This post talks readers step by step through the process of installing Joomla to create a blog or website with excellent search engine optimization. I'm often asked for my opinion on the best open source platform for creating a well optimized blog. I've worked in WordPress, Movable Type, Typepad and many of the free blogging platforms and I feel that Joomla is the hands down winner. Of course, many great blogs built in WordPress and others rank well - I don't debate that at all. This post is for those folks who are leaning towards Joomla for their blog.

Let's Go! I'm Ready!

First things first - you'll need to have a web host with access to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using an FTP client program (some Web Browsers have such a tool built in or can be added in, or the control panel of your host provider, if one is available), MySQL (for the database) and if possible, SSH with PuTTY (or similar). If this is all a bit too technical for beginners, feel free to email me. I can probably walk you through it much more easily or get you setup personally.

In this post, we'll be using Joomla 1.0.15 rather than the new Joomla 1.5 only because we're going to use several Extensions that haven't yet been upgraded to 1.5 versions. Both versions are secure and current. You can go to Joomla.org and download Joomla 1.0.15 . Save the file to your desktop. Of course, if your web host offers a one-click install of Joomla 1.0 15, then go ahead and go through that process to install Joomla and jump down this post to the SEO section.

Next, we need to know what domain we'll be using for our new Joomla site. Make a note of the domain and what folder on your web host you have that domain associated with (such as /joomla).

Via your web host, you'll need to create a MySQL database for your Joomla install. Save this information (host name, database name, username, password) as we'll be using it later. Your web host should be able to walk you through the process.

We now have a domain ready, the Joomla files and your MySQL database ready to go! Now we're going to get ready to install. I'll describe the fast way and the slow way to get our files online:

Fast way

Open your FTP program (I use Filezilla, free open source FTP software) and upload the Joomla .zip file to the root directory of your domain. Open PuTTY, login and get into the root directory for your domain where we just uploaded the zip file. If you're pointing the domain name to /joomla then you would enter 'cd joomla' which tells PuTTY to 'change directory' to that location. Now, you can enter 'unzip Joomla_1.0.15-Stable-Full_Package.zip (I'll sometimes rename the zip file to just joomla.zip prior to uploading to save typing). You'll see PuTTY expand out all the files. You can then go to your FTP program and delete the .zip file. I recommend this method as it's faster and there's less chance of FTP corrupting files during manual transfer.

Slow way

Unzip Joomla_1.0.15-Stable-Full_Package.zip to a location on your PC, open up your FTP program and transfer all of the files and folders to the root directory of your domain. This may take some time as there are many files. Go grab a cup of coffee and be sure to keep an eye on your FTP program for any possible errors. 

Wow! We're ready to turn it on!

Be sure your MySQL database details are handy, open up your browser and bring up your website. You'll see the Joomla install screen which will walk you through the entire process. Joomla will check your server configuration, ask you for your MySQL details, etc. Feel free to leave many of the defaults as they are. You may find it easier if you do NOT select to have the 'Sample data" installed so you can setup your site with a clean slate. Success! You'll now need to open your FTP program and delete the entire 'installation' directory.

We are GO for Joomla!

You'll now have two URLs to keep track of - your blog url to view the site and your blog url with '/administrator' on the end for your login. Go to www.yourblog.com/administrator and login to the backend control panel of your Joomla site. You'll see lots of possibilities here, so don't freak out! I'll walk you through what everything does.

What's All This Then?

Let me help you understand a bit about how Joomla works. Joomla has tons of functionality and it can sometimes overwhelm someone new to the system. Here are some of the main features:

• Allows for user registration - You're a 'Super Administrator' and other users can register, be accepted and have access to 'private' areas of your website. This functionality can be increased with the use of special add-ons called 'Extensions.' Content can be managed by several users with a simple 'check out' process to prevent revisions being overwritten.
• Content - you can have static content items (I never use these, lousy SEO) or regular content items. Each content item (webpage) is assigned to a 'section' and 'category' You can have unlimited sections, each with many categories. They are not interchangable - you can't have one category listed under more than one section. The same for content items - they can only be assigned to one section/category.
• Menu items - Joomla gives you total control over your menu structure. You can create several types of menu items such as a 'blog style' display of all content assigned to a section, a menu item that displays a table with all content items assigned to a particular category, straight links to one content item and much more.
• Components - these are extensions you can download from Joomla.org that help expand the capabilities of your site such as a Comment component, real estate listings component and much more.
• Modules - these are extensions that act much like widgets. You can have small areas of content (such as a login module, contact module, Twitter module) that displays on all pages or only on certain pages of your site
• Mambots - these are extensions that work in the backend of Joomla to extend its capabilities. Examples include mambots to help people search your site, add social bookmark icons, etc.
• Media manager - this allows you to easily upload media to use on your Joomla site without having to use FTP.

You'll want to play around with your new Joomla site and become familiar with how everything works - it seems a bit overwhelming at first, but Joomla.org has a terrific PDF file that explains everything much better than I can. I'm also available anytime via email or Twitter to answer any quesiton you may have if you get stumped.

Let's get to the SEO Goodness!

Now we'll get into the steps I go through to get a fresh Joomla site ready for great SEO. We need to download a few free and paid Joomla Extensions to get the best results. Here they all are:

JCE Admin - Joomla WYSIWYG Editor
RD RSS - creates better RSS feeds
SEF Advance - The best search engine friendly URL component
SEF Patch - Improves how Joomla handles core SEF
JooFox Content Title - Improves how Joomla handles meta Titles

If you plan on doing any blogging, you'll want to purchase JomComment. Be sure to check out the Joomla Extensions Directory for thousands of other terrific additions.

How Do I Install these Extension Thingies?

