Hire Me Now on oDesk and Get Started Today!

SIGN UP FOR ODESK HERE

Questions? Call Us Direct At: 978-210-6148

best freelance designers
Out of more than 250,000 Providers
at oDesk Neil F. placed In the top 25
for earnings and merit rating for July 2009!

The On Demand Global Workforce - oDesk
 

Learn more at my Portfolio Link At oDesk

Universe Design Testimonials

We Build Webs That Works As Hard As You Do

Print
Our Joomla! Content Management Sytems (CMS) puts you %100 in control of your own website. Don't get taken hostage by those other web companies, call or contact Universe Design today and take control of your own web site!
If I could give you a web site that had the flexibility to add any type of content yourself, whenever you wanted, using just your web browser and delivered it in 3 days, at an affordable price, would you be interested?
That's Right! Add Your Own
  • Articles. News & Events
  • Pictures & Movies
  • Products, Menus & Specials
  • Support  Downloads, Documents &  Help Files
  • Forums, Catalogs & Portfolios
  • Reservations & Newsletter Subscriptions
  • & Much More!

Unvierse Design In Peabody, MA Can Get You There At A Fraction Of What You Might Expect To Pay!

What Is Joomla?

Joomla! is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) that will help you build your website content and manage powerful online applications.

JavaScript is disabled!
To display this content, you need a JavaScript capable browser.

Joomla! in Action

Joomla! is used all over the world to power everything from simple, personal homepages to complex corporate web applications. Here are just some of the ways people use Joomla:

  • Corporate websites or portals
  • Online commerce
  • Small business websites
  • Non-profit and organizational websites
  • Government applications
  • Corporate intranets and extra nets
  • School and church websites
  • Personal or family homepages
  • Community-based portals
  • Magazines and newspapers
  • the possibilities are limitless?

Joomla! can be used to easily manage every aspect of your website, from adding content and images to updating a product catalog or taking online reservations.

Joomla! for End Users

Once Joomla! is installed and running, it is simple for even non-technical users to add or edit content, update images, and to manage the critical data that makes your company or organization go. Anybody with basic word processing skills can easily learn to manage a Joomla! site.

Via a simple, browser-based interface you will be able to easily add new press releases or news items, manage staff pages, job listings, product images, and create an unlimited amount of sections or content pages on your site.

Taking Joomla! to the Next Level

Out of the box, Joomla! does a great job of managing the content needed to make your website sing. But for many people, the true power of Joomla! lies in the application framework that makes it possible for Universe Design to install and customize powerful add-ons and extensions. Here are just some examples of the hundreds of available extensions Universe Design can build into your website.

  • Automated Billing & Online Invoicing
  • Shopping Carts for E-Commerce
  • Document  & File Management Downloads
  • Image and Multimedia Galleries
  • Secure Personal Messaging
  • Customer Support or Community Discussion Forums
  • Event Calendars & Classified Ad Systems
  • Newsletter Subscription & Autoresponders
  • Community Directories & Membership Information
  • Data Collection & Reporting tools
  • Banner Advertising
  • Live Webcam Broadcasting
  • and many, many more?

Universe Design provides professional, customized Joomla website design and development services. Our professional Joomla website design is fast and affordable. We can build a website that works as hard as you do! Contact us for a FREE design consultation and to learn how Joomla is taking the internet by storm!

Call Us:  978-210-6148 In The United States

Joomla CMS Websites are suitable for virtually any type of business. Whatever you want to achieve with your online presence Universe will deliver a fast, professional and easy to manage web site. We provide all of these features and functionality for a fraction of what you might expect to pay.

Never Bridge Again! JFusion For Joomla 1.5 Has Arrived

Print
JFusion is a free GPL Extension for the award winning Content Management System (CMS) Joomla. JFusion provides universal user integration, by extending the Joomla 1.5 user authentication framework without any core hacks. With JFusion your users can login to both Joomla and the software(s) integrated by JFusion using the same username/password. No core hacks are made to either Joomla or the integrated software(s) which has the advantage that your can upgrade your software normally without reconfiguring JFusion. JFusion also comes with an latest activity module, that displays the latest activity on the forum in Joomla and a login module that displays the forum avatar in a Joomla login module. As development continues, we hope to a search module, a who's online module and a discussion bot.

