Are You Off Color?

As a schooled graphics and Joomla web designer I have learned first hand that the colors you choose for your branding can really make or break you. It’s true that color choices are highly subjective, yet there are some fundamental choices that are viewed as ugly or inappropriate by an agreeable majority. Taking this reality a bit further, it is safe to assume that the colors you choose may not be appropriate to your audience or industry.

You have to choose colors that best project your industry and best convey the right message to your audience. For example, if you are a travel agency, you may not want to use too much black but instead use dark blue or dark green, etc. to coincide with outdoors. Keeping in mind that light shade of a color vs. the dark shade of a color can also impact your message. Pastel colors may seem relaxed and soothing, but can also backfire and give a wishy-washy impression if used in the wrong industry type or audience. The combination of light and dark also play a part. Too much use of light or dark can dilute your message or brand. For example choosing the shades of one color is more acceptable (black, grey, silver) than a mix of shades from more than two color groups.

Usually, professional services should have a strong color choice to project an objective, firm “we get the job done” attitude. A washed out light color will give an impression of uncertainty and unsure attitude. For example, a light color theme may not work well for legal professionals – but may work well for healthcare professionals who need to portray them as very caring.

If your website is a CMS and you are using a template, you may have a shortcut or a cheat way to get your colors coordinated. As a Joomla website designer, when I choose a Joomla design template, I look for one that best represents the industry style I’m working on, then I choose the best color combination that the template offers for my Joomla website design theme. The idea here is to match my branding colors from the template. As WordPress and Joomla web designers, we are very fortunate in that there are literally thousands of templates for us to choose from that offer infinite combinations.

The reason why this works well is because professional WordPress and Joomla web designers that create these templates choose their color pallet from harmonious swatch groups and themes. Following their color choices keeps my Joomla web design within the proper color group. For example, their blue and red work well together on their Joomla design sample, whereas, your blue and red may clash and make your Joomla website look amateurish.

Are You The Right Type?

You have probably seen graphics that seem as though they were created in the fifties compared to others that look as fresh as “today”. Often times it is the style of shading and type fonts used. A retro font automatically looks like a throwback whereas a tech font may not. Use the typeface that best matches your industry type. A high tech manufacturer may not be well served with a nineteen-sixties looking font. This is common sense but if you search you will be surprised how often this is overlooked.

The Joomla! Vulnerability List web portal and an active developer community helps keep Joomla one of the most secure open source CMS systems in the marketplace.

If you are going to build your business online you want to make sure you build it on a solid and secure foundation. We believe Joomla is among the very best solutions for any small business enterprise for this reason and many others.

The Joomla community is aggressive and proactive about making the Joomla CMS and platform one of the most secure in the industry. Not only have they done a great job building the core CMS with security in mind and been one of the fastest open source communities to respond when a security vulnerability is discovered but they also are aggressive with processes for assuring the many 3^rd party extensions are secure as well. As you could imagine with a community that has contributed 10’s of thousands of Joomla extensions which are mostly available through the Joomla extensions directory  http://extensions.joomla.org/ and nearly as many templates (soon to be available in a Joomla Templates Directory), monitoring the potential security threats is quite a significant task. Joomla.org has always has a responsive security team but one of the things that community has done recently is expand their web portal  http://vel.joomla.org/ for the Joomla! Vulnerability List. If you are a developer or even a site administrator you can subscribe to this list and be notified as extensions vulnerabilities are discovered and monitor if and how the developers have responded. Since keeping your site and associated Joomla extensions updated is one of the most important steps for securing your online assets this is a fantastic resource for you and the rest of the Joomla user community.

Some hosts are better than others for securing their servers but most do nothing at the application level or to protect your Joomla web site. This is why we also recommend that you consider another application layer security solution such as www.securelive.com or some CDN (Content Delivery Networks) have additional security protection worth merit as well. We have found the Secure Live solution to be the best all-around protection. Especially if you are still running older versions of the software and are limited on funds to maitain it. Most of the common threats can be protected against if you install one of the SecureLive solutions. It is also worth taking time to understand how your hosting environment is configured and protected and again keep your site up to date. There are great utility extensions like www.watchful.li for Joomla that can send you alerts and quickly review the status of your site extensions.

