knows where to store files. It is very important so right after installation you are redirected to config section where you should set File Secure Directory parameter and save configuration. You can find this parameter on General folder last in Global group. We recommend you to create 'uploads' folder in your Joomla root before and chose that folder in dropdown directory list. Then save configuration. Also be sure that FTP is enabled in global Joomla configuration that makes file operations easier for Component and you later. Possible Problems You cannot see list of files in dropdown list for File Secure Directory parameter. This is very rare problem. You need to edit administrator/componetns/com_resource/params.xml and change there attribute directory="" to directory="." forFile Secure Directory parameter. You cannot save - FTP should be enabled in global Joomla configuration. Or set chmod 777 to administrator/componetns/com_resource/config.ini Main project directory should has chmod 755 so other group has read permission. Main project directry is directory where your joomla project is located at. After that 'File Secure Directory' dropdown list should appear. If all above do not help, please, contact support, and we will try to help you.

In order to upgrade your Membership component to the latest version, take the following steps: Back up your Membership's files. Check the version of Membership that you are currently running. It can be checked in the Mighty Membership->About section. Install the com_jcs.update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.x.x.zip file. Choose either com_jcs.update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.x.x.zip for PHP4 or com_jcs.update.from.v.2.0.to.v.2.x.x.zip for PHP5,  which ever php version your server is currently running. Install SQL Patches which versions are higher than the version of your old Membership. For example, if before upgrade you were running Membership v2.2, then you need to install SQL Patches v2.3, v2.3.2, v2.4, v2.4.6 and v2.5.1. Upgrade Plugin - Content Controller and Plugin - Component Controller If you're using any of our payment plugins, please check if yours are of the latest versions. If they are not, please upgrade them. Versions of payment plugins can be checked in Extensions->Install/Uninstall->plugins Re-save the Membership configuration page. If your old Membership’s version was lower than v2.2, re-save all your subscription plans. The upgrade is finished!

1. Install plugin taber and publish it.2. Content>Types>Fields, edit fields for the type where tabs/sliders supposed to aply.3. Make slice with taber plugin and fields we would like include in tabs/slidersExample: First field is taber. In configuration Params set type. This is what will be showed tabs or sliders, accordingly what you choose for the first should be the same for all tabers. Important! Part for the first tab should be Open, for the rests New Page and at the end Close. You create first field as taber with 'open', than follow next field(s) for content this tab will include, that another taber field with 'new page' and again field(s) for content of this tab... etc. At the end after content field(s) create last taber fied with the 'close'.That's almost all. There is important note yet:for all tabers in the Layout set:Align Table Row: NoBreak Before: NoBreak After: No into the Label set:Show Lablel: NOWrap Lable: NO

Components User, Resources, PeopleTouch, Inbox Video Series Social Network Service Language English Length 4:07 Size 7.7 Mb Step 3. Adding component JoomSuite User

Components Resources Language English Length 20:00 Size 10 Mb Get ideas on how to start the usage of Resources. This totorial is created by sem7urg.

Components Resources Language English Length 00:13:24 Size 20 MB This tutorial will show you how to use JoomSuite Resources to create a Gallery. This tutorial is also very useful to understand about the basic features of this Component and how it can help you to build whatever you want.

Components User, Resources, PeopleTouch, Inbox Video Series Social Network Service Language English Length 3:56 Size 7 Mb Step 8. Setting Parameters for plugins and modules. Creating menu items for PeopleTouch.

Components User, Resources, PeopleTouch, Inbox Video Series Social Network Service Language English Length 4:07 Size 8.2 Mb Step 1. Let's go "Shopping"

Components Member, Resources Language Swedish Length 21:39 Size 20 Mb I denna video visar vi hur man sätter upp en suppport avdelning och även lite hur man använder member. Video by Wolverine. Se mera filmer på desimedia.se.

Components User, Resources, PeopleTouch, Inbox Video Series Social Network Service Language English Length 3:12 Size 5.5 Mb Step 2. Work with Resources

Components Resources Video Series Resources 1.4 - Case Studies Language English Length 16:09 Size 19 Mb Tutorial show how to create forum based on resources. Here you can discus advantages and disadvantages of this idea (please, do not discuss video there).

Components Resources Video Series Resources 1.4 - Case Studies Language English Length 10:15 Size 11 Mb This case study cover not only how to create music stock on your site but also how to allow users to have own categories and homepages in a section. Applicable for almost anything.

Components Resources Video Series Resources 1.4 - Case Studies Language English Length 09:43 Size 10Mb How to use Resources to create event / calendar section.

Components Resources, PeopleTouch Language Swedish Length 56:09 Size 30 Mb I denna film visar jag hur du använder tabs och slides i Resource, Touch Video by Wolverine. Se mera filmer på desimedia.se.

Icon Version 1.4 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description This pack contain fields like product properties, product properties rent, price, product type,  and more in the future. Install as fields of Mighty Resources. Download fields_commerce.unpack.first.zip (Size: 206 Kb | Hits: 2673)

Icon Encrypted No PHP Any Description This is not a new version of the component resource. This patch, which is needed to components Commerce, worked correctly. If you have not installed component Commerce, you unnecessary to set this version. Download com_resource.update-for-com_commerce.v.1.4.7.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 13)

Icon Version 1.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Download Mighty Commerce_Introductionv 1.2.pdf (Size: 551 Kb | Hits: 1364)

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Description Displays Sellers Download mod_commerce_sellers.v.1.0.zip (Size: 5 Kb | Hits: 17)

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Description Display products store Download mod_commerce_products.v.1.0.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 15)

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Description This module display  lists, sections, which were identified in the settings section, as Commercial. Download mod_commerce_categories.v.1.0.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 15)

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Description This module shows the most buyable products Download mod_commerce_bestsellers.v.1.0.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 13)

Icon Version 1.2.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description It shows products added to cart. After installation you can publish this module. Download mod_commerce_cart.v.1.2.2.zip (Size: 6 Kb | Hits: 1056)

Icon Version 1.3.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Product type plug-in that allows to sell downloadable products like books or different files. Download link will be shown to buyer only when the product will be in final stage of shipping (paid successfully). Download plg_type_download.v.1.3.2.zip (Size: 9 Kb | Hits: 786)

Icon Version 1.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Product type plugin. When client purchases product of this type and this product is shipped (paid successfully) then client get pin code (skype vaucher, balance code, ...) . Each purchase of the product assigns only one pin code if it is set but allow store unlimeted codes in one product. Download plg_type_pincode.v.1.2.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 598)

Icon Version 1.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Plugin works with Mighty Membership component and allows to create product with subscriptions. When the product is shipped to buyer (paid successfully) subscriptions are assigned to client. Download plg_type_subscription.v.1.2.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 677)

Icon Version 1.2.1 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Plug-in that make product tangible. Here seller can set weight of the product, it’s volume and LBH, and set storage on hand. This type of product requires to set shipping methods and schemes to allow customer select the appropriate method. The values of this field used to calculate shipping. Download plg_type_tangible.v.1.2.1.zip (Size: 3 Kb | Hits: 687)

Icon Version 1.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description This plug-in works with Mighty PeopleTouch components and allows to increase buyers karma. Karma increases when the product is shipped to buyer (paid successfully). Download plg_type_karma.v.1.2.zip (Size: 2 Kb | Hits: 563)

Icon Version 1.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Using this plugin in the article, you can add users to groups, when buying products Download plg_type_communities.v.1.2.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 474)

Icon Version beta5 Encrypted No PHP PHP5 Availability Free Download com_commerce(php5).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 331)

Icon Version beta5 Encrypted No PHP PHP4 Availability Free Download com_commerce(php4).update.from.v.1.0.to.v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 137)

Icon Version 1.0.0 beta5 Encrypted No PHP Any Download com_commerce.sql-patch.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Kb | Hits: 15)

Icon Version beta5 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP5 Description For best understanding how it works and how to configure it read Quick Start Introduction . You can download it at Documentation category. The work of this component, you can see on the demo site Download com_commerce(php5).v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 2695)

Icon Version beta5 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP4 Availability Free Description For best understanding how it works and how to configure it read Quick Start Introduction . You can download it at Documentation category. The work of this component, you can see on the demo site Download com_commerce(php4).v.1.0.0.beta5.zip (Size: 2 Mb | Hits: 1123)

Icon Encrypted No PHP Any Description People Touch Plug-ins all in one archive. Download people_touch_plugins_all_in_one.zip (Size: 186 Kb | Hits: 2985)

Icon Version 1.0 beta 2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description This component is designed to install MightyExtensions' components from scratch or install updates for your currently used components. It helps to know the newest versions of components, plugins and modules and helps to make all the necessary updates.This component includes the ability to install the license, so if you install Mighty Assistant, the component license Manager disappears. If you need a component license Manager reinstall. Notice: Please read the instructions (the button help). Always make backup before running any update. Download com_mighty.assistant.v.1.0.Beta.2.zip (Size: 567 Kb | Hits: 799)

Icon Version 2.13 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability For Members only Description This package contain additional templates for: Article Lists Forms Category Index Ratings Comments Filters Please, install in core Joomla Install section not in Content Template section. Download com_resource.templates.v.2.13.zip (Size: 1 Mb | Hits: 3764)

Icon Version 2.0.1 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Download com_analytics.v.2.0.1.zip (Size: 756 Kb | Hits: 7051)

Icon Encrypted No PHP Any Availability For Members only Description Unzip before install. This package contain additional advanced fields Barcode Subscription Bill Last Commenter's Name Files Gallery MultiRating Media Social Bookmarks YouTube Tabber/Slider Relations Relations2 Product property (used for commerce component) select-relate This package available only for payed customers. Download fields_advanced.unpack.first.zip (Size: 887 Kb | Hits: 5237)

Icon Version 2.1.1 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP4 Description This version of component is installed parallel with old version of Bill. Also it's not necessary to uninstall old version. This is new made from zero component and no way to move created bills from old to new. Just create with copy/paste from beginning. Download com_jsbill.2.1.1(php4).zip (Size: 600 Kb | Hits: 1774) Tryout License Get 15 days tryout license

Icon Version 2.1.1 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP5 Description This version of component is installed parallel with old version of Bill. Also it's not necessary to uninstall old version. This is new made from zero component and no way to move created bills from old to new. Just create with copy/paste from beginning. Download com_jsbill.2.1.1(php5).zip (Size: 644 Kb | Hits: 37321) Tryout License Get 15 days tryout license

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description These reports allow to see: User Fields Progress User Fields values relationship Download reports_comprofiler.zip (Size: 20 Kb | Hits: 83)

Icon Version 1.0 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description This reports allows to see: Categories articles progress Categories articles relationship Section articles relationship Section articles relationship Top articles by sections Top articles by categories Top sections Top categories Top authors Download reports_com_content.zip (Size: 93 Kb | Hits: 127)

Icon Version 3.4.1 Encrypted No PHP Any Description This plugin is required for core Joomla content subscriptions Download plg_jcs.content.3.4.1.zip (Size: 4 Kb | Hits: 5207)

Icon Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Description Unzip before install. This package contain Standard fields Address Audio Video Calendar Checkbox Radiobutton E-Mail File (Download) HTML-Editor Image Mail Form Multypleselect Picture with Pop-Up Select List Separator (any HTML tag container) Telephone Text Field Textarea URL URL plus   Download fields_core.unpack.first.zip (Size: 571 Kb | Hits: 11169)

Icon Version 2.6.2 Encrypted No PHP Any Availability Free Download mod_jsc_content_list.v.2.6.2.zip (Size: 12 Kb | Hits: 5256)

Icon Version 1.1.9 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP5 Download com_community.update.from.(php5).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 850 Kb | Hits: 586)

Icon Version 1.1.9 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP4 Download com_community.update.from.(php4).v.1.0.to.v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 823 Kb | Hits: 138)

Icon Version 1.1.9 Encrypted Yes PHP PHP4 Availability Free Download com_community.(php4).v.1.1.9.zip (Size: 828 Kb | Hits: 876) Tryout License Get 15 days tryout license

This is a list template based on default but allows for adjustable column width (see image). License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Template

This template might come in handy, if you want to display all articles , independently from their category/subcategory. The headline will be used as the section/root category.As a requirement, you have to select the (root) section (or any other section, which will hold all articles) beside the individual categories as well, when creating articles.(Will post later an article form template, which will take care of it while creating articles from the frontend) The template is based on the 1.4.7 "default" category index template. Additional parameter explanation:Category index: Opton to show/hide the (section) category index. The term (Category index) itself can be changed in the language file. Description: Display Description for Category Index to be consistent with other categories Description Image: Display Description Image for Category Index to be consistent with other categories Label: Language file -> will display the language match of CATEGORY INDEX Section name -> will display the section name Alternative label -> will display content of field Alternative Label Alternative Label: Text field, which will be displayed if selected under field LabelCategory Index as link: The category index can be used as a link to display a section/category.Highlight category index: Highlight (bold) the category index, if selected.Count category index: Displays number of assigned articles.Category color (selected): Display selected category with a different color. Use color name or hexcode. see http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_colornames.aspToolTip: Displays a Joomla-ToolTip from either description or meta description field. It can display a HTML tooltip. Updated to V0.8 on 26/02/2010 Removed "Compatibility Switch" (MightyExtension "default" behaviour can be realized by switching the options off, empty the Category color and set the Label to "Language File".)Added Description (Display Description for Category Index to be consistent with other categories)Added Description Image (Display Description Image for Category Index to be consistent with other categories) Updated to V0.7 on 24/02/2010Removed all SQL-QueriesRemoved Home category (Template will now determine the correct Home category)Optimized Count category index (removed SQL-Query)Optimized Display ToolTip (removed SQL-Query)Added Features to ToolTip (content can come from description or meta description field)Added Label (Label can come from Language file, section name or from Alternative Label)Added Alternative Label (Text field to define label) Updated to V0.6 on 23/02/2010Added Display ToolTipAdded Category Color (selected)Added Count category indexChanged behaviour of Home category to display only sections.   Version 0.8 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Template

What is Layar? Layar is an amazing mobile phone application for Android and iPhone. It uses Augmented Reality to show content nearby the user of the phone. With this application, you can give smartphone users (Android and iPhone) the opportunity to view your resources content on their phone. If you don't know what Layar is, the best explanation would be to watch this short movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08. For more information about Layar, visit www.layar.com. What does this script do? The Layar Integration script helps you to convert Resources articles into Layar content. It is a so-called POI-server (Points of Interest) that tells Layar about Resources articles nearby the user. It takes the longitude and latitude that are created by the address field of the article for knowing a POI. Then it returns information from other Resources fields to layar and that is shown on the mobile phone. If a phone number and/or mail address is filled in in the address field, it is possible to call or mail directly. You can also include an image (image field) or movie (YouTube field). How to make it work?In general, the following steps are an indication of what steps to follow to make your Layar work. 1. Upload the scripts at your site2. Create a developer account at Layar and configure your Layar3. Make your Layar work by adjusting the parameters in the script and testing the output on the Layar test site4. Publish your layar through the Layar developer siteHow much programming knowledge is needed? Layar has a good and well-documented API, you can read a bit about it in order to understand how it works. PHP knowledge is needed in order to make this script actually work at your own site. Also you should be able to adjust the SQL query a little bit to use the right Resources Field ID's etcetera. How much knowledge is needed? I would say that with average PHP knowledge you should be able to make it work, however when problems occur you will need to have good knowledge of PHP. However this is only an indication and no guarantee. Support Note that when you buy this, you only buy a script as-it-is and not a product or service. It will save you many hours of creating your own POI-server, but in the end you do have to manually make the adjustments that are necessary to make this script work at your site. So there is no support! Therefore it is strongly recommended to ONLY purchase this script if you have the necessary PHP knowledge to implement it. Price Price of the script is € 40,-. Purchase If you want to purchase this script, contact us through the contact form. A PayPal page is currently being set up for secure payment. Screenshots Here's some screenshots of a Layar that works with this script: Version 1.0 License Other Type Commercial Extension type Special

This extension for sh404SEF enables generation of Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs for Mighty Resources component. Read the ReadMe.txt file for installation.Includes all features that my JoomSEF plugin has. Version 1.0.0 License Other Type Commercial Extension type Special

Ручной и качественный перевод фронтэнда компонента. Перевод делался под проект и поэтому было проверено почти каждое значение переведенного слова. License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Language

This module can display images from your Joomla! articles as a slideshow, with a caption taken from the text, and a link to the articles. It has some really handy features:- The module is smart, it can find articles with images automatically. You can just select a category, and it will find the articles and the images in them, without you needing to add anything to the articles themselves; You can choose the number of articles, plus from a variety of orderings, including title order, most recently modified or created, number of hits, or random; Alternatively, you can select specific articles only to display in the slideshow; There is a large range of customizable features, including whether or not to display the thumbnails, the orientation of the thumbnails (horizontal or vertical), the type of scroller used (click or mouseover), plus whether to auto-start the show on page loading; The module is search engine friendly, because the article caption content and the links are rendered on the page as ordinary html, the slideshow being constructed from this content, hence Google will have no problem crawling the article links. You can have as many instances of the slideshow module on the page as you want, with separate parameters for each. The module supports Mighty Extensions Resources as well as the Joomla Core Content articles. For Mighty Extensions Resources it supports:- images embedded in an html field the image field plugin the picture field plugin March 2010: We have upated the module to include improved image handling functions. The images can be dynamically resized, with image caching and image compression supported for improved performance. Version 1.0.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Commercial Extension type Module

Joomla Extension Directory page for JBolo! can be viewed here. You can try facebook like chatbar demo here. JBolo! is a really cool extension that will integrate Facebook & Gmail like chat into Joomla Websites. The name JBolo! is derived from the Hindi word 'Bolo' which means to talk. Styled to look like the popular chat on Gmail & Facebook, this application promises to be an exciting thing for Social Networks in Joomla. JBolo! integrates flawlessly with Joomla, CB or Jomsocial as per your choice. A Must have for Joomla!, JomSocial,People Touch & CB based Social Networking websites. The Extension Includes: Component. Chat Module ( Can be configured to show all online users or online friends). Plugins for CB & JomSocial. Language. Features: Integrates Seamlessly with Plain Joomla, Community Builder or JomSocial. Facebook like chatbar Auto-Refreshing module Integration With CB Super Activity Module from Axxis Groups Integration Icons on the chatbar which links you to frequently used pages View activities of Jomsocial on the chatbar Module Supports Showing All online users/ Only Friends. Automatic Purging of Chat Database is supported via Cron Support. Gmail style bottom right display of chat boxes. Keeps chat boxes open and stores state (data) even when pages are browsed/refreshed similar to Facebook. Displays “Sent at…” after 3 minutes of inactivity. Displays “X says…” & blinks chat boxes when window is not in focus. Minimize and close chat boxes. Includes Jomsocial & CB Plugins to show status on profile.   The Support subscription entitles you to support as well as access to updates for the product during this period. You can keep using the product on your site for life but updates can only be accessed in the subscription period. Please See FAQs for details about the subscription. Version 1.6.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Commercial Extension type Component, Module, Plugin, Language

Same as the other Google Map field, but this one creates Google Map from address. UPDATED to 1.1:- New version with a plus field in frontend, where visitors can give their address, and opens up a new window with routing from visitors address to destination.The plugin does not get address from other fields. There is a field under the map in admin, where you have to write in the address. And set the zoom too. When you enter the address, and press save, then when you next edit the content, the map will show up in backend. Version 1.1 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Plugin

Media Integrator (MI) is a field plugin meant to enable reuse of various available media extensions and the contents already hosted on your joomla installation or at external services such as Flickr or Picasa. The options are: 1. upload your media files with MI 1. visualize them with the any of the supported gallery extensions (plugins) 2. thumbnails are rendered by MI and popup provided by any of the supported popup plugins 2. reuse media files by embedding gallery items from any of the supported gallery extensions 3. reuse media files by embedding call results of either Picasa or Flickr Version 0.5 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Plugin

License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Language

This is the Finnish translation of Mighty Extension User version 2.9.26. It includes both front end and back end translation and also translation for mod_login. Unzip it first to your computer. Version 2.9.26 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Language

Do you want an integration with MightyExtensions components to Kunena forum? Its here! - Avatar integration- Menu integration, with all menu entrys such as profile, pm and so on! Thanks to Recly- Userlist link integration- Integrate to use People Touch karma system- Registration link integration- All Kunena templates -Note this is limited to Kunena 1.5.4 and may work on 1.5.5 at some configurations. We are making this because we dont want to wait longer for an integration, so its here! Installation instructions: 1. Unpack the zip package Unpac, upload into root, 0.2c.zip2. Upload the folder administrator and components inside the unpacked folder into your Joomla! root.3. Logon admin controlpanel and enable MightyExtensions inside Kunena configuration.4. Your done! Comments, requests and bugs down in comment field. This is a free edit of some files in the Joomla! forum Kunena. We are two norwegian communistc people whats doing this for you all. Bug list: [1] A error inside link is going to your profile. The ItemId function does not work properity. FIXED![2] An error occures when you clicked on avatar link. FIXED![3] Error when using over 5101 itemids for users. Then system is messed up. FIXED![4] My Profile link links to Kunena profile. We are making a diffrense, you is more integrated with your network! Changelog: 0.1a} Edited files admin.kunena.php and class.kunena.php to get a profile link into MightyExtensions PT.0.1b} Fixed error in 0.1a version with ItemId conflict.0.1c} Added avatar integration feature to MightyExtensions PT.0.2a} Added menu feature, it has all People Touch menu entrys, enjoy!0.2c} Added support for all included templates in Kunena forum. We do not take any part if it dont work or makes things happends to you. Its your whole responsibility. Version 0.2c License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Plugin, Template, Special

Allows authors of posts to collect tips. Go here to find out more about what is actually behind this field: http://tipjoy.com...and here: http://tipjoy.com/faq  Version 1.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Plugin

Universal AjaxChat is a joomla1.5 chat component, this component has been developed to be fast, efficient and secure fully compatible with every joomla authentication systems such as Community Builder, joomsocial, Mighty Registration, Joomunity ... Feature: Easy Installation Usable as shoutbox Multiple Chat rooms Private messaging between members Private chat rooms Invitation System Ability to ban users List of online users with user menu Managing Emoticons / Smilies An easy way to add custom emoticons from administration BBCode The clickable links Splitting long texts to preserve the appearance of the cat Fight against the Flood Possibility to delete messages inside the chat Simple interface with ability to add custom commands for admins Ability to enable / disable the invitation of users Possibility of access for non-members Multilingual 22 languages (auto-detecting the browser configuration) Several styles Chat window to fit browser window with included styles Customizing Easy layout with style sheets (CSS) and template system Compliant (XHTML 1.0 strict) Accepts any input text, including code and special characters Saving bandwidth Compatible with all existing authentication systems: Joomla, Community Builder, Jomsocial, Joomunity .... A highly secure, developed to prevent code injection, SQL injection, Cross-site scripting (XSS), flights and other attacks Sessions Tested successfully with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari and Konqueror - designed to work with all modern browsers Requirements: Server side: PHP> = 4 MySQL> = 4 Client side: Enable JavaScript Cookies enabled The next logical client side is written in JavaScript. The server-side logic is written in PHP. Messages are stored in a MySQL database. Version 1.2 License GPLv2 or later Type Commercial Extension type Component, Module, Template, Language, Special