JFusion has bi-directional user-sync, which means that users can be both imported and exported from Joomla. Also, JFusion 1.1.3 RC is a Release Candidate release, intended to get feedback from the Joomla and JFusion community.

Don't Use Gmail As Your Primary Business Account

Print
Gmail Has a Daily Limit on Sending Email

Gmail imposes a limit on the attachment size (20 MB) and the overall storage space (6 GB and growing) but there’s also a daily quote on sending email.  Break the rules and Google will disable you Gmail account temporarily without any warnings.

 So while sending an email message to a large group of friends using Gmail, read the following rules to avoid temporary shut-down of Gmail:

Rule 1. If you access Gmail via POP or IMAP clients (like Microsoft Outlook), you can send an email message to a maximum of 100 people at a time. Cross the limit and your account will be disabled for a day with the error "550 5.4.5 Daily sending quota exceeded."

Rule 2. If you access Gmail from the browser, you may not address an email message to more than 500 people at a time. Try adding any more recipients in the To, CC or BCC field and your Gmail account will get probably disabled for 24-72 hours. Error: "Gmail Lockdown in Secton 4"

Rule 3. Always double check email addresses of recipients before hitting the Send button in Gmail. That’s because your account will get disabled if the email message contains a large number of non-existent or broken addresses (<25 ?) that bounce back on failed delivery.

Rule 4: This is slightly unrelated but still important – Google will disable your Gmail account permanently if you don’t check your Gmail email for a period of nine months. All the stored messages will be deleted and you Gmail address (user name) may be released for others to grab it.

Sources: Beth Kanter, Gmail Policies, Sending Limits

The Top 5 Ways to Leverage Facebook Fan Pages for More Buzz, Visibility and Sales

Print
Many small business owners are already on Facebook but are either still not sure that it is a good use of their time, or they see its potential but are just confused about how exactly it can work for them. Starting a Fan Page for your business may be your answer. But how can you use a Fan Page to achieve fantastic results?

1) The first way to leverage Fan Pages is to set up your Page for success.

One of the first things you need to do when you set up a new Page is to give it a title. A tip with this is to think about using keywords related to your business that you would like to be found for.

You also want to choose a good, clear photo for your Page. Another thing to note is to make sure you have filled out the Info tab on your Page thoroughly with all the relevant information about your business.

2) The second way to leverage Fan Pages is to build your Fan base.

You have to be a little proactive about getting Fans, especially when your Page is new. An easy way to invite people is to use the "Suggest to Friends" link underneath the picture on your Fan Page. Facebook will then pull up a list of your Facebook friends and you would just click on the ones you want to send invitations to.

You'll want to consider people like former and current clients, people you've partnered with in your business, vendors you work with, people who you know have purchased from you before, etc.

3) The third way to leverage Fan Pages is to interact and engage with your Fans.

Once you have some supporters of your Page, you want to encourage more dialogue and interaction between yourself and them and even among each other. The biggest impact comes from simply having conversations with people.

One thing that I do on my Page is to just ask open-ended questions. Asking people to share experiences is another great way to get a dialogue going.

4) The fourth way to leverage Fan Pages is to provide good content.

Offering regular content will naturally encourage interaction because you are giving people something to respond to. You don't need to come up with all the content yourself, either. You might just link to an interesting article or blog post you have found on the web related to your business or industry.

What content like this does is attract comments from your Fans, which is activity that in turn goes out into the News Feed. The more activity on your Page then, the more attention to your Page you have a chance of attracting

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}5) The 5th way to leverage Fan Pages is to use them to drivetraffic to and from your blog or website.

To do this, you definitely want to list your website in the Info section, andyou also want to share links in your updates to your own site.

You can also use an application like Notes to enter your blog feed so that itpulls your posts into your Page. You also want to add your URL to your emailsignature, and use the free badges and widgets Facebook provides that you canadd to your website.

You can check out http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgetsfor those. Once you have something like this on your site, visitors can justclick on it and they will land on your Page where they can become a fan.

So, if you don't have a Page yet, head over to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.phpand start one now. If you do have one set up, use these tips to help make yourPage stand out, get noticed, and become a helpful destination for all of yourraving Fans.

