I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website. Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package. Joomla! is a Content Management system, which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor.But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product? Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial product Because Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support or go to www.master-web-graphics.com

The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries – there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product. There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user. Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.impacts-audio.com

You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not WordPress, for example?I have to admit, WordPress is also extremely popular and WordPress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. WordPress also has numerous free templates available and it makes WordPress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that WordPress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings areJoomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is very limited support for various access groups and access levels.Because it is so popular, it attracts a lot of attention and Joomla! sites get hacked – quite often. The only solution for this is to be aware of your server security settings and to upgrade regularly to stay abreast of the latest Joomla! security updates.Joomla! might be a bit top-heavy for smaller sites, although it still remains the tool of choice for even my smaller sites – it does leave room for expansion later without having to upgrade to a different tool or product!Joomla!’s native search engine friendliness in the older versions leave a lot to be desired, although this has received attention in the latest upgrade. Despite this drawback, most of my Joomla! sites perform well in the search engines due to judicious use of various plugins to rectify this shortcoming.Altogether, Joomla! is an excellent tool to build websites that are easy to create, easy on the eye and easily extendable.

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A shopping cart software package is one of the most important decisions that any eCommerce company could make. Your shopping cart and everything else that comes in the package will have a huge influence on how your site and your web development efforts will turn out. Making a mistake in choosing is nothing short of disastrous. How can you help ensure that you’re getting good software for your business?

Cost Considerations

Like most other components of your overhead expenses, the cost of getting shopping cart software can vary very widely. Essentially, you can choose between two kinds of package for shopping carts: pre-made and customized. For now, suffice it to say that the latter will cost you considerably more. Later on, you’ll see why that might be worth paying for.

Appearance

Selling on the Internet is partly a visual marketing game, and eCommerce companies who have better looking websites almost always perform better because of it. And while the visual aspect is a necessary consideration for your main pages, it’s just as important a factor for your shopping cart.

Ideally, your shopping cart should be able to present all the necessary information in as clear and concise a manner as possible. Having an organized structure and a lot of white space makes your shopping cart look professional, and that bodes well for your company.

Procedure

Different shopping carts will obviously have different procedures. And while one cart’s procedure might not look very different from the next, the slightest variations could mean a lot for your customers. Take a close look at the buying procedures of each software package you’re considering before going ahead with the deal.

One cart, for example, could be able to get all the necessary information within two web pages, while the next one takes three pages to do the same thing. According to the needs of effective eCommerce web development, the former has a very big advantage.

Functionality

Here’s where different packages can diverge greatly from each other. While all shopping carts obviously have identical basic functions – collecting orders and getting payments information – they can vary a lot with regard to the extra functionality.

Coupon and discount offer features, for example, are two things that not every cart package has. It would have been a big loss for you had you picked a cart package without those features to run on your bargain clothing site. Whether it’s for free shipping or customized items, every eCommerce company has a particular set of extra features that are more necessary than you think.

Customization

Unless you use a very common business model, this should also be important for you. Although customized shopping cart software packages are almost always costlier than their pre-made counterparts, they also offer some things that the latter can’t handle.

Most shopping carts, for example, aren’t able to handle orders coming from two different sites owned by the same company. If that’s the kind of business model you have, you’ll be better off looking for a provider who could give you software that you can customize to support intra-site orders. The same goes for just about any other model that involves more than just the usual order-click-deliver routine.

Before you can make the final choice on which shopping cart package to get, you’ll have to figure out every aspect of your business first. Let your site’s target market, products and special needs dictate the choice of shopping cart instead of the other way around.

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We at Jelecos.com are committed to helping you build your eCommerce website design from the ground up. From designing the template to finding the right shopping cart software for your sites, we’ll be there for your business at every step of the way.