Building a Joomla web site can be a daunting task if you realize all that the Joomla CMS framework is capable of. We have broken this down into seven easy to follow steps that can get you started in the process of achieving superior results with your new portal. We hope this can help ease your mind and provide a simple process and approach.

 

Step One: Defining your business goals.
The first step in this process is to clearly understand what the goals are for investing your time and money into this project. What quantifiable results do you want to achieve with this initiative and who else will be involved in the process of achieving these goals. Very much like starting any new business you want a clear understanding of your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).

Step Two: Defining your Project Plan.
Once you have a clear idea where you are going you need to develop a stratgic plan for getting there. Project plans need to consider where you want to go both short term and long term with this project. It needs to have a focused and phased approach that takes into consideration your available time and resources over time to sustain this project. It needs a timeline and content acquisition checklists that will help you stay on target and on focuse with your priorities.

Step Three: Defining the Look and Feel.
The firs actual development tasks with your Joomla Project are to define your design and choose your template or process of implementing one. There are three key parts of a template you need to consider.
1.    Graphical design elements: Colors and style
2.    Layout options: “Wireframes” or in Joomla terms Module Positions
3.    Features and Functionality: Standards compliance, special modules and capabilities.
It is important to realize that the Joomla template is a foundation for which you will build your site and you need to consider this decision carefully. However, you can easily change templates in the future with often little effort

Step Four: Defining Content and Navigation
Now that you know how you want your Joomla web site to unfold, both from a design perspective and from a roadmap ahead you can start mapping out the intended content and collecting any graphics or generating article copy. Typically you will want to bring every page of content into an offline document that can be edited prior to inserting into your new site. Sometimes if this is a site redesign you can cut and paste from an existing site. If you plan to get the most out of search engine optimization you will want to get targeted keywords generated and pass these on to your authors for consideration in developing the copy.
Now is a good time to think about the Sections and categories for which you will organize your content and how you want your users to navigate with the best possible user experience. It is a good idea to use a mind mapping tool to define your site navigation.

Step Five: Features and Functionality
With a clear understanding of the content you want to present and manage you will have a better idea of the types of Joomla Extensions that you will need to implement this. With over 4000 extensions and the list is growing every day, you may need to make lists of the options, compare the features and review the demos and reviews before installing them on your site. Once you have narrow this down you can then test them on your new site once you get it installed. Sometimes you may find that there are not existing components that provide the features or functionality that you need. This will require creating a development spec that clearly itemizes the features you want to add to an existing extension or for building a custom extension for your site. It is a good idea to get this sorted out early in your development process.

Step Six: Installation and Configuration
Once we have all of our objectives, a defined roadmap, site plan and specific template in hand we can begin the installation and configuration process. Some ISP’s have automated tools for installing Joomla but I prefer to get the latest release directly from the Joomla.org site and to install it manually. Once Joomla is installed we go through a process of configuring this specific for your needs. Installing extensions, installing the template and setting up the parameters. Once you get the baseline of your site configured with all of the components, modules and plug-ins and perhaps a couple place holder content articles and menu items it is a good idea to make a back up copy of this and there are inexpensive extensions that can automatically do this for you.

Step Seven: Populate your Joomla web site with content.
Having a good baseline for your framework in place and backed up prior to beginning to populate content and fine tuning the configurations helps you move quickly and safely through the content population stage in your project. This is the point where we provide training or you would go through tutorials on content management techniques. Once you get this underway most of the outcome is in your hands. With a good support team that is well rounded in both strategy, branding and marketing expertise as well as the technical support and programming expertise you can increase your effectiveness through a collaborative development approach. We highly recommend that you work with a qualified team to guide you through this process. In the end it will give you a much more professional web site, better train your team and give you the technical support to get the very best value out of your investment.

