Joomla Form - Admiring and inspiring good form with Joomla

As most of you know, the Joomla! 1.5 Beta release date was announced, and it is coming on October 12. You are hopefully well aware of my disdain for tables-based layout in web design, which is why I am so excited about Joomla! 1.5. The default views have tables (like Joomla! 1.0.x), but in 1.5, the template designer has the option to override the default views. You know what that means! Say it with me... no more tables!

That's right. Joomla! 1.5 gives designers the ability to create 100% CSS-driven layouts without tables getting in the way. This is a huge milestone for Joomla!, as it opens the door for many designers who have rejected the CMS for its use of tables in many components (including the core content component).

I am thinking about upgrading JoomlaForm to Joomla! 1.5 Beta. I know it's beta, and it will probably break stuff, but I just can't wait to try out the new templating system. So, be looking for JoomlaForm to get a makeover in the coming weeks as I try out Joomla! 1.5.

This article assumes that you are offering a product or service that is of particular value to the Joomla! community, like commercial templates, template clubs, commercial components/modules/plugins, search engine optimiztion, etc. If you do not fit into any of these categories, some of these steps might still apply to you, so read on!

Marketing a Joomla-based site is surprisingly easy, and it can be done with little or no up-front cost. Just follow these steps:

1. Submit an article at Joomla.org (http://www.joomla.org/component/option,com_submissions/Itemid,75/)
2. Submit the same article at other Joomla! news/fan sites like Joomlaya.com, JoomlaTribune.com, JoomlaHut.com, Joomla-Themes.co.uk, etc. I'm sure there are many more that are willing to post news about your site for free, especially if you offer free services to the community.
3. If your site is particluarly well-designed, submit it to showcase sites like JoomlaForm.com, JoomlaBeauty.com, and even sites like CSSMania, UnmatchedStyle, CSSBeauty, etc. Getting featured on a non-Joomla! design site would really boost your traffic (and promote Joomla!) to the world outside of the Joomla! community.
4. Start an affiliate program. Most of the successful commercial template sites out there (JoomlaShack, PixelsParadise, RocketTheme, etc.) and commercial component sites (iJoomla, etc.) all have affiliate programs. There are tons of sites out there that would be more than willing to promote your site if they know they will get paid even as little as 15%.
5. Submit your site on the Joomla.org forums in the "Site Showcase" forum.
6. Start a blog; offer an RSS feed to your blog, and keep it updated regularly.
7. This probably goes without saying, but make sure your site is search engine optimized. There could be a whole series of articles about how to do this, but we'll just leave it at that for the sake of keeping this list short.
8. Every time you come up with a new product or service, do 1 and 2 again to promote that specific product or service. Some sites might be reluctant to do this for you, but it doesn't hurt to try.
9. Add links so that users can bookmark your site on Del.icio.us, Digg.com, Technorati.com, etc. Social bookmarking is not the wave of the future. It is happening right now! Get on board. The rest of the web world is!
10. Get an account in the Joomla.org forums; add a link to your site in your signature, and start posting. If you have a lot of valuable advice that you can offer the community, offer it. The more you post, the more there is a link to your site in the forums. If you offer help in the forums, that lends to your credibility as a member of the community. I would caution though not to post for the sake of posting. Take the time to make legitimate contributions to the community.

Follow some or all of these steps, and you'll definitely get your site's name out there. After that, you can look into Google ads or things like that. For JoomlaForm, I have not spent any money, mainly because I am not making any money on the site. It is not necessary, especially in a community like Joomla!, to spend a lot of money to promote your site.

I just read about JoomlaBeauty.com over at the Joomla! website, and I think it's a great site. It is basically the same thing as JoomlaForm, but with a twist. They have a scoring system, and they are offering a "crown" each month to the winning site.

You might be thinking, "but Cory, why would you like a site that is your competitor?" I don't see it that way. The stated purpose of JoomlaForm.com is to "admire and inspire good form with Joomla!", and I think that JoomlaBeauty helps to achieve that purpose. Besides, I don't make any money off of this site anyway. JoomlaBeauty is also a very well-designed site. They should think about submitting it to JoomlaForm (hint hint).

So, if you get a chance, head over to JoomlaBeauty.com and check it out. It's definitely worth a look.

You might have noticed some minor reorganization going on here at JoomlaForm. The list of Featured sites has gottent too long to list in the right column, and it is easier to search for a featured site than to navigate to it through the page navigation links. So, I moved the "Search" module to the top position to provide easier access.

I also moved the disclaimer to its own page, and added a link to it in the footer. In the next few days, I will look at other ways to improve the site. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know. Many (if not all) of you are much more talented than I am, so please don't hold back.

- Cory