In this appendix we looked at the complete process in a case study form. We looked at the way you can pick a niche to build the site on, in order to gain momentum for the most popular keywords that you ultimately want to reach for.
We did some brainstorming to get ideas for a domain name and we got the domain and the hosting to start building the site. The most essential part of the process of building your site is to set up the Joomla! 1.5 base installation. Once you have completed the installation, install the SEF patch and sh404SEF component and configure it.
We chose, purchased, and installed a great Joomla! SEO-ready template. We created a structure for the site and reflected it in the naming of the sections and categories. The best way to show your visitors the structure and lead them through your web site is to show the way you build the menus. After installing and configuring the sitemap, we gave the link to Google and placed the right command in the robots.txt file.
Writing the content and optimizing the content with text, images, titles, and meta tag descriptions and keywords is the most fun part. It is also the most time consuming part of the site building process. We looked at the use of Google webmaster tools to find possible problems with the site and learned how to analyze results to further improve the rankings.
As a final thought, make sure your site is secured to prevent hacking. The minimal effort you should take is to make sure the following files are set to read only:
configuration.php.htaccessindex.phprobots.txt
If possible, get your administrator directory secured with a separate .htaccess username and password. You should also remove the default "admin" username and create a more secured login name and password for yourself as a "Super Administrator".
Now put down this book and start working on your Joomla! Search Engine Optimized web site and have fun in the process.