[Peter Lee]

It's almost 18 months since I joined PIPS and if I could start all over again with regards to my website, I would....

1. have my PIPS site and blog co-exist as one instead of keeping my pips as my main homepage and my blog as a sub-page. By keeping them separate I'm constantly faced with:

a. blog commenting - more often do I use my blog url than my homepage because my homepage is not web 2.0. It's therefore non interactive and apart from my getting the backlinks benefit, bloggers prefer to see a blog to interact with to reciprocate commenting.

b. I have different keyword phrases I'm ranking for blog as well as my PIPS homepage although some are similar.

Because they don't co-exist today, most of my blog visitors and subscribers may not know of and visit my homepage and vice versa. I think eventually I'll convert my PIPS to web2.0 as that seems to be the way to go. I have read a few posts recently from Alan Mater and I believe he may be encountering similar difficulties too and judging by what Houdy has written, it may not be as easy as you think depending on what you have on your site. There are also lots of problems if I move my WP blog to my homepage, assuming I am able to convert it to WP2.0, although compared to Alan's, my homepage looks a lot simpler than his to convert.

Does anyone have similar thoughts? What would you do if you were to start all over again with regards to your PIPS site, given the importance of web2.0 today which BTW was non-existent when I joined PIPS. I like to hear your views of this.

Peter Lee

[KT52]

Hi Peter,
I have the same thought as you and Alan. I also asked Houdy on his WordPressMax a month ago and I got the same answer because it will take hours to convert if you have multiple pages on your site. Don't know what I should do since then. My homepage is much more simpler than yours and Alan.

Good luck
Kha

[Patrician]

While it doesn't solve the Web2.0 question, making your site WordPress at least gives you the fresh content everytime you post to your blog and has everything in one place, easy to add pages, comments/interactive, etc.

I had a few versions of my PIPS site and so I ended up with 2 WP Blog/Sites - I think it is more professional because it is just domain name and no "/blog". (if I could do it over though 1 blog is more than enough!)

You can do a lot of things with WordPress easily, either working in the source code or using all the widgets and wysiwyg menus. As everyone is realizing now Web2.0 is a little more technically difficult (to learn) than Mike had imagined. He is even now doing WP sites again.

One version of the PIPS site I made into a subdomain and it has a feed from my blog (#2 above) just for old time sake.

My 3rd blog is linked to a sales page in an unrelated niche and it works real simply.

So I think the WP option would be the path of least resistance and a happy medium. It is a great, easy way to create a web page.

So - if I had to do it over, I would have 1 website/blog for each niche (total 2)

To do it over I would have learned to do more myself instead of having others do it for me (installations) - it was/is more convenient to pay someone and get it over with, but this has caused me to stop progressing technically. I know just enough to be dangerous.

[kazakhan]

The 1st thing i did after signing up with pips was to move the website to joomla. I'm too lazy to be editing the html everytime i want to add or change something. How ever if i could start again i wouldn't choose such a ridiculous domain name.

[Peter Lee]

Pat,

Thanks for your input. I may change my PIPS site to WP but I'm still not sure of what you've just said "...every time you post to your blog and has everything in one place, easy to add pages, comments/interactive, etc..." My blog is "name/blog" and has its own permalink structure. There seems no easy solution to make them co-exist as mentioned by Houdy. I cannot change my blog permalink structure or else I lose all my backlinks.

Peter

Originally Posted by Patrician

While it doesn't solve the Web2.0 question, making your site WordPress at least gives you the fresh content everytime you post to your blog and has everything in one place, easy to add pages, comments/interactive, etc.

I had a few versions of my PIPS site and so I ended up with 2 WP Blog/Sites - I think it is more professional because it is just domain name and no "/blog". (if I could do it over though 1 blog is more than enough!)

You can do a lot of things with WordPress easily, either working in the source code or using all the widgets and wysiwyg menus. As everyone is realizing now Web2.0 is a little more technically difficult (to learn) than Mike had imagined. He is even now doing WP sites again.

One version of the PIPS site I made into a subdomain and it has a feed from my blog (#2 above) just for old time sake.