A module extension for the the Joomla 1.5 CMS. It displays a short excerpt from articles in a selected category or section, or from a specified list of articles, with link and optional thumbnail image. The items are displayed as a carousel, either horizontal or vertical, with the scroller responding to either mouse click or mouse hover actions. Not only does it look really cool, it is a great space-saver. This highly versatile module allows you to feature articles picked by id, by section or by category. The articles can be ordered in a variety of ways, including by the number of hits, or by the modification date, allowing the module to function like the 'latest news' module, or like the 'most read' module, as well as displaying individually chosen articles. The module displays a thumbnail plus an extract from the text with a link to the article for each item. There is a choice of colour schemes. The module can use GD graphics for improved thumbnail quality. The administrator can set the length of the article excerpt either by setting the number of characters or the number of sentences. Version 2.0 now features integration with Mighty Extensions Resources. It can display text taken from the text, textarea and html field types, and thumbnails taken from the image or picture field types, as well as images embedded in html fields. It also allows the use of comment tags to display special information about the article (see documentation). The module also includes integration with Mighty Extensions Touch and JomSocial. It can be used to display articles by the profiled user whenever a user profile is viewed. Version 2.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Commercial Extension type Module

A module extension for the the Joomla 1.5 CMS. It displays a short excerpt from articles in a selected category or section, or from a specified list of articles, with link and optional thumbnail image. This highly versatile module allows you to feature articles picked by id, by section or by category. The articles can be ordered in a variety of ways, including by the number of hits, or by the modification date, allowing the module to function like the 'latest news' module, or like the 'most read' module, as well as displaying individually chosen articles. The module displays a thumbnail plus an extract from the text with a link to the article for each item. The items can be displayed in a variety of layouts, including lists, tab panes, an accordion or thumbnails only. There is a choice of colour schemes. The module can use GD graphics for improved thumbnail quality. The administrator can set the length of the article excerpt either by setting the number of characters or the number of sentences. Version 2.0 now features integration with Mighty Extensions Resources. It can display text taken from the text, textarea and html field types, and thumbnails taken from the image or picture field types, as well as images embedded in html fields. It also allows the use of comment tags to display special information about the article (see documentation). The module also includes integration with Mighty Extensions Touch and JomSocial. It can be used to display articles by the profiled user whenever a user profile is viewed. Version 2.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Commercial Extension type Module

This is the PayPal Pro US payment gateway for MightyExtensions Member. This PayPal Pro US payment gateway for MightyExtensions Member uses the direct and checkout methods for transmission of information. The user is redirected to the PayPal site for express checkout processing OR can remain on your site and enter their credit card details. After express checkout processing, they are then returned to your site to continue the process. Special Requirements: SSL certificate. Special Features: Recurring payments. Osdcs.com can develop just about any payment gateway, so if you can't find it, just ask. License Other Type Commercial Extension type Plugin

With Content Templater you can create predefined reusable content templates. Not only can you make complete standard page layouts, you can also use Content Templater for text snippets. So any piece of text you want to use more than once, just make a content template of it! You can also set just about all the content options there are. Under the editor you will get a list of available templates. If you select a template, your predefined content will be pasted in your article or other content item. And all the options you have set in the template will be automatically set (like title, alias, publishing settings, show icons settings, etc.) Since version 0.3.2 there is also support for the JoomSuite Resources Sections/Categories. Automatically load template You can set templates to load as default. This way, the template will be loaded when you create a new article (or other content item). You can limit templates to certain sections / categories. So you can define different default templates per category. How to use it: http://www.nonumber.nl/contenttemplater Changelog: http://www.nonumber.nl/contenttemplater/changelog Keep up to date: http://www.nonumber.nl/news Support forum: http://www.nonumber.nl/forum Version 1.3.1 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Component, Plugin

Description The RSS import field is meant to show an external RSS feed within a Mighty Resources article. In editing mode, a user can enter the URL of an RSS feed, and that feed is then shown in the article. Apart from creating nice dynamic content within your article, the RSS import field also contributes to SEO. By entering RSS search feeds (such as Google Alerts RSS) you may also use this field to show a feed with the latest news or latest search results regarding the topic of your article. Parameters There are 7 backend parameters: 1. RSS items (define the number of RSS items that should be shown) 2. Description lenght (maximum number of characters of the description) 3. Set "Read more" text (show a read more link or not) 4. Strip HTML 5. Define class for time span 6. UL class (define UL class for list of RSS items) 7. LI class (define LI class for list of RSS items) Version history 29/12/2009: Version 1.1 released Added features: - Define class for time span- Set "Read more" text- Option to strip HTML Version 1.1 License Other Type Commercial Extension type Plugin

Hi, I created a field which makes it possible to add an unlimited number of addresses to an article. All the addresses are then shown as text as well as pointers on the Google map. Using javascript, a button "add extra address" is created, which can be used unlimited without having to reload the page. The field can be used e.g. in a business listing, for a company which has one headquarters address, but multiple locations. Current limitations are that the addresses are not visible in template Google Maps list view, and that adding extra addresses is only possible through frontend editing. This might change in future versions. It will cost me some money to let my programmer make a universal version. Before doing that, I would like to know if there are actually people interested in buying it. If enough people indicate interest, we will develop this universal version and offer it for € 10,-. Regards, Koen License Other Type Commercial Extension type Plugin

      Version 1.0 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Template

This extension for ARTIO JoomSEF enables generation of Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs for Mighty Resources component. It is compatible with JoomSEF 3.x. Version 2.0.5 License Other Type Commercial Extension type Special

This extension for ARTIO JoomSEF enables generation of Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs for Mighty Membership component. It is compatible with JoomSEF 3.x and newer. Version 2.0.0 License Other Type Commercial Extension type Special

    TCL (Tiny Content List) is powerful Joomla module to expand JoomSuite Content component capabilities. By default JoomSuite Content has module to list specified content titles, but..., but...... But sometimes we need more and even a lot more than more. Version 1.0.0.0 License Other Type Non-Commercial Extension type Module

Because the recent "hack" of Jomsocial Avatar and Profile Linkin wont work in new release of Resource i customized the old hack to work with actual version of rescource an jomsocial. HowTo: File Url: components/com_resource/helpers/helper.php Backup your actual helper.php create a new helper.php Copy all of the code above into new helper.php have fun cheers jan  

What it does?Displays Information from Amazon for a specific article.New in this version:Turn on/off reviewsTurn on/off similiar products What do you need?PHP PEAR with Services_Amazon 0.8.0 installedAmazon Associate IDAWS Account (Public and Secret Key) How can i see if Services Amazon is installed?If you own a server use the comman line and type "pear list". If you have a shared hosting account then you should ask your provider. Version 1.1 License GPLv2 or later Type Non-Commercial Extension type Plugin

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We are proud to announce the release of the new version of Xmap - The sitemap generator for Joomla!. This version fixes some small errors from the previous one and updates the Content and Virtuemart extensions. This release fixes one error with the Google News Sitemap, specifically with the language tag.

We are proud to announce the release of the new version of Xmap - The sitemap generator for Joomla!. This version fixes some small errors in the previous version and introduces some new features.

This RSS feed may have been deleted, purged, or disabled. Please visit Feedity.com to rebuild this feed, or to create more custom RSS feeds.

There is obviously no shortage of information on SEO. But thanks for turning up here :) The sheer avalanche of SEO information can be overwhelming, for beginners and experts alike. Who do you know who to listen to? What information do you need to know, and what information is filler? Why should you even listen to SEOBook? 1. Most Information Published On SEO Is Filler You can learn 80% of what you need to know about SEO pretty quickly. You don't need the additional 20% in order to achieve, unless you're a masochist - otherwise known as an SEO professional :) Most of the information you'll come across on the topic of SEO is written by, and for, a professional/enthusiast crowd. There is a massive echo chamber of opinion, constantly replenished, produced using publishing tools based on the notion of communicating something, often. It can result in a lot of noise, and not much in the way of signal, especially when you're learning. If you're starting out, and want to focus on learning SEO, it's a good idea to tune the industry chatter out. It's more likely to confuse than help in the early stages. 2. Understand The Business Of Search Search engines aren't your friend. At best, they tolerate SEO, but only when it aligns with company goals. The search engines have a business to run, and their goals aren't the same as yours. Whilst search engine reps often come across as helpful and friendly, because they typically are helpful and friendly people, keep in mind that what they are saying serves their company first and foremost. Any advice they give you is, quite rightly, designed to further company goals. That's their job. Chances are, your goals and the search engines goals will be aligned in many areas, but take their advice with a grain of salt. They don't care if your site succeeds or not, as there are plenty of other sites to index. 3. Define Goals Before you undertake SEO, define your website goals. Do you want to make more money? Get more attention? Get more leads? The purpose of SEO is to get your site seen in the search engines. Your aim is to attract the visitors that help you achieve your goals. A high ranking for a certain keyword won't necessarily help you achieve your goals unless your site matches visitor intent. Think about the web from a visitors point of view. What do they want to find? What content will they engage with? What will they spend their money on? There's little point ranking well if the content you provide doesn't make you money and/or gain audience. It's getting increasingly difficult to rank pages that aren't closely aligned with the searchers intent. So, the more you understand your audience, and the more content that matches their intent, the more you'll get out of SEO. 4. Get A Credible, Well Organized Course Like SEOBook's course for example ;) This isn't a sales pitch. There are a number of great courses out there. Choose one or two that suit your budget and objectives, and dive in. Chances are, you will need to shell out some money, but the cost of a decent, well structured course is nothing compared to the wasted effort spent heading in the wrong direction. In a nutshell, SEO is about about publishing content people want to engage with, and linking. You need to create content that matches visitor intent, you need to be crawlable, and you need to have inbound links. Good SEO courses will have this message at their core. Did I mention links enough? 5. Connect With People It's natural to want the secret sauce - those secret dark techniques that result in number one rankings. Whilst this was characteristic of SEO years ago, it's less true now. These days, SEO is more a holistic, strategic process aimed at connecting with people, as opposed to a dark, technical art aimed at tricking machines. Focus on making connections with people. That means understanding what people want. You can do this by undertaking basic market research, using the search engines themselves! 6. Test Don't listen to me. Well, maybe just a bit. Don't listen to the repeaters in forums. Test and measure for yourself. It's one of the best SEO courses you can do. It's ongoing, and it's free. Start with a simple, focused well constructed site. What is a well constructed site in terms of SEO? With every change you make, every new SEO strategy you adopt, test the results. Did the change help you achieve your website goals? Did you get more traffic? Better quality traffic? If your rankings improved, did this result in more/better traffic? It can be difficult to isolate variables at the best of times, but there is no chance of doing so if you try too many techniques all at once. Make changes one step at a time. Test and measure repeat. Become at expert at measuring SEO against your goals. Build up your own private knowledge base of SEO in your niche. Your niche may require different strategies to other niches, which is why well-meaning advice in forums and on blogs can hinder you. You'll also become a better judge of who is offering you good advice, and who is just repeating something they heard.

Like in any consulting field, SEO is rife with competition. There is only one way to win in such an environment, and that is to set yourself apart from the crowd. Not in a bad way, of course :) Here are some ideas on how to construct winning proposals. Size Isn't Everything, But It Does Count Large proposals take a long time to do. On the upside, large proposals can look impressive, simply by virtue of their size. Clients often like to see large proposals, but they don't tend to read them. Proposals can be a tricky balance to get right. No matter how brilliant your solution, most clients will think twice about you if you present it on a single sheet, especially if they have no prior connection with you, or aren't meeting you face-to-face. A proposal of a certain size can appear more authoritative. What is the ideal size? One good way of presenting a proposal is to break it into three parts. The first part is a summary, including your client-specific solution and costs. Length can vary of course, but keep it succinct. No fat. The second part is a case study or two. Again, keep them succinct. It's highly likely that the client won't actually read beyond this point. Finally, add background information about you, your company, your history and the SEO business, all of which should be aimed at supporting the summary page and case studies. This final part can be generic and doesn't need to be re-written for each client. Clients may only flip through this section, but tend to find it reassuring that it exists. Contrast this approach with a proposal that is threadbare. It may be irrational, but thin proposals can feel incomplete. Give Something Of Value Away In your summary pages, share real information. Share the type of information that is valuable and the sort of you'd usually charge for providing. Clients are likely to assume that if the SEO is giving a few morsels of valuable information away in the proposal, then even more valuable information will be forthcoming if they sign you. Demonstrate your mastery. If all you do is provide generic information at this point, then your proposal is less likely to stand out. Some potential clients, of course, may pick your brain and then implement your solutions themselves. Whilst this can happen, it's unlikely. The client already knows they want SEO by the time they're at the proposal stage, and if they could have done this work themselves, they probably would have done so already. Secondly, you can outline solutions that involve time cost to achieve. Imply that this work must be undertaken by someone who knows what they are doing. Outline the risks of not doing this work properly. The more real work, and risk, there is invlolved in implementation, the less likely a client will be willing to go the do-it-yourself route. As we all know, there is a lot of real work involved in SEO. Make sure the client is left in no doubt on that aspect. It's Not About You Focus on the clients needs. Nothing loses a potential client faster than an SEO who talks entirely about themselves and their industry. Clients don't care. Clients care about their problems and their industry. In the summary pages, restate the clients problem and propose your specific solutions. Outline time frame and costs. This exercise is useful for a number of reasons, the main one being that you, or the client, may not know what the actual problem is! What a client says may not be what they mean. For example, the client may say they want SEO because they're heard that's a great way to get traffic quickly. They may not say it in these words, of course. They may say they want SEO, and they want it asap. However, if the SEO has asked enough questions, aimed at identifying the problem, the SEO may unearth unstated problems. In this case, a client wants to increase traffic quickly. A solution to such a problem might be a combination of SEO and PCC. The PPC delivers immediate traffic while the SEO strategy might take some time. Formulate questions aimed at identifying the clients actual, as opposed to stated, problem. They may be quite different. The result is that your solution will be a good fit, which will lead to less frustration, on both sides, further down the line. You also might discover at this point that the clients expectations are ridiculous, and you'd be better off looking for a more reasonable client. For example, I was once pitching to a large advertising company. Their clients had been asking for SEO, so all they knew is they "needed some SEO". Great. Problem was, as I discovered in the meeting, was that they knew nothing about the need to alter sites or web publishing approach. They had told clients they could deliver SEO as a bolt-on-service, a wave of the magic wand that miraculously delivered rankings and free traffic for life to brochure sites. I didn't go any further with them. Offer Guarantees (Assurance) Guarantees are a contentious issue in SEO circles. Many SEOs - quite rightly - point out that no one can guarantee a ranking position, which is true, but such technical nuances may unsettle a client. Clients tend to like assurance, and a guarantee can help provide this. So rather than dismissing guarantees, look at aspects you can guarantee. A fiend of mine, in a different industry, offers a guarantee that goes along the lines of "if you don't feel satisfied after our strategy meetings with you, even after you sign the contract, you can walk away, no questions asked, and no charge.". That sounds like something substantial, but actually he is just restating consumer law in the country where he lives. The law is that a service must be fit for the purpose the client intended, and if it isn't, the client has a case against the provider for non-suitability of service. My friend realized he could never afford to contest such cases, and would likely lose, as the consumer law favored the buyer. All an aggrieved client really had to do to win such a case was say the service wasn't fit for their purposes. He was dealing with firms with deep pockets, and legal action defending against such firms would come at high cost, even if he was in the right, so he decided to restate a consumer right the client actually already had, combined with an economic reality - his inability to engage in costly legal battles - into a form of a reassuring guarantee for sales purposes. Case Studies Are Powerful There is no sales tool quite so powerful as a good case study. A case study is a story. People love stories. A case study is also proof of your ability. Outline the problem. Tell your audience what the problem looked like before you started - very useful if this problem is similar to the problem the prospective client also faces - what you did to solve the problem, and the positive results of your solution. Stories are very powerful sales tools, and a case study is a great opportunity to tell a few. Package It Up Consider printing and binding your proposal, and delivering it. We receive so many emails these days that they don't make us feel very special. It doesn't feel like there is much effort gone into them. A binded proposal, on the other hand, feels substantial. In the interests of speed, you can still send an email copy, but try doing both and seeing if you land more deals. Charging Don't undercharge. You'll regret it :)

I remember in 2nd grade when our teacher was teaching us how to do math I raced ahead and was doing lessons for today, tomorrow, and next week. The teacher rewarded my efforts by yelling at me and ripping up the pages from the book and giving me a 0 on that homework. In fourth grade we would play around the world with math flash cards where you raced to say the answers, and I would literally go all the way around the classroom without losing. I won so much that the other kids would boo when I won and cheer if I lost. In 5th grade I scored well on some state examination test that they had me take a college level entry exam. I beat most college-bound high school students in math before I entered junior high school. Between 7th and 8th grade we moved. Somehow in 8th grade they put me in slow learners math. Maybe they were trying to balance the number of students in each class? While in slow learners math the teacher handed out these obscure word problem tests a few times a month. Every time we did them I would either tie with the winner or beat all the kids who were taking algebra. There were other topics where I sucked. Anything to do with spelling fail. Writing? Not so good. Foreign language? No conozco! Typing - absolutely brutal. All these years later I use the math and logic to make money writing words, and matching words up in patterns that algorithms like. But what more would I have done if I didn't waste 6 years of my life in the military? Maybe I wouldn't have fell into marketing, but it is almost impossible to do anything online and willfully remain ignorant to marketing. If you have any level of curiosity you will stumble into it (especially if you have any ambition and lack capital). But education is to set up to beat the creativity out of you, punish outliers, and turn you into a debt slave consuming drone. You should respect authority, even if ill gained. If students were any good at applying math & critical thinking to the real world there would be riots in the street. Online critical thinking isn't typically appreciated either. Social media makes one-liners great, so plan on including a few of them, and plan on some of your words being taken out of context and used against you. Any form of criticism is defined as being linkbait or an attempt at capturing attention. As the web continues to saturate and it becomes more like the real world it will only get more absurd. We are no longer in an “Information Age.” We are in the Age of Noise. Falsehoods, half-truths, talking points, out-of-context video edits, plagiarism, rewriting of history (U.S. was founded as a Christian nation, for example), flip-flops, ignoring facts (Cheney and torture for example), neatly packaged code words and phrases, media ratings focus, dysfunctional government (fillibusters have more than doubled, but most don’t realize Republicans are blocking everything), mainstreaming fringe causes….I could go on and on. Is it any wonder why so many who are struggling with kids, jobs, rising medical costs, etcetera have such a tough time wading through all the crap? There is only so much attention to go around. Anything you don't know = grab the ugliest segment of the market + embellish it & state that is what the entire market is. Easy. Anyone who is an SEO is a spammer who illegally hacks websites trying to sell overseas pharmacy drugs and rank for misspellings of birtney spaers. All domainers are cybersquatters & brand hijackers. Affiliates only push scams that use reverse billing fraud. But when you go back to the math and think about it, the bottom 80% or 90% of ANY market usually isn't very exciting (or profitable, especially if you are a cog). It has been commoditized and doesn't reward creativity. It is doing the things at the fringe - the 1% where you have an artistic flair of brilliance which is seen by some as wizardry that produces profound results. It often backfires, at least off the start: All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. - Arthur Schopenhauer You get beat up for a while and the market tests you (sometimes for years), but eventually it takes notice: Through this experience, I learned an important lesson: When in doubt, make your product more compelling. All of Fog Creek's affiliate marketing ideas, coupons, discounts, direct-mail pieces, catalog ads, and everything else we spent time on -- none of this was as good a use of our time as simply doing what we loved best anyway: creating useful software.