How do you get all your new extras into your Joomla site? Let me explain. Notice the files you've downloaded - they'll have names such as com_jomcomment.zip, mod_jomlatest.zip and bot_joofox_ctitle.zip - the filenames help you know what kind of extension it is; component, module or mambot. In the backend of Joomla, navigate to 'Installers' then 'Components' and you'll see you can browse to each com_ zip file to install it. For modules, navigate to 'Installers' then 'Modules,' and the same for Mambots.

Once you have all your extras installed, you'll want to go to 'Mambots' then 'Site Mambots' and look for those you just installed - click the red 'X's in the published column to ensure you have them 'turned on.' Now, you want to go to 'Site' then 'Global Configuration' and adjust a few of the main settings. Edit your site name to include great keywords, decide on all the radio button options then use the pull down for Default WYSIWYG Editor to select 'JCE Editor Mambot.' Check out the other tabs on this screen for options you can edit such as Locale, Content, Metadata... edit these to your liking, then click on the SEO tab. Set both of these to 'Yes,' click the box 'Make unwritable after saving' and then click the 'Save' button at the top right. Via FTP, find the file in the main directory called htaccess.txt - click it to highlight, then slowly click it again to rename it to .htaccess - this is what will enable your Joomla site to have terrific keyword rich URLs.

One last step is to enable SEF Advance, which will create keyword rich urls based on the title alias of each of your content items. Navigate to 'Components' then 'SEF Advance' and enable it. Change any of the other settings to your preference.

Let's Start Building Some Pages

Now, if you've done your keyword research, you can begin to create your sections and categories. If you use the top menu in Joomla, navigate to 'Content' then 'Sections' or 'Categories' and use the 'New' button at top right. For example, a real estate website may have sections such as:

Wisconsin Real Estate
Madison WI Real Estate Blog

Then, your categories might break down as follows:

Wisconsin Real Estate - Dane County Madison Sun Prairie Homes
                                  Dane County Madison Home Buyers
                                  Dane County Madison Home Sellers

Madison WI Real Estate Blog - Madsion Market Updates
                                            Madison News
                                            Madison Photos

Now you can begin to create your content items. Navigate to the top menu 'Content' then 'All Content Items' and here you'll see each of your content items (if you have any). You can click the 'New' button at top right to create your first content item. You can start with your homepage text. You give your new page a Title and a Title alias. The title is the short description and the title alias can be used to expand and use additional keywords. Assign a section and category and move into the editor screen. Notice it resembles working in an MS Word document. There are two editor screens here - the first is for your introductory paragraph and the rest of your article can go into the second editor screen (especially good for blog posts, but the 2nd screen needn't be used).

If you've installed the JCE Editor Component and Mambot, you should see many terrific little buttons for bold, underline, paragraph alignment, font colors, etc. If you plan to type out your content or blog posts in Word and then paste into Joomla, you'll want to locate and use the icon with the 'W' for 'Paste from Word' as doing this will remove all the gook that MS Word adds to your text (that would mess up the display). Play with all these functions! Be sure to remember when using the photo upload and the link creation tool to use titles and alt tags to increase your SEO.

Now, notice off to the right we have several tabs - I'll touch on their functions briefly:

Publishing: Allows you to choose whether the content item should display on the 'Home' link, whether or not to publish it, who can view it, who created it (good for blog posts), what order it should appear, when to begin publishing (great if you create several blog posts at once and want to dole them out).

Images: I don't use this much as I'd rather load images right into the editor screen, but you can assign images to content items.

Parameters: Here you can decide on extra parameters like whether the content's category should be displayed, whether a 'print' or 'pdf' icon is displayed

Meta Info: Here's where we add our description and keywords! Be sure to keep it clean and simple, don't overstuff these!

Link to Menu: Here, you can create a menu item for this individual content item. Select one of your menus, enter a menu name and click 'Link to Menu' and the page will refresh and show you the new menu item.

!Important: Whenever you're working in Joomla, NEVER hit the 'back' button on your mouse or browser as that will 'check out' that item and lock it so you can't get back in. This is a feature for sites that have multiple authors to prevent them overwriting each others work. If you find you've done this on accident, you won't be able to get back in until you go to 'System' then 'Global Checkin' on the main menu. Also, when you work in a content item - you want to hit the Apply button often as the system will time out and you may lose your work.

How Do I Create My Blog in Joomla?

To create you blog, you should have already created a blog 'section' - the section that will hold all of your blog categories and content items separate from all of your other content. What we'll do first is create a link on your main menu to your blog. Go to 'Menu' then select 'Main menu' (if you do not yet have a main menu, click on 'Menu Manager and create it). Click on 'New' then select 'Blog - Content Section' - then hit 'Next.' Under 'Name' put 'Blog' then click on your blog section only to highlight it. Keep the rest of the details the same and look on the right at 'Parameters' - here you can customize the menu item to include a page title, the number of leading items, columns (I prefer 1 rather than 2), the ordering (I select 'Ordering' then 'Most recent first'). Hit 'Save' You now have a link to your blog.

Next, we want to use our RD RSS component to create an RSS feed for only the blog content. Navigate to 'Components' then 'RD Rss' and hit 'New' - here you name your blog, choose your blog categories and adjust the parameters. Click 'Save' and you'll see your new RSS feed link. I always pop over to FeedBurner and use this URL there to get a clean feed for use elsewhere as I like their extra features.

We'll also want to navigate to 'Components' then 'Jom Comment' and click on 'General Settings' - customize these settings however you like but be sure to choose only your blog section for comments. I recommend you enable the captcha image security and highly recommend you NOT enable trackbacks as you'll get deluged with spam.

You now have a brand new Joomla site with a great blog and excellent SEO! Please comment and let me know what you think! Be daring and take the plunge with Joomla and let me know when your new site hits the top 10 at Google!