Aboutthe Author:Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches smallbusiness owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects ofonline and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits.For free tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology andcreate your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

Configuration of Complex Joomla CMS and Customer Relationship Business Management Platforms

Print

Joomla is a powerful framework for delivering Complex web portals. With over 4700 extensions and counting, the largest developer network in the world and the most user friendly interface has made the award winning Joomla CMS the fastest growing open source CMS project perhaps in the world. With millions of users and enthusiasts from all around the globe and a low cost of entry this is quickly becoming the dominant content management system (CMS) for small businesses (SMB's) and even larger enterprises and institutions. We compared Joomla vs Drupal and Joomla vs Wordpress which are other worthy technologies but Joomla seemed for us to be the best overall platform for recommending to our customers. As Joomla integrators and Joomla Component Developers we deliver complex Joomla configurations for a wide variety of customers. Joomla is a perfect framework for the micro small business owner that needs training and mentoring to work independently on building their web empire as well as the small business enterprise with complex Joomla configuration needs.

There are several layers in deploying a Joomla CMS project.

* Planning and content architecture
* Template Design and graphics
* Components and Configurations
* User experience
* Customer Programming
* Legacy System Integrations
* SEO and Marketing
* Joomla User Training
* Ongoing Technical Support

Just to name a few... With any technology there are different points of entry depending on the experience and technical aptitude of the humans interacting with the system, the technical and business process requirements and the overall dynamics of the organization implementing the particular solution. We (our CNP Consultants) try to help folks "Get the most value out of their technology investment". Yea you will see this in our marketing but this is much more than hype. Value can be the key to success or failure. Among the biggest mistakes we have seen folks make and even made ourselves are:

Common Mistake #1

Just because you can do something with technology does not always make it practical.

I have personally implemented many powerful tools that accomplish their intended functionality but they actually never get used to their full potential by the end customers. While these were fun for us to build as developers and to see something cool that works, it did not really serve any of us well since our clients customers do not use them and thus they have a significant investment they are net getting a return on and thus until this first investment is paid for they are not all that excited to engage us to build more stuff.

The key here is determining first the business priorities of the project and then making sure everyone is listening to the needs of the end customer or user. Hey sometime folks build web tools just for themselves. I know I often post blog articles with a lot of links I want to not only share but also refer back to and we put plenty of tools online that we want to use ourselves as much as we want to and share with our customers. Just make sure you are clear why you are doing something and assess if it is going to deliver the right return on your investment.

Stay focused on what your customers are saying and what will yield the greatest return.

Technology implementation can be a never ending pit you throw money into, something that my father used to say about owning a luxury boat. If you are building your site for the shear ego of having a beautiful site with all kinds of creative features and functionality, have at it and of course we love to work with entrepreneurs with big ideas. However, like any relationship and any good investment a long term strategy is often much more practical. Our consulting customers get good advice about products and services that can grow their business or allow them to continue to get value from their investments. I have seen folks to often go for a quick sell and end up with dysfunctional customer relationships that ultimately cost more than the profit you made in the first place. Ask yourself many questions including "Is what I am doing today going to matter a year from now"? If you ask the right questions up front this can help you get the most out of your initiatives.

Technology is a moving target

One of the many reasons we got behind the Joomla CMS project as a core competency was because it was open source which offered freedom and scalable options for solving the greatest amount of business problems. We took the gamble from the trends in the market place that Joomla would continue to grow with features and stability and that the developer community would continue to be attracted to the Joomla framework thus building more confidence in the market place. With a scalable platform that is built on open source code for use was great since we wanted to work with technology that sold itself and that we could support and expand upon it to meet the needs of the types of customers we wanted to attract. Any kind of dynamic web portal project is a moving target and often needs to change course in mid stream. You have to keep good forward momentum yet listen to the trends in the marketplace so you can sail into the wind effectively. An innovative and scalable open source platform like Joomla is a perfect foundation for meeting this challenge.

Read more...

SEO for Google Social Search

Print
Search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns have moved far beyond simply optimizing tags, page content, and generating incoming links.

Now that Google "universal" or "blended" search has become widespread on almost every search query, a standard organic listing is competing with images, video, news, local, paid and real-time search. Now we can add social search results to the mix. These new sets of results not only deliver content that might have otherwise gone unnoticed, but also have the potential to push other, organic listings off the visible page. That means social media optimization (SMO) is now in direct competition with SEO. However, don't be discouraged. The good news is that it's often much easier to get top rankings for a blended or social search category than a highly competitive organic listing. That is, of course, if you understand how to optimize for Google Social Search.