Moving Forward
Joomla CMS is a superior choice for growing a solid business online. There are endless extensible possibilities and freedom to expand this as a platform for success. There are many other steps you can take to optimize your content and leverage more in-depth capabilities of the Joomla framework over time but this should get you an overview of the initial steps for getting started. With a good strategic and tactical plan you can keep your focus. In a world fill with exciting possibilities it is very important not to lose sight of your intended business results. Regardless of your web expertise, choosing a qualified support team to help you build, launch maintain your project will give you the very best return on your time and capital investment.

Be sure to visit our new http://JoomlaDesignServices.com web portal for an example of a site built using this planning process and to find valuable resources for Joomla development.

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Configuration of Complex Joomla CMS and CRBM Platforms

Joomla is a powerful framework for delivering Complex web portals. With over 4700 extensions and counting, the largest developer network in the world and the most user friendly interface has made the award winning Joomla CMS the fastest growing open source CMS project perhaps in the world. With millions of users and enthusiasts from all around the globe and a low cost of entry this is quickly becoming the dominant content management system (CMS) for small businesses (SMB's) and even larger enterprises and institutions.  We compared Joomla vs Drupal and Joomla vs Wordpress which are other worthy technologies but Joomla seemed for us to be the best overall platform for recommending to our customers. As Joomla integrators and Joomla Component Developers we deliver complex Joomla configurations for a wide variety of customers. Joomla is a perfect framework for the micro small business owner that needs training and mentoring to work independently on building their web empire as well as the small business enterprise with complex Joomla configuration needs. 

There are several layers in deploying a Joomla CMS project.

• Planning and content architecture
• Template Design and graphics
• Components and Configurations
• User experience
• Customer Programming
• Legacy System Integrations
• SEO and Marketing
• Joomla User Training
• Ongoing Technical Support

Just to name a few... With any technology there are different points of entry depending on the experience and technical aptitude of the humans interacting with the system, the technical and business process requirements and the overall dynamics of the organization implementing the particular solution. We (our CNP Consultants) try to help folks "Get the most value out of their technology investment". Yea you will see this in our marketing but this is much more than hype. Value can be the key to success or failure.  Among the biggest mistakes we have seen folks make and even made ourselves are:

Common Mistake #1

Just because you can do something with technology does not always make it practical.

I have personally implemented many powerful tools that accomplish their intended functionality but they actually never get used to their full potential by the end customers. While these were fun for us to build as developers and to see something cool that works, it did not really serve any of us well since our clients customers do not use them and thus they have a significant investment they are net getting a return on and thus until this first investment is paid for they are not all that excited to engage us to build more stuff.

The key here is determining first the business priorities of the project and then making sure everyone is listening to the needs of the end customer or user. Hey sometime folks build web tools just for themselves. I know I often post blog articles with a lot of links I want to not only share but also refer back to and we put plenty of tools online that we want to use ourselves as much as we want to and share with our customers.  Just make sure you are clear why you are doing something and assess if it is going to deliver the right return on your investment.

Stay focused on what your customers are saying and what will yield the greatest return.

Technology implementation can be a never ending pit you throw money into, something that my father used to say about owning a luxury boat. If you are building your site for the shear ego of having a beautiful site with all kinds of creative features and functionality, have at it and of course we love to work with entrepreneurs with big ideas. However, like any relationship and any good investment a long term strategy is often much more practical. Our consulting customers get good advice about products and services that can grow their business or allow them to continue to get value from their investments. I have seen folks to often go for a quick sell and end up with dysfunctional customer relationships that ultimately cost more than the profit you made in the first place. Ask yourself many questions including "Is what I am doing today going to matter a year from now"? If you ask the right questions up front this can help you get the most out of your initiatives.

Technology is a moving target

One of the many reasons we got behind the Joomla CMS project as a core competency was because it was open source which offered freedom and scalable options for solving the greatest amount of business problems.  We took the gamble from the trends in the market place that Joomla would continue to grow with features and stability and that the developer community would continue to be attracted to the Joomla framework thus building more confidence in the market place. With a scalable platform that is built on open source code for use was great since we wanted to work with technology that sold itself and that we could support and expand upon it to meet the needs of the types of customers we wanted to attract.  Any kind of dynamic web portal project is a moving target and often needs to change course in mid stream. You have to keep good forward momentum yet listen to the trends in the marketplace so you can sail into the wind effectively. An innovative and scalable open source platform like Joomla is a perfect foundation for meeting this challenge.

