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Also, I'm sure this can't be good for how my site is already indexed with Google. My URL's are nice and clean but changing them to .php might blow them out.
It just feels like I may be looking at never ending work on my site if I want to tweak while heading down the static road.
If anyone can offer feedback I would pay for the advice. Also, if anyone here is skilled at converting a static stie to Joomla (while coming very close to the look of the static), please send me a PM and a quote for your services. Thanks!
However, if you intend to continue to grow, then a cms has to be a good idea.
I cannot advise on detail (no technical bone!), but I'd advise three safeguards.
1. Set up the cms initially for new pages only - don't risk the main site until it's tried, tested and settled down.
2. Either continue to use current URLs (can be done, don't ask me how!) OR transfer existing pages over to the new system over a period of time; it will make internal navigation complex for a while - but will minimise or avoid disruption to SE listings.
3. Monitor your internal navigation very carefully, using Xenu and webmaster tools; use robots.txt to minimise duplicate URLs - all cms systems throw up duplicate URLs, I don't know how Joomla compares to others (it seems that open source cms builders have never heard of SEO, but that's another thread ...).
*URL structure
At least with Drupal or Wordpress it would be dead simple to just keep the same old URLs. I assume it would be the same in Joomla, but I don't know. Sometimes it might take a little bit of extra with mod_rewrite, but you should be able to end up with any URL structure you want.
all cms systems throw up duplicate URLs
Good advice on this point, to be sure, but somewhat overstated I think. All CMS "can" throw up dupe content, but so can static sites that are poorly designed (with and without www, trailing slash, etc). Over recent years, a lot of the duplicate URL issues have been mitigated in the major CMS, sometimes in the core and sometimes with a plugin or module that needs to be activated. But you can easily create a site that does not have multiple URLs for the same page.
The issue that crops up more frequently is duplicate content on multiple pages because people have "archive" and "category" views that just regurgitate the content or the first paragraph of the content of the pages listed there. With a bit of care in implementation, you can get rid of this problem too, but by default most CMS are guilty of this sin.
Another thing to consider it how busy your site is and what your server load is. If you are taxing your server already, switching to a dynamic script is going to put you over the top. You might need to look into aggressive caching and various performance tweaks if it's a high-traffic site on a low-power server.
So ergo, you are saying I will need a mod_rewrrite to move www.ddd./ddd.htm to www.ddd./ddd.php?
I've been looking at purchasing a professional template for Joomla that I can tweak a bit, but I haven't been all that blown away by what I've seen for my own uses (national park camping/activity site). Everything feels so "corporate" and brochure looking. I'm sure a good coder could wipe that away though.
[edited by: Boulder90 at 11:20 pm (utc) on Jan. 16, 2009]
Default URLs for cms typically look like: example.com/index.php?p=123
You use various built-in mechanisms to change that to: example.com/page or example.com/category/page
I've never tried using example.com/page.htm (i.e. with an extension) but depending on what works, you could have the joomla URL be the same as the current URL or, it if doesn't like URLs with "." in it, you would leave off the extension and just rewrite the /page.htm request to /page with no redirect code. Nobody would ever need know that a different technology is serving the page up at the same address.
In any case, it shouldn't be a bit job to set up the URLs and, if needed, rewrites for 200 pages.
You are better off not exposing extensions in urls e.g. .php or .html
The reason is that you may later move to another CMS or wish to present something else on that url.
Tim Berner's Lee article entitled "Cool URIs don't change" from 1998 is still worth reading and as important today as ever.
You can get a Joomla template made but you should search carefully because there are so many out there already. Many have collapsible modules, customizable fonts, multiple color schemes so you can change their default look and the final product look very different from the default.
Picking a relavitvely popular template and using the options to customize means that you will likely have access to a community to help you with the template and won't be tied to the one template developer you chose.
a lot of CMS's can be diffcult to upgrade if you don't know what you're doing but with any popular CMS you WILL need to upgrade to stay safe from hackers.
Personally there are 2 carts and 1 CMS I don't use because updating is such a pain and so very risky.
We moved a static 300 page site to Joomla and kept all of the exact same url's.
In either case none of the URL's are remaining the same.
Things learned from the first time -
A sitemap xml file is a must.
Obviously sign up for webmaster tools. It should be your 404 "debugger" of choice after the switch is made.
Create 301's for all URLs that will change. Yeah it's possibly a lot of work but you have to do it.
Give it time. If you did everything correctly without any major issues in a month or two you should be "back" to where your old site was or even higher regarding rankings/traffic.
Since last April we've doubled the size of the site and more than quadrupled the traffic.
you can have the same url even if you use joomla.
set to SEO friendly in global seting and add the prefix.
the url will be your title plus .html
for the map content. some of them you can keep your static html file but use the wrapper link to link from joomla menu to that html file
so everything will be organized nicely