My 3rd blog is linked to a sales page in an unrelated niche and it works real simply.

So I think the WP option would be the path of least resistance and a happy medium. It is a great, easy way to create a web page.

So - if I had to do it over, I would have 1 website/blog for each niche (total 2)

To do it over I would have learned to do more myself instead of having others do it for me (installations) - it was/is more convenient to pay someone and get it over with, but this has caused me to stop progressing technically. I know just enough to be dangerous.

[Peter Lee]

yeah, that's another thing I should not have used too - my name as domain name. No I wasn't thinking of becoming another EwenChia or JohnChow but more like being ignorant. These are things a person who is a total newbie would never know unless he/she is smart enough to find (if lucky) a mentor to give such tips.

Peter

Originally Posted by kazakhan

The 1st thing i did after signing up with pips was to move the website to joomla. I'm too lazy to be editing the html everytime i want to add or change something. How ever if i could start again i wouldn't choose such a ridiculous domain name.

[Peter Lee]

Hi Kha,

Don't worry. I'm sure we'll get more views on this and that should help us make a good decision or keep it at the back of our mind what we ought to do soon.

Peter

Originally Posted by KT52

Hi Peter,
I have the same thought as you and Alan. I also asked Houdy on his WordPressMax a month ago and I got the same answer because it will take hours to convert if you have multiple pages on your site. Don't know what I should do since then. My homepage is much more simpler than yours and Alan.

Good luck
Kha

[kazakhan]

Originally Posted by Peter Lee

yeah, that's another thing I should not have used too - my name as domain name.

Using my name would of been much smarter than the name i used
I've moved everything to a more sensible domain name now.

[KT52]

Hi Peter,
I did not have any knowledge at all when I first started so I had no idea which name should be named for my domain either. I don't know it's good to use our name or not as you've said "No I wasn't thinking of becoming another EwenChia or JohnChow but more like being ignorant."
and Hope we'll get more views on this and that should help us make a good decision or keep it at the back of our mind what we ought to do soon.

Thanks
Kha

[godisgood]

Hi,

I have the same sentiments, although i know how to use frontpage and yes web2 is the way to go. I have thought of changing it before when my website is so new but the cost of changing it is too much for me at that time. but i am willing to start all over again.

Jennifer

[Alan Mater]

Peter I totally agree. Web 2.0 is the way to go, and I feel the same way as you regarding the main domain. I'm making changes to my site to reflect a more professional look which is similar to my blog. That's all I can really do at this point.

As Houdy mentioned, it's just too much work and not worth it to switch over at this point. You live and learn I guess. That's what this is all about.

As far as my new website I have in the works, I'll be using WP straight from the start. It's just so much easier to manage and control. Plus I plan to automate the content which you can't do otherwise without WP.

Web 2.0 wasn't around when I started either. It's pretty much necessary now to let your visitors have some sort of interaction on your website in one form or another.

My domain name isn't keyword optimized at all, but it kind of gets the point across.

Like I said, it's a learning process, and we learn from our "mistakes" so that we don't do the same thing next time around. Lesson learned!

[Patrician]

What I mean is that when your website is a blog, everytime you post a blog entry, you are creating fresh content on your website rather than to still keep up with keeping your site fresh AND blogging. 2for1

Then you mention:

"a. blog commenting - more often do I use my blog url than my homepage because my homepage is not web 2.0. It's therefore non interactive and apart from my getting the backlinks benefit, bloggers prefer to see a blog to interact with to reciprocate commenting."

So I said, if your site is a blog, people will interact through commenting.

Certainly everyone would like to be in the position to NEED their own forum which would be something that Web2.0 (Joomla) has. I don't think I am there though. I have enough problems/work to do already with PIPS/helpdesk/new order desk/forum mod, and my coaching (Veretekk).

I have an article directory (another Joomla possible feature) that is linked to from at least one site, and one that has a feed from the article directory's last 10 articles submitted. I do this on WP.

So all I am saying is while I WOULD LOVE A JOOMLA site, I haven't got time to learn it and I feel that having WordPress sites is good enough for me - or at least will have to suffice for now. Happy medium.

