I am about to invest in a CMS.

Can anyone recommend a CMS that does the biz in terms of SEO?

GP

Investing in a CMS can be a tricky business. If you buy one off the shelf you'll spend a considerable amount of money up front, and most likey some more for further personalisation.

Open source is a viable solution, you'll need some good programming skills to configure teh system to your linking and specific needs.

I have successfully used JOOMLA! as an open source platfrom, has lots of modules you can plug in and is a nearly ready to use system as is, and includes SEO modules as well.

Like I said you'll need experienced programmers or some consulting to coordinate programming efforts so the job is done properly the first time and BEFORE you go live.

Hope this helps,

Sante

Open source is not an option. I need support as I am jack of all trades and a master of none. I am also a one-man band and I cannot be doing with any programming while I should be developing the business.

If you must purchase a CMS off the shelf, I can suggest Hot Banana as a great CMS which is very search friendly, but it starts around $5,000 or so. We have used this with some of our clients in the past and they love it. More importantly their pages are ranking well, (I would like to think due to our SEO work, but the CMS definitely has something to do with it.)

I can tell you from personal experience; it is a much better idea to go with a web developer who can create a content manager for you. A custom tailored CMS usually is less expensive than the off the shelf stuff, as developers use much of their code over and over again, but simply tweak it to tailor to your needs. I know I have purchased for under $1,000 my own CMS for my site and it works perfect. Not only that, no license fees and it is mine. These systems can create RSS feeds of all your content and ping the RSS aggregators every time you make a change, create search friendly URLs, provide you with a WYSIWYG editor, so no HTML is needed and other features like these. I hope this helps.

If you would like me to give you a few suggestions of developers who I know work at great prices and provide quality content management systems, please send me a private message. I do not want to put specific developer web sites on the forum, as I fear that would violate some of the rules.

I agree. I have found a developer that have designed their own CMS which is proven on a number of sites. I think its better than going with a co. that just sells you the product as you then have to deal with the design co as well. These guys can also give me support along the way while the cms company will probably disappear.

That's my approach at least!

I'm also a big Fan of Joomla, it's open source, so it's free, and can be incredibly customised to fit your needs, far more sensible than going with a bespoke solution if you're running on a budget.

There's also a large developer community that have produced lots of componets which include one to write search engine friendly URLs.

The learning curve can be steep at first, though once you're used to it, it's incredibly easy to use.

The problem is Matt, I have a business to run as well and its not possible for me to get into world of problems over something I am not skilled at. Off the shelf is the way to go for me, as it will deliver a much quicker return on investment. Whatever I spend now on a CMS will be more than compensated for by the time taken to work on an open source.

The package comes ready to go, as with any off the shelf solution. If time and learning curve is an issue I'd hire someone to customise it (as you'd probably have to do with any other solution) and then all you'd have to do would be to add content.

There's also a large developer community that have produced lots of componets which include one to write search engine friendly URLs.
Which components do you use for seo?

Thanks

Which components do you use for seo?

Thanks

I can not speak for all, but the components I use at my company for SEO are:

URL re-write
XHTML validtion
RSS feed creation
Alt tag generator
Auto Google Site Maps

Many CMS packages have some very nasty duplicate content issues.

Make sure to do your research before spending any money.

I can not speak for all, but the components I use at my company for SEO are:

URL re-write
XHTML validtion
RSS feed creation
Alt tag generator
Auto Google Site Maps

Thanks!!, but they are not joomla modules/components

I'm looking for a joomla component to write search engine friendly URLs as
MattUK said

>nasty

There are potentially fatal or near-fatal flaws buried deep in some/most CMS sytems ...like character-number limits on directory and/or file names, or weird naming syntax (ex:directory and a file within that directory cannot have the same name), or even how it links (example: forces the extension to be in the link on index.whatever files). And whatever you choose, I can assure you that niggling quirks will become a part of your daily routine.

Joomla, WebGui, and Drupal get the most favorable reviews in my circle but I use a CityDesk (wildly, wildly quirky) hybrid. For SME sites, keep an eye on GlobalMoxie's upcoming (long delayed) release of Big Medium 2.0.

Which components do you use for seo?

Thanks

It depends on which other components I have installed, I'd recommend finding one that suits you,

Install some of these and play about with them before deciding on one
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,listcats/cat_id,1803/Itemid,35/

Thanks Matt i'll play a bit with them

Does any module allows to rewrite urls from http://www.mydomain.com/content/blogsection/2/4/ to something as http://www.mydomain.com/keyword/keyword-somethingelse.htm?

yes. i've used advanced sef for customizing urls. emir is the dev and at 50 us dollars this commercial com offers a bit of support. although, i have learned the best way (i think) in joomla to have full control of the url is to make a bunch of static pages. otherwise you get into creating sections/categories which then include an added piece/dir in your string.

this is bad when converting a static html site in joomla. as you want to keep the same url string.

open sef is another good sef com, but you have to stay on your toes, read the forums and test on local server before uploading to a live site. i have had problems with compatibility when upgrading other com like community builder.

lastly the sef com call artois (sp) i hear is an older com with a new name and support site. this is suppose to be nice, but i have not tried it.

the drawback with joomla is the lack of handling unique title tags, however, a great add-on to an old hack is available just as of late and is suppose to wrk well with new 1.0.11 installs.

open source is great concept. however you have to know a little about everything to do it well, and have time to manage these sites, because the components frequently need to be upgrade due to security issues.

wow. and the fact that with joomla 1.5 will leave a lot of component dev's with a bunch of new coding to do is sure to leave a bunch of good, but not support friendly components in the dust.