SEOmoz

SEOmoz.org - Learn From SEO Experts. Become an Expert.

Services We Use

Here are two main services we use for professional website development. Our "Develop Your Own Website Series" explains step-by-step how to build a professional website with both services.

BlueHost Webhost: They register your domain and host your site for an awesome fee.




RocketTheme:
Professional Template Club. Choose from numerous professional templates for your website. These templates are gorgeous! 

Part 14: Joomla Articles
Written by Ray Shore   
Sunday, 28 December 2008 01:32

M

uch of the content on your website will be in the form of articles. An article can be permanent (static pages) or can be posted for a certain period of time such as a news story. My "Develop Your Own Website Series" is just a collection of static articles. Follow the steps below to produce an article for your Joomla website.

1. First, log in to your Joomla website per Part 8 of my series.
2. Click on the "Content" tab and select "Article Manager".
3. Click on the "New" button in the row of icons at the top.
4. Now, enter a title for your article. Keep in mind that this title will appear at the top of your web page.

Joomla Article Title

5. Enter an Alias (optional). The alias will appear in the URL for the article web page. This is beneficial if you want certain keywords in your URL for search engine optimization purposes.
6. Select the section that you want the article posted in. Note: an uncategorized article is used for static pages. That is, pages that will remain on your site indefinitely. For example, you would create an uncategorized article for your About Us page.
Another type of article that can be found in the Section drop-down is a news article. These articles are not necessarily static and can be found in the news section of your Joomla website. You can even establish a "start publishing" date and a "finish publishing date. You will find these settings in the parameters section while in article edit mode. See below:

Joomla Article Parameters

7. Select a category. You will only be able to select an uncategorized section if you chose an uncategorized article. However, if you choose news as the section, then you can choose from latest news or newsflash. Note that you can actually create your own sections and categories in your Joomla control panel. This tutorial is dealing with the defaults that are available when your website is first established.
8. If you want your article listed on the front page of your website, just select "Yes" in the front page selection.
9. Add article content. In the editor section, you can start adding your article content. Note that your editor will look much like a word processing program. Just hover over the icons to see what they do. Type in your text and add formatting such as bold, bullets, underline, etc.

Joomla Article Content

10. Select to publish your article when ready. Select yes or no in the "Published" section.
11. Viewing the article: if your article is a static article, then you will need to link to the article. You can simply create a menu item that links to the article. If it is a news article, then just set up a news module that provides the latest news stories. See my tutorial on working with modules. Note that if you selected to publish on the front page, it should show up there automatically.

Tips

  • Click the "Apply" button often. This will save your article without closing.
  • Click the "Preview" icon (magnifying glass) to see what your article looks like.
  • Add a description in the Metadata Information section. This information will show up in search engine results.
  • Upload a good Joomla editor on your website. I am using (and highly recommend) JoomlaFCK. This will give you nice formatting options for creating articles.
 

Local Areas We Serve

If you are in the Kansas City metro area, we can provide a closer one-on-one service. Here are some of the local areas we serve:

 Overland Park, Kansas
 Leawood, Kansas
 Lenexa, Kansas
 Olathe, Kansas
 Merriam, Kansas
 Shawnee, Kansas
 Gardner, Kansas
 Spring Hill, Kansas
 Stanley, Kansas
 Stillwell, Kansas
 Johnson County, Kansas
 Kansas City, Kansas
 Kansas City, Missouri 
 Edwardsville, Kansas
 Bonner Springs, Kansas
 Prairie Village, Kansas
 Lawrence, Kansas
 Eudora, Kansas
 Paola, Kansas 
 All surrounding areas

And if you are outside of these areas, don't hesitate to contact us anyway. We can handle your web design project remotely! Contact Shore Galaxy Web Design today!