Since Joomla 2.5 upgrading your core Joomla and many supported extensions is as simple and easy as logging in and clicking a couple buttons. This has made keeping sites upgraded almost a non issues in many cases and increased the trend for Joomla as a top performer compared to other open source applications when it comes to security. This they are not the final athority nor do they catch everything, tools like those by veteran Joomie Phill Taylor at www.myjoomla.com are a cost effective way to scan your sites for vulnerabilities.

Our best advise is to make sure everything on your site is upgraded and use an application layer security tool like SecureLive). The costs of getting hacked and cleaning up are much more than the costs of being proactive and you can have a much greater peace of mind. The good news is that the Joomla community is doing a grewat job of providinge good information and built in tools for staying on top of security even if you know little about it. To learn more, make sure you drop by the Joomla! Vulnerability List portal and see where you may need to do any upgrades or proactive protection.  http://vel.joomla.org/

Why is Joomla better than Wordpress and Drupal CMS systems?

Quite simply because Joomla is just as easy to use as Wordpress (Especially in the J3.0 release) but it does not limit your scalability for future growth. The Joomla CMS and Platform offers rich features that are equal to and often superior to those in Drupal but because Joomla CMS has such a large Global community of developers and service providers you do not have vender lock in due to the often complex nature and higher cost of managing a Drupal site. Joomla sits right inbetween these other top contenders as the best of both worlds and currently powers over 2.8% of all web sites on the internet.

We have considered many times the idea of supporting Drupal and Wordpress and to some extent we do but we have kept our focus on being the best at Joomla. We do help many folks with their migrations from Drupal to Joomla or Wordpress to Joomla. In fact our team was the first ever to migrate an enterprise level Drupal site to Joomla and in doing so created several tools for making this process more practical and more affordable.

So there are two appealing factors for folks considering Wordpress; one is that typically for starting a simple blog site Wordpress is relatively easy to implement and manage for a non-technical end user and like Joomla can be downloaded for free and if your set aside a week end you can pretty much get a site set up if your hosting provide makes this easy for you. The other approach is where developers that like building custom sites will use the Wordpress framework to build custom sites where they only want the end users to put in content vs taking a more hands on approach. I do have friends in the industry that appreciate some of the simplicity found in Wordpress for building client sites but they typically are building very custom instances that require some type of ongoing support anyway. This is fine but it to me loses the real value to the end client because you are then for the most part working with a custom environment, thus defeating the purpose in many cases of using these empowering technologies.

We have found that the trade-off between a little more learning curve in Joomla vs Wordpress, which is easily overcome with a little training, offers our clients a much better long term solution. It ends up being less cost to maintain, you can do so much more with your online tools and the benefits of working with a service provider to compliment your skills and expertise through the process of building any web site can bolster your potential for success.

Ok so now lets’s think through Drupal…

This past Saturday in Brattleboro VT about 80 plus Joomla junkies came together to learn inside tips and tricks on improving their skills and upping their game with the Joomla platform. Three unique learning tracks from some of the most knowledgeable Joomla developers and some humorous interludes kept the crowd entertained and with plenty of “ahhh haaa” moments.

CNP Integrations was a sponsor of the event so I wanted to make sure I made it again this year. The highlight for me was Brian Teeman’s showcase and cool feature review of the JCE Editor. Every one of the folks that attended agreed that they learned something new about this ever so popular Joomla extension and the developer was online with us via a live Skype stream. Check it out here:  http://www.joomlacontenteditor.net/

I personally stuck around for the responsive template sessions and found them very informative. Brian, Matt and Andrea all had great information to share. I learned some cool knowledge bits that I can use for building custom responsive templates and how the addition of Bootstrap and LESS to the joomla framework have given even more power and control to both designers and developers alike.