Just for fun. But if things get much worse it might be good for utility as well ;)

The following is a guest post from Tom Demers. One of the most pivotal aspects of driving large volumes of search traffic in most verticals is effectively targeting long tail keywords. While ranking for competitive phrases and developing link authority are certainly crucial aspects of SEO, much of ranking on long tail keywords is properly targeting and optimizing for them. A while ago Aaron made the following image as a conceptual example of how the relevancy algorithms may differ for different types of keywords: This article will outline a three step process for targeting long tail keywords. Step 1: Build a Basket The first (and possibly most important) consideration is determining which keywords to target. For this I think a three-step process is best: Traditional Keyword Research It’s always a good idea to do some idea generation and to get a feel for the possible variations of your specific targeted keyword by utilizing a keyword research tool. For the sake of the article, we’ll assume that we’ve selected our “head” or core keyword target, and that we’re attempting to rank an article for the key phrase and related key phrases. Three tools that I find particularly useful for this purpose are Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool, the SEO Book Keyword Tool, and my company’s Free Keyword Tool. Using Your Own Analytics Really the best source of keyword data for determining the long tail keywords you can target is your own data. This is powerful because it shows you a variety of keyword combinations, the data is proprietary (your competitors didn’t pull the list from the same keyword tool you used, so they won’t be targeting the same keywords), and you have actual data both that you can rank for a given keyword, and you have an indication of how that keyword performs on your site. In Google Analytics, there a couple of reports you can pull to get this information (most analytics packages will provide you with similar capabilities). Drill down to traffic sources > keywords > non-paid: Then you can create a filter for the head term. For the sake of this example we’ll say we’re targeting the phrase “long tail” and variations: By creating the filter, we can see a variety of modifiers that the page and/or other content on our site are already driving. And, if we are in fact attempting to optimize an existing page for multiple keywords, we can utilize a content report to see what that page is already driving traffic for: You can then see all of the queries driving traffic to that page. By analyzing the traffic and conversion statistics for that page, you can then start to feature more effective variations more prominently. The beauty of analyzing your own data lies in the fact that you can de-emphasize variations that don’t convert for your site. Continually Iterate on Both Keyword Research and Keyword Analysis Periodically, it’s a good idea to return to traditional keyword research, and to dig back into your analytics. This is particularly true if a concept or product is seasonal, but regardless the queries driving traffic to your site are bound to shift, and analyzing both the segment of keywords you’re targeting and the actual traffic to a given page can help to drive a tremendous amount of additional traffic to an individual page. Step Two: Put It On The Page Unless you coordinate an army of writers or build a venture-backed model around creating a piece of content for every phrase imaginable, you can’t create a piece of content for every phrase you want to rank for. As such you’ll have to effectively target long tail keywords by including the multiple phrases in your keyword bucket throughout the page: Varying the Title Tag and Header - In varying title tags and headers for SEO you are ensuring that your pages aren’t over-optimized and they include relevant long tail keywords you’ll want to target (rather than redundantly featuring the same keyword twice). Place Variations and Modifiers in Your Content - By researching the variations of a keyword you might want to include in your content, you can be aware of them as you craft content, and you can strategically place modifiers throughout your page’s content. For instance, it might not be natural for you write out the phrase “affiliate long tail keywords for promoting products” but if you know this is a phrase that drives some traffic, you can be sure to include phrases like “whether you are a retailer or an affiliate promoting products”. You’ll be using phrases like long tail keywords frequently enough that if the longer phrase is lower competition, you might not even need to include the exact phrase to rank for it. Note below that none of the ranking pages use the exact phrase “affiliate long tail keywords for promoting products”: Pay Attention to All of Your On-Page Elements - Be sure to work into your page’s headlines, bolded copy, alt attributes, title attributes, etc. the variations you’re targeting. By mixing up the words and phrases you use in these elements, you’re also ensuring your page isn’t over-optimized Step Three: Building Links For Your Keyword Basket Finally, even though many of your long tail keyword variations will rank on their own, you’ll want to develop some links with specific anchor text to these pages. You can do this in a few different ways: Vary Your Internal Links to a Page– Again, this allows you to avoid being “over-optimized,” and if you stick primarily to variations that contain the head keyword within the variation and append modifiers, rather than synonyms, you’re consistently transferring relevance for your core term. Use an Important Modifier in Your Headline – While your title tag is what’s seen by searchers, many people linking to your article will use your headline as anchor text. Using a variation here helps attract links for important modifiers External Links You Control- Things like company listings, directory listings, and nepotistic links often offer you the opportunity to control your own anchor text: while many times just leveraging internal links on an authoritative site is enough to rank, sometimes utilizing article submission Websites or other low-quality external linking sources with keyword-rich anchor text can help you to rank for mid to low-competition keywords. Ultimately the best way to rank for long tail keywords is to build an authoritative Website and seed it with a lot of content, but on a page-by-page basis you can often leverage strategic keyword targeting and your own analytic data to help drive exponentially more traffic than you would focusing solely on the “head” keyword. Tom Demers is the Director of Marketing with WordStream, a software company specializing in pay-per click software and keyword research and organization solutions for SEO. Tom is a frequent contributor at the WordStream Internet Marketing Blog.

My buddies from Conversion Rate Experts have put together a review site for multivariate software called Which Multivariate. Surprisingly old school in the modern affiliate link filled web, they have made the site vendor neutral and are not planning on ever taking affiliate commissions in an attempt to gather honest reviews. Check it out. Its worth a look!

When the internal Google remote quality rater guidelines leaked online there was a core quote inside it that defined the essence of spam: Final Notes on Spam When trying to decide if a page is Spam, it is helpful to ask yourself this question: if I remove the scraped (copied) content, the ads, and the links to other pages, is there anything of value left? if the answer is no, the page is probably Spam. With the above quote in mind please review the typical Mahalo page Adding a bit more context, the following 25 minute video from 2008 starts off with Matt Cutts talking about how he penalized a website for using deceptive marketing. Later into the video (~ 21 minutes in) the topic of search results within search results and then Mahalo come up. Here is a transcription of relevant bits... Matt Cutts: Would a user be annoyed if they land on this page, right. Because if users get annoyed, if users complain, then that is when we start to take action. And so it is definitely the case where we have seen search results where a search engine didn't robots.txt something out, or somebody takes a cookie cutter affiliate feed, they just warm it up and slap it out, there is no value add, there is no original content there and they say search results or some comparison shopping sites don't put a lot of work into making it a useful site. They don't add value. Though we mainly wanted to get on record and say that hey we are willing to take these out, because we try to document everything as much as we can, because if we came and said oh removed some stuff but it wasn't in our guidelines to do that then that would be sub-optimal. So there are 2 parts to Google's guidelines. There are technical guidelines and quality guidelines. The quality guidelines are things where if you put hidden text we'll consider that spam and we can remove your page. The technical guidelines are more like just suggestions. ... So we said don't have search results in search results. And if we find those then we may end up pruning those out. We just want to make sure that searchers get good search results and that they don't just say oh well I clicked on this and I am supposed to find the answer, and now I have to click somewhere else and I am lost, and I didn't find what I wanted. Now I am angry and I am going to complain to Google. Danny Sulivan: "Mahalo is nothing but search results. I mean that is explicitly what he says he is doing. I will let you qualify it, but if you ask him what it is still to this day he will say its a search engine. And then all the SEOs go 'well if it is a search engine, shouldn't you be blocking all your search results from Google' and his response is 'yeah well IF we ever see them do anything then we might do it'." Matt Cutts: It's kinda interesting because I think Jason...he is a smart guy. He's a savvy guy, and he threaded the needle where whenever he talked to some people he called it a search service or search engine, and whenever he talked to other people he would say oh it is more of a content play. And in my opinion, I talked to him, and so I said what software do you use to power your search engine? And he said we use Twika or MediaWiki. You know, wiki software, not C++ not Perl not Python. And at that point it really does move more into a content play. And so it is closer to an About.com than to a Powerset or a Microsoft or Yahoo! Search. And if you think about it he has even moved more recently to say 'you know, you need to have this much content on the page.' So I think various people have stated how skilled he is at baiting people, but I don't think anybody is going to make a strong claim that it is pure search or that even he seems to be moving away from ok we are nothing but a search engine and moving more toward we have got a lot of people who are paid editors to add a lot of value. One quick thing to note about the above video was how the site mentioned off the start got penalized for lying for links, and yet Jason Calacanis apologized for getting a reporter fired after lying about having early access to the iPad. Further notice how Matt considered that the first person was lying and deserved to be penalized for it, whereas when he spoke of Jason he used the words savvy, smart, and the line threaded the needle. To the layperson, what is the difference between being a savvy person threading the needle and a habitual liar? Further lets look at some other surrounding facts in 2010, shall we? How does Jason stating "Mahalo sold $250k+ in Amazon product in 2009 without trying" square with Matt Cutts saying "somebody takes a cookie cutter affiliate feed, they just warm it up and slap it out, there is no value add, there is no original content there" ... Does the phrase without trying sound like value add to you? Doesn't to me. Matt stated that they do not want searchers to think "oh well I clicked on this and I am supposed to find the answer, and now I have to click somewhere else and I am lost" ... well how does Mahalo intentionally indexing hundreds of thousands of 100% auto-generated pages which simply recycle search results and heavily wrap them in ads square with that? sounds like deceptive & confusing arbitrage to me. Matt stated "and if you think about it he has even moved more recently to say 'you know, you need to have this much content on the page,'" but in reality, that was a response to when I highlighted how Mahalo was scraping content. Jason dismissed the incident as an "experimental" page that they would nofollow. Years later, of course, it turned out he was (once again) lying and still doing the same thing, only with far greater scale. Jason once again made Matt Cutts look bad for trusting him. Matt stated "I don't think anybody is going to make a strong claim that it is pure search" ... and no, its not pure search. If anything it is IMPURE search, where they use 3rd party content *without permission* and put most of it below the fold, while the Google AdSense ads are displayed front and center. If you want to opt out of Mahalo scraping your content you can't because he scrapes it from 3rd party sites and provides NO WAY for you to opt out of him displaying scraped content from your site as content on his page). Jason offers an "embed this" option for their content, so you can embed their "content" on your site. But if you use that code the content is in an iframe so it doesn't harm them on the duplicate content front AND the code gives Jason multiple direct clean backlinks. Whereas when Jason automatically embeds millions of scraped listings of your content he puts it right in the page as content on his page AND slaps nofollow on the link. If you use his content he gets credit...when he uses your content you get a lump of coal. NICE! And, if you were giving Jason the benefit of the doubt, and thought the above was accidental, check out how when he scrapes the content in that all external links have a nofollow added, but any internal link *does not* Matt stated "[Jason is] moving more toward we have got a lot of people who are paid editors to add a lot of value" ... and, in reality, Jason used the recession as an excuse to can the in house editorial team and outsource that to freelancers (which are paid FAR LESS than the amounts he hypes publicly). Given that many of the pages that have original content on them only have 2 sentences surrounded by large swaths of scraped content, I am not sure there is an attempt to "add a lot of value." Do you find this page on Shake and Bake meth to be a high quality editorial page? What is EVEN MORE OUTRAGEOUS when they claim to have some editorial control over the content is that not only do they wrap outbound links which they are scraping content from in nofollow, but they publish articles on topics like 13 YEAR OLD RAPE. Either they have no editorial, or some of the editorial is done by pedophiles. Worse yet, such pages are not a rare isolated incident. Michael VanDeMar found out that Mahalo is submitting daily lists of thousands of those auto-generated articles to Google via an XML sitemap...so when Jason claims the indexing was an accident, you know he lied once again! Here Jason is creating a new auto-generated page about me! And if I want to opt out of being scraped I CAN'T. What other source automatically scrapes content, republishes it wrapped in ads and calls it fair use, and then does not allow you to opt out? What is worse in the below example, is that on that page Jason stole the meta description from my site and used it as his page's meta description (without my permission, and without a way for me to opt out of it). So basically Matt...until you do something, Jason is going to keep spamming the crap out of Google. Each day you ignore him another entreprenuer will follow suit trying to build another company that scrapes off the backs of original content creators. Should Google be paying people to *borrow* 3rd party content without permission (and with no option of opting out)? I think Jason has pressed his luck and made Matt look naive and stupid. Matt Cutts has got to be pissed. But unfortunately for Matt, Mahalo is too powerful for him to do anything about it. In that spirit, David Naylor recently linked to this page on Twitter. What is the moral of the story for Jason Calacanas & other SEOs? If you are going to create a thin spam site you need to claim to be anti-spam to legitimize it. Never claim to be an SEO publicly, even if you are trying to sell corporate SEO services. If you have venture capital and have media access and lie to the media for years it is fine. If you are branded as an SEO and you are caught lying once then no soup for you. If you are going to steal third party content and use it as content on your site and try to claim it is fair use make sure you provide a way of opting out (doing otherwise is at best classless, but likely illegal as well). If you have venture capital and are good at public relations then Google's quality guidelines simply do not apply to you. Follow Jason's lead as long as Google permits mass autogenerated spam wrapped in AdSense to rank well in their search results. The Google Webmaster Guidelines are an arbitrary device used to oppress the small and weak, but do not apply to large Google ad partners. Don't waste any of your time reporting search spam or link buying. The above FLAGRANT massive violation of Google's guidelines was reported on SearchEngineLand, and yet the issue continues without remedy - showing what a waste of time it is to highlight such issues to Google.

And all this, only to find out there was a missing ingredient the whole time ;) Of course, if Dilbert had a text version of the cartoon and perhaps a more relevant alt tag in his embed code that would help too. Just saying ;)

My wife used to tell me that I would give too much away...and then she pens something like this AdWords affiliate guide. It doesn't seem fair ;)

One of the great things about SEO is that it allows you to see many lenses on business that you can't normally see with most other professions (outside of perhaps something in high finance or management consulting anyhow). One day you are building a bootstrapped business from scratch wondering when it will make its first Dollar, and the next day your on the phone with McKinsey consultants or an executive from a fortune 500 company talking strategy. Zeta Interactive's Hugo Guzman is one of the the folks in the SEO industry who has a broad experience set which perhaps eclipses my own, as he has done virtually everything. And so I recently interviewed him... You run some of your own sites, have done some private SEO consulting, I believe you may have done some in house SEO for a while, and are now deep into the bowels of the SEO agency world. What are the best and worst parts of each role? Great question! Here’s my take based on personal experience in each role. Running your own site(s) Best Thing: That feeling of unbridled entrepreneurism. I’ve always felt that website building is sort of like the new real estate development, only anybody can do it and it costs less than $100 to get started (if you know what you’re doing). The other great thing about running your own site(s) is the ability to cut out on time wasting and bureaucracy. There’s no need for filling out corporate approval paperwork or sitting through useless meetings or conference calls, so you can focus in on building content, building links, building databases, and building relationships. Worst Thing: The cold hard reality of monetization. There used to be a day when paid links could easily bankroll early development until you got other revenue streams to a point of sustainability, but that well has dried up to a certain extent. Affiliate revenue and Adsense are both viable but take time to develop, especially if SEO is the main source of traffic, so like you, I believe that the best option is to cut out the middle man and develop a product/service of your own that fills a specific niche need at a fair price. I think that the emergence of FourSquare and Twitter localization suggests a strong opportunity for hyper-niche, location-based website development. You don’t have to be the best in the world at a specific thing in order to be successful. Just be the best in your locale or region. SEO consulting Best Thing: Being able to do SEO “The Right Way” (or at least “your own way”). It feels good to execute an SEO program that way you see fit, especially when it works! It makes for a very rewarding experience. It’s fun to build out the list of deliverables, the timeline for implementation, and the success metrics and KPIs that will be the foundation of your client programs. Worst Thing: Dealing with the sales grind, chasing after clients that don’t pay on time (or at all) not getting the hourly bill rate you know you deserve, etc…basically all the business stuff that has little or nothing to do with pure SEO. Unfortunately, many of the SEOs that go this route get caught up in the grind by failing or refusing to fire bad clients, so that they can focus on building revenue by offering more granular or expanded services for their good clients. In-house SEO Best Thing: Being embedded in so many different aspects of a business and learning about marketing and biz dev elements outside the pure SEO realm. I spent several years working with CBS Interactive and I learned a ton about so many things and worked with some really intelligent people. For example, I learned how C-level executives frame marketing channels like SEO. The main success metric that I was measured on was percentage of overall referring traffic (well under 10% when I first started). Even though I was able to exponentially grow natural search referrals, especially for key niches like fantasy football and March Madness – both of which are huge moneymakers for CBS – the cumulative effect on overall traffic was minimal (never reached 20%). The reason was simple; CBS owns their major television network as well as a myriad of local television affiliates, radio stations, billboards, email addresses, etc, which literally drove millions and millions of unique referrals. This introduction to mass media metrics helped me gain perspective on the role SEO plays within the larger scheme of things (brand building and management, push/interruption marketing, email marketing, etc). And it was this perspective that would help me connect with marketing executives when I made the move to agency SEO, because I finally understood that while SEO is arguably the most cost-effective marketing channel, it was only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Worst Thing: It’s hard to move up the corporate ladder and earn big dollars. Because SEO is typically straddled between marketing and IT, it’s tough to move up into upper-management positions. Some companies (like the Tribune Company) are starting to wake up, but for the most part, it’s still tough to move on up. SEO Agency Best Thing: It’s sort of like the Peace Corps in that it’s the hardest job you’ll ever love. Granted, you’re not really helping the world be a better place (just helping companies become more profitable) but getting to work with so many different verticals, marketing philosophies, business executives, and web environments is incredibly rewarding. Agency SEO (if you work at a good agency) will undoubtedly make you a better SEO, and a better business person in general. Interestingly enough, it’s the seemingly unconquerable workload that proves to be the catalyst for professional growth. Dealing with multiple clients, each of which has impossible deadlines and unrealistic ROI expectations, forces you to prioritize your efforts and focus on the strategies and tactics that will deliver the most bang for their marketing buck. SEO’s that fail to grasp this are quickly burned out and leave the agency life (and usually return after a year or two after realizing that they can’t make much money in-house). SEO’s that “get it” quickly make an impact for clients – and the agency’s bottom line – catapulting them into management and executive roles. Worst Thing: It’s sort of like the Post Office. The work just keeps coming and coming. It’s extremely stressful, demanding, and demoralizing at times. But hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? From which of the 4 roles do you see the greatest profit potential? That’s a tough one. In-house probably has the least profit potential, followed by agency work. Although it’s worth pointing out that some of the better agencies out there take extraordinary steps to keep talented individuals happy and give them a true stake in the company’s success. My agency definitely falls in that category. Consulting has very solid profit potential but building your own site(s) is definitely king in my book because if you pick the right niche and truly devote yourself on all levels the potential is limitless. You (Aaron Wall) write about this topic quite a bit, but it’s important to re-emphasize. If an enterprising SEO is looking to start their own site(s) the first thing to take into consideration is the level of passion they have for the topic/theme that the site(s) will encompass, because if the passion isn’t there, it’s unlikely that said SEO will have the motivation to work through the inevitable plateaus that await his/her new business. Also, as most of us know, building the right kind of content is what often leads to the inbound links that will serve as the foundation of a solid search presence, and that’s much easier to do when you truly love the topic/theme you’re dealing with. When you guys take on new clients are you knee deep in the SEO projects? Or do you focus more on training your team? Truthfully, I’m no longer involved in day-to-day management of SEO projects. I do touch almost every single account, but usually it’s as an advisor to the SEO specialist that’s assigned to the account or because the client needs to tap into my historical knowledge of the account (I’ve been working with some of our clients for several years now and know more about their history than some of their employees). Basically, I keep tabs on each account and come in to deal with really tough and/or complex scenarios that junior team members have never encountered. That said, I do spend a considerable amount of time testing specific hypotheses, either on client sites or on test sites that are owned and managed by my agency. One of the most memorable tests we performed was for a major insurance and financial services brand (one of the biggest in the world) that was having a ton of trouble getting their agent profile pages indexed (they had thousands of them). They were convinced that simply adding these pages to their XML sitemap would do the trick, despite the fact that Google explicitly states that submitting an XML sitemap does not replace override their normal indexing and ranking methodology. In order to convince them to take an alternate route (focusing on internal linkage that helped eliminate orphaned agent pages) we simply tested their hypothesis by taking a baseline measurement on the number of indexed agent pages, then adding all of the agent pages to their XML sitemap en masse and then measuring the impact on indexing for those pages (the impact was nil). We then convinced them to implement our recommendations and subsequently measured their impact on indexing of agent pages (over 80% of those pages were subsequently indexed). The result? An interesting conclusion that helps guide our recommendations for other clients as well as an incredibly happy Insurance brand that has now been with us for going on three years! As for the rest of my time, it is spent training our team of specialists (and the sales folks and the account management folks) supporting sales across the US, leading sales efforts in the Southeastern United States, and working with our product development team to build tools that help facilitate SEO. Oh and I try to help promote the agency when I find some spare time ; ) It wasn’t always like that by the way. I started my agency life as a specialist and have gradually moved up the ladder. Many of the bigger agency-styled companies sell watered down services of limited value. For example keyword ranking / websourced / marketsmart interactive went from the largest SEO company to closed almost overnight. How do you scale SEO within an agency while preventing the watering down effect that is common at most? This is an extremely tough problem to overcome, but one of the things that we’ve focused on is product development that helps automate certain facets of the SEO process, so that our specialists can spend their time being truly strategic. For example, back in 2008, I figured out that our specialists (including myself) were spending an inordinate amount of time formatting and filling out the Excel templates that are used to deliver page-level code recommendations to clients (more or less a staple of agency life). This included copying and pasting the existing code side-by-side with our recommended code, so that the client’s IT/dev folks could use it as a point of reference when implementing. This was essentially data entry work that was extremely tedious and took up a tremendous amount of time. Working with our tremendous product development and digital services team based in Hyderabad, India, we were able to develop a web application that automatically scraped the designated code for a particular client web page and populated in the correct fields within our Excel template. Now, all our specialists have to do is fill in the recommendations in the appropriate fields, cutting delivery time in half. It’s tremendous productivity booster and also a tremendous morale booster for our specialists. If you’re on the client side and are interviewing perspective SEO providers, make sure that they have some sort of technology platform in place that will help automate or at least facilitate some of the non-strategic facets. Otherwise, you’re going to spend a ton of money on what essentially amounts to data entry. From a consumer perspective, a lot of the agencies are long on sales but short on results. What are some of the key signals consumers should pick up on when determining if an agency is the real deal or one that is selling watered down water? That’s easy. Ask them if they can help with direct implementation via CMS and/or hard coding. Ask them to go into excruciating detail in terms of how they handle link building (most agencies claim they do link-building, but it usually just boils down to directory submissions and paid links). Ask them to explain how content influences link-building and social media efforts. Ask them to go into excruciating detail in terms of how social media and SEO dovetail. Ask them to go into excruciating detail in terms of how they leverage analytics as it pertains to SEO. Ask them if they’re accustomed to working with senior (even C-level) executives to facilitate approval and implementation of recommendations. If they’re worth their weight, they’ll jump at the chance to give deep answers to each and every one of these questions. As an ad agency you guys are also involved in other marketing elements from companies. Does search ever become a key consideration when it comes to product naming, product positioning, and other advertising formats? If yes, could you share some examples? My agency was arguably the first to truly embrace the cross-channel interactive agency model, so we definitely work with clients across a variety of marketing channels, and as a matter of fact, we offer a variety of services beyond search (we just made the Forrester Wave for email service providers). I can’t get into specific clients and URLs due to confidentiality agreements, but I would say that well over 50% of the clients we work with take search into consideration when naming products, positioning products, and even picking vanity domains. I would say that about 25% of our clients make search their top priority when considering these types of things. Those are our favorites, because they really “get it” and work SEO into everything they do. One example that I can give you (without revealing specific client names) is the purchasing of vanity domains to drive SEO for specific product/service offerings. I’ve seen companies drop anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands in order to secure domains that have large, authoritative link profiles and already rank for high volume keywords. In fact, I recently did some consulting on behalf of one of the largest VC firms in the world, helping one of their clients (we’ll call them “Company A”) essentially put a price tag on a the value of a domain that was owned by a smaller firm that “Company A” was looking to acquire. I actually think that this type of work could become a nice hyper niche for me in the future (until Google and others finally accomplish their goal of eliminating domains from the search equation…but that’s a story for another day). What strategies do you use to help clients provide adequate resources for a large or complex SEO assignment when the results might take many months to materialize? We’ve gone as far as to help clients screen potential hires or contractors in order to help them staff up for large initiatives. In addition, we’ve embedded our employees at a client’s office for large stretches of time in what you could call a “dedicated resource” type of arrangement. Lastly, we’ve helped coordinate cross-division committees and/or multi-agency collaboration in order to help get large initiatives off the ground. Basically, I’ve always preached to the team that they have to do anything and everything to make things happen. Often times, it’s this extra effort that ends up become the primary measure of success in the client’s eyes, especially if there are some solid metrics to go along with it. What success metrics are used along the way to help clients appreciate the returns on the SEO efforts? I find that year-over-year trending is extremely valuable because it takes seasonality into account, and we’ll deliver that type of trending both at the aggregate level and focused on specific “big money” keywords. Incidentally, our agency doesn’t shy away from extremely competitive keywords. We go after everything that fits the client’s vertical but just make sure to set expectations early on. Clients deserve to rank for the biggest money terms, but they also need to understand that in certain cases it could take years to achieve above-the-fold placement. Also, I believe that it’s critical to drill down and measure non-branded keywords as opposed to just looking at raw aggregate referral data, especially when you’re working with big brands that drive mammoth amounts of brand queries. If you don’t strip out the branded search referrals, then you’re not really measuring SEO (99% of the time, branded keywords have and always will rank No. 1 so the traffic they drive are a function of brand awareness, not search engine optimization). Google is known for letting bigger brands get away with being a bit spammy. Do you ever suggest to clients that they have the opportunity to push the window? The short answer is “Yes”. We conform to “White Hat” SEO (whatever that means) but we also believe that it’s our job to educate clients on techniques that may or may be deemed as “spammy” by search engines like Google. They deserve to understand the entire SEO landscape, not just the vision created by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Also, for clients that are already relatively SEO savvy and were already dabbling in techniques deemed unsavory by Google, we will gladly provide a third-party opinion and consulting on those activities. We believe that they deserve that level of service for the premium they’re paying. Within a company internal politics often end up kicking SEO into the back seat. When doing agency work, who are the key individuals from within the companies you service that you consider it a must to loop in on the project? Start with the CEO (seriously). And by the way, this also applies to social media initiatives. The goal is to find a way to move the needle for a client, even if we are faced with a tough situation in terms of marketing approval, legal approval, or IT implementation (this is more or less par for the course in verticals like Pharma and Financial Services). If we can move that needle, then we’ll immediately push to get in front of upper-level executives, so that we can help them understand what we’re trying to accomplish in the long term (and that we won’t accomplish it at the expense of their brand affinity or legal standing). If you’re not getting face time with a senior director, VP, or C-level executive, then you’re probably not doing a very good job. Hugo Guzman is the Vice President of SEO & Social Media at Zeta Interactive. He can be reached via email at hguzman@zetainteractive.com or via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/hugoguzman.