But wait there is more...

A couple years ago, after a good year of working with Joomla we were looking for solutions that could actually help us build an all-in-one web based framework for managing our business in a Virtual Office Environment (everything accessible on the web). This is when after trying and implementing several CRM and project management tools ranging from SugarCRM to MS Project to SharePoint we found Info@hand CRBM. This was the perfect platform since it was open source code base and integrated with the Joomla CMS and QuickBooks. Now after 3 years of connecting the dots we have a powerful web infrastructure with "Complete transaction life cycle management" and "Customer Relationship Business Management". Very very very cool platform... we love it and so do many of the customers we have introduced to it. Though this system is also wired up with the DimDim.com conferencing and collaboration suite it also fills many gaps in client customer collaboration. These types of regular new innovations continue to add low cost of entry tools and value to the small business.

Sounds complicated but it is also very simple if you have time as your friend

What we have learned as "early adopters" is that there is much more to it than the technology if you are going to be successful. Complex Joomla Integrations are getting simpler as this platform evolves. The old carpenters saying get the right tool for the right job is very good advice.  Since there are so many tools now in our toolbox and we fully understand how they all can work together I know I can start talking about it and it does not take long to get that "deer in the headlights look" from a prospect. The trick here is making sure we establish a clear roadmap and strategy for implementing technologies that will bring the greatest reward to your business and value to our customers. This takes time and effort to get it right and should be done early on in your process.

Common Mistake #2

Just because you have the technology does not mean you should implement it.

The second most challenging aspect of implementing a complicated project is the thought process of "let's do it all at once".  I have often had clients that want to load up their sites with a ton of components and then they want to throw these new features out to their customers or workforce all at once. Well this is a huge horse pill that never gets swallowed. Hate to say it but until recently I have been guilty of this myself. There is a fine line between "Build it and they will come" and "Here take a bite and let me know if you like it".

Remember this is all about relationship management

I remember back in my days of dating that it only takes one or two words to "turn off" and scare someone away. Essentially this is a similar process we go through for attracting customers. While you want to make sure what you are presenting is honest and has substance you do not want to overload, overwhelm folks with more information than they are particularly interested in at the moment. You also want to put out information and web tools in a way that they want to have them presented. As in listen well and be a good conversationalist. Such is the case even more now with the Social Technology boon. I used to say "it is not hard to fall in love since people are impulsive by nature but the real challenge is falling in love with the right one". The same is true with technology. It can be easy to get excited about some new features and want to add them right away to your site just because they are cooler than the site next door. However,  every time you push something new out it may distract or turn off your customers.

In relationships of any kind they are best nurtured over time. Deploying technology is a complex multi dimensional relationship. Moving too fast has greater risk of failure for everyone involved. You actually have several relationships and processes that need careful consideration over time:

• Solutions: Customer Needs - Business Process Need - Technology Implementation
• Relationships: Vendor Teams - Client Teams - Customers

In Conclusion work smarter with a good plan

Plan carefully and gather the right information about your customers and how technology can get you the best results as it relates to your business strategy. Make sure you deploy solutions over time with good the right vendors and the right customers. These systems have enough complexity that you have to really keep your eye on the ball or you can and will often times fail. None of us want to waste time or money and the wrong decision in this economy could cost you business. Before you travel anywhere it is a good idea to get directions, a map or invest in a GPS. Why would you not want to invest in good quality consulting to help guide you along the path of implementing technology?