Understanding Google Social Search
It's important to differentiate Social Search from Google's realtime search results. Real-time results are labeled "Latest results for ..." and include a scrolling results box for some queries. Alternatively, Google Social Search is labeled "Results from people in your social circle for ..." and results appear with an accompanying image (or avatar) from your social circle.

Think of Social Search as Google "Trust" Search. By personally choosing to "follow" certain friends and websites online, Google assumes that information from these sources is important, relevant and trusted by you and uses these contacts to form your social graph. Then, particular queries will return results from those in your circle — their blog posts, Twitter updates, etc. Google feels this can add yet another layer to search results and improve your overall search experience.

How does Google Determine Relevancy for Social Search?
Google claims to use a normal ranking algorithm when determining what websites to display first in Social Search results. So, page content, number of incoming links, and incoming link quality and authority are the primary ranking factors. However, expect this to change as Google continues to test and tweak Social Search results and puts more emphasis on the Direct and Secondary connections within your social circle.

Optimizing for Google Social Search
First and foremost, you must have a Google Profile that includesinformation about you, and links to websites youwant to promote. This should include links to your primarywebsite and its weblog, and social profile URL's includingTwitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr,Picasa, FriendFeed, Yelp, etc. In short, any active social networkprofile should be included. While some networks andtheir content will not be indexed by Google (such as Facebook),linking those profiles to your Google profile (andvice-versa) will offer a better chance of connecting withpeople through Google and, ultimately, be found in SocialSearch results.

Establish Connections within Gmail and Google Chat
While time consuming, it is worth gathering as many Gmailand/or Google Chat contacts as possible, as it will increaseyour exposure in Social Search. Unfortunately, contactsfrom other networks are not as easily imported. You can'tadd Twitter followers easily — they must be added one-byone.But you can import contacts from a CSV file, for example.Remember, not only will your contacts see you intheir Social Search results, but you have the potential to beseen by the connections-of-your-connections or friends-offriends.In short, your reach will grow exponentially as youadd connections.

Keep Content Relevant and High-Quality
Aggressively pursuing new contacts is important to SocialSearch success. However, you want to stay relevant andpost quality content. Posting low-quality, keyword-stuffedcontent will result in the same fate as usual — low conversionrates. Or, in this case, you might find yourselfbanned from your contacts' Social Search results. Remember,these results are targeted to friends and trustedcontacts. So, you want to appear as genuine and trustworthyas possible.

Social Search is Here to Stay
With the explosion of Facebook and Twitteryou can no longer ignore the enormous potentialin being social. Google wants itsshare of the social pie, so don't expect themto remain idle while Facebook and Twittertry to eat into their search market share.However, it is important to keep in mindthat Google will continue to test and tweakresults. Not every query will result in SocialSearch results, and you can expect manychanges on the results pages and to the socialranking algorithm in the future. In theinterim, get ahead of the game by optimizingyour Google Profile for Social Searchwhile competition is fairly low. It will benefityour overall social media and SEO efforts.:: by Dante Monteverde, SEO Corner Columnist at Website Magazine ::

Joomla 1.6 Alpha 2 Released

Print

The Joomla project is pleased to announce the immediate release of Joomla 1.6 alpha 2. This release contains many new features requested by the community; most notably, ACL. Other features are listed below as well as what you can expect in the future for Joomla 1.6.

This is an alpha release. It is intended to be a developer/hobbyist preview and is not intended to be used on a production web site.

New improvements/features since alpha 1 include:

  • ACL: access management for global permissions as well as content item specific permissions, variable usergroups, users member of more than one usergroup, permissions are inherited, really fast
  • Extendable user profile, profile view in frontend, extendable user parameters
  • Tableless com_content layouts
  • Improved com_content modules (mod_articles_archive, mod_articles_latest, mod_articles_popular)
  • Article linker plugin for editors
  • New frontend template (atomic)
  • New backend template (bluestork)
  • New uploader for media manager

    Read more...

Official and Complete Joomla! CMS Documentation

Print
The link below will take you to the complete Joomla! CMS Documentation.
Copyright © 2009 Universe Design - Peabody, MA USA - Telephone:(978) 210-6148
"Building Websites That Work As Hard As You Do"