I also got to sneek away from the responsive design track to see part of David Hurley showcase his new CRM system for Joomla www.crmery.com. I just recently installed this to see if it would be a viable replacement for the CRM we just discontinues and I have to say I have been very impressed. There are some new features discussed briefly that when they get released will make this a perfect solution for tracking our sales opportunities and managing new customer relationships. So far I have been pretty happy with Active Collab but they have a new release of JForce coming out early June that might have a very convincing case for change since it integrates nicely with the CRMery solutions.

Elin Warring was able to showcase the new tags feature coming out today in the latest Joomla 3.1 release. I must say this is really going to have a significant impact on how folks decide to organize and manage their content with Joomla moving forward.

The event management team really does a great job on this event and it goes on so smooth you wonder where the day went when it is over. One of my favorite parts of Joomla Day events is the after events where you meet and network with new friends from around the world. Often they are folks you have been talking to in cyber space and chat rooms, so putting a face to the online personalities reinforce how and why being part of such a unique community means so much. This time about 25 of us went out to a local Chinese/Japanese restaurant and in addition to some great conversations the Susi was wonderful. 

I now have a new bunch of friends that I can say "Hey we did sushi together... ".

See what you missed by going to the event web site:  http://www.joomladaynewengland.org

Joomla Days are a great way to connect with the community, learn more about what is going on in the development circles of the software and gain valuable tips on how to create better results using Joomla. So far there are announcements for a few more Joomla Day events planned this year and I bet there will be even more that pop up in the coming months. Keep your eye on this link for current events:  http://events.joomla.org/all-events/21-joomla-days.html

Here at CNP Integrations we’re always tackling interesting challenges, or slving unique problems for our customers. A few weeks ago we ran into yet another one. Here’s what we were up against.

A client was using the popular ZOO content construction kit to easily create a variety of content types for their site. One of the requirements was to be able to upload a pdf, and have it available both as a link to download, AND as a pdf embed. The link part was easy - ZOO provides an excellent field element to allow you to select files to allow a user to download. The tricky part was with embed - Identifying a method to allow the client to embed files on the site, without having to add steps to their content creating workflow.

Joomla CMS Site Owners Here is Your Branding Test Strip:

If you want to have the best CMS presentation and online marketing program for your online and offline business you need to start with having a strong brand identity. Everyone wants their brand image (logo) to look professional, get noticed and be memorable… but not everyone pulls that off! That is a tall order and millions attempt this feat each year. Although it sounds easy, it isn’t, especially if you already have some type of branding that is not working well for you… in which case you might consider re-branding. But re-branding is like rewind, so you may want to weigh the consequences of having to revisit all your existing marketing materials.

In cases where your branding has been a complete failure it is crucial to start from scratch. This could be extremely painful but necessary. Hopefully you are not in that predicament and you are just looking for some good advice on starting your branding strategy or making it better.

Before you start, understand that branding is one of the most important things you will ever do for your company’s long-term growth. How you choose your branding will impact the future of your company, service and products.

Building any web site requires careful thought and it is especially important to remember these four elements in your design and strategy. I recommend that you put together a list of questions and collaborate with others to help develop a well-rounded approach to each. Determine which elements related to each topic will best suit the needs of your organization. Fortunately, the Joomla CMS is the best CMS technology platform you can use to implement these tactics. Not only is it one of the easiest for non-technical users to manage but it is the most flexible for building robust full featured intuitive web applications as well. We have rarely found a more suited technology solution for practical use in Government, Non-profit, Small Business Enterprise or affordable Learning Management.

1. Web applications and usability

Test, evaluate, strategize and design your CMS strategy for optimized results

When a user gets to your website you want to keep them there and make their visit enjoyable as well as add value for them spending their time on your website.

Often an important challenge to overcome with web application usability is making it intuitive for the user. When you are close to the inner workings of your site it is easy to overlook how your site is being perceived by an end user.
You are going to want to have just the right balance between the amounts of content; how it is presented as well as making sure you are able to connect the right message with the particular users that you want to attract.