 

Value Builder Methodology

We have since built consulting practices to address these two common mistakes folks make with complex technology implementations. Yea sure we have to be geeks and able to wire all this stuff up and yes we do this well but the trick to getting value out of your technology is much more that the groovy tools we can dish out.  With a few exceptions, most of the technology these days is all ready built and what that means is there is a greater need for configuration and being able to map the humans with the technology in a way that will allow you to stay focused on your priorities. Just start asking yourself questions like: What actions will give the best long term results? What will put out the fires of tomorrow before they start? How can I make this profitable to my company and add unique benefits to my customers?This should help get you on the right path.

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Social Networking and Green Technologies are much more than buzz words in the current blogosphere. They are a revolution and the wave of the future. You had better get on the wave and ride it with some skill or you will be left swimming with the sharks.

It is hard to go online, read a newspaper or magazine or watch any TV channel without getting blasted with terms that include "Green Technology" or "Social Network". They are the marketers' handles for holding on to the merry-go-round in the marketplace. Though we are just at the beginning of this "Green-Social" revolution and there is a lot of unknowns as to where this will all lead us, I do think overall this is causing a significant shift in public awareness. There are more folks in general paying attention to current affairs and real world issues that will affect them and generations in the future. I see little bad with this momentum since it should be a welcome change for people to start thinking ahead and with a more careful eye on the impact of the decisions they make in the short term. Perhaps this will lead to more careful planning or thoughtful execution of technology. Since we are in the middle of a technology revolution the idea of thinking ahead is very relevant.

As an example, in our household we made several decisions a couple years back related to lowering our carbon footprint as well as reducing our overall energy consumption. One of which was to get a hybrid car (we love our Prius) but lately we considering the purchase of a small truck so we can haul stuff and go back to having two vehicles. As we are reviewing the specs, the pros and cons, we are actually feeling a little guilty with getting this vehicle since the fuel efficiency is so poor in comparison and the need is just not that great. Getting over the hump at first to make the decision to "Go Green"was not so easy since we traded in two relatively new cars plus paid more money to get into our hybrid and the other changes we made in our home and offices were also at a big price tag. The reality for us though is now that we have made this lifestyle change, it feels great and costs us much less. It is "hard to go back" sort of speak and by beating the curve we have actually recouped the investments in a very short period of time.

Translating this into the world of doing business

The hardest part of any new technology deployment is to get started and to get over the first phase of planning and adoption. Once you get past this it only requires discipline to see real results. With the maturity of open source technologies, small businesses can now afford technology solutions such as Content Management Systems (CMS), Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Learning Management Systems (LMS) that will enable them to compete not only in a Global economy but against much larger enterprises. With powerful open source platforms such as Joomla CMS (with over 4600 extensions and counting) and blended commercial/open source solutions like info@hand CRM we now have a full life cycle transaction management capability with all of the ERP or LMS required for having superior business intelligence in real time. This technology in the hands of the right small business owners and if it is implemented effectively can revolutionize their capabilities and open many new doors of opportunity.

Join the conversation or you don't get invited to the party

With the wave of Social Networks and the trend of Social CRM the main point is to "listen to your customers or they will go somewhere else." Why? Because they can! One of the most important achievements in your marketing and general way of doing business will be to build customer loyalty since it one general rule of doing business is that it is much easier to get more business from your existing customers than it is to acquire new customers. Another key point is that with the explosion of Twitter you now have individuals with more power of "twitter influence" than major news networks. The groundswell of social technologies and the chatter in these communities are changing our culture forever. Just my opinion but overall the top down and territorial boundaries will change significantly in scope to a much more horizontal collaborative network as people become more aware and systems get more and more transparent. What does this mean? Well, it means that individuals will first have to take more responsibility and become more informed but with this they will ultimately have much more power and influence if the collaborate effectively.

