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If you are developing a website for your new business or looking to upgrade an existing design, choosing a Joomla web design offers many advantages. There are of course other platforms you can use for developing your website, including expensive commercial systems and others similar to Joomla such as WordPress and Drupal and of course you could opt for a bespoke development, but for creating powerful business websites Joomla is our favorite. Let’s take a look at the top 10 reasons why:

1.      It’s Free

The Joomla CMS is open source and free to download TODAY so you don’t need to pay anyone to develop a system for you. Of course, you may use a website design company to customise to your exact requirements – creating an overall structure, adding your branding and colours etc, but this is still much cheaper (in both the short and long term) than having a bespoke website built for you.

2.      It works

Joomla has already had over 35 million downloads and powers some of the world’s leading websites, so you are using a tried and tested market leading application.

3.      It’s supported

That very success has created literally a world wide network of users, supporters and developers who offer constant advice and support via blogs, forums and websites. If you need help, you won’t always need to consult a fee-charging company – just go online first!

4.      It’s updated

Following on from the above and the world of Joomla web design, developers are always introducing new apps, plug-ins and modules. Most are free, many are driven by user’s needs and changing technologies. The Joomla extensions directory is a great resource to find new and exciting plug-ins for your website: http://extensions.joomla.org.

5.      It’s integrated

You will hear lots about how Google take into account sharing and social engagement when it ranks a website. You can integrate all your social media activity using Joomla.

6.      It’s easy to use

‘Easy’ is always a flexible measure but for the day-to-day business needs, Joomla really is easy. You won’t need technical or HTML experience to add content, add new pages, upload photos, amend the navigation, etc. You will be able to assign many tasks to your team so the website is no longer just your concern.

7.      It’s integrated – again

The power of Joomla web design means you can develop effective marketing campaigns, building databases for email marketing and fully integrated sales activity.

8.      It’s SEO savvy

What SEO means and constitutes seems to change on a daily basis but one thing you can guarantee is that Joomla will allow you manage and integrate SEO with your on page and off page activity, as apps and plug-ins are developed to meet the changing demands of SEO. Two of our favorites include AceSEF and sh404SEF.

9.      It’s brilliant for e-commerce

Online sales continue to grow even as the general retail outlook remains uncertain. It’s no surprise that many businesses are looking to create online stores. Having a Joomla web design allows e-commerce components to be added effectively and easily. One of the most common e-commerce components for Joomla is probably VirtueMart.

10.  It’s liberating

You will not longer need to go back to the same 3^rd party for each and every change or update on your website. You can choose the partner you want – based on costs or service – not because you have been backed into a corner. Or you can use the worldwide support to help you make the most of your Joomla CMS.   Remember to watch this space as we will be releasing a range of web design and online marketing blogs over the coming months. Our readers can also find our Opace Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OpaceWebDesign. For all the latest goings on, you can keep up-to-date with Opace on Twitter https://twitter.com/OpaceWeb. And we also now have an Opace YouTube page live at http://www.youtube.com/user/opacewebdesign.

Image source – cocoate.com