The following is a guest post by Slaven Radic. The Google Buzz team has had quite a week. Their new product quickly lived up to its name, though mostly for the wrong reasons, generating buzz about its own privacy issues. Calling the original Google Buzz privacy settings lax would be a gross understatement. It created a storm of complaints, best put in perspective by Harriet Jacobs in her F*ck You, Google piece. In short, when you logged into your Gmail account Google simply took all of your frequent contacts and mashed them up into an active social network without much input from people they were connecting. If you exchanged a lot of emails with your editor and your under-cover sources from the same Gmail account, now they were connected through your public profile if you didn't happen to catch the Buzz opt-out checkbox. Or what about using the same Gmail account for emailing your husband and your boyfriend? Well now they're introduced - you're welcome. Yes, sounds like a pretty naïve and reckless way to implement a major feature but Google protested that they just wanted to help and meant no evil. After all, their CEO Eric Schmidt had an interesting take on expectations for privacy online: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place". That was said nary two months before Google Buzz launched - I guess people like Harriet Jacobs and her abusive ex-husband just didn't listen. Oops, Our Bad: Thanks For All the Users... Since the launch, Google has done an amazingly quick about-face and pledged to do better. The latest set of changes make signing up for Buzz a tangibly more transparent experience, probably what it should have been at launch time. The press has mostly applauded their quick response and patted Google on the back for their responsiveness and keen focus on Gmail user experience. But let's see what Google's naiveté about privacy issues meant for Google Buzz: 9 million posts and comments 300,000 mobile check-ins per day Buzz already rivals Twitter for sheer network size Those are some pretty impressive numbers for any online launch, but to achieve this in under three days is just unheard of. Actually, there are businesses that do generate this level of interests from their prospects in that short of a time-frame and Gmail deals with them on a daily basis: spammers. The '9 Million-Post' Question The question is did Google simply make a "mistake" and not consider these fairly serious privacy issues, or did the massive amount of spam Gmail churns through each day actually demonstrate effectiveness of a new business model? The former is hard to believe when you consider the army of privacy lawyers Google has and their job to review privacy considerations in revenue-generating AdSense programs. This is especially critical in Gmail, where you are shown ads based on emails you exchange. Gmail achieves this by reading through all your email and matching you up with advertisers interested in addressing your daily struggles. After the initial outrage over this concept a few years ago most users have resigned to trust Google that they have their best interests in mind. Your Trust, Google's Toilet Paper Google Buzz violates this trust in a serious way. In light of Google's experience in this field, it is hard not to take Google's mea culpa with a huge dose of skepticism. After all, if Google had made Buzz an opt-in service - something that users had to enable rather than be tricked into joining - they would be just another social network trying to compete with Facebook and Twitter. Leveraging millions of Gmail users was a shortcut simply too tempting to avoid. The fact that Google decided to revise Google Buzz activation process over the weekend is simply a red herring: they only needed a few days to convert some of the hundred million plus Gmail users into millions of Buzz users, and become the de-facto Twitter competitor over a single long weekend. Google "fixing" this privacy snafu a few days later is equivalent to spammers adding an "Unsubscribe" link to an email that's already done its damage. The strong impression from the last few days is that Gmail users were a pawn in a very cynical game: Google trying desperately to become a player in the social networking space, after the Orkut launch and their acquisition of a handful of other companies in this space failed to produce results. We're Not Evil This is a tough act to pull off when your motto is Don't Be Evil. It's been said that eventually Google's shareholders will push it to make product moves and decisions that end up hurting its brand in a quest for monetization. It will be interesting to see if Google comes out of this with their motto intact.

An SEOBook reader, Josephbm91, outlined a problem many of us have faced: when you're starting out, it's easy for clients to walk all over you. So let's take a look at strategies for those starting out, be it in SEO, web design, or other small, web-based businesses. Those of you who have established web businesses, it would be great if you could share your experiences and strategies in the comments :) Making The Start How do you make the start? You've got a computer, an internet connection, and a few ideas. How do you get from that point to a thriving business, when you have no customer base, no money and no experience? Yeah, it's hard. But you'll literally work through it :) Society Is Testing You To See If You're Serious Ask anyone in business, sports, music or any other competitive human endeavor how they got recognized in their given field. They'll most likely tell you it didn't happen overnight. Whilst talent, luck and having the right connections play a part, the one trait common to those who succeed is persistent hard work. In Outliers, a book about how people achieve extraordinary things, Malcolm Gladwell found that to achieve mastery in anything - be it golf, webdesign, programming, music, fashion - takes roughly the same amount of time: 10,000 hours. Thankfully, we don't need to be masters at running a small business before we start one, else no one would ever do so. But the underlying idea is sound - persistent hard work is the key to success. Being persistent sends a message to those around you, including potential customers, that you're serious about what your doing. If they see you often enough, doing the thing you say you do, then you'll eventually be recognized for it. So if you feel you need to prove yourself, you're right. Society actually demands you do. What Is Worth Getting Serious About? Many people start businesses because they enjoying doing something. Someone who plays sport may have the desire to be paid a good living wage for playing the game she loves. Someone is good at art, so he wants to be a designer. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this approach - having a genuine passion for something will help you get through the rough times - I'm sure you can spot the potential problem. There might be a LOT of people who have a passion for the same thing. The more people who want to do something, the more effort you need to put in in order to stand out. In terms of sport, it's relatively straighforward. The sprinter with the fastest times gets recognized and progresses. Those sprinters with slower times either get better, or go find something else to do. In business, its a little more complicated, but the principle remains the same. You need to stand out. Supply And Demand Think carefully about supply and demand. Ask yourself: is there sufficient demand for what I want to do? Let's say you want to do web design. Is there demand? Why, yes, the demand for web design services is almost infinite. New companies start every minute, and most of them will need a web presence. Established companies who already have a web presence change their design from time to time, thus creating even more demand. All good. Now let's look at the supply side. How many people want to be web designers. The answer is: quite a few. In fact, it would appear that web design demand is more than met by the supply of web designers. What happens in such situations is there is a downward pressure on prices, because those who create demand have a lot of supply to choose from. The world is oversupplied with web designers. At least, it's oversupplied by people who call themselves web designers. There's a difference, of course, between someone who owns the tools of production and those who use those tools well to solve business problems. Owning a camera does not make someone a commercial photographer. Likewise, those with the most artistic design skills may make lousy web designers if they aren't focused on business aspects. Recognizing the reality of the situation might may you reconsider your choice of career, and opt for an area where there is heavy demand and short supply instead. Another way to face this problem is to differentiate. Can you do something better than other designers? You may be highly skilled in contemporary graphic design, in which case you may choose to place strong emphasis on displaying your portfolio, and target the type of clients who appreciate - and will pay for - this expertise. You may have, or can acquire, detailed market knowledge in one particular niche - i.e. travel sites, real estate sites, etc. Clients, generally speaking, are a lot more comfortable with providers who understand their area of business. You have an advantage if you can speak their language, rather than just the self-absorbed language of design forums. Can you focus on a geographic area? i.e. the immediate area where you live. Sometimes, people want to deal with someone local. What is the thing you can do for which there is a market? If there are too many competitors in that market, then slice that market up until you can find a niche. Aim to be top of that niche. Then put in persistent effort working that niche in order to build reputation. Chris Pearson gave away a number of popular free Wordpress themes on his site, created designs for popular sites (including Copyblogger & SEO Book), and then created the Thesis theme for web developers, which has since done 7 figures in sales volume. Yes Wordpress themes have become commoditized, but due to his strong marketing and continual increase in product value he was able to differentiate & build a solid business model. In his own words on starting out, Chris wrote: Before I launched Thesis, I created a few free WordPress themes that became extremely popular. Although these themes defined the early stages of my career, they are really nothing more than visible markers of a learning process that continues today with Thesis. Establishing Yourself Once you've decided on an angle, you then need to establish yourself. Society wants to see how serious you are. It is very difficult to market a business without some form of track record. But every business needs to start somewhere, and they don't start with a track record. So, the most important task for someone starting out - in any occupation - is to get one. One way to get a track record is to treat your first few jobs as a marketing cost. This is the cost of establishing a reputation, and if you make any money at all from these first few jobs, it's a bonus. The aim is to get referrals and a portfolio of work. Approach charities or small local business who need a web presence and offer your services for a deeply discounted rate, or for free. It's a win-win for both parties, because they may not be able to afford web design, and you need their testimonials and experience. Be sure to make it clear that the job is being done at a discounted rate, and let them know what your usual rate it. This way, they'll perceive value, and won't be in for a shock when you ramp your prices up for any future work. Focus on building a positive relationship with these clients. If they are happy with your work, they may well refer you to others. Once you have a track record, the risk to a future customer of hiring you is diminished. You become a known quantity, which puts you above the wanna-bes. Is this working for free? Some might consider it that way, but it could also be seen as just another marketing expense, like advertising. Many businesses, including big, established businesses, give away products and services - in the form of loss leaders - in order to help get their foot in the door. People who train for careers pay to learn, whilst as a freelancer, you can potentially learn on the job for free. Clients can teach you a lot about your own business , especially where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Pricing It's important not to stay cheap or free, however. Some think the easiest way to get business is to undercut competitors on price. This can be a self defeating strategy, especially for the sole operator, for a number of reasons: You get cheap clients - people who seek the lowest price probably aren't placing much value on what you do. These type of clients, ironically, can also be the most demanding. They want the most for the least, and will often push you on the amount of work you deliver. Someone else can always undercut you. There will always be a competitor who has a cost base lower than you do. From there, you're locked in a no-win race to the bottom. If it looks cheap, it is cheap. It's human nature not to value something that is cheap, and place a lot of value on something that is expensive. In the book How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer, the author describes an experiment conducted with wine. Participants were told one bottle was cheap and one was expensive. The expensive bottle got rave reviews from tasters, and the cheap one - not so good. However, the labels were switched. The expensive wine was actually the cheap wine. Perception counts for a lot. So if your angle is cheap, make sure your margins are still high enough to sustain you. Only you know how much you need to survive at any given time. Alternatively, target ruthlessly, either by offering a superior, needed product, more niche know-how, or find some other angle where there is untapped demand. Be prepared to prove your worth by providing case studies describing how you've solved people's business problems in the past. Got any other tips for those starting out? It would be great if you can share what you know :)

We've discussed in the past about how our brand is "everything we do". As an SEO provider, business owner, or service provider, your brand is more than your logo, website and advertising. It's also what you say, what you do, how you act, and how you treat people. Today, let's look at the benefits of using fairness as a way to add value to your brand. The Importance Of Reciprocation We all know about "win-win" deals. The best deals leave enough on both sides of the deal so both parties can prosper. A deal where one party takes all and the other party gets very little isn't desirable for many reasons, one being it just isn't fair. Rational business theory often overlooks this point. If a client "wins" by screwing you down to the very last cent, and concludes the deal, then supposedly everything should now proceed through to delivery and conclusion. But humans are emotional. The aggrieved SEO is hardly going to act like a true partner. More likely, they'll look to reciprocate the treatment they've received. What is the cost of negative reciprocation? We are social animals. If someone treats us well, and is fair, we feel we should treat them likewise. If someone screws us over - well - they can't expect us to give 110%. What they can likely expect is negative reciprocation, which can manifest itself in many different ways. It's not quite "revenge", but such ill-feeling can end up costing a lot more than any savings the customer made on the deal. The same is true of your customers. The Process Of Fairness It is important that your dealings with customers be: Fair Transparent Honest If you commit to being fair, and be seen to be fair, you can still get more out of the deal than the other party - win-win deals don't need to be, and most often aren't, 50/50 - but the other party is unlikely to resent you for it if they feel the process by which the deal was arrived at was a fair one. Psychological studies have shown people often care more about how a decision was arrived at, rather than what the final decision actually was. Fairness of the process colors people's perception of the outcome. What Does It Mean To "Be Fair"? Be seen to be fair in the eyes of the person you're dealing with. This can be difficult to make concrete, but if you don't have a genuine intention to be be fair, you almost certainly won't achieve it. In practice, it means not making arbitrary decisions, listening to all parties and considering their view. It also means making making the rules transparent. A game where only one party knows the rules breeds resentment. An outcome should be reached where each party can see each step taken, and why it was taken. People may not even like the outcome, but they are much less likely to reciprocate in a negative manner if they feel they have been treated fairly, in a fair process. A sense of fairness runs very deep in our psyche- it's tied up with ego, self-respect, status and recognition. This attitude of fairness can run across all aspects of business, not just in deal making and sales. It also applies to customer service. If a customer highlights a problem, how do you react? Do you see it as an opportunity to build brand? Do you seek an outcome that will advantage only you, or do you aim to arrive at a fair outcome for all? I'd wager aiming for the fair outcome is the better long-term bet. But what happens if a customer is being unfair to you? Of course, this can and does happen. Some people will take advantage. Again, seek to make the process fair and transparent, even though they might not like the outcome you seek. Hard But Fair Yes, yes - this all sounds very nice, but it's a shark-fest out there! That may be so, but you can still play hard whilst also using fair process. You've heard the phrase "hard but fair". The fairness makes the "hardness" acceptable. "Hard and unfair" tends to result in lawyers. In this respect, a fair process itself can add value, rather than destroying it by incurring extra costs. Brand And Fairness Proctor & Gamble have an internal set of "Ten Commandments" and the very first commandment is "Do The Right Thing". Their employees must demonstrate" rectitude, integrity and fairness". Sure, all companies say that, but the companies that actually do it build stronger on-going relationships, and strong brands. Do you return to companies who you felt treat you unfairly? Your brand incorporates relationships with all those who you deal with, and may of those people you'll deal with over and over again. Great brands aren't just about the outcomes they achieve. They are also about how the process by which they achieve those outcomes, and if that process adds emotional value, as opposed to destroying it - by being seen to be fair - then your brand becomes stronger.

Why Popular People May Seem Negative to Some I was chatting with a friend today about one of our projects and he mentioned how he stopped liking a few other internet marketers recently due to their negativity. Him stating that gave me a bit of internal reflection, and I think it comes down to a few things... When people get from a certain level of success to say 5x or 10x, many may feel guilty about making the money and become negative about others to justify their own behaviors (after all, in *many* cases, when you grow income beyond a certain level it can require either moral flexibility and/or the ability to sharply change your internal values). Some people forget where they came from and become arrogant. Market forces force you to value your time. If you don't the market will set it at $0. And so (the people they used to help for free) they now tell to screw off simply because their time is valued more and they keep having less of it to spread around to a larger pool of people. This is also a learned behavior because the neediest people are often the laziest, rudest, and least appreciative. If a person is not willing to pay you for your time they simply DO NOT VALUE IT. That third point is worth thinking through from an economic perspective. The law of marginal utility states that the first x is worth more than the second x (be it Dollars, hours of free time, video games, pieces of food, etc). But if you are becoming abundant in one resource (cash) and scarce in another (time) the impact on the required rate of conversion is multiplied...not only is your time worth more, but even at a higher price you still have less of it to spread around. I look to pass off some consulting projects I would have loved to have done years ago just because I have no time. (Or perhaps I lack the creativity to be able to derive sufficient yield from those projects). And, at the same time, in spite of having plenty of money to hire them I have been rejected as a potential customer. Rejection sucks, but trying to please everyone is a sure path to failure. What is Popularity? In Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody he described popularity as basically being an imbalance between the attention you garner and the attention you can give the market. Sure you can reach out to a few dozen people. A few hundred? Maybe. Thousands? Not a chance. You Can Never Give Enough In this interview Bob Dylan talks about how he can never do enough, and how the media distorts a lot of what he does in a negative frame: On a micro-level, consider how a person who suddenly became popular may have been happy (and excited) to do an interview or 2 felt after about a dozen AOL robo-reporters contacted them in a single day. Suddenly it doesn't feel as exclusive, important, or exciting. Wait a week or 2 and see that 90% of the interviews they did never got published and it feels at best wasteful. And people who are popular (even in small niches) have people try to give them false complements and try to goad them into doing free work. That is part of the reason I love our current business model. I can respond with "Great question. Feel free to ask that in the member forums!" It not so subtly tells them that if they value my time they are welcome to it, and if not then they are not. Does the above always work out perfectly? Not always. I have been told I was rude from people who had questions about things with our site (and were alleged potential customers) but most of them were from people who were too lazy to read the publicly accessible information BEFORE trying to dip into my time. If someone needs a lot of your time to become a customer they are not likely to become a customer. And if you sell consulting then they are likely going to waste a lot of your time if/when they actually become a customer (as they will be the type of person who reads nothing, ignores responses, and has about 40 questions in their first day). *(Perhaps the only exception to that is large slow moving corporations which need a sign off from many people. But even then I never do RFPs just because it means you are being shopped and they are not serious about hiring you). Just a Quick Question ... (or 10) You have to filter or else you are valuing your time at nothing. This is especially true if you run a small company and have heavy load on yourself day in and day out. The big issue with email (especially with non-customers) is that you can never give enough. Even if you give your time away for nothing many of them try to use the "just one more quick question" approach. A recent freeloader asked "what do you recommend for an internet business?" and my response was "sell your time and expertise to people who value it enough to pay for it, and forget the rest of em." And he got the message :D But while mentioning the above about the perceived negativity of some other internet marketers to a friend, I wrote "the thing is, if we didn't chat and you didn't see me helping on the forums and just read my blog, sometimes I would sound quite negative right?" A person who read the last dozen blog posts but didn't know the background context on Mahalo would certainly think that way. But those posts were made out of love for the industry. You just need to share the love to understand it. ;) Deciding what goes where bit is also where selling information becomes tricky. There are tips worth 3, 4, 5, or even 6 figures (based on results) that have been shared in our community. And I have also shared many such tips on the blog here too. But it is tricky to figure out what to post where. You want to post enough publicly to maintain relevancy and audience and awareness, but you want to keep a lot of your best tips private so the people who are paying you get far more than their money's worth. That is the only way to keep subscribers happy. And it is far more efficient to keep current subscribers happy than it is to churn through a ton of members & hunt for more. It is amazingly hard to have enough time to keep learning, come up with original stuff, and keep adding value in a saturated marketplace for a few months straight. And it is infinitely harder to do it for close to a decade. But we try our best, in spite of the fact that expectations from us and pressure on us never lower. When Doing Charity Work... Once you go from helping everyone because you think you have to & feel it is your duty ... to a person who realizes 95% of people are useless (and won't even listen to the advice they claim to NEED, but need for free) ... well it makes you more cynical when helping the needy and resource-less, and keeps you focused on productively spending your time on the 5% who do matter :D There is a large segment of people who think they can act like dirtbags just because you are a small business, but trying to help those types of people will just pull you down rather than lifting them up. Their lack of perceived value in others is a reflection of an internal perceived lack of value. The best marketing techniques are often a reflection of the passion of a business owner. Its very hard to make a career out of providing marketing services to people who lack self-esteem (unless perhaps you are selling a get rich quick package). The fact that you cant help everyone forces you to filter. And if you want to do charity work you may as well monetize your time at market rate then use some of that income to feed a bunch of poor children in the third world, rather than give your time away to pikers who don't value it. Insecurity / Peter Principal Many people who are successful are not any smarter or more gifted than everyone else. They are not superheros. In most cases they just work harder and are more focused. Timing helps too. And in some cases if people become popular too quickly they may fear that their reputation has got ahead of them. Any time they interact with others is some level of risk of being exposed. And if they interact with people quickly and hastily then those people will be far more likely to misquote them or try to tear them apart...so sometimes it is better to be non-responsive than to respond, especially when the opportunity offers little to no upside to counterbalance the associated risks. A relevant example: Bullying Freetards One time a guy on Twitter complained about our conversion flow and he was too lazy to click the "don't show again" link on a pop up...while being too lazy to click that link he was willing to go to the length to write a feature attack post on his blog. Another time on Twitter a girl threatened that she would no longer recommend our site because we require people to set up accounts to download our free tools. I explained that the email option is primarily so we could give the people who would potentially care to convert another path / chance to. But she stated that I needed to state what all promotions I intend to email for the next x months/years upfront to collect an email. Meanwhile you can't buy a server from her company without going through multiple high pressure sales calls with multiple final offers, etc. Freetards *always* demand more transparency from you then they provide themselves (or offer at their place of employment). After reading a post on why I thought making Google Chrome SEO extensions was a bad idea that would cost me money while providing 0 yield one guy wrote a blog post about how evil I am for only offering Firefox extensions. He then explained how he thought all SEO stuff should be free. Meanwhile he is a programmer who has done exactly nothing useful for the SEO industry and has already heavily wrapped his blog in cheesy ads, promoting some of the very paid tools he stated should be free ... (and the ads were often promoting the scammiest end of the market, too). Summary Lots of great things are free. And its awesome that there are so many cheap or free options. But figuring out how to combine them all into something profitable is valuable. Having the courage to invest heavily (in marketing, in education, in content, etc.) is crucial in a market saturated by noise. Food and rent are not free, and neither is our time (when you consider that we all eventually perish). When some people filter out noise they may be seen as negative, but in most cases if you were in their shoes you would probably do the same things they do.* ;) * Except for the cheesy mo-money rapper photos. Nobody likes that crap. NOBODY