Save money time and become more effective

With the whole shift in our economy with unemployment rising and the types of jobs in the marketplace changing as we adapt to the effects of globalization, I think we will see a boom in "micro-small businesses" and an awakening of self-motivated individuals working from home offices. Not only will this reduce fuel consumption with long commutes to and from work but it also can offer an additional slice of time in each day that can be used towards individual efficiency. This is going to mean that the companies that can adapt their business model and implement the technology infrastructures to accommodate a virtual office will have a significant advantage over those that do not. By the way, since this cuts back on energy consumption it is very much considered as adopting Green Technology.

Another key factor is that will save companies money is through developing quality training systems and managing business intelligence. The average employee stays with a company much less than ever before in history. With this constant turnover it is increasingly important to develop processes and systems that are less dependent on the individuals that are performing the particular roles. Having a solid technology platform and infrastructure in place will give your company the ability to remain resilient and keep track of knowledge assets. Essentially this can add up to significant savings in the amount of time and money required to retrain or move talent around to perform different roles within your organization.

Good news and the key to success

Well the good news is that every small business can afford to implement these types of tools now that were once only affordable by large enterprise organizations. The small business will have some home field advantages since they are more agile and can begin to transform their business models and adapt to the new world of social networks. The reality though is that all of your competition can also have access to the same process efficiencies and communities through clever technology adoption. So what will set you ahead is how effectively you can use and adopt technology in your organization and how well you can train and integrate your people with your technologies. It takes real effort and discipline to bridge this gap. It will also take some skill and creativity to ride the wave. The surf boards are now cheap but the skill to ride will determine your success.

Careful planning, creativity and strategy are the solution

CNP Integrations has developed a "Value Builder" methodology and service plan that can help you identify your priorities, define the correct technologies for deploying a Customer Relationship Business Management Platform to help your business bridge the gaps and allow you to get the very best value out of your technology investments. Think of the "Value Builder Program" as an incubator project for reinventing your business with better and smarter use of low cost of ownership web based virtual office tools. Whether you work with CNP or other vendors make sure you are focused on defining your priorities, identify your short term and long term technology needs and how you can use "Being Green" and "Social Networking" in your approach. If you do this you will connect to the pulse of your customers, participate in the "Grand" collaborative conversations and prosper both professionally as well as get the best value for the companies or businesses that employ you.

See related blog articles and links:

• 100's of Entrepreneur and small business resources
• Integrating the People in your business with CRM Technology
• Let's talk about flat bid contracts and Value Building for Joomla CMS Web 2.0 Development
• 10 Tips for entrepreneurs and your business to beat the recession
• Leveraging CRM Software in the Small Business
• Integration of People with Technology & Acquisition of Business Intelligence
• Cheaper is not always better when it comes to hosting.
• Universal project management concepts
• Good insight from Jack Derby
• Building lists to grow your business opportunities 
• Lower risk through low cost pay as you go retainers
• 8 Bench Marks of a Great Client
• 12 U.S. Laws Bloggers Need to Know
• Social Technologies are revision in the model of power
• CRM/ERP, Joomla CMS, QuickBooks all-in-one Solution for SMB's
• Value Building Landing Pages with Lead Capturing CRM
• Info@hand "CRBM Platform" best kept secret in CRM Community
• Platform as a Service an inspired new generation of CRBM
• How important is a CRM Software Application for your SMB?
• Where do I get started with CRBM (Customer Relationship Business Management)?
• Open Source or SaaS CRM in Your Business
• Universal project management concepts
• Virtual Office Tools Save Money
• Web 2.0 boom and useful web tools

You can also visit our blog home at www.cnpintegrations.com/myblog/ for regular new posts.

For more information about the CRBM Platform and other educational resources be sure to visit: www.learningcrm.com

 

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Internet provides powerful networking opportunities that allow users to effectively target their audience by logging on to social sites like LinkedIn, Digg and more . Take advantage of these tools by asserting your company's presence online and reaching more potential customers, business partners and employees.

Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites

Share your favorite sites on the Web with potential clients and business partners by commenting on, uploading and ranking different newsworthy articles. You can also create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company's Web site.