I understand about your perma-links I THINK. because they go to domain/blog now - if you changed to have your blog on domain - it would make your permalinks useless.

wow. bummer.

Originally Posted by Peter Lee

Pat,

but I'm still not sure of what you've just said "...every time you post to your blog and has everything in one place, easy to add pages, comments/interactive, etc..."

I cannot change my blog permalink structure or else I lose all my backlinks.

Peter

[Kooza]

I'd say the longer you put off moving it to your root directory the more of an issue it is going to be when you finally come to do it. Your blog posts are much more likely to rank well if they are linked to from the home page rather than a directory.

I'd be more than happy to help anyone out how wants to do this, I've done it many times before.

To ensure you don't lose link juice just use Google Webmaster tools find pages with back links and 301 them to the new location.

Regards,
Mike.

[Kooza]

There are two options for choosing a domain, use a keyword you are trying to rank for or come up with a brand name. There seems to be quite a lot of debate over which way to go. I personally wouldn't worry too much about your domain name, if you have quality content you shouldn't have any problems.

It's extremely hard to find decent .com domains these days which aren't already registered which is probably why a lot of the web 2.0 sites have such quirky names. It's the only way they could keep them short and easy to remember.

Mike.

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by Kooza

There are two options for choosing a domain, use a keyword you are trying to rank for or come up with a brand name. There seems to be quite a lot of debate over which way to go. I personally wouldn't worry too much about your domain name, if you have quality content you shouldn't have any problems.

It's extremely hard to find decent .com domains these days which aren't already registered which is probably why a lot of the web 2.0 sites have such quirky names. It's the only way they could keep them short and easy to remember.

Mike.

Quirky domain names are sometimes the most remembered.

[GreenEyes]

Well. All I can say is... Thank Goodness I'm still new!

Whew! My head is killing me with all that talk. I mean I understand what you are saying and I'm so glad and lucky to have you guys, my mentors, talking about all of this Web 2.0 business vs. way back when.

Some of you may know that recently I've been trying to learn all things re: Article Marketing. I'm finally ready to start adding content to my site and work on getting backlinks. After seeing a few weeks ago, Alan wanting to change to a Web 2.0 site and how it was anything but simple to do.

Let's just say, I'm so glad my site is still as original as the day I got it. So it should not be too difficult to change over now while I still can or at least without all the headaches.

Sure, in 3-4 mos from now it will be something else, but for now it's Web 2.0 from the beginning for me!

Thanks again!

[Peter Lee]

Well my intent of starting this thread is really more to benefit people like you so that you can make a good decision when you've not got a blog started or when the blog is pretty new to worry about things that are confronting us now. I really hope this thread would also benefit more people in the same way.

Peter Lee

Originally Posted by GreenEyes

Well. All I can say is... Thank Goodness I'm still new!

Whew! My head is killing me with all that talk. I mean I understand what you are saying and I'm so glad and lucky to have you guys, my mentors, talking about all of this Web 2.0 business vs. way back when.

Some of you may know that recently I've been trying to learn all things re: Article Marketing. I'm finally ready to start adding content to my site and work on getting backlinks. After seeing a few weeks ago, Alan wanting to change to a Web 2.0 site and how it was anything but simple to do.

Let's just say, I'm so glad my site is still as original as the day I got it. So it should not be too difficult to change over now while I still can or at least without all the headaches.

Sure, in 3-4 mos from now it will be something else, but for now it's Web 2.0 from the beginning for me!

Thanks again!

[alloke613]

I wonder is it a good choice to use Joomla as the main page and WP to blog. Is it a good way to do so?

If I want to change the webpage to Joomla or WP, can my index.html still online after I uploaded the Joomla or WP to my main directory? Got any way to let the original index.html to be the loading page when I use my time to modify my web2.0 site?

If my website can use the original index.html file as the loading page instead of index.php from Joomla or WP, I think I will be able to change my website to web2.0 as I am still learning to use Joomla and WP. I can have my time to modify it.