Relevancy is a good thing. It makes search and the world more efficient. Many attempts at relevancy, like search is getting more social, may just create more noise. But computers are getting better at understanding language is a good thing "our measurements show that synonyms affect 70 percent of user searches across the more than 100 languages Google supports." But it seems each increase in relevancy justifies additional increases in irrelevancy to increase monetization. 'Accidental' Hijacking Each individual piece sounds useful and helpful, but the end effect (and goal) is hijacking and misdirecting traffic to display more ads. Search companies are hijacking publisher content to offer "answers" right in the search results, while testing displaying full images in the image search results. Even when you claim your own business listing, Google will show your customers recommendations of other competing businesses on your business profile page. One of the best advertising based business models is extortion. And while the sum of the pieces may amount to that, certain ad networks are clever in how they tie it all together to *appear* innocent, even when acting like a shark. What does a spam site do? Scrape content, misdirect visitors, and hope to get an ad click. Look at the above sequence through the same lens. It is the same thing - eeeeeeeeeevil. SEO is Evil, Except When I Am Selling It!!!! And yet a lot of the largest online spam publishers / scraper websites are taking a page out of Google's book...call SEO professionals scammers selling snake oil, while building search arbitrage businesses based on stealing third party content and wrapping it in ads. Perhaps the goal of charlatan douchebags like Dave Sifry and Jason Calacanis are to promote the Google anti-SEO public relations messaging in hoping that Google will not burn their sites to the ground. It may well work. A popular SEO figure who sold a content management system based on cloaking mentioned at a secret meeting amongst Google's spam team and top SEOs that he loves turning in spammers. If he didn't promote Google's misinformed view he probably wouldn't get away with a business model built on cloaking. What are Technorati and Mahalo but glorified scraper websites? And yet to promote such trash they claim to be search evangelists fighting for the purity of the search results (while they scrape scrape scrape). While publicly those people trash SEO, they sell SEO services, and a friend told me that they are even using high pressure telemarketing and email spam to pitch "services" ... one such message I was forwarded stated: Thanks for taking the time to review our new and improved demo. I'm glad you liked it and I'm forwarding you the PowerPoint version for you to truly experience the animation. Once you've distributed to the right parties I can always hop on a quick call to go through the demo really quick to really emphasize the value as an SEO component which is what the end result really is. Along the way you reap the benefits of having great content, a social media platform that all work to SEO and drive traffic. So even if up front the value is hard to fit into the normal SEO purchase, think of it as SEO with bells and whistles. And as long as Google continues to rank the main scraper websites from such companies, that provides the proof of value which sells the garbage content to big brands. And so the above pitch was made by you-know-who, and Demand Media is going to start selling content to old media sites "One example Kydd mentioned was Demand’s partnership with the travel section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which, like most newspapers, is strapped for cash." Quick question: what is to prevent Demand Media from partnering with hundreds of such media sites to leverage the combination of cheap labor, keyword earnings data, the media site's PageRank, and really just doing some serious damage to the search results? Unless the trend is altered, within 3 years almost any midtail to longtail keyword of value will have at least 7 of the top 10 results recycling the same poorly researched semi-legible informationless information. All of the top Google search results say it is true. SO IT MUST BE!!! AOL made a slight profit this past year and they are scaling a similar "content" business model, pushing tons of robo reporters to conduct flavor of the minute interviews. Who Does This Hurt? searchers who may presume stuff in the search results is factually correct publishers which actually do real research and ensure their content is factually correct individual artists and authors who are experts but who are not hype driven & not self promotional enough to outrank dumbed down rewrites of their content heavily wrapped in Google ads Recently there was an article about how fremium often does not work as well as advertised and the NYT highlighted Jaron Lanier's take on the online social contract: “The basic idea of this contract,” he writes, “is that authors, journalists, musicians and artists are encouraged to treat the fruits of their intellects and imaginations as fragments to be given without pay to the hive mind. Reciprocity takes the form of self-promotion. Culture is to become precisely nothing but advertising.” The above has been highlighted many times on this blog, but its damage has been far faster and far more widespread than even I anticipated. Since Google is scraping so much CitySearch content, CitySearch felt the need to become a distributed content & ad network to remain relevant. Strategic Advertising Fraud Many solid publishers are getting lost in the ad mix: The lingering effects of the economic recession, coupled with an expanding supply of efficient, and highly targeted online advertising networks, is reshaping the way big advertisers and agencies perceive the value of online media outlets. The result has been a pronounced polarization of the online advertising marketplace, with perceived demand rising for both the high-end of the most premium publishers and the low-end of ad networks and aggregators. This has caused perceived advertising value for the muddled middle of the marketplace - all but the most premium publishing sites, and the major online portals like AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo - to erode, as the ad industry focuses its attention on the top and the bottom players. Those ad networks are (of course) full of fraudulent distribution which helps make them seem cheaper than they are, while leeching off the legitimate publishers and driving down CPM rates on legitimate media. Click fraud has hurt the Google network's image, but a lot of it was isolated incidents from amateurs. While Yahoo! search got killed by fraud, Google still did pretty well. But as Demand Media saturates their site the returns lower and they are in need of more links to get more "content" indexed. And so they are promoting a business model based on incentivized publishing, which includes both "The more high quality links to your article there are on the web, the more highly a search engine will rank it" and "Your family and friends are probably curious about what you are writing anyway. Send them links and invite them to take a look!" Given that those author's articles are hidden in the bowels of a large site (and that they are already being encouraged to build exposure), how big of a jump is it to assume that some of them will search for this or this? How many of them will create unofficial click rings? How many will ask friends to click an ad while they view it? How will Google be able to detect such activity given the big smokescreen such a large site provides? They can't. The Shifting Moat As online ad networks become more polluted will that finally push brands into investing in top social media sites? Yes a lot of social media is seedy...but, increasingly, the "content" websites are not looking much better. Who does the rise of content scrapers help? Those who are involved in the manufacturing of bulk misinformation, search companies which pay people to steal content and wrap it in their ads, and those who sell subscription content (well, up until some of the above outfits buy subscriptions to those sites to re-write and dumb down the content). In some markets (where the market leader is clear and obvious and oftenly referenced on the garbitrage websites) the backfill junk content might also help develop a competitive moat between the top brands and weaker competitors. It might also help some people involved in analytics, as more businesses need to squeeze every ounce of profit to stay alive. Success from scratch in many polluted markets will require more grit, more scars, and better differentiation. As robotic content fills the search results, people will likely gravitate toward the expression of emotions. At the same time some employers are trying to prevent employees from having the opportunity to get their hands dirty, leaving an opportunity for competing businesses who want the additional exposure.

Today I get to interview one of my favorite reads in the SEO blogoshpere, Andrew Shotland. Andrew runs the Local SEO Guide blog and has graciously taken some of his time to share with us his thoughts on Local SEO. 1. You have an enjoyable, albeit unique, writing style. Lots of people write about things worth reading but much of what they write, or how the present it at least, makes it pretty forgettable. How much has your style helped you in acquiring and keeping visitors to your site, landing clients? With the blog I just try to be myself and talk about what I think is interesting - and let's face it local search, while often interesting, is not always interesting - so if I need to talk about doing keyword research for personal hygiene products to get my point across, so be it. It's no different in how i interact with my clients. I think half the reason my business works is because maybe I know what I am doing and the other half is because I am totally myself with my clients/readers. While I am serious about helping my clients succeed, I try not to be too serious about much else. I have a friend who ran a pretty cool web start-up. His wife was a phd focused on the palestinian situation in gaza. I remember her asking him when he was going to stop wasting his life and do something serious. That stuck with me. I used to think building companies was a meaningful way to spend your life, and I still do, but compared to trying to solve Middle East peace problems, SEO is not exactly ghandi-type work. So you better enjoy it. 2. In reading your Local Search Predictions for 2010, I found the point about Google not allowing "agency accounts" with respect to their Local Business Center pretty interesting. I imagine it would make it harder on small businesses, who likely don't have time to manage their entire marketing campaign, to do the proper things within the LBC to make it work for them, thus make them less loyal to Google. Do you think they will eventually implement that? They do that on the Adwords side and you can give agencies access to Analytics so what is with their reluctance with LBC? Do they want to engage the business directly and cut out the middle-person? I really think they need to do this. First off, let's face it, a huge number of businesses would rather have an agency deal with their LBC account. But agencies have to trick Google into getting control of their clients' LBC accounts. It's really just ridiculous. Even worse is that there are so many businesses that have problems accessing their LBC accounts when they part ways with an agency. That's a big problem. So it would make a lot of people's lives much easier to have a system that solves these problems. That said, Google's POV on this is quite interesting. Googlers that work on LBC will tell you that the reason why many businesses would prefer an agency to manage their LBC account is not because these businesses have better things to do than figure out how to use the LBC, but rather because the LBC software design is not optimal. So if they come up with a better software design, then more businesses will use the service and there won't be a need for agencies. I like the apollo-13/mcgyver-like thinking here, but i think that flies in the face of everything I've ever experienced with how SMB's operate. So I am optimistic that we'll get some kind of agency user thing happening this year. But then again I thought health care reform would get passed in '09 so what do I know? 3. Some marketers entering the "local" scene have preconceived notions about local SEO/PPC not being worth the effort because "most small businesses are cheap, they don't want to listen, and there is no search volume anyway". How real are the concerns and was/is that something you've experienced? A. There's a ton of local search volume and Google, for one, has made big efforts to drive more web search traffic to local businesses (e.g. the 10 pack). B. A lot of small businesses are definitely gun-shy about spending $ on SEO and search in general, but they are not stupid. The past year was a real watershed moment in terms of the number of SMB's jumping on the SEO bandwagon. The number of companies selling these services has gone through the roof and there are plenty of success stories out there. So the questions from a lot of these SMB's has gone from "wtf is SEO?" to "I know i need to figure this out. How can you help me?" While it's still a tough pitch to get a lot of these smaller co's to make the investment, all I can say is that there are plenty who are willing to step up and these are the ones who get great results and then help bring their peers into the market. 4. You mentioned a lot of small business can be gun-shy from an investment standpoint. Is getting a commitment on the dollar amount you need to make the campaign work the biggest hurdle in dealing with local SEO clients? If not, what is? In my experience it's not very hard to get money out of the clients who understand the value of SEO, or at least those who understand that they need to understand the value. If they don't get it, then they are probably not worth pursuing. In my experience, the biggest challenge with these guys, big or small, is getting them to work on their sites to make sure that they are set up to convert. I am constantly surprised at businesses that know how to put together a TV or print ad that is designed to drive people into the store but don't bother to apply the same rigor to setting up their web pages. This is a big reason why so many of us in the SMB marketing world use pages other than the client's website to drive leads. 5. There are lots of places to advertise a site outside of search from a local marketing standpoint. what is your opinion on twitter, Facebook, and/or MySpace for local companies? The buzz seems to be Facebook is great for local businesses and local events, Twitter can be hit or miss, and MySpace is ehhhh. The consensus in my little corner of the search marketing world is that Facebook is the place to be these days. Lot's of cheap, highly qualified, easy-to-target traffic. I have found Twitter to be an interesting source of traffic, but you have to be pretty creative about it. You need to be a lot more socially engaged in Twitter to get a lot out of it. I think Twitter and Facebook are going to get a lot more locally-oriented over the next year so it should be fun to watch. Nothing against MySpace, but it's not really a factor in my work. 6. Have you experienced any discernible difference between using the free listings vs paid listings/premium services on some of the big IYP's you mentioned in your Top IYP's for SEO 2009 post like Citysearch, Yelp, etc? one of the biggest opportunities for local businesses is to understand how to optimize not just for Google, yahoo & Bing, but also for the big IYP's the traffic that comes from these sites is uber-qualified and most of the time businesses that are advertising on these sites usually just set it and forget it. if you learn how to optimize your ad on say yellowpages.com, you can probably get just as much if not more business than from a well placed Google maps listing. for some of these sites there's no discernible benefit to having a paid v. free listing, but for a few of the biggies, the paid listings allow you to manipulate your listing so that you can better optimize for the site's internal search as well as for Google 7. What is the best way you find for targeting local keywords, since keyword tools aren't so good at it? Checking the popular variations of broader terms and tacking on local modifiers or just jumping right into Adwords upfront when you take on a client? Adwords is really the best way to test if there is traffic for a locally modified keyword, but of course most SMB's would rather not spend the $ to figure that out. Most RBB's (Really Big Businesses) won't spend the bucks to figure this out either so why should the little guys be any different? That said, I have done enough of these projects for both big and small local search clients that I have a pretty good handle on what the queries are like for the big categories. And once you have done one in a market, the variation from market to market is usually not too big so you can kind of cookie cutter it a bit for those clients in new markets that don't want to invest the time/money to test. This will likely cover 90% of the good queries. --- Thanks a bunch Andrew, great stuff as usual. To read more about Andrew and get more great local SEO tips and techniques please visit and subscribe to his blog over at LocalSeoGuide.Com

Mark Cuban recently talked about how search engines and content aggregators are vampires. There is no reason to be indexed in Google. ... You haven’t gotten anything back But he failed to disclose how his Mahalo investment loots content. If Google is a vampire (while sending away billions of Dollars of traffic for free) then what does that make Mahalo (which borrows your titles and abstracts as content to pull search traffic into their ad cluttered pages pages, while placing your content below the fold (while using nofollow on attribution links))? Is the following accurate? If you think otherwise, then please explain. ;) Danny Sullivan TORE UP Mark Cuban in a must read article which only Danny could have wrote. It is well worth a read for anyone who wants to understand the hypocrisy behind the Mahalo position on content scraping / vampiring.

HOPE is perhaps the single most lucrative thing to sell. There are so many people in need of direction, while so few actually want to do the work required to achieve the end goal. Thus many scammers sell the end result up front while glossing over the hard work required to get there. I was over at a friend's house in the bathroom and saw a copy of "Your Infinite Power to be Rich" sitting on the floor & flipped open to a random page...page 102 THE UNIVERSAL BANK A salesman needed an automobile for his new job, but he had no money with which to purchase one. However, he knew how to draw a check on his mental bank. He told me that after he got the job, he went back to his room and formed the mental image of the car he wanted, with the positive certainty that it would be given him. ... He struck up an acquaintance with another man in his apartment house who was going to Europe for six months and who said to him, "use my car until I return, and by that time you will be able to buy a car of your own." If you ever read crap like the above please make sure to burn it, as it is useless. Anything that requires you to close your eyes while listening to a marketer should make you assume they are preparing to work on another one of your orifices. Many people who become rich are still unsatisfied by material possessions. And they often let the important things around them fall apart because they are too singularly focused. Irrational Tweet From a Rich Man A couple years ago a somewhat well known VC wanted to invest in us, but we had a bad gut feeling right from the get go. Fast forward to December of 2009 and the guy who did that was Tweeting about a hate site he made for his wife, who he is now going through the divorce process with. Not once, but something crazy like a half dozen times. And in between these Tweets he is Tweeting... asking if anyone knows a bulldog divorce lawyer about his new self published book which contains the word Peace in its title how he needs some new executives for some projects Who is the desired audience there? I mean after a person knows you will put up a hate site for your own wife, that you would be the type to sick bulldog lawyers on them, and that while you are doing so you are talking about Peace and are trying to recruit business partners ***in the same channel*** Crazy irrational. But that is what happens when people are emotionally charged and lack balance. Greed is justified by more greed and nothing else matters. But what is the end goal? You can't take money to your grave* *Even the king of pop's gold plated casket only cost $25,000. The Caustic Effects of Get Rich Quick Marketers Ryan Healy recently pulled back the curtains on many internet marketing gurus, the lawsuits amongst them, and the general damage they inflict onto the market. Fake retirements used to cloak legal restraining orders against certain business practices, not paying affiliates, credit cards shutting down payment processors, etc etc etc. The people who sell the image of the perfect lifestyle to suckers are the exact same people doing business deals with "partners" in the court room and going through divorce...something so scary sounding that I couldn't imagine it. If you are already drowning in cash, but can't be honest with yourself and your loved ones, then why the need for a few more Dollars? What will they buy? Some hookers and a few STDs? The Big Banks Are Just as Bad This sort of crap happens at all levels though. It is so ingrained that many people just assume that if you make a lot of money you must be criminal or doing something morally reprehensible. And from an affiliate perspective, when you look at the market segments that pay the most it is often the seediest ones (or the ones that are propped up by systemic fraud). A few years ago the mortgage market would pay a lot for leads because that is where the systemic fraud was. Exhibit A: 2004, CNN.com - FBI warns of mortgage fraud 'epidemic' Exhibit B: Imagine if you had key market insights and could trade on unreleased government information. A guaranteed source of easy profit exploited by some (especially when those people in government used to work for your company). And yet it is not enough. They need to steal more. There is a sickness in society that stems from our broken model of capitalism & materialism...where the central bankers flat out lie/cheat/steal to make even more money. A nice take on it: Despite the housing bust and financial crisis, very many of the people whose poor choices generated the housing bubble would make the same choices over again if circumstances repeat. Many industry participants, even those whose firms eventually went bust, were very well remunerated for their poor practices and, whatever their regrets, they kept the money. No one wants to create a catastrophe. But financial professionals want to remain free to make money in the ways that they know, and those are not good ways. In July of 2007 former Citi CEO Charles Prince said, "As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing." And now that those people crashed the economy, the opportunity is to sell get rich quick at home doing nothing in your underwear overnight guaranteed. And there is money to be made in helping you fix your credit (since the above mentioned criminal elite class got a free pass while stealing your money and devaluing your savings while robbing the country blind). Time vs Character In an environment where such bubbles are core to the economy there is a lot of uncertainty. What is the best strategy? Who should I trust? One of the best strategies I have found is simply time. Give a shady person enough time and they will reveal their character (divorcing their wife over money, etc). Granted I haven't always been perfect (and especially not when I was in the military), but you can't find many (any?) blog posts about me ripping someone off. Likewise with the people I look up to. Where is it shown that Seth Godin or Eric Janszen or Danny Sullivan took someone for a ride? Nowhere. In spite of a a decade+ of experience. Every day there is an opportunity to max short term revenues or long term staying power. Each choice and each interaction is somewhere on a continuum. Focus too much on short term revenues and a lot of the things that set you apart disappear. One of the things Google does with their relevancy algorithms is to trust older and more established websites. You can fake a lot of things, but it is a bit harder (or more expensive) to fake age. And age is what sets apart a lot of the legitimate businesses from the above listed "entrepreneurs" who only need time to reveal their character. Business vs Base Jumping? Starting a business is a lot like more like base jumping than it is just following a hope map. Most the stuff you do won't work, but you only need to stay in one piece until you safely reach the ground. Sure you must have hope to get through the bad patches, but you also are forced to constantly improve to keep up with the market. Which is why a site called SEOBook.com sells an SEO training program (rather than an ebook) in 2010. ;) Here is one of the secrets in plain sight that the opportunistic types rarely show you. That was the growth of search volume last year. STILL over 20%! Years ago my mentor told me that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. In the longrun thin won't win, but (so long as you care) you can start off bad on low volume and get somewhere pretty quick when your field is growing at a 20%+ rate. And if you are new to the field you should be able to grow faster than the market because many business inputs have multiplier effects. You increase your growth geometrically as you learn to optimize your traffic flow increase your knowledge increase the value of your knowledge refine your strategy refine your product or service improve your conversion rates Slow and steady isn't sexy. And it doesn't sell well. But it works. :) A further benefit to slow incremental growth is that as you grow your tribe and focus on their needs your customers become salesmen...helping attract more people just like them. And these are people who are pre-sold on what you have to offer, and why it is valuable. To a jaded audience testimonials from friends are far more valuable than sales copy. And almost everyone gets screwed into buying junk at least once before they find you. Sales copy will likely push the quick returns no matter what (because that is what people want), but pay special attention to if someone is trying to use an aura of mystique on a brand new discovery as a marketing angle, while having little history. If they don't have much history the odds of buying a bag of smoke are much greater. And if the recommendation comes with a big loud launch sequence then the chance of it being crap are even greater. And even if it starts out pure, the aim to "optimize" revenues at any cost often causes many partnerships to dissolve. Starting off slow and steady keeps things balanced and prepares you for growth. Why Heavily Hyped Launches Are Often a Bad Idea Wealth that comes quickly and easily often disappears the same way. Everyone has their hands in the cookie jar of success until the cookies are all gone. When you are new to a market there are so many things to learn, refine and improve. Typically customers driven by hype are the most demanding (because an affiliate often oversells the product to get the commission) and the least qualified to succeed (since they want to rule the world in a day). The customers sold on a whole lot of hype and a whole lot of hope are basically set up to fail, trying to go too far too fast. They tend to buy on impulse, lack follow through, have a far higher rate of churn, a far higher rate of refund requests, and a far higher rate of chargebacks. Further, every piece of a business can be optimized - from choosing who you want your customer to be, to who you don't want it to be, to what types of interactions to build, to what prices to charge, to balancing time spent on servicing customers vs growth, etc etc etc ... right on through to managing your personal load and fixing programming bugs (when we first launched our membership site the programmer made it such that if a person canceled they couldn't rejoin (even if the cancelation was due to an expired or stolen credit card))! But if you keep accepting feedback and incrementally improving you prepare yourself for heavy load by the time you build it. Whereas a pull the cord and hope this works approach with lots of hype will almost always lead to disappointment and frustration. You probably want to test the equipment before jumping off the mountain :D Even if the claims about non-payment in this lawsuit are NOT correct, it doesn't make a business look professional if they have publicly accessible lawsuits claiming that the fulfillment partner of choice is incompetent. Long after the launches details leak out and experiences are shared. And that is what builds your reputation...good or bad. The slow and steady growth model offers time to fix errors and refine strategy. The launch and hope model doesn't.