1. Reddit: Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you'll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.
2. Digg : Digg has a huge following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.
3. Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.
4. StumbleUpon: You'll open your online presence up to a whole new audience just by adding the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser and "channel surf[ing] the Web. You'll "connect with friends and share your discoveries," as well as "meet people that have similar interests."
5. Technorati: If you want to increase your blog's readership, consider registering it with Technorati, a network of blogs and writers that lists top stories in categories like Business, Entertainment and Technology.
6. Ning: After hanging around the same social networks for a while, you may feel inspired to create your own, where you can bring together clients, vendors, customers and co-workers in a confidential, secure corner of the Web. Ning lets users design free social networks that they can share with anyone.
7. Squidoo: According to Squidoo, "everyone's an expert on something. Share your knowledge!" Share your industry's secrets by answering questions and designing a profile page to help other members.
8. Furl: Make Furl "your personal Web file" by bookmarking great sites and sharing them with other users by recommending links, commenting on articles and utilizing other fantastic features.
9. Tubearoo: This video network works like other social-bookmarking sites, except that it focuses on uploaded videos. Businesses can create and upload tutorials, commentaries and interviews with industry insiders to promote their own services.
10. WikiHow: Create a how-to guide or tutorial on wikiHow to share your company's services with the public for free.
11. YouTube: From the fashion industry to Capitol Hill, everyone has a video floating around on YouTube. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video from your company's latest commercial or event to give customers and clients an idea of what you do each day.
12. Ma.gnolia: Share your favorite sites with friends, colleagues and clients by organizing your bookmarks with Ma.gnolia. Clients will appreciate both your Internet-savviness and your ability to stay current and organized.

Professional-Networking Sites

Sign up with these online networking communities as a company or as an individual to take advantage of recruiting opportunities, cross-promotional events and more.

1. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
2. Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on "connecting business people" through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.
3. Focus: Focus is a business destination where business professionals can help each other with their purchase and other business decisions by accessing research and peer expertise. Most importantly, Focus provides open, quality information for all businesses that is freely available, easily accessible, and community powered.
4. YorZ: This networking site doubles as a job site. Members can post openings for free to attract quality candidates.
5. Xing: An account with networking site Xing can "open doors to thousands of companies." Use the professional contact manager to organize your new friends and colleagues, and take advantage of the Business Accelerator application to "find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context [and] open up new sales channels."
6. Facebook: Facebook is no longer just for college kids who want to post their party pics. Businesses vie for advertising opportunities, event promotion and more on this social-networking site.
7. Care2: Care2 isn't just a networking community for professionals: It's touted as "the global network for organizations and people who Care2 make a difference." If your business is making efforts to go green, let others know by becoming a presence on this site.
8. Gather: This networking community is made up of members who think. Browse categories concerning books, health, money, news and more to ignite discussions on politics, business and entertainment. This will help your company tap into its target audience and find out what they want.
9. MEETin.org: Once you've acquired a group of contacts in your city by networking on MEETin.org, organize an event so that you can meet face-to-face.
10. Tribe: Cities like Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago have unique online communities on tribe. Users can search for favorite restaurants, events, clubs and more.
11. Ziggs: Ziggs is "organizing and connecting people in a professional way." Join groups and make contacts through your Ziggs account to increase your company's presence online and further your own personal career.
12. Plaxo: Join Plaxo to organize your contacts and stay updated with feeds from Digg, Amazon.com, del.icio.us and more.
13. NetParty: If you want to attract young professionals in cities like Boston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando Fla., create an account with the networking site NetParty. You'll be able to connect with qualified, up-and-coming professionals online, then meet them at a real-life happy-hour event where you can pass out business cards, pitch new job openings and more.
14. Networking For Professionals: Networking For Professionals is another online community that combines the Internet with special events in the real world. Post photos, videos, résumés and clips on your online profile while you meet new business contacts.

Niche Social-Media Sites

Consider linking up with one of these social-media sites to narrow down your business's target audience. You'll find other professionals, enthusiasts and consumers who are most likely already interested in what your company has to offer.