Some simple usability guidelines;

• Minimum clicks - minimize the number of clicks needed to get to the desired content
• Performance – make sure your site is optimized for page load performance
• Simple and clean – Make sure you display enough content but not too much. Do not let the user get distracted.
• Guide the user on an easy to follow path - Where ever possible predetermine click paths based on user types and guide them to the best possible experience based on what they are looking for.]]> chris@cnpcreative.com (Chris Nielsen) Blog Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:58:42 +0000 http://www.cnpintegrations.com/blog/joomla-cms-inbound-marketing-tip-for-developing-keyword-rich-copy http://www.cnpintegrations.com/blog/joomla-cms-inbound-marketing-tip-for-developing-keyword-rich-copy

  Here is one technique you can use to develop keyword rich content for your blog or web portal articles. This idea is rather simple in concept but not always as easy in practice. The challenge writing around a collection of keywords that are very similar and having them make any sense can be quite significant sometimes. However, if you know what you are writing about well it can be a very fun and creative excercise. Hey... and to top it off if you throw in a crazy picture associated with your article it can help you get noticed on facebook and other social channels. Try it and see if it works for you.
  

  This is what I did in the following example; I started off by doing some research on popular keywords related to the topic that I wanted to write about. Then I pasted them into a document and carefully crafted a story around the keywords and tried to provide information valuable to someone interested in reading it as a blog article.

  These are some good performing keywords in a popular search comparison for Joomla CMS.

  • •  joomla cms
    • cms template
    • cms opensource
    • cms free
    • easy cms
    • cms for free
    • free cms
    • joomla templates free
    • joomla shop
    • template shop

  Now that I had some high performance keywords I crafted some paragraphs around using these words. Here is an example;

  “If you want an easy cms and you want the best free cms with all of the power of enterprise level software you will start by choosing the Joomla CMS. If you are going to use joomla cms for your web portal you are going to also need a good cms template. One nice thing about the Joomla cms opensource tools is that in addition to the core cms you can get many extensions and joomla templates free too. You get even greater value by having access to paid 3^rd party extensions and professional templates when you work with a service vender like CNP Integrations because they subscribe to most of the popular template clubs, popular extensions and when you remain a service customer you can often keep using the extensions and templates free of additional license fees.

  Like most folks you want your cms for free and your cms free from expensive ongoing maintenance and you want your cms free from software bugs and your free cms kept current. Fun tongue twister there but the god news is that when using a Joomla CMS you get just that.

  We all know the real costs for developing a professional portal end up being in the implementation strategy and support talent, team training and technical support. Never skimp on defining your digital strategy (up front), branding or identity graphics or careful planning. Making a commitment to a well-rounded approach is where you can achieve the greatest value from your technology. After you have made the choice to use Joomla (The best CMS in our opinion) you will also use a professional support vender like CNP Integrations as your “Joomla shop” and “template shop”. Why? Because you want to be successful!

  There are a lot of considerations when you want to be competitive in your industry. Aligning yourself with a focused service vender like CNP will help you make better choices and improve your effectiveness.”

  Once you have your story and keywords integrated, as in the example above, you can continue to revise it until it flows better. Sometimes the copy can get a little awkward like the quick draft above. However, what this technique does is it allows you to create keyword rich content while offering a targeted message of value to your readers.

  Another thing you can consider with your articles is to make sure if you are going to include an image, that the image is named with a keyword (when possible) and use an alt tag for the image with equal keyword value.
  

  One thing to be careful of is over using your keywords so that you would get categorized as "spamming" the search engines. There are some evaluation tools available that you can use to test your article once you have it written and published so you can rank how it might perform and perhaps edit it to perform better.

  Remember the smallest of details can set you apart from what your competitors are doing. Understanding the terms your customers search for helps you craft content that will not only be found but speak in terms they use most often when thinking about anything related to your product, service or cause. Crafting content for optimized performance in natural search is a key to building traffic with the lowest possible investment.

   

  ]]> chris@cnpcreative.com (Chris Nielsen) Blog Fri, 29 Mar 2013 01:31:50 +0000