I am still new here. I wish to change to web2.0 since I knew about it. It is the way i would like my website to be. Everything in nice order and it is easy to use.

Regards,
Alex

[Patrician]

Yes it is possible - for instance WP uses index.php not index.html - the only thing is once you are ready to use index.php you will need to disable or move index.html because if you have both the system will alway use index.html first because .html comes before .php alphabetically.

I don't know what Joomla uses for the home page but I do think you need to add a WP blog - I don't believe it has it's own blogger (I know Mike will correct me if I am wrong).

[Kooza]

@Mirza: Web 2.0 in simple terms is adding new ways for users to interact, contribute and help promote your site. You can add some of this functionality to the default PIPS site however you would have to have reasonably good technical skills. A better option is to use a system which already has a lot of these features built in which is why Wordpress became so popular.

This is quite a cool video which gives you an overview of what Web 2.0 is all about

YouTube - Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

@Pat: I think you misinterpreted the question, I think Alex meant install Joomla in the root directory and install Wordpress in a directory such as /blog which is perfectly fine.

@Alex: Yes you can use Joomla as the main CMS and Wordpress as the blog, I have done this myself. It has it's advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantages are you have two sets of users one for Joomla and one for Wordpress, you also have two different templates which you have to work with.

The obvious advantage is you don't have to sacrifice having one the best blogging platforms just so that you can utilize the features of Joomla. For most people I would recommend learning Wordpress first and then trying out Joomla after that.

One thing you shouldn't overlook here is that people are generating six figure incomes with Wordpress and even static HTML sites, so it's really down to your strategy and how you use what you have. There is a saying we use in NZ "all the gear and no idea", not sure if you have heard it. It basically means having all of the best tools is not going to make you any better at something if you don't know how to use it.

Regards,
Mike.

[Patrician]

You are right Mke in fact I didn't read his post right at all. He is already doing Joomla.

...so much for trying to wakeup and catch up with the first cup of coffee. I need at least two cups to see straight.

[Kooza]

If I want to change the webpage to Joomla or WP, can my index.html still online after I uploaded the Joomla or WP to my main directory? Got any way to let the original index.html to be the loading page when I use my time to modify my web2.0 site?

Sorry Pat I think it might have been me who misread Alex's post! Yes you can install Joomla in your root directory and as long as you have an index.html file there Joomla won't be active. A better solution might be to set up a sub domain and install it there.

Or you can even use this tool and run it locally Install PHP 5 Apache MySQL on Windows : WampServer

Mike.

[GreenEyes]

Mission accomplished! Good work men!

[GreenEyes]

Originally Posted by Kooza

@Mirza: Web 2.0 in simple terms is adding new ways for users to interact, contribute and help promote your site. You can add some of this functionality to the default PIPS site however you would have to have reasonably good technical skills. A better option is to use a system which already has a lot of these features built in which is why Wordpress became so popular.

This is quite a cool video which gives you an overview of what Web 2.0 is all about YouTube - Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Regards,
Mike.

Hi Mike, I can't believe this...Of all the videos you added for me to see, you picked this one. Man, I love that video. Actually, I saw it a couple of months ago and then couldn't find it nor remember where I got it from to begin with. I was bummed because I loved it and didn't save it. So, thanks! Now I have it again.

But anyway, that very same video is what lead me to start checking out social networks, social bookmarking, this forum for example and looking into Web 2.0. Also, because of that video I create my accounts with MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and a a few cheeky sites, I won't mention here, in order to get a feel for those type of sites and to get familiar so as to learn how to navigate on them. I found they are all basically the same. I believe it has helped me tremendously.

I then created an account with Digg, Squidoo and HubPages even though I haven't used those sites just yet, but I'm going to because of the article marketing and mini-sites I'm working on. AND I think once I get my pips site over to WordPress, I'm sure I'll be fine when it comes time to learn how to navigate WP.

I would really like to add an article directory to my site as well when I (we) get over to WP. I've read that it can be a little much for beginners but I think I know more than than I give myself credit for.

Now, this is from someone 9 mos ago didn't know what people were talking about when they would say, "Google It" And I'm not making that up either.