Publicly Jason claims to be ignorant about SEO because it allows him moral flexibility and makes Google less likely to torch his site (even though he is blatantly violating their search quality guidelines, and has for *years*). But when you look at the sales material that Mahalo pitches to corporations, in the 19 page PDF reads like an à la carte menu of SEO services, rather than sales material from a company ignorant of of SEO. It includes a slide which highlights how well Mahalo Answers questions rank in Google titled "SEO value," as well as the following statements (followed by my comments): Questions are imported from Partners’ Answers Community into Mahalo Answers, enabling 100% share of voice and high SEO value. (filling Google with duplicate content) Category Selection Based on Keyword Intelligence and Customer Goals (doing keyword research, an SEO service) Community seeded with high-value questions and answers (does the word "seeded" mean asking fake questions?) By carefully policing the site, Mahalo keeps out inappropriate content, thus increasing engagement and utility. (no mention of the half million+ pages indexed in Google which contained scraped 3rd party content?) We can help our partners increase their search engine rankings with these high quality pages. (that is the actual text from their slide titled "HowTo") Mahalo’s team of editors will find the most highly-trafficked search terms and keywords for your brand, industry or product and build corresponding high-quality pages that will rank well. (isn't that exactly what "scummy" SEO companies do Jason?) Given that Mahalo is now branded as an SEO play (in their own words), and that they scrape millions of content listings to publish on their pages, are creating tons of other duplicate content, have actively engaged in link farming, and are not above "seeding" questions based on keyword value, why should Google trust *any* of their business practices going forward? Especially when their SEO services enterprise was launched on the back of calling SEOs scumbags. How can the Google web spam team members look themselves in the mirror each morning hunting smaller webmasters and ignoring operations like Mahalo? It must begin to feel arbitrary at some point, no?

I was talking to a friend yesterday who was at a conference where Demand Media's CEO spoke, and he stated that nobody asked the big question: "what if google decides they don't like you anymore?" Then I got thinking about how Google torched Squidoo after Jason Calacanis went on his public campaign to rebrand it as spam. But today under the same level of scrutiny, how is Mahalo (which scrapes millions of 3rd party content listings *without any editorial filter*) not spam? Squidoo at least donates $10,000 a month to charity. Mahalo just "borrows" your content without permission and keeps all the cash. In the past Google hated content scrapers pretty bad. How bad? Well a guy named Teeceo used to make scraper sites, and here is how Matt Cutts described his work: In the chat room, I said hello to teeceo, but I know the stuff that he was doing and it’s shoot-on-sight. I think anyone who is blackhat knows (or should know) that I’m happy to talk to anyone, but that we’ll still take action on the spam we find. Imagine taking that approach to hunting search spam all day long, and then ignoring the *fact* that Mahalo is scraping millions of third party listings and using them as content with no editorial filtering. Then I started thinking about why the Google spam team could ignore something as outrageous as Mahalo, especially when it was built by a guy who was a false anti-spam evangelist. Is it because Jason is a good guy? No. Is it because there is some actual editorial vetting of the content? no. Is it because Google is getting a cut of the AdSense revenues? Google doesn't need the short term cash flow (look at all the affiliate AdWords advertisers they just torched), so that is too cynical of a view. Yes Google wants display inventory (their biggest opportunity for 2010 according to the quarterly call), and these "content" websites have already given themselves over to Google as inventory. But it must be something deeper than that. So I started thinking about it from a longterm strategic level... Google won't penalize sites like Mahalo (even though they blatantly violate Google's guidelines) because Google *wants* to use the works of companies like Mahalo, Demand Media, and Aol to lower the value of other content and bankrupt a lot of the traditional media companies. Why would Google want to do that? There is excessive duplication in the marketplace. The faster that duplication is driven out of the marketplace the more desperate companies will be to cut deals with Google. And while there is a down market Google can drive companies out of the market and just claim that it was the economy that did it (much like how Mahalo used the down economy as an excuse to fire most of their editorial staff and replace them with content scraping robots). Once a lot of media companies are bankrupted, the market is far more efficient, and there are fewer mouths to feed, that means Google can squeeze greater profits margins out of the media ecosystem by getting a fatter cut of the ad revenue. Currently this shift is risk free because almost nobody understands how the marketplace works. Sure Paul Kedrosky and Mike Arrington blogged about the search results getting spammier, but until you frequently read the above listed sequence on sites outside of the SEO industry there is no damage to the Google brand in them turning the internet into a cesspool. Once it starts harming the Google brand then I suspect them to act quickly and decisively. And sites like Mahalo will see a sharp drop in traffic. Jason better milk it while he can. The clock is ticking.

Posted by randfishDespite being a seemingly simple topic, this one seems to stymie even experienced SEOs. There's a natural conflict that creates the issue - the more keywords you target on a single page, the less you need to link build and optimize (for both search engines and user experience/conversion rate) on many pages. To answer this question in a logical and truly optimal fashion, you need to start with the answer to two other important questions: How many of these keywords carry the same visitor intent? How competitive are the targeted terms/phrases? When you answer the first question, you'll be able to break up lists of keyword terms into buckets of "intent." Searches are almost always intended to discover information or take action. If there are too many pieces of information/actions you need to provide on a single page, your conversion will drop. Remember that a 10% conversion rate for position #10 is better than a 0.5% conversion rate for position #1 (assuming the avgs. from the leaked AOL data cited below). NOTE: This data is from averages via AOL's data release in 2007. New numbers have not been forthcoming from any of the engines or third-party studies. For the second question, you need to know something about the competition levels. In a scenario where every shred of keyword usage matters a great deal, from the anchor text focus to the keyword being employed at the very start of the title tag, breaking up keyword targeting to multiple pages can make a great deal of sense. If you're deep into research on this topic, you can do something like the image below, where I've taken stats and metrics for all of the top 25 ranking pages for the query "broadway tickets" on Google.com and run analysis: NOTE: data in this graph via Open Site Explorer's Backlink Analysis If a keyword is highly competitive, I suggest single page targeting. This is not only because you can maximize on-page optimization, but also because it means that internal and external links that point to the page can focus more directly on the target term/phrase. It's also likely that you'll be competing against pages that are more highly targeted on that keyword phrase and could lose out if you don't have that singular, pinpoint focus. I wrote another post on a similar topic highlighting how to format titles, meta descriptions and keyword usage on pages that aim for multi-keyword targeting that may also be of help. Look forward to your thoughts on the topic.Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by RobOusbeySearch Engine Optimization covers a huge range of tactics - all of which can bring direct benefit to a website. In this post, I've shared examples of different tactics used at different websites, and the effects that have been seen. If you're considering an SEO campaign for your site, or are trying to persuade someone else to invest in internet marketing, I hope this post will help demonstrate the potential of internet marketing. The post includes real screen shots from Google Analytics (click any of them to enlarge) but the sites and data have been anonymized. Target Your Target Terms Remember that post about building a page with perfect keyword targeting? SEOmoz wasn't kidding around. A website that sells homewares had issues with site structure and on-page targeting. Their category level pages were at subdomains such as http://kitchenequipment.sitename.com or http://livingrooms.sitename.com whilst each sub-category was back on the main subdomain at: www.sitename.com/find_product2.asp?url1=living+room&url2=rugs+and+carpets Category and sub-category pages had a distinct lack of semantic HTML or term targeting. Getting appropriate H1 tags onto each page was a quick job, improving title tag structure took a bit longer, clean & friendly URLs and internal links with appropriate anchor text were also added. The site saw ranking improvements across the board, which brought new traffic through head, mid and long tail terms. Can you guess when the changes were made? ;-) Getting sorted in Google Local Before getting into the nitty-gritty of ranking factors for Local Search, dead simple tactics, etc, it's important to get the basics right. A large chain of restaurants created a 'bulk upload' file with the correct data for each one of their locations. After uploading the file, they applied for it to be reviewed and 'whitelisted'. Local data that's been uploaded by the business owner and whitelisted is treated as authoritatively as locations that have been manually verified by postcard. Despite various issues (Google's best practice guidelines still aren't quite the best solution in some cases) the traffic generated by visibility in Local Search has been significant and valuable. (The uploads were verified in late November when the traffic begins its steady rise.) Architecture of Change A current affairs magazine wanted to get more from their website. Because of falling advertising revenue, the publication was at risk of being closed down. They'd seen some growth from SEO already, but wanted to prove that the website had greater value. Although the site had a good brand and some great content, it suffered from similar problems to many news-type websites, including badly archived content, duplicate issues and a CMS that hampered keyword targeting or promoting individual articles. Recommendations were made to improve the site's architecture and migrate to the new structure. The effect of the changes was immediate growth which took the organic traffic to 257% in three months. A month later, the magazine's owner explained that the falling revenue from print advertising meant that they couldn't continue to lose money publishing the mag, and closed it down. Hook, Line, Sinker An office cleaning company wanted to improve the profile of their site through SEO. Amongst other tactics, a member of staff spent a day writing a 'linkbait' post to publish on their blog. This generated huge amounts of traffic from social media sites (dwarfing their regular daily visitors) and was subsequently linked to from dozens of sites. This post, along with other content published on the site to attract links, helped the site grow in strength and authority, and it now ranks position 3 for 'office cleaning' in their country. Paid In Full This is SEOmoz, but I'd like to share a graph from a PPC colleague working on a site that sells scooters. They were initially bidding on very broad terms (scooter, scooters, buy a scooter, etc) but the campaign was adjusted to target more long tail terms, including descriptions, specifications, etc. Over a period of around six weeks, the cost per click was reduced by 30% and the more targeted traffic converted increasingly well - this allowed the site owners to increase their ad budget and generated more sales than their paid search campaign ever had before. If you're new to SEOmoz and this post has inspired you to get involved in search marketing for your site, do browse the site for the PRO & free SEO guides and the SEO blog. If you're a regular, do share any stories you're particularly proud of in the comments.Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by randfishThis week, despite still being seriously under the weather (see this week's sad WB Friday), I flew down to SMX West to speak on the Link Building Strategies panel. Although I'd wanted to put more work in and deliver a better presentation, I received some very kind words afterward and requests from folks to share the deck via the blog. Before I embed the actual deck, though, I need to provide some context (as this isn't a wholly self-explanatory presentation). Link building has, classically, been a tactic slapped on to a marketing campaign or website post-launch. I believe that those companies/sites that treat link acquisition as an afterthought, rather than building it into the product, will always lose out to those who treat link building strategically. In the deck below, I walk through a number of examples of sites, primarily startups, that have done this. These include: Twitter - every user of Twitter has an incentive to link to their profile so more people will follow them. This is also true of sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, DeviantArt, Etsy & others Vimeo - nearly everyone who uses Vimeo appreciates the beautiful aesthetic they've created. The embeddable versions of Vimeo videos look and feel more professional and high quality than nearly any other player, hence they get embedded (a lot). This embed action automatically drives links back to the video on Vimeo's site, Vimeo's homepage and the user's profile, all with targeted anchor text. Urbanspoon - not only do they give badges to restaurants like Yelp and have started an online reservations system like OpenTable, Urbanspoon also features reviews from bloggers and foodies, who are then incentivized to promote their inclusion on the site. Last.fm - the widgets users embed on their site to share their favorite music automatically creates links back to the service. SurveyMonkey - a truly viral product (anyone who's surveyed is automatically exposed to the site), SurveyMonkey is inherently link acquisitive through the product. In order to use the service, you need to link to SurveyMonkey's site, where your form is hosted. Scribd - just look at the embed and the link below; 'nuff said. Miibeian.gov.cn - possibly the greatest link building strategy ever devised. The Chinese government requires that all websites in the country link to this site in order to operate legally; not too shabby, eh? Here's the deck: Strategic Link Building As you can see, I've put in a shameless plug for Open Site Explorer at the end. If you haven't seen the new features launched yesterday, you're missing out. Tons of the data is completely free, and top pages is just about the easiest way to find traffic and link opportunities ever built (not that I'm biased or anything). :-) Look forward to your comments about the presentation and the concept of productizing link acquisition into a site.Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by great scott!Sure, you use Twitter as a social media tool, but have you ever considered it as an SEO research tool? No? Well watch and learn this week to find out how you can harness it in a whole new way. Now that social signals (particularly Twitter) are becoming more important in the engines, they can help you pinpoint when a keyword is going to trip the 'Query Deserves Freshness' switch. If you can figure that out, you can gain a big competitive advantage by publishing fresh content in a targeted, timely manner. Rand mentions a couple of tools for using Twitter to target and time your content. One is Trendistic, which helps you see trends in Twitter; another is our very own Blogscape Social Media Monitoring prototype (inside PRO Labs), which monitors and analyzes a few million key content providers across the fresh web, including over 250,000 influential Twitter accounts.Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by Danny Dover Today I am proud to announce the launch of the second version of Open Site Explorer. Since SEOmoz has officially moved out of consulting, we are now able to put our full resources into building fantastic SEO software. We want to thank all of you who provided feedback on the first version of the tool for your guidance and we look forward to hearing more from you in the future. Now enough with the chit chat, on to the new features! New Features: Top Pages on a Domain Target URL Comprehensive CSV Export Usability Enhancements (The end of page reloads when applying filters!) Improved Filtering Top Pages on a Domain With the new version of Open Site Explorer you can get a sorted listed of the top 10,000 pages on a domain. This is essential for viewing your own site and for doing competitive analysis. With this new feature, we can see that Microsoft is unwisely 302 redirecting their homepage! Doh! You can also see which content is drawing the most links on your competitors websites. In this example we see that that these are the most linked to comics on XKCD. Target URL The new version of Open Site Explorer shows you which URL a given link is targeting when you sort by sub or root domains so you can see exactly where the given link is helping you. (This is also available for all links when the data is exported as a CSV) With this new feature you can see which link is most important to Harvard.edu's domain and which page it is linking to. Comprehensive CSV Export After lots of input, we are now offering more robust CSV exports. The new CSV exports offer: The Target URL of the given link Numbers of links to the given source page Indication of whether or not the linked is followed Indication of whether the link is internal or external Usability Enhancements Remember how you used to have to reload the page every time you applied a filter in Yahoo! Site Explorer? With the addition of the Filter Results button, these needless page reloads are a thing of the past. Common Tasks are Easier to Perform New buttons make performing common tasks easier and faster to do. The new Explore and Compare buttons make it easier to get more information about any links you find interesting. Improved Filtering With the new version of this tool you can do even more filtering to drill down into what you think is important. In this example, we filtered the data to show only followed (dofollow) and 301 redirecting external links to the specific page. Open Site Explorer vs. Linkscape vs. Yahoo! Site Explorer Throughout this process, we also heard a lot of questions about the differences between Yahoo! Site Explorer, Open Site Explorer and Linkscape. The chart below lays out the similarities and differences. Help us Improve! Are there other features you want to see? Are we moving in the right direction? We want know! Please feel free to share your suggestions and opinions via SEOmoz on Twitter, SEOmoz on Facebook or in the comments below :-)Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by jennitaSMX West 2010 kicked off with quite a bang (or was that a yell?). Since Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer was the keynote, people arrived early to ensure good seats. The music playing before it started was amazing, it helped to create an excitement in the room that I really had never felt before a keynote before. I had attempted to save a seat for someone up front, but there was just too much demand and had to give it up. That's the sort of thing that happens at a great concert, not a conference keynote. There were quite a few live blogs of the event, but I had a few favorites from the interview that I wanted to call out. He made it very clear that Microsoft is focused on the big picture and not just immediate goals. He spoke about continuing to move forward with a positive momentum and a differentiated point of view. When the question came up of "Can you be #1 in the U.S.?" he essentially said "YES!" [and yes he said it with that exclamation] However he made it clear that it was a tricky question. If you say yes, you sound arrogant but if you say no you sound unsure of yourself. You don't do things to come in second! Danny asked "Is Yahoo! going to survive as a search player? You want to beat them aren't you just going to kill them?" Ballmer could really only answer one way "No." He stated that they wanted Yahoo! to do a good job, that there was lots of flexibility written into their contract and there was advantage to having the power of 2 as opposed to the power of 1. When asked whether he was going to get on Twitter he said "I'm more of a webpage than a bunch of short tweets." But then acknowledged that he did have a stealth Twitter account however only the people in his neighborhood followed him. His favorite thing on Bing are the Bing maps. [completely agree here... the maps are amazing!] What he thinks is the biggest opportunity in search: to "Help people get done what they're trying to get done." Oh! And he gave us all his personal email account. You'll have to watch the video to get that though. :) All in all it was quite enjoyable to watch, although I was a bit unprepared (although perhaps I shouldn't have been) for the yelling. Ok, I don't think in his mind he was yelling, he was just talking VERY LOUDLY. But sitting right up front, I think we all sat back in our chairs a bit when he got excited and started to get louder. :) You can see the full video of the keynote below. I'd love to hear your impression of the interview. Do you feel that anything was said that gave away any secrets? What are your thoughts? <br/><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/steve-ballmer-smx-west-keynote-conversation-with-danny-sullivan/1280gxwnj?fg=sharenoembed" _fcksavedurl="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/steve-ballmer-smx-west-keynote-conversation-with-danny-sullivan/1280gxwnj?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Steve Ballmer SMX West Keynote Conversation with Danny Sullivan">Video: Steve Ballmer SMX West Keynote Conversation with Danny Sullivan</a> Google’s Personalized Search Revolution Now that personalization has become an opt-out rather than an opt-in, I was really interested in what this session had to offer. The only speaker, Brian Horling who works in Personalized Search at Google, first gave a very informative presentation, then fielded quite a few questions from the audience. I really enjoyed having just one speaker who was focused on the topic at hand. The top takeaways that I got were some of the differences between a logged out user who gets personalized search versus a logged in user. Let me break it down a bit. First of all, both types of users are thought of as two different identities to Google. Let's say you're logged in, and then log out, they don't view you as the same logged in person. At that point they do look at the cookies set on your computer which tell gives them information on what you've searched for previously, which results you've clicked on, etc. For signed in accounts, your web history is saved indefinitely, but your non-logged in identity is only saved for 180 days. Every user using search has the potential of seeing personalized search in some way whether it's geo-location, web history, social search, etc. Personalization occurs about 1 in 5 queries for a user and the changes tend to be restricted to only a few results. How can you control the personalization of your searches? Use search details Disable it by appending &pws=0 on searchs (you can find the bookmarklet to do that here) Edit or disable your web history If you haven't looked at the "view customizations" link I highlight above before, you should definitely check it out. Pretty interesting what's going on there. One thing that came up in this session was how do you explain to a client that the results they're seeing aren't the same as what everyone else sees. Although in some cases that would probably be a good thing since they're seeing better rankings since they search and click on their sites more often than the average user. :) How do you feel about personalized search? After this presentation I found that I was much more open to the idea than I was previously. I think because I felt like I finally understood a bit better where the data was coming from and how to turn it off. But what about you? And so on... The other session I really loved was "Supercharging Your Descriptions With Sitelinks" but as I was putting this post together I realized that should really a be a post in and of itself. It was great to hear from a Google rep about how certain sitelinks show up and ways you can enhance your site to ensure proper sitelinks. I have tons of screenshots and examples, so I'll put them into a full post. Plus I'd really like to get Jerry Dischler (the Google guy) to answer a few of my questions. :) So watch for that one! The best swag of the conference goes to Yahoo! for not only giving away these awesome coffee mugs, but for setting up a full-on coffee shop with baristas to make us our much needed lattes! I really wanted to show the videos from the SMX Ignite as that was one of my favorite parts of the day. But unfortunately the videos aren't live yet. Here's a link to where they should be. :) Maile Ohye's "DateRank: PageRank for singles" was my personal favorite, although all the speakers were exceptional. Dana Lookadoo and I interviewed a number of people in sort of a Jay Leno "man on the street" sort of way. We hope to have the interviews up tomorrow. Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by randfishThis post is short and easy to follow, just like the tactic it recommends. Most everyone who optimizes for Google Local (aka Google Maps) is familar with David Mihm's excellent and oft-referenced Local Search Ranking Factors. In that document, and in many places where local results are analyzed, it's clear that getting your business/website into more listings, in a consistent fashion is a very good thing. Yet, somehow, this obvious tactic has gone missing from many GG Local optimization recommendations. Either that or it's so obvious that no one feels the need to mention it. Whatever the case, it's available now :-) Step 1: Do Lots of Searches Related to Your Business & Region Let's say you're working on local SEO for a Thai restaurant in Seattle, WA. Searches you might perform include: Thai Seattle, WA Thai Restaurants Seattle, WA Seattle Thai Restaurants Thai Food Seattle You're seeking results that show competing or closely related businesses, so get creative. Step 2: Identify a Handful (or a Few Dozen) Businesses that Consistently Get Top Rankings You could build a formal spreadsheet and perform tracking to identify these or start with gut feel and expand later on in the process. For less competitive listings, an informal approach may work just fine. Step 3: Go to the Local Business Profile for Each of These Don't click the name of the listing itself. Instead, follow the links to the "reviews" about each of your competitors' businesses. You'll get a page with information about the business, reviews and lists of data that Google has found about them. Step 4: Click on the Links to "More About this Place" The "more about this place" section of the business listing shows brief snippets, titles and URLs where Google has found relevant information pertaining to the business. This is your potential goldmine for discovering listing sources. Step 5: Go to those Sites & Get Your Business Added/Updated  The domains that are listed are places where Google is pulling information about your business. This is where the Maps algorithm comes into play - it relies on not only the number of listings, but the quality of the sources and the consistency between them. You want every listing to perfectly match one another, right down the the suffix on the reservations phone number and the formatting of your suite number (e.g. 1221 E Pike Street vs. 1221 East Pike Street vs. 1221 E Pike Street Suite 200 vs. 1221 East Pike Street #200 are all DIFFERENT - don't make that mistake). As an example, I visited a link from Thaiku's listing in the example above to Intuit's Local Business Directory (I didn't even know they had one until now) and could then add/edit SEOmoz's listing: In addition to the potential local ranking boost, a majority of these sources offer the potential to earn links! Even if you don't care much about the local results themselves, this is a pretty terrific way to get some good quality, trusted sites linking to you. Step 6: Repeat Step 4 & 5 for the "Reviews" and "User Content" Sections If you're hungry for even more sources, you can look at where listings come from on other competitors and/or go back to the business listing's page in Google Maps/Local and choose from the "reviews" and "user content" sections for even more potential spots. Much like manual link building back in the late '90's, perseverance and careful attention to detail will take you far. There are automated services out there to help with this process, but I haven't yet seen one I feel completely comfortable about. The biggest issue is the dramatic value of and need for consistency in the listings. When automated systems submit, they can mix in a suite number in the wrong place, cut off a phone number because the form doesn't accept hyphens or confirm a URL that doesn't match what you've submitted elsewhere. For now, I recommend playing it safe and spending the hours (even if that's a dozen or two) to get those 50-250 listings correct. Google will reward you with local rankings and high quality traffic. p.s. Next week I'm down in Portland for SEMpdx's Searchfest and hope to spend time with some true local search experts and perhaps share some more cutting edge tactics :-)Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by randfishWe've been getting a lot of questions in Q+A and on the road at events like last week's Miva Merchant conference, Online Marketing Summit and the YCombinator conference about how to properly paginate results for search engines. In this post, we'll cover the dangers, opportunities and optimization tactics that can best ensure success. The best part? These practices aren't just good for SEO, they're great for usability and user experience too! Why is Pagination an SEO Issue? Pagination, the practice of segmenting links to content on multiple pages, affects two critical elements of search engine accessibility. Crawl Depth: Best practices demand that the search engine spiders reach content-rich pages in as few "clicks" as possible (turns out, users like this, too). This also impacts calculations like Google's PageRank (or Bing's StaticRank), which determine the raw popularity of a URL and are an element of the overall algorithmic ranking system. Duplicate Content: Search engines take duplication very seriously and attempt to show only a single URL that contains any given piece of content. When pagination is implemented improperly, it can cause duplicate content problems, both for individual articles and the landing pages that allow browsing access to them. When is Pagination Necessary? When a site grows beyond a few dozen pages of content in a specific category or subcategory, listing all of the links on a single page of results can make for unwieldly, hard-to-use pages that seem to scroll indefinitely (and can cause long load times as well). Clearly, I need to log into Facebook more often... But, usability isn't the only reason pagination exists. For many years, Google's recommended that pages contain no more than 100 links (internal or external) in order to make it easy for spiders to reach down deep into a site's architecture. Many SEOs have found that this "limit" isn't hard and fast, but staying within that general range remains a best practice. Hence, pages that contain many hundreds or thousands of links may inadvertently be hurting the access of search engines to the content-rich pages in the list making pagination essential. Numbers of Links & Pages We know that sometimes pagination is essential - one page of results just doesn't cut it in every situation. But just how many links to content should the average category/results page show? And how many pages of results should display in the pagination? There are a lot of options here, but there's serious danger in using the wrong structures. Let's take a look at the right (and wrong) ways to determine link numbers. In some cases, there's simply too many pages of results to list them all. When this happens, the very best thing you can do is to work around the problem by... creating more subcategories! It may seem challenging or even counter-intuitive, but adding either an extra layer of classification or a greater number of subcategories can have a dramatically positive impact on both SEO and usability. There are times, however, when even the creation of many deep subcategories isn't enough. If your site is big enough, you may need to have extensive pagination such that not every page of results can be reached in once click. In these cases, there are a few clear dos and don'ts. Do: Try to link to as many pages of the pagination structure as possible without breaking the 100(ish) links per page limit Show newer content at the top of the results list when possible, as this means the most link juice will flow to newer articles that need it (and are temporally relevant) Use and link to relevant/related categories & subcategories to help keep link juice flowing throughout the site Link back to the top results from each of the paginated URLs Don't: Show only a few surrounding paginated links from paginated URLs - you want the engines to be able to crawl deeper from inside the structure Link to only the pages at the front and end of the paginated listings; this will flow all the juice to the start and end of results, ingoring the middle Try to randomize the paginated results shown in an effort to distribute link juice; you want a static site architecture the engines can crawl Try to use AJAX to get deeper in the results sets - engines follow small snippets of Javascript (sometimes), but they're not at a point where this is an SEO best practice Go over the top trying to get every paginated result linked-to, as this can appear both spammy and unusably ugly When in doubt, consider the directives you're optimizing toward - the need for fewer extra pages of pagination, the desire to make the browsing experience usable (many webmasters mistakenly think users will simply give up and search, forgetting that some of us can't recall the name of the piece we're looking for!) and the importance of maintaining a reasonable count of links per page. Also note that although I've illustrated using 5-10 listings (for graphical space requirements), a normal listings set could be 30-90 links per page, depending on the situation. Titles & Meta Descriptions for Paginated Results In most cases, the title and meta description of paginated results are copied from the top page. This isn't ideal, as it can potentially cause duplicate content issues. Instead, you can employ a number of tactics to help solve the problem. Example of results page titles & descriptions: Top Page Title: Theatres & Playhouses in Princeton, New Jersey Top Page Meta Description: Listings of 368 theatres, playhouses and performance venues in the Princeton, NJ region (including surrounding cities). Page 4 Title: Page 4 of 7 for Princeton, New Jersey Theatres & Playhouses Page 4 Meta Description: Listings 201-250 (out of 368) theatres, playhouses and performance venues in the Princeton, NJ region (inclusing surrounding cities). Alternate Page 4 Title: Results Page 4/7 for Princeton, New Jersey Theatres & Playhouses Alternate Page 4: Description: - Yes, you can use no meta description at all, and in fact, if I were setting up a CMS today, this is how I'd do it. A missing meta description reduces complexity and potential mis-casting of URLs as duplicates. Also notce that I've made the titles on results pages sub-optimal to help dissuade the engines from sending traffic to these URLs, rather than the top page (which is made to be the better "landing" experience for users). Nofollows. Rel=Canonicals and Conditional Redirects Some SEOs and website owners have, unfortunately, received or interpreted advice incorrectly about employing directives like the nofollow tag, canonical URL tag or even conditional redirects to help control bot activity in relation to pagination. These are almost always a bad idea. Whatever you do, DO NOT: Put a rel=canonical directive on paginated results pointing back to the top page in an attempt to flow link juice to that URL. You'll either misdirect the engines into thinking you have only a single page of results or convince them that your directives aren't worth following (as they find clearly unique content on those pages). Add nofollow to the paginated links on the results pages. This tells the engines not to flow link juice/votes/authority down into the results pages that desperately need those votes to help them get indexed and pass value to the deeper pages. Create a conditional redirect so that when search engines request paginated results, they 301 redirect or meta refresh back to the top page of results. The only time I recommend using any of these is when pagination exists in multiple formats. For example, if you let users re-sort by a number of different metrics (in a restaurant list, for example, it might be by star rating, distance, name, price, etc.), you may want to either perform this re-sort using javascript (and employ the hash tag in the URL) or make those separately segmented paginated results rel=canonical back to a single sorting format. Letting Users Display More/Less Results From a usability perspective, this can make good sense, allowing users with faster connections or a greater desire to browse large numbers of results at once to achieve these goals. However, it can cause big duplicate problems for search engines, and add complexity and useless pages to the engines' indices. If/when you create these systems, employ javascript/AJAX (either with or without the hash tag) to make the pages reload without creating a separate URL. (the Google Analytics interface allows users to choose the number of rows shown, though they don't have to worry much about crawlability or search-friendliness) Also remember that the "default" number of results shown is what the search engines will see; so make that count match your goals for usability and SEO. Additional Resources A Gallery of Pagination Examples and Recommendations from Smashing Magazine A Farewell to Pagination from SEOmoz's Whiteboard Friday series The SEO Pager Plugin for Wordpress is a highly customizable set of options that allows you to create search-engine friendly pagination in Wordpress's CMS from SEO Egghead If you have any thoughts or recommendations to share in the comments, we'd love to hear from you!Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by RobOusbeyThis is a graph of organic traffic for a theoretical site - they might be in an industry such as print advertising, construction equipment or VHS rental. The decline in traffic is pronounced and serious. A critical distinction when looking at a graph like this is whether the site's performance is increasingly worse than the competitors, or whether the whole industry is in decline. In this post I want to recommend some metrics that can be tracked to benchmark your site against competitors (independent of market behaviour) and to check the health of the industry. I'll then make suggestions for finding opportunities to slow or reverse the trend of dropping traffic. For the benefit of the time-poor, the post ends with a three point checklist / summary. Competitors and Benchmarking There are a couple of different metrics you can use track, which will demonstrate the more direct outputs of your SEO work, and expose your performance amongst competitors. This chart tracks the Site Authority of the target domain (and some competitors) through time. To date, trying to chart Linkscape metrics has been a bit misleading: the rapid increase in the reach of Linkscape and modifications of the tool's algorithms have meant that month-by-month reporting of a site's Authority wasn't always a fair comparison. However, Nick tells me that the team are currently putting effort into tackling the challenge of tracking this data. Though you'll have more confidence in drawing a trend chart such as this one soon, I'd still recommend collecting numbers right now to get a snapshot of where your site is amongst the competition. Obviously, this assessment of site strength is query independent; differences in site architecture, on-page term targeting and the anchor text of external links will have a significant effect on each site's performance and number of keywords. In many ways, the next graph address this. The line for the target site is an 'average ranking position' - I'd recommend creating this by taking around twenty non-branded, representative keyphrases (eg: ten which you're specifically targeting and ten which send a significant amount of traffic) and finding the mean of the site's ranking for each phrase. The competitor lines should be calculated by finding the mean ranking position of that site, for each of these keywords where the site ranks in the top 20. (We do this so that the mean isn't artificially dragged down by keyphrases which the site isn't trying to compete for, and where it ranks very poorly.) Even a single month's data points on these two graphs will provide a snapshot of your site's position amongst the industry's other players. Tracking the data each month will demonstrate how your standing has changed, and can directly show the impact of your SEO work - both on-site and off-site. Industry Assessment If you have been collecting ranking data in the past, then it can be useful to identify a term for which you've had a relatively static ranking over the last year or so. If your traffic from this term has declined over the same period then this provides a useful example of how market behaviour outside of your control is having an effect on the business. If you don't have historic ranking data, but suspect that your industry is in decline, you should compare search volume trends to organic traffic sent by some specific terms. In the example below, the site sees a decline in traffic for the single keyphrase 'football tickets' but comparing this to the search volume for the term shows that the site's performance has actually improved - they are increasing their share of that traffic. If the industry really is declining and search volumes for all the typically valuable phrases are unlikely to return, then there can be a serious consideration about even continuing to operate in the market. If your core business was VHS rental, consider offering Blu-Ray; if you rank well for house and holiday insurance but are suffering from the decline in these markets then consider adding pet insurance  - a steady / growing market. (Check out this Google Insights data for UK insurance markets.) Of course, these are extreme examples - and if you're in these particular industries then you shouldn't need a blog post to make these suggestions - but they remind us that there are some markets where a time comes to look for business from elsewhere. Actions As we did in the graph above, you must begin by looking at the organic traffic trend for keyphrases individually. A lot of information is lost when data is aggregated (such as in total organic traffic.) Go back and look at your highest volume keyphrases from a year or two ago, and compare these to your current highest volume keyphrases, by charting the monthly volume of traffic they sent over that period. It may quickly become clear that whilst your keyword portfolio has been dragged down by some dogs, there are some stars (or problem children) that are contributing a great deal to the overall traffic. If you last did keyword research 12 or 18 months ago, user behaviour may have changed significantly - even for people looking for exactly the same product. Whilst the metrics mentioned above may bring you to the gloomy conclusion that search volume in your industry is substantially down, it's possible to overlook the fact that there's simply been a change in searcher behaviour. Examples of such changes that have happened in different geographic regions: searchers are using more direct queries ('cinema' & 'film tickets' are steady or down, 'film times' is way up) searchers are moving from long tail to head terms ('internet marketing' & 'website promotion' are declining but 'SEO' and 'SEM' are up) searchers are moving from head to long tail terms ('currency exchange' is down but specific terms such as 'dollars to pounds' are up) The message here: don't miss out on opportunities to compete on the emerging keyword groups. I promised you a checklist. Please take away these three points: If your organic traffic is down, either for particular keywords or as a whole, be clear whether this is because your site is under-performing, or because the search volume for a keyword / in an industry is descending. Benchmark yourself against competitors by regularly recording the Authority and/or rankings position for relevant keyphrases of your site and theirs Revisit your keyword research - a year is a long time on the internet, particularly given the current state of flux that so many industries are experiencing. Do you like this post? Yes No

