This week we have some interesting Joomla news updates
- Joomla 3.1 is being released April 15th
- JED drops index files
- AkeebaBackup goes offline for TWO DAYS
We also talk about Google's new Author Rank that is being added to the Google Algorithm and we also have an interview with Kyle Ledbetter talking about Project Fork, his native Joomla extension for project management of your web design and development projects.
Show Notes
Joomla News Updates
We have quite a few news stories this week in the Joomla world.
Release of Joomla 3.1.0 April 15th
First up is the initial beta release of Joomla 3.1.0 and the final launch of it on the 15th of April. If you're a developer and you want to help with getting Joomla 3.1.0 out there, please jump on to GitHub and become a part of the Joomla Bug Squad and squash some of those bugs that are hiding in Joomla 3.1.0 BETA at the moment.
The new tagging system for content in the release will change how we work with Joomla. It will give site architects much more flexibility in how content can be organised and presented to the users. It sort of solves the issue of not being able to categories an article into more than one category. Tags will allow for the content to be more flexiblly presented to the user.
http://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/1736-joomla-310-to-release-on-april-15.html
Joomla Extension Directory (JED) drops Index.html requirment
For a long time it was seen that having the index.html file in folders in your Joomla extensions would help protect and hide the files on your site so that users/hackers can't see what resides in the folders of your website. This has now been shown to be a useless or infeffective security measure and actually made things painful and difficult for developers submitting extensions to the Joomla Extension Directory and now since has been dropped.
http://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/1737-the-jed-indexhtml-requirement-dropped.html
AkeebaBackup Goes Offline for 2 Days
The ever so popular Joomla backup component goes offline for two days as the banks in Cyprus go through trouble times. Nicholas from AkeebaBackup has his business setup through the Cyprus banks and due to the banks unstability, changes had to be made to the way AkeebaBackup takes money in order to keep operating. The site and services are now thankfully back online with Nicholas resetting up his business to be based in Greece.
Please support the AkeebaBackup project by pruchasing a subscription to AkeebaBack Pro or AdminTools Pro. You don't have to, but if you think its a great extension and think the developer deserves some money for the effor then please support it by purchasing a subscription.
https://www.akeebabackup.com/home/news/55-general/1522-reset.html
Google Author Rank
One of the biggest changes this year so far in terms of search engine optimisation is the announcement, or the round about announcement of Author Rank playing a crucial part in the search engine rankings of content and your websites.
If you do not have a profile online then what ever you're writing about can be see online as being irrelevant! So it is now so important to build up that social and professional profile online to get the most out of the Author Ranking. Here are a few tips to get started.
Start using Google+ Building up your social profile here is a good starting point. Find others to connect with Find out who else in your industry is worth connecting with. Find out who else works within your niche and connect with them to potentially build up Author Rank. Get on their radar Start liking, +1, subscribing to others that you think is worth connecting with. Getting on other's radar who have a potentially high Author Rank will benefit you and your website if they link back to you. Get good authors not copy writers If you're submitting content to others, guest writing etc, make sure your copy signs and dances! That is make sure its really good. A copy writer will write good copy for your site. A good author on the other hand will really develop good content for your website. Get creative with content Content isn't just text, it is also videos, images, infographics and so much more. Create, share and develop awesome content people will want to use and share. All this comes back down to the fact that you need good content. Good content has always been the key to search engine optimisation in my opinion. Whether its a Podcast, videocast, blog posts or anything else you can think of, if people are engaging with the content, noticing the content and sharing the content you will get better rankings and traffic. If not directly through Google but via web links from good sources and building up that social profile.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2253665/Want-to-Rank-in-Google-Build-Your-Author-Rank-Now
Interview with Kyle Ledbetter about Project Fork
Check out ProjectFork
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