We’ve just released iJoomla SEO version 1.1.0 and many of the improvements it contains are down to you. As you know, we monitor user suggestions on our forum very closely and tackle a different extension each time. The latest version of iJoomla SEO is packed with suggestions raised by users:

• Choose your Google site. Now you can choose the Google site you use to monitor keywords. Just go to the settings page and replace the .com extension with any other Google extension.

• Extensions metatags sync. Previous versions of iJoomla SEO retained different metatag entries in supported extensions. Now those entries sync. When you upgrade, you will be asked to choose the metatags you want to keep.

• Categories for internal links and redirects. Now that you can place the internal links and redirects in different categories, we’ve also added a search box and a filter by category.

• More supported extensions. By popular demand, we’ve added support to more extensions, including Zoo by YooJoomla and WordPress by corePHP.

As always, your upgrades are free! So get your copy now and enjoy these great new features!

The new features of iJoomla SEO version 1.1.0

How to upgrade iJoomla SEO

1. Download iJoomla SEO
2. No need to unzip the file
3. No need to uninstall previous version
4. Go to extensions->install/uninstall and install the zip file there

Don’t have iJoomla SEO yet? Buy it here

The amazing CMS Expo is fast approaching, and all the best developers and speakers will be attending. Don’t miss it! It’s in beautiful Chicago, it’s going to be lots of fun, and you’ll get to hang out with other Joomla users and many Joomla developers too… including me (but come anyway.) You’ll get to learn the latest tricks about how to be a super Joomla user and even how to make more money from your website.

Check out this great list of presenters and the schedule.

I will be giving a presentation at the Expo about Maximum ROI With Proven Usability Techniques. Find out how you can DOUBLE your income easily by performing usability testing and spending close to 0 dollars!

Get a free extension for just saying hello!

I really want to get to know you personally so if at any time during the expo, you come and say hello to me, I will give you, on the spot, a license to any of our extensions FREE. That’s a value of $70-$100! You’ll be able to pick up iJoomla SEO, iJoomla Ad Agency, iJoomla SideBars, or any one of our great products. Just for saying hi. Print out this page and bring it with you!

CMS Expo Learning Conference
May 3rd, 4th & 5th | Hotel Orrington
Evanston, Illinois USA

You know it’s important to have a blog on your website. Google loves fresh content, and many companies report they get more traffic to their blog than to any other page on their site.

Joomla does have some blogging capabilities built in. You can create a category and a menu item that links to a list of articles in blog format. It’s simple enough, but it’s also missing many of the cool features available for WordPress, the most advanced blogging software available.

So how can you keep your Joomla site and still enjoy all of the benefits of WordPress?

It used to be difficult: you’d have to install WordPress and then somehow coax the two programs to work together. It wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t fun.

There is now a simple way to use WordPress on your Joomla site, and you don’t have to log in with two separate admin interfaces.

In fact, you don’t even have to install WordPress!

All you have to do is install the component WP4J! by corePHP! The WordPress admin interface will be right inside your Joomla admin!

But the component also comes with a bunch of neat modules like a list of categories and latest posts that are installed just like any other Joomla module.

Once you’re inside the WordPress interface, you’ll see all of the options that come with WordPress. You’ll be able to add a post, manage comments, place tags, and list categories, etc. It’s packed with goodies and extremely easy to use. Really, it’s no wonder that WordPress is such a popular tool.

Converting iJoomla’s blog to WordPress

I’ve decided to convert our iJoomla blog to WordPress using this component, because I was never quite happy with our blog the way it was. After I installed WP4J on iJoomla.com, I created a menu item to link to WordPress. It showed the default “hello world” post, which I was then able to edit. The default setup also included a sidebar under my posts and a “powered by” notice. I wanted to get rid of both, which I did with a little help from the corePHP team.

How to get rid of the sidebar and “powered by” video tutorial:

With the sidebar gone, I was able to start creating categories and adding my content. I had to copy all the 26 articles I already had into wordpress which took me about an hour to do (and I hear that they have import tools as well), and I love the result! So check it out and let me know what you think!

SEF and WordPress

The way SEF is handled by WordPress is impressive. You have many options to choose from, just go to settings->permalinks and choose the one that works for you. Remember to keep the structure of the URLs the same as your Joomla SEF structure, so that you don’t create duplicate pages with the same content (Google doesn’t like that). By default, WP4J works with the following SEF: Core Joomla, SEF Advanced, sh404, and there is even a plugin for Artio SEF (for a fee).

Summary and Suggestions

Overall then, I am extremely impressed with WP4J It’s well executed, easy to use, and adds a huge amount of great features to your Joomla site — and without having to manage or log in to another admin. But I do have a few comments and suggestions to help make the most of it:

1. WP4J is big so if you are having a problem installing the component, it’s likely that your server doesn’t accept such large files. You’ll have to install the alternative component, which is smaller, then upload the files with FTP. Read the README file that comes with the alternative file for the steps.
2. I’d really like to have the Joomla menu on the top instead of the “Back to joomla” link. That would let me access other areas with one click instead of two.
3. There is a problem adding links to pages on my site. I can’t see a list of my articles/menu items; I can only add a full URL. Maybe the guys at corePHP can find a solution to this so that I can create links inside my site easily.
4. No Joomla plugin support. If you are used to adding Joomla plugin tags to your articles to display videos, sidebars, etc. Then keep in mind, it won’t work here, it would be great if corePHP added support to Joomla plugins to the next version.

Find out more about WP4J! here!