We've released a new version of iJoomla SEO with the following changes: The ad has been removed from the settings page, as many people requested Links have been added to each feature’s video tutorial A bug we found in the redirects feature has been s ...

We all love Joomla because it's such an awesome CMS with a ton of great extensions and templates. But it’s not always easy to use and there are times when even the most experienced developer runs into trouble. So when problems crop up, what do you do? Joomla.org has an active forum that can be pretty helpful, and other third party develope ...

iJoomla Ad Agency version 1.6.2 allows you to add images to text ads, which give the ads that "facebook" look and make it look less like an ad, and there for more clickable. Making your ads blend better in your site, ...

Only a couple of weeks after our major released of iJoomla Ad Agency version 1.6.0, we've now released a new version with some bug fixes and additional improvements: SEF support: compatible with: Joomla core SEF, sh404SEF, SEF Advance A ...

iJoomla Ad Agency Version 1.6 Is here! The new and much improved version of iJoomla Ad Agency is ready! Version 1.6 is packed with new features and enhancements that make it the best Joomla advertising extension, by far! If you’ve got the traffic, iJoomla ...

We've just released a new version of iJoomla DigiStore, version 1.6.9. This version contains a lot of bugs fixes, so please

We're excited to announce the release of the all-new iJoomla SEO! It's loaded with powerful new features that will not only make SEO a breeze, but will also help you increase your traffic, monitor your keywords on Google, and get the edge over your competition! Here are just a few of SEO's exciting new features

We’ve re-launched our Templates Directory. With over 3,000 different templates, we figured we needed to make the searching easier so we organized them by style. Now you should be able to find exactly the right design for your content. So if you’re looking for a blog template, you can find a great list here. If you’re looking for a news portal t ...

Another fabulous CMS expo is coming soon and I would love to meet you there! This time I’m even planning to beat my stage fright and give a presentation! I’ll be revealing the best-kept-secret for creating successful websites: Usability Testing. What You Will Learn in the Presentation: What is usability testing? Who should perform usability testing? The different usability testing methods — and the pros and cons of each. The usability testing cycle — it’s not what you think! E ...

You know that the best way to get free, quality traffic to your website is by optimizing your pages for search engines. And you know too that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is tricky, time-consuming and about as thrilling as a weekend with the Hallmark channel. Well, here’s some good news. Our new iJoomla SEO component speeds up Search Engine Optimization by a factor of ten! You’ll spend less time typing keywords and have more time to create content, bring in traffic and monetize your pa ...

We've just released iJoomla RSS Feeder for Joomla 1.5. Users of Joomla 1.5 will need to keep the Legacy mode turned off, and we're still in Beta so if you find bugs, do let us know. Post them on the forum and we'll get squishing. {digistore id=58}  ...

In order to reset the enable password on the ProxySG, you will need to have physical access to the ProxySG itself.  You will need a nine (9) pin null modem cable to connect to the serial console on the ProxySG.  Make sure the cable is connected to the ProxySG and to your [...]

Wicd is an open source wired and wireless network manager for Linux which aims to provide a simple interface to connect to networks with a wide variety of settings. (...)Read the rest of Wicd - Easy network connection manager in Debian (287 words) © Admin for Debian Admin, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: install wicd [...]

There can be a few occasions where you may need to manually purge the local DNS cache and/or the actual web cache of a Blue Coat ProxySG appliance. While both the DNS cache and web cache will eventually age out it can be helpful to sometimes speed up the process by flushing/purging the DNS and [...]

This is screenshots tour of Ubuntu 9.10 (code name “Karmic Koala”), the most recent release of Ubuntu, released on the 29th of October 2009.Click on the Image to view small view. (...)Read the rest of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) Screenshots Gallery (7 words) © Admin for Debian Admin, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: ubuntu 9.10 screenshots, [...]

Cairo-Dock is an animated application launch bar for the desktop, comparable to the dock in Mac OS X or Rocket Dock (for Windows). Now, you can use Cairo-Dock with OpenGL (to use your graphic card!). (...)Read the rest of Howto install Cairo-Dock in debian (90 words) © Admin for Debian Admin, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post [...]

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 9.10 beta release, which brings a host of exciting new features. (...)Read the rest of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) Beta Screenshots Gallery (31 words) © Admin for Debian Admin, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments [...]

cpulimit is a simple program that attempts to limit the cpu usage of a process (expressed in percentage, not in cpu time). This is useful to control batch jobs, when you don’t want them to eat too much cpu. It does not act on the nice value or other scheduling priority stuff, but on the [...]

TestDrive is a project that makes it very easy to download and run the latest daily Ubuntu development snapshot in a virtual machine. Actually, it can be configured to download and run any URL-access ISO in a virtual machine. But the primary goal is to provide a very simple method for allowing non-technical Ubuntu users to test and provide feedback on the current Ubuntu release under

Remastersys is a tool that can be used to do 2 things with an existing Klikit or Ubuntu or derivative installation.It can make a full system backup including personal data to a live cd or dvd that you can use anywhere and install. It can make a distributable copy you can share with friends. This will not have any of your personal user data in it.Full Story

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In around 15 minutes, the time it takes to install Ubuntu Server Edition, you can have a LAMP (Linux, Apache,MySQL and PHP) server up and ready to go. This feature, exclusive to Ubuntu Server Edition, is available at the time of installation.The LAMP option means you don’t have to install and integrate each of the four separate LAMP components, a process which can take hours and requires someone

If you are using Windows and ubuntu as dual boot and if you want to access your windows partition you need to follow this procedure.This tutorial will explain how to access your windows partition in simple way.ntfs-config program allow you to easily configure all of your NTFS devices to allow write support via a friendly gui. For that use, it will configure them to use the open source ntfs-3g

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 9.10 beta release, which brings a host of exciting new features. Note: This is a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 29th, 2009. Full Story

VBoxHeadless - Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 3.1.x On A Headless Fedora 12 Server This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with Sun VirtualBox 3.1.x on a headless Fedora 12 server. Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a desktop environment. Fortunately, VirtualBox comes with a tool called VBoxHeadless that allows you to connect to the virtual machines over a remote desktop connection, so there's no need for the VirtualBox GUI.

Wireshark Remote Capturing This short tutorial is without screenshots but a slightly more advanced usecase of Wireshark, namely doing the capture on one box and visualize the captured data in realtime on another box.

Virtual Hosting With vsftpd And MySQL On Debian Lenny Vsftpd is one of the most secure and fastest FTP servers for Linux. Usually vsftpd is configured to work with system users. This document describes how to install a vsftpd server that uses virtual users from a MySQL database instead of real system users. This is much more performant and allows to have thousands of ftp users on a single machine.

Distributed Replicated Storage Across Four Storage Nodes With GlusterFS On Fedora 12 This tutorial shows how to combine four single storage servers (running Fedora 12) to a distributed replicated storage with GlusterFS. Nodes 1 and 2 (replication1) as well as 3 and 4 (replication2) will mirror each other, and replication1 and replication2 will be combined to one larger storage server (distribution). Basically, this is RAID10 over network. If you lose one server from replication1 and one from replication2, the distributed volume continues to work. The client system (Fedora 12 as well) will be able to access the storage as if it was a local filesystem. GlusterFS is a clustered file-system capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. It aggregates various storage bricks over Infiniband RDMA or TCP/IP interconnect into one large parallel network file system. Storage bricks can be made of any commodity hardware such as x86_64 servers with SATA-II RAID and Infiniband HBA.

How To Set Up WebDAV With Lighttpd On Ubuntu 9.10 This guide explains how to set up WebDAV with lighttpd on an Ubuntu 9.10 server. WebDAV stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning and is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that allow users to directly edit files on the lighttpd server so that they do not need to be downloaded/uploaded via FTP. Of course, WebDAV can also be used to upload and download files.

Build Your Own Video Community With Lighttpd And FlowPlayer (Debian Lenny) This article shows how you can build your own video community using lighttpd with its mod_flv_streaming module (for streaming .flv videos, the format used by most major video communities such as YouTube) and its mod_secdownload module (for preventing hotlinking of the videos) on Debian Lenny. I will use FlowPlayer as the video player, a free Flash video player with support for lighttpd's mod_flv_streaming module. I will also show how you can encode videos (.mp4 .mov .mpg .3gp .mpeg .wmv .avi) to the FLV format supported by Adobe Flash.

How To Set Up WebDAV With Lighttpd On OpenSUSE 11.2 This guide explains how to set up WebDAV with lighttpd on an OpenSUSE 11.2 server. WebDAV stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning and is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that allow users to directly edit files on the lighttpd server so that they do not need to be downloaded/uploaded via FTP. Of course, WebDAV can also be used to upload and download files.

Installing Lighttpd With PHP5 And MySQL Support On Fedora 12 Lighttpd is a secure, fast, standards-compliant web server designed for speed-critical environments. This tutorial shows how you can install Lighttpd on a Fedora 12 server with PHP5 support (through FastCGI) and MySQL support.

Distributed Storage Across Four Storage Nodes With GlusterFS On Fedora 12 This tutorial shows how to combine four single storage servers (running Fedora 12) to one large storage server (distributed storage) with GlusterFS. The client system (Fedora 12 as well) will be able to access the storage as if it was a local filesystem. GlusterFS is a clustered file-system capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. It aggregates various storage bricks over Infiniband RDMA or TCP/IP interconnect into one large parallel network file system. Storage bricks can be made of any commodity hardware such as x86_64 servers with SATA-II RAID and Infiniband HBA.

Using WebDAV With ISPConfig 3 On Ubuntu 9.10 This guide explains how to set up and use WebDAV on a web site created with ISPConfig 3 on an Ubuntu 9.10 server. WebDAV stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning and is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that allow users to directly edit files on the Apache server so that they do not need to be downloaded/uploaded via FTP. Of course, WebDAV can also be used to upload and download files.

Fully Utilizing Your X-Core CPU Almost all systems sold nowadays have at least a dual-core CPU, even triple- or quad-cores are getting cheaper and getting standard in the near future. But how to utilize your shiny x-core to it's full potential, with applications that are only utilizing one core ? With Linux, which has strong multitasking capabilities as all unixoid operating systems, there is an easy possibility to parallelize tasks which are normally only using one core of an x-core CPU.

High-Availability Storage With GlusterFS On Fedora 12 - Automatic File Replication (Mirror) Across Two Storage Servers This tutorial shows how to set up a high-availability storage with two storage servers (Fedora 12) that use GlusterFS. Each storage server will be a mirror of the other storage server, and files will be replicated automatically across both storage servers. The client system (Fedora 12 as well) will be able to access the storage as if it was a local filesystem. GlusterFS is a clustered file-system capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. It aggregates various storage bricks over Infiniband RDMA or TCP/IP interconnect into one large parallel network file system. Storage bricks can be made of any commodity hardware such as x86_64 servers with SATA-II RAID and Infiniband HBA.