1. Pixel Groovy: Web workers will love Pixel Groovy, an open-source site that lets members submit and rate tutorials for Web 2.0, email and online-marketing issues.
2. Mixx: Mixx prides itself on being "your link to the Web content that really matters." Submit and rate stories, photos and news to drive traffic to your own site. You'll also meet others with similar interests.
3. Tweako: Gadget-minded computer geeks can network with each other on Tweako, a site that promotes information sharing for the technologically savvy.
4. Small Business Brief: When members post entrepreneur-related articles, a photo and a link to their profile appear, gaining you valuable exposure and legitimacy online.
5. Sphinn: Sphinn is an online forum and networking site for the Internet marketing crowd. Upload articles and guides from your blog to create interest in your own company or connect with other professionals for form new contacts.
6. BuzzFlash.net: This one-stop news resource is great for businesses that want to contribute articles on a variety of subjects, from the environment to politics to health.
7. HubSpot: HubSpot is another news site aimed at connecting business professionals.
8. SEO TAGG: Stay on top of news from the Web marketing and SEO (search-engine optimization) industries by becoming an active member of this online community.

General Social-Media Sites

The following social-media sites provide excellent opportunities for businesses to advertise; promote specials, events or services; and feature published, knowledgeable employees.

1. Wikipedia: Besides creating your own business reference page on Wikipedia, you can connect with other users on Wikipedia's Community Portal and at the village pump, where you'll find conscientious professionals enthusiastic about news, business, research and more.
2. Newsvine: Feature top employees by uploading their articles, studies or other news-related items to this site. A free account will also get you your own column and access to the Newsvine community.
3. 43 Things: This site bills itself as "the world's most popular online goal setting community." By publicizing your company's goals and ambitions, you'll gain a following of customers, investors and promoters who cheer you on as you achieve success.
4. Wetpaint: If you're tired of blogs and generic Web sites, create your own wiki with Wetpaint to reach your audience and increase your company's presence online. You can easily organize articles, contact information, photos and other information to promote your business.
5. Twitter: Is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."
6. Yahoo! Answers: Start fielding Yahoo! users' questions with this social-media Q&A service. Search for questions in your particular areas of expertise by clicking categories like Business & Finance, Health, News & Events and more. If you continue to dole out useful advice and link your answer to your company's Web page, you'll quickly gain a new following of curious customers.

Job Sites

If you want to secure high-quality talent during your company's next hiring spree, you'll need to maintain a strong presence on popular job sites like the ones listed below.

1. CareerBuilder: Reach millions of candidates by posting jobs on this must-visit site.
2. The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal: The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal attracts well-educated professionals who are at the top of their game. Post a job or search résumés here.
3. CollegeRecruiter.com: If your firm wants to hire promising entry-level employees, check CollegeRecuriter.com for candidates with college degrees.
4. Monster: Post often to separate your business from all the other big companies that use this site to advertise job openings.
5. Sologig: Top freelancers and contractors post résumés and look for work on this popular site.
6. AllFreelance.com: This site "offers self-employed small business owners links to freelance & work at home job boards, self-promotion tips" and more.
7. Freelance Switch Job Listings: Freelance Switch is the freelancer's online mecca and boasts articles, resource toolboxes, valuable tips and a job board.
8. GoFreelance: Employers looking to boost their vendor base should check GoFreelance for professionals in the writing, design, editing and Web industries.
9. Yahoo! Hot Jobs: This site is often one of the first places that job seekers visit. Post open opportunities and check out informative articles and guides to gain insight on the hiring and interviewing process.
10. Guru.com: Build your company's repertoire with top freelancing professionals by advertising projects on this site, otherwise known as "the world's largest online service marketplace."

The original source of this article is InsideCRM.com, part of the Focus network of sites. I was in the middle of compiling my own and stumbled upon this great list. We hope you find it useful.