Well, thank you for watching out for me by sending that awesome video. Anyone just coming into PIPS and joins the forum will certainly get a lot out of this thread!

Take care and I'll be seeing you around the forum!

PS And Thank You Peter for starting this thread...it has been very helpful!

[alloke613]

Pat and Mike,
Actually what you both are right. I asked whether I can put Joomla or WP to root directory but I planned to use Joomla as the main page while WP as blog page. Joomla does not have a good blogging system as WP and WP shows blog post at main page.

Mike,
Is it any way I can synchronise user data between Joomla and WP?
I wish to let the visitors who sign up for my website also sign up for newsletter at the same time. Meaning if a visitor visit my site and sign up for an account at my website, can I send a sign up to getresponse autoresponder at the same time? If possible, how can I do that?

The WampServer you mentioned, is it almost the same as ApacheFriends - XAMPP? I installed the Apache Friends and learning Joomla and WP from localhost. It is faster and easier to modify and figure our mistakes but I do not know which of the application should give more permission to function in H4P web hosting. The testing WP in my web's sub domain is not functioning properly but in localhost, it function perfectly alright.

Actually I uploaded Joomla and WP in 2 different sub domains. I wonder how this can be a solution? How it solve the problem? If I install Joomla in a sub domain, then my home page still the index.html right? What is the advantage of installing Joomla in a sub domain?

Hope to get more ideas from you all. Thanks.
Alex

[kazakhan]

Originally Posted by alloke613

Joomla does not have a good blogging system as WP and WP shows blog post at main page.

The frontpage can be blog like with Joomla.

Originally Posted by alloke613

Is it any way I can synchronise user data between Joomla and WP?

WordPress Integration for Joomla 1.5

Originally Posted by alloke613

I wish to let the visitors who sign up for my website also sign up for newsletter at the same time. Meaning if a visitor visit my site and sign up for an account at my website, can I send a sign up to getresponse autoresponder at the same time? If possible, how can I do that?

GetResponse Joomla Extensions

Originally Posted by alloke613

Actually I uploaded Joomla and WP in 2 different sub domains. I wonder how this can be a solution? How it solve the problem?

I don't think that would be ideal.

[Kooza]

Joomla does not have a good blogging system as WP and WP shows blog post at main page.

Yes you can set up a blog in Joomla pretty easily using either free tools or paid ones, PIPS 2.0 comes with MyBlog and Jomcomment (both paid tools) which combined provide you with a nice blog. However you still do not have the number of plug-ins available that you do with Wordpress.

Thanks for the Wordpress integration tool, I was unaware that had been released. Although it doesn't look like it has been out for long.

I have used this one GetResponse Plugin for Joomla! 1.5 | Joomla Extensions however it doesn't actually automatically add your members to GetResponse they need to confirm first. Which is not ideal because they end up getting two emails one from Joomla and one from Getreponse. You also need to make sure they know they are going to get emails from you otherwise you will probably end up getting a ton of spam complaints. However this is the best solution so far to integrating GetResponse with Joomla that I have come across.

The WampServer you mentioned, is it almost the same as ApacheFriends - XAMPP? I installed the Apache Friends and learning Joomla and WP from localhost. It is faster and easier to modify and figure our mistakes but I do not know which of the application should give more permission to function in H4P web hosting. The testing WP in my web's sub domain is not functioning properly but in localhost, it function perfectly alright.

XAMPP is cool, I use that on my Mac and it works fine. There shouldn't be any difference between running locally to running on H4P. The only thing I have found in the past is that H4P can be a bit slow upgrading whereas XAMPP runs the latest software. Also H4P seem to have a few unusual security setting issues which I haven't come across with other hosts which sometimes requires a workaround.

Actually I uploaded Joomla and WP in 2 different sub domains. I wonder how this can be a solution? How it solve the problem? If I install Joomla in a sub domain, then my home page still the index.html right? What is the advantage of installing Joomla in a sub domain?

I was implying that you use the sub domain as a test site, then once you get it all set up the way you want you can move it to your main site.

Regards,
Mike.