For those of you who are not familiar with Mambo - it is an easy to use content management system that can be freely downloaded from http://www.mamboserver.com (You have to be familiar with php, ftp, mysql databses and such to be able to use it though!) It has loads of add-ons, modules, and templates that are available free for download. Because of the fact that it basically creates pages on the "fly" also loads very quickly and we all know how important that is! I have used it successfully to build two websites and I cannot begin to tell you how easy it is to use once you are familiar with it. No more battling with web site designs and all sorts of templates, getting them ready and then ftp'ing them to the server! The only problem is that you really have to download some modules, components and add-ons etc. to make your site really fully functional. I had a bit of a problem figuring out a couple of things, and I am sure that there are other Mambo users out there who could benefit from my experience.

  For those of you who are already running Mambo 4.5.1 sites, ask yourself these questions: 1. Are your URL's search engine friendly e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/artiles/myarticles.html or do they look like this: index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=1&Itemid=2 2. Are you able to use Adsense ads inside your content? 3. Are you able to display Adsense ads on your side panels? 4. Are you able to display the latest Adsense Adlinks? If you answered no to any of these questions, then this article is for you! I have found a wonderful resource for free Mambo add -ons, modules, components and templates which can be found here: http://www.mamboportal.com/ - you will have to register first to be able to download.

  Step 1 First of all, if your mambo site does not display search engine friendly URLs, that would be the first thing you have to change. So once you are in the download area at the above site (look for the link that says: Downloads), then select the link on the right that read: Mambo 4.5.1 downloads. Click on that link, and on the next page select: 4.5.1 Components. I would recommend that you make a special folder on your computer for the downloads, or that you download it into your original mambo program files (components). Once you are on the components download page, you should download the 404SEF.zip file to your computer. While you are at the download site: Also go to the modules download section, and download the SW Googleads zip file: Go to Mambots, Content Bots, and download the Adsense Mambot zip file. I can't quite remember where to find the other file that you will need so I have uploaded it to my sever for you, you can download it from here: http://www.set-4-success.com/tools/mod_advertising/">adsense.zip

  Step 2 Now log on to your mambo admin section, and go to Components, Install/Uninstall. You will see several components already installed with the original installation. At the bottom of your screen you will see: Upload new component. To upload the 404SEF file from your computer, click on the browse button, go to the folder where you saved the 404SEF file, and click on Upload File & Install. This will install your new component. Next you will have to change your Global configuration to use your new search engine friendly URLs. To do this, click on Site, Global configuration, then click on SEO, and select the Yes option for Search Engine Friendly URL's. Now, with your original Mambo installation, there is included a file called htaccess.txt. Log on to your server with your ftp program, and change this file to .htaccess . Just a word of caution here - I had the problem that my SEO friendly URL's did not work and I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why - turns out, instead of using the htaccess.txt file that was supplied with Mambo, I just used my old one! Pretty dumb, huh? The htaccess.txt file supplied with Mambo contains certain configurations that the 404SEF component needs, and of course my old .htaccess file had none of that in it! Next, you will have to configure your 404SEF component, so click on Components again, select: 404SEF, Configuration. Click on Yes to enable it, and change the other settings to whatever you want it to be. You should now have SEO friendly URLs and the search engines will just love your site!