Affiliate programs are likely the most popular way to make money from a Web site. The Web master of a site signs up with a company such as Google or Amazon to allow advertisements to appear on the host site. Each time the user clicks on an ad or purchases something by following a link to the vendor ’s site, the Web master earns a fee. These programs can be so lucrative that large sites can earn literally thousands of dollars a month strictly from affiliate income.

Joomla can host most of the popular affiliate programs through extensions that encapsulate the code (HTML and often JavaScript) necessary to display the advertisements on the site. To activate most affiliate technology, you need only install the associated extension, set the parameters to match your service, and specify the location where the affiliate content will appear on your site.

Google AdSense Affiliate Program
One of the most popular affiliate programs on the Web is Google’s AdSense. AdSense provides code that displays Google ads on a Web site that are relevant to the site visitors. Each time a user clicks on an ad, the owner of the Web site is paid a fee. These fees can results in large sums if the site is very popular, or if the content of the site targets a market where the advertisements for that sector are very expensive.

Joomla has made administration generally very easy. However, as a site expands, managing the existing content, user authentication, and keeping the system clear of dead or outdated data can become a real chore. There are methods for handling all of these problems, largely thanks to Joomla’s embrace of open standards and compatibility with a large number of technologies.

 For infrastructure-wide user authentication, Joomla is compatible with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers that can also be used to manage users on other server types. For handling old content, menus, and users, you can either use the Joomla Administrator interface or directly query the Joomla database tables using MySQL tools. Most of the Joomla maintenance on even a larger system can be accomplished without having to resort to expensive or complex system tools.

LDAP Authentication
LDAP is an implementation standard that provides ways to centralize access authorization. Instead of requiring a separate login for each of numerous systems a client might use, a single authorization con- tained in an LDAP directory can provide authorization to all of those systems. For example, an LDAP server could contain all the user authentication information for a Web server, FTP server, CMS, mail server, and so on. That means that only a single user account would have to be administered on the LDAP server, instead of individual records at all other servers.

The field of SEO attempts to influence site placement in search results. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the broader general field of increasing traffic through SEO technical refinements, as well as paid advertising. In fact, SEM encapsulates search engine advertising — both buying and selling. You can purchase advertisements to promote your business or allow your site to host ads supplied by a third party.

Writing an Effective Ad
Entire books have been written on creating good advertising copy, and many of them are excellent tools if you are going to be constructing ads. If you purchase some books on advertising copy, you should take a look at Words that Sell by Richard Bayan (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples and Fred E. Hahn (Prentice-Hall, 1998). These books provide substantial help in creating an effective ad.

Nonetheless, here are a few guidelines that should help you craft better advertising copy:

If you’ve planned the community thoroughly, deploying it should not be difficult. The technology provided by Joomla extensions makes for a simple plug-in implementation. However, you should also consider the management responsibilities, including legal liability and the grooming of appropriate moderators.

Legal Liabilities
Be sure to read basic information on free speech guarantees and limits. You can find a great deal of information about this topic at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Web site (www.eff.org). EFF also has information relating to the defamation and libel aspects of online content. For the online copyright liability act, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCILLA.

In regard to legal liabilities a site Web master might incur by allowing community interaction in the

One of the most interesting interactive technologies (and perhaps the fastest growing) is the wiki system. Under a wiki system, users post contributions, and then subsequent visitors can edit or augment this content. The most famous example is Wikipedia, which is a user-generated encyclopedia. Any user can post a new entry, and then the system will track changes made by the users.

Although Joomla operates as a CMS and can readily accept new content from contributors, it was not designed to allow a large number of people to make minor changes or modifications to content — exactly the functionality provided by a wiki. There are several good offerings of Joomla extensions that add wiki capabilities to Joomla, including OpenWiki and WikiBot.

OpenWiki
OpenWiki provides a bridge to encapsulate the PHP application DokuWiki within the Joomla system. It features a complete ACL implementation that builds on the Joomla ACL for groups such as Super  Administrator, Administrator, Manager, Author, Registered, and Public. ACL permissions include create, edit, read, upload, and delete.