Changing From SquirrelMail To RoundCube On Your ISPConfig3 Server This tutorial has been created for those who have installed The Perfect Server - CentOS 5.4 x86_64 [ISPConfig 3] and do not like SquirrelMail as webmail client. Here’s a guide to replace SquirrelMail with RoundCube, which is more visually attractive and easier to manage for our clients.

Server Monitoring With munin And monit On Debian Lenny In this article I will describe how you can monitor your Debian Lenny server with munin and monit. munin produces nifty little graphics about nearly every aspect of your server (load average, memory usage, CPU usage, MySQL throughput, eth0 traffic, etc.) without much configuration, whereas monit checks the availability of services like Apache, MySQL, Postfix and takes the appropriate action such as a restart if it finds a service is not behaving as expected. The combination of the two gives you full monitoring: graphics that lets you recognize current or upcoming problems (like "We need a bigger server soon, our load average is increasing rapidly."), and a watchdog that ensures the availability of the monitored services.

Easy Way To Create Bootable Ubuntu USB Pendrive This short guide explains how you can create a bootable Ubuntu USB pendrive.

A campaign for Foster's created by Play has taken top honours in this month's Creative Showcase.

Microsoft has launched a three month TV advertising campaign in an effort to make ground on Google in the UK search market.

Video advertising survey reveals growing confidence among media buyers as TV budgets drive growth of market.

Graham Everitt, Search Consultant at Reform, discusses the commoditisation of search marketing services, the questions it is asking of the current market, and explains what practitioners need to do to cement their relationships with their clients.

This half-day email marketing workshop is an educational networking event where participants will gain an insight into email marketing and all of its key elements, including many email marketing campaigns.

No-Description

Run over one day this course will give delegates a comprehensive guide to the key digital disciplines which when deployed as part of a considered strategy can be used to enhance online brand awareness even in the most competitive of markets.

Come and celebrate the best internet marketing campaigns of 2009.

This intensive one-day course will introduce you to the importance of web analytics, teach you how to develop a digital ROI strategy, give you access to the latest brand tracking case studies and look at different testing techniques to help you improve website performance.

This week, both Twitter and Facebook have come out with big location news. Twitter is adding geolocation features and Facebook will soon let users share their location. Both of those announcements could strike fear in the heart of a mobile check-in service like Foursquare. But Foursquare is banking its success in the mobile check-in space on attention to detail. And the company also has some new features — that could be very useful for small businesses.  In the next few weeks, Foursquare is going to start sharing a free analytics tool that will help small businesses track — and communicate with — their customers. According to The New York Times, Foursquare will soon let business access the consumer data that it has been steadily acquiring since it launched last year: "With the new tool, businesses will be able to see a range of real-time data about Foursquare usage, including who has “checked in” to the place via Foursquare, when they arrived, the male-to-female customer ratio and which times of day are more active for certain customers. Business owners will also be able to offer instant promotions to try to engage new customers and keep current ones.   That information could be extremely useful for small businesses trying to track consumer behavior. Thirty small companies are testing the tool, and in a few weeks that number will increase to around 900. Available information includes Foursquare check-ins to a business, time of arrival, male-to-female ratio and hourly arrivals. Other exciting features are in the pipeline, like real-time promotions. Real-time coupons and information could go a long way toward helping businesses attract customers when they want them and to selling specific items. Furthermore, small businesses will be able to communicate with people that come into their stores — or have stopped coming in: "'If a restaurant can see one of its loyal customers has dropped off the map and is no longer checking in, the owner could offer them incentives to come back,' said [Tristan Walker, director of business development]." But that could also lead to some trouble with users. According to The Times, one feature will include a staff page that "will allow employees to interact directly with customers using social networks." Marketing spam originating from Foursquare could be unwelcome for the service's users. But Foursquare is clear that businesses can only contact customers through social media connected to Foursquare accounts. And users can opt out at any time. The site's privacy settings now include the following: "We allow verified venue owners to see statistics about checkins at their venue. These stats include recent visitors, most frequent visitors and most popular checkin times. You can always opt out if you'd rather not share this data with the venues you visit." For Foursquare, getting features like this right is key to keeping the favor of its users and getting businesses actively using their service. Companies large and small are desperate to get into local, real-time information. But delivering personalized content in a non-intrusive way is the key to success in the space, and Foursquare is working hard to get that part right. Image: Foursquare

Last week some of us from Econsultancy US had the pleasure of traveling to London for the Digital Cream event (the equivalent of September's Peer Summit in New York). In among the great roundtable discussions, Rebecca Lieb and I did a short talk made up of 5-minute bits on some hot topics from a US perspective. Naturally, social was the hottest of the hot.After a day spent moderating an email roundtable, it was remarkable the degree to which social marketing insinuated itself there, and into virtually every other topic. Marketers in the UK are just as passionate about integrating the voice of the customer and the new word of mouth into their plans and multi-channel perspective as are their American counterparts.It's an inflection year for social, not only in terms of reach but also in activity.  We learned recently that 57% of US adults 25 to 34 years old are on Facebook, which has reached a total active audience of 400MM worldwide. That's a staggering figure and a rebuke to those of us who have wondered whether social media is a fad.For all fury of press, research and experimental activity around social marketing, there's still a substantial divide between where we are and the kinds of measurement we expect. Social media data will need to be categorized and standardized to have value as CRM input and a true business tool. While a few organizations have already developed policies and procedures to deal with SM at this level, far more are going to have to go beyond the current "Try not to swear on Twitter" stage in their evolution. For an excellent collection of examples and insight, check out Chris Boudreaux's Social Media Governance site. Strike while the iron will friend your brand. Every company I talk with is excited about the prospect of the "new marketing" (actually the really, really old marketing) built on communication, relationship, engagement, sugar and spice. It's a noble and timely goal, but it raises the question of how many  engaged relationships consumers can feasibly manage. At one time it was easy to increase the size of a house email newsletter list, but the novelty wore off and competition increased, within and outside the medium.  The same phenomenon is inevitable in the social world, especially on mainstream networks. With some emerging tactics it might make sense to wait for marketing science to catch up with early optimism before jumping in. But in the case of social media, it's unlikely that there will be any time like the present. The last point in our five-minute take on social was the most interesting, if nebulous, and that's the long-term effect of social on the role of marketing itself. With widespread social adoption, the voice of the customer is getting louder and it’s the job of marketing to listen to, decipher and convey their messages. So, if marketing is the Delphic oracle, it's going to mean bringing those messages to every part of the business. That's an exciting step in our evolution.

The recession and weak ad market have led many well regarded businesses to ask their customers to reach into their pockets and pay a little (or more) money to their cause. But guilting users into opening their wallets is not a long term fix. This week, Ars Technica CEO Ken Fisher conducted an experiment with ad blocking software, in efforts to get readers to start interacting with the ads on his site. My colleague Patricio Robles has written about the mixed reaction to Ars Technica's plea. But now it turns out that Fisher's efforts have helped the site's bottom line.  According to NeimanLabs, "Ars Technica’s 'experiment' with ad-blocking readers built on its community’s affection for the site." According to data from IP addresses, "25,000 users whitelisted the site in a 24-hour period — evidence that the goodwill the site has built up with its audience could be converted into user acts of generosity." In addition, 200 users signed up for Ars’ premium accounts at a cost of $50 annually or $30 for six months. Ars' premium accounts offer additional features, like ad-free viewing, printable PDFs and special access to community sections. But many people aren't paying Ars Technica for those features. As NeimanLabs writes: "Fisher notes that many subscribers just feel a sense of obligation, not a desire for premium features. 'We get many people who subscribe just because they love us. They just want us to survive.'" Asking ardent loyalists to pony up can be a way to bring in some additional dollars. Donations work for non-profits like NPR, and as I wrote last week, Roger Ebert is now asking his readers to join The Ebert Club to help subsidize his web endeavors. But it's not a dependable way to get revenue. As Patricio wrote: "If enough Ars readers are so turned off by ads that they're blocking them and this is impacting Ars' bottom line, Ars should take this as a hint that it needs to reevaluate its business model." Large brands looking to get into online subscriptions need to keep in mind that subscribers can only be depended on paying for brand affinity on a limited basis. And while a publication like The New York Times may be able to get some devotees to donate money to its cause, the more users are leaned on for support, the less they're likely to give. Hulu is another site looking into freemium subscriptions. And while the video site is incredibly popular right now, if it doesn't provide paid customers with content they want to pay for, that goodwill isn't going to last very long. After awhile, continued pleas for money start looking like an NPR drive for supporters. And depending on consumers' generosity is not providing value in a positive way. The success of a freemium model depends on actually offering something that people want to pay for. Not something they are guilted into doing.

Econsultancy’s Digital Cream event in London last week was a great place to announce our plans for a new piece of research about the impact of digital on a range of business functions including marketing, customer service and product development. Our research, being carried out in association with digital business consultancy Blue Latitude, will be based on a survey of companies and supplemented by a number of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from well known organisations across a range of sectors.  Our fourth annual Digital Cream, a roundtable-based conference for 160 client-side delegates, included some detailed discussion around the theme of ‘managing digital channels’, which was the subject of a much referenced Econsultancy report written by Dr Dave Chaffey two years ago.  Skilfully moderated by Blue Latitude’s managing director Martin Brass, there were some juicy topics on the menu at this table ... and these morsels will feed into our joint piece of research (excuse the culinary puns).  I have summarised some of the main questions and discussion points here.  Does the head of your organisation buy into digital and invest accordingly? Some business leaders seem to get it, while others are proving to be slow off the mark. In rare cases, transformational change is being proactively driven from the top because a CEO “just gets it”. These business leaders aren’t waiting for figures which prove that investment in digital makes sense. They are just getting on with it.  More typically, board directors are reacting to the fact that an ever increasing proportion of business is being done through digital channels, or emanating online. Arguments about the need for digital are trickling upwards.  (Please note: because of our "Chatham House” roundtable rules about confidentiality, I can’t name any individuals or organisations specifically).  Where does digital sit within the organisation? In the past companies have wrestled with the issue of where digital marketing and e-commerce should sit within the business. Historically, if not operating as a separate team reporting to the board, it has tended to be part of marketing, IT or operations. As Martin pointed out, the question should be "Where does digital sit within your business?". As suggested by the title of this blog post and our research title, digital is of course about more than just marketing and sales. More on this beneath the following question ... Apart from sales and marketing, how else is digital impacting your organisation? This proved to be a rich line of inquiry. Some companies are using digital channels for customer service as part of an attempt to improve satisfaction and to save money. Others said they are using customer feedback from social media and online survey tools to help refine their products and services.  Internally, more enlightened companies are using collaborative online tools to share information. Not just intranets but in-company micro-blogging tools such as Yammer for sharing.     There are also a growing number of examples of how companies are empowering staff to use social media to improve dialogue with customers and disseminate information.  Digital channels are also being used to help companies recruit staff, and even being harnessed by some pharmaceutical companies to recruit for clinical trials. There is also the question of how services and products are ordered and delivered ... whether this applies to a public sector body delivering webcasts or a university or business school facilitating more distance learning.  All these different manifestations of digital have ramifications for where digital should sit within the organisation. If digital is being used in areas like customer service and product innovation, then it clearly transcends marketing and sales. It’s not easy (and this is probably the understatement of the year) because companies need to think horizontally and vertically at the same time, to ensure that they are paying more than lip-service to digital.  What is the impact of social media? Enormous. Not so much because of the way that social media channels are being monetised and harnessed for brand awareness and brand perception (it is still early days for most), but because of the implications this has for how companies are set up culturally.   For example, companies with ultra-strict brand guidelines are being forced to become less protective because they often can’t control what their staff are saying about them. Their brands are increasingly, by definition, the product of what their customers and staff are saying about them, not what they are trying to broadcast.    Social media channels have also helped to accelerate the race for businesses to become truly customer-centric. If you are not joining up your touch points and thinking about customer journeys in a holistic manner, then your competitors will quickly usurp your market-leading position.   Again, this isn’t easy in a world where there are more and more touch points.  How do you build a business case for digital? Another huge question, and of course this depends on what you are trying to build an ROI argument for. Sometimes, because of the difficulty quantifying benefits, delegates said they can feel that they are going through the motions with a business case just so that “a box can be ticked”.    But it is obviously crucial to know how to prioritise and this often needs to stem from a good old-fashioned costs-benefits analysis.  One delegate described how they were trying to evolve from a “roulette table” approach which involved sticking lots of money on a particular number or colour (type of digital investment) and, in effect, hoping for the best.  How do you train staff around digital? Education about the importance of digital for organisations needs to start at the top if it is going to stand any chance of permeating through a business. For larger companies, training needs to involve customised programmes with different types of training for different stakeholders. Companies also need to think about training front-line staff about the opportunities  - and dangers – afforded by social media.  In our Managing Digital Channels research, we asked about the main challenges in managing an e-commerce team.  Education was overwhelmingly the most commonly cited challenge, with many participants struggling with the best way to develop strategies for digital channels and to implement digital campaigns.  There are many topics that I haven’t covered above, for example budgeting and measurement, but many of these can wait for the full report.  Look out for The Impact of Digital Beyond Sales & Marketing: How Digital is Transforming the Entire Organisation report, which will be published by Econsultancy and Blue Latitude this summer. Photocredit: Uploaded to Twitter by ThatGirl_Chloe via Yfrog  

Affiliates in the United States increasingly find themselves at the center of a battle pitting bankrupt state governments against major online retailers. The battle revolves around the thorny issue of state sales tax, and when online retailers are required to collect them. Recently, affiliate marketers in Colorado were able to get language involving affiliates removed from a tax bill. Had the language not been removed, online retailers with Colorado affiliates would have been on the hook for collecting Colorado sales tax. At the time, the removal of language that would have certainly put a crimp on affiliate marketers in Colorado seemed like a victory for the Colorado affiliates who fought tooth and nail to save their businesses. But 'seemed' is the operative word. The world's largest online retailer, Amazon, has decided to terminate its relationship with Colorado affiliates anyway. A letter Amazon sent to them yesterday explains: We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to "voluntarily" collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take. We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states. Amazon's letter goes on to encourage Colorado affiliates to "express [their] views of Colorado's new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter". Amazon's frustrations are certainly justified. Politicians facing huge budget shortfalls are desperate for tax revenue, and they're going to ever-extreme measures to find new sources of it. Major online retailers like Amazon, who have legitimate reason to be weary of online sales tax legislation that will be unfairly burdensome and costly to adhere to, should fight the good fight. This legislation will only hurt consumers (compliance costs will inevitably be passed along to them), and as some have noted, much of this legislation may be unconstitutional.Yet by terminating Colorado affiliates, Amazon is using affiliates as political pawns. Thanks to their aggressive lobbying efforts, affiliate marketers in Colorado were able to get language involving affiliates removed from Colorado's misguided tax legislation. That's not enough, however, for Amazon, which is sacrificing them to make a larger point about the rest of the legislation. But Amazon's legitimate beef with the rest of the legislation isn't a good excuse to cut the throats of its Colorado affiliates, especially since Amazon certainly knows how hard they fought to defend their businesses. No ifs, ands or buts about it: Amazon is sending the message it doesn't really care any more about its affiliates than politicians do.While ditching Colorado affiliates probably won't hurt Amazon's bottom line, if Amazon's affiliates are so expendable, perhaps it's time Amazon considers ending its affiliate program altogether. Photo credit: jacreative via Flickr.

Insurance firm Endsleigh recently launched a completely new website, aiming to attract and service more customers online. This is part of a wider decision which involved the closure of its branches.  I've been talking to Jennifer Day, Online Sales Performance Manager at Endsleigh, about the company's online strategy, keeping insurance applications usable, and its approach to mutlichannel marketing... What was the reason for the redesign of the Endsleigh website? What are the major changes you have made? Following a strategic review of the business it was clear that Endsleigh’s customers were opting for electronic engagement over offline or the telephone. As a consequence Endsleigh made the decision to close our entire branch structure and realign our resources and energy towards creating an exceptional experience for customers online. Endsleigh recognised the value of customer centricity, not only in delivering to customer need but also in achieving our long term aspirations as a business. Endsleigh’s website is our primary interface with customers now; it is our new shop window and as result it needed to become our ‘point of difference’. The new website needed to demonstrate our commitment to our customers and our expertise as a niche insurance provider. We wanted the ability to use our knowledge of a customer to help shape their experience online and we recognised the value of personalisation and relevance in enhancing our engagement with customers. Applying for insurance products online can require some potentially lengthy and complex form-filling – how do you keep this usable for customers? We use customers to help shape the online solution. We regularly usability test the site and we use their observations and feedback to drive change. As a niche insurance provider, the more information we can gather about a customer the more tailored our proposition can become, this sometimes means we have to ask more questions. As a consequence, we need to strike a profitable balance between information gathering and ‘drop-out’ rates, we do this by giving our customers insight into how answering a question can benefit them. We have also made aggressive steps to streamlining the online quote processes; ensuring customers are subject to only a couple of screens before they can purchase a policy. The new website and unique recognition system now gives us the ability to ensure we only display what’s relevant to the customer and never ask them for information we already know. Did you do much user testing? We do a lot of user testing. This can, of course, be very expensive if you use third party agencies, but we have established a unique way of managing usability testing in more cost-effective manner. We invite volunteers to help design our solutions from the concept stage. We then use panels of ‘normal people’ (i.e. not working in insurance) to test our solutions. The process is 'iterative', allowing from multiple enhancements before we fully roll-out. The new website enables us to take this even further, by providing a platform on which we can multi-variant test. We can assess the value of different marketing campaigns and analyse the most effective user journeys.  We can now use the system to realise our ambition to deliver the right product to customers, at the right time and reward them for loyalty along the way! How is the redesigned site performing so far? Very well, the scale of this project was significant and yet despite this, the launch went particularly smoothly with the commitment and support of our agency Salmon. We have achieved some positive movement in our SERP’s and the improved functionality of the site means that more and more of our customers are now logging in to their online accounts. This is important for Endsleigh as we are keen to service all of our customers’ needs electronically. What proportion of customers apply online? Do you need to provide much support offline? A significant percentage of our business transacts online with little or no human intervention. For some of our products, as much as 80% of our business buys online, for more complex products we provide telephone support and we also outbound on quotes where customers have failed to complete online. Has the financial sector been slow to adapt online? Why do you think this is?  It has, and this has tended to be a result of two things. Firstly, many insurance providers are heavily restricted by legacy systems; this means that despite their good intentions to service clients online, their systems prevent them from moving quickly into a space which is forever evolving. In addition to this, historically there have been reservations about the quality of enquiry generated on the internet. In the past it has had a stigma attached to it – ‘it’s easier to commit fraud online and/or we can’t ask clients questions in the same way we would offline’ - these perceptions have changed over the years – they’ve had to, this is the way customers are choosing to do business with us. In general, how do you market the site online? We have a dedicated e-marketing unit tasked with driving enquiry via search. We dabble in the world of PPC, but this tends to be a very targeted, niche strategy due to the competitiveness of this space. We have been working with our affiliates for many years and were one of the first insurers to adopt affiliate marketing. This of course has changed in more recent years with the introduction of price comparison site that now generate a significant volume of quotes. How you join up online and offline marketing strategies? How do you measure multichannel campaigns? Well this is where the new platform really comes into its own. The bespoke content management system and recognition tool means that the site supports rapid change; in a matter of minutes its appearance can be re-engineered to reflect the creative approach and strategy of any marketing campaign. The website is an integral part of our marketing strategy, offline campaign material is geared at driving customers to the web and when they arrive the messaging and experience is not only reflective of what the customer has already seen, but re-enforces the key messages and drives results. The system supports search term and IP recognition so Endsleigh can quickly tailor messages to ensure they are relevant and compelling for customers. As the student insurer, our offline work on university campuses is enhanced by the coherent approach online. Now to the big question -'How do we measure multichannel campaigns?', I'm not sure anyone’s' really found a cost effective, or accurate, way of doing this yet without either putting your customer under more scrutiny online, by asking them more questions and/or getting lost in a pile of M.I. which you can't really conclude on anyway! For us the most effective measure we have is campaign tracking so customers introduced to us via an email, for example, are tracked throughout their entire journey. A key function of the new site it that, regardless of how the client navigates through the site, what journey they take or whether they buy online or over the telephone, we can trace them back to their original introduction. Measuring the value of a purely offline campaign, for example a newspaper article, presents a different set of challenges, where it's possible to do so, without impacting 'drop out', we ask a customer who introduced them to us, if this is not available to us we fall back on the measurement of relative movements in traffic linked to campaign focuses.   Do you have any social media involvement? Facebook pages, Twitter accounts? Absolutely - this is where our customers spend most of their time! As the student insurer, the world of electronic social engagement is important to us, sites such as facebook are not just communication tools for our customers, and they are an integral part of life. Here comes the challenge - we sell insurance. Not only is it difficult to link a true commercial value to social sites but it’s even more difficult when the product you are selling is not particularly at the forefront of your market's minds (insurance is not exciting or sexy!) So the real value in these sites, for us, is about engagement. It's about being able to communicate in the preferred style of our audience. Twitter, in particular, has proved to be a great resource for us; we have our own Twitter page and we are finding that customers enjoy the ease of this platform to notify us of a problem or positive event. Twitter has given us real insight into how our products should be developed to perform in the way our customers expect. We actually Tweet the contact details of some of our most experienced customer care staff so that customers can get straight in touch.   How do you measure social media engagement?  It depends what you mean by measure. Engaging with our customers via social media has been difficult and at times, a painful process. Ultimately, as a financial institution we must maintain a compliant and trustworthy approach, we've used social media, such as viral games and social site competitions, to generate 'buzz', but at all times we have to demonstrate our commitment to our customers. For example, posting a free pizza voucher to drive traffic may create a small lift in exposure in the short term, but doesn't re-enforce our message as an insurance provider they can trust. We are really using social sites as an alternative communication method, customers don't have to phone or email - they can tweet! So I guess, at the moment it's less about measuring engagement and more about gearing up to engage in that way. Where does social media ‘sit’ within your organisation? Is it the job of the marketing team? Customer services? Both. Our Customer Care Division is actually part of the marketing department, so both the Customer Care team and the e-Marketing team can take a collaborative approach to social. The fact that our Customer Care team sit within marketing is testament to our commitment to shape our strategies around the customer, they can manage the experience, while our marketers manage the language and 'tone of voice' of social.