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Site Redesign with Joomla is booming 

Joomla Themes or Templates and Drupal vs Joomla Comparisons are rather popular topics and searches right now on twitter, google and in the blogosphere. Understandably since there are a lot of folks planning site redesigns and this is a logical time to question if you are using the right framework and what are my lowest costs for getting a new graphic design that best represents my business online. I have explored the Joomla vs Drupal comparison in a couple other blog posts listed below so this article will explore the whole custom design vs prebuilt template issue.

• CNP Blog Post: CMS WARS, JOOMLA VS. DRUPAL and the winner is... http://bit.ly/GUj9L
• CNP Blog Post: Joomla, Wordpress and Drupal best choice comparison http://bit.ly/xI0Rb

Three key elements of a template

When I start this discussion about the graphic design options with customers looking to deploy a Joomla CMS site I try to explain the three key elements of Joomla template. Which are:

1. The Graphics (design)
2. Module positions (wire frames).
3. Features and functionality (such as standards adherence, AJAX tools, unique modules, theme modifications etc.). 

I also take them to Rocket Theme demos to explore the template designs  they have available. While there are a number of template developers out there the Rocket Theme folks are simply the best prepackaged template developers and they have the best documentation and forum support in the marketplace.

Custom vs Prebuilt where is the value and priority for your site?

We do design and build templates for Joomla and appreciate customers that see the value in having a custom design so we do not shy away from this business when budgets or the client brand warrants it. However, when building any CMS system where there is a lot of content and features or functionality to consider, I highly recommend working with a solid well built prebuilt template that can meet your taste and requirements, for a number of reasons:

• The design process takes time and is often very subjective. This means everyone is going to have an opinion and it can often take a while for everyone to agree. In the mean time most of the other aspects of the site can be built while an in-depth creative design is being developed.
• Using a template can allow you to significantly reduce the deployment time and allow you to get your site live quicker.
• Most customers can not afford the level of development that goes into a robust full featured template with quality documentation. Documentation is key for ongoing maintenance.
• Often a custom design is not required since we can brand and tweak a prebuilt template to meet most clients' needs. This frees up resources to allocate on areas of the site development that could have more value in the end to your customers. Perhaps investing more into training your team effectively to manage and develop content can give you more bang for your dollar. Depending on the scope of your project you also need to make sure you balance your resources throughout the entire life cycle so you have enough to complete priority features or marketing once the site is built.
• Building a custom designed template and testing the template in multiple in multiple browsers is a significant project on its own. If you are building a site with any complexity it can be very helpful to isolate any potential issues. Such as if a layout with a component or module view is in the component code or caused by template CSS. Starting off with a template that has been thoroughly vented can save on development time hunting for and resolving bugs.

Joomla CMS let's you change your mind over time

If your project budget and brand identity require custom template development by picking prebuilt template that has a module position layout consistent with what you are going to need the custom template module positions could be modeled to match, making the transition to a custom template very efficient. The beauty of a Joomla framework is that you can always update and change the template design as your tastes, brands and customer requests evolve over time.

Another thing to consider that could save you a lot of money is that when you purchase a Rocket Theme,  for example, you get the Photoshop/Fireworks source files. These files are pre-sliced (layered images that are called into the template framework) for the template layout. If the graphics are all that you need to change the files can be output as "slices" once changes have been made to the graphics and provided you are careful not to change the "slices" these new graphic files can be integrated into your template directories with far less effort than trying to completely reinvent the wheel.

Build value through careful planning and setting priorities

One of the ways we offer considerable value to our customers is through careful evaluation of your needs so that we can help you determine the most cost effective way of achieving your goals and objectives. There are a lot of areas you can invest time and money into a Joomla CMS deployment . Our goal is to help give you the best information for making informed decisions about where you what to focus your priorities. Every project is different and thus each has its own unique considerations. The template considerations are the starting place for most projects since creative design is often the most subjective and because it sets the layout and style for which the functionality will be presented to your customers.

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