Website is a backbone of any online business but in these days even if you have an offline business, it is important to have a website. It is important to have an appealing design and a great user experience so you can convert one time visitors into returning visitors.
Website is a backbone of any online business but in these days even if you have an offline business, it is important to have a website.
So while designing a website, it is important to have an appealing design and a great user experience so you can convert one time visitors into returning visitors and increase your revenue. It is not that easy task. But you can create an attractive website either with custom design or by choosing a Joomla template. Creating a custom design can be costly but you can get a ready to use theme in just few bucks.
There are lots of Joomla templates available in the market but choosing the best one is really tough. You need to take care of many things while you are choosing a template for your business website.
Let’s discuss some key points which need to take care while choosing a Free or Premium Joomla Template for your project.
Free Or Premium
When you listen FREE, you don’t want to miss it. But sometime Free things can be harmful. So when you are choosing a template for your website, check out that is it free or premium? If you found any premium template for free never choose it. Because it can be nulled which can be harmful for your website. If the premium template has a free version as well, I will suggest you to download it directly from the template providers websites.
Again, if you are going with a premium version then check out it is justic to pay the price or not. Check out for how many days you will get the updates and support.
Support History
Support history is the most important part where you can judge a template developer. If you can’t find any forum discussion about the products, I am sure they are not a good template provider. Also check how frequently they respond to user’s queries.
So before purchasing a template from any developer, make sure their support is up to your marks so whenever you face any issue, you can get support from the developers.
Support is the thing on which we proud the most at JoomDev. Because we understand the support is important than selling. Check out our support History at our official forum.
Match with your business nature
Always choose a templates which meets with your business nature. If you are building a Marketing agency website, you should choose a Marketing agency Joomla Template instead of other.
It will save your time to customize your website according to your need. Because if you choose another template, it will be hard to decide what section should be where and how it should be displayed. But when you choose niche specific template, you have already an idea about your content placement.
Responsive or Not
How do you browse the internet? I am sure, you use internet on your smartphone more than on desktop or laptop. And everyone do this. So it is important to have an responsive website if you don’t want to irritate your smartphone audience with regular desktop website.
If you are purchasing a template which is not responsive/mobile friendly then you are wasting your money. So before purchasing a template, you should check it if it is mobile responsive template of not. If it is not, never go with it.
Cross Browser Compatibility
I love to browse internet on Google chrome but my friend love the Mozilla Firefox and one is Safari user. And I am sure, same happen with you as well and everyone. So your website should be cross browser compatible. For this, you need to get a cross browser compatible template which works fine on all major browsers like Mozilla, Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge etc.
If it is not cross browser compatible, you are wasting your hard earned money. I will suggest you to go with other in this case.
Third Party Extensions Compatibility
Sometimes, we have to extend the functionality of our website. Suppose, when I developed the website, I haven’t decided to sell my products online, but later now I want to sell them through my website.
So for this I will need an eCommerce Joomla Extension. And if my template will not support third party extensions, I have wasted my money. So make sure the template you are choosing, should be third party extensions compatible.
Easy to use or Not
Easy to use, yes it is important factor you need to consider while choosing a Joomla template. It might be possible that you don’t have any coding skill but you want to make minor content changes because you can’t bother your developer again and again for minor changes.
So if the template is designed with so complexity, it is better to leave that.
We at JoomDev develop easy to use and customize Joomla Template. Our all the templates are integrated with drag and drop page builder which allows you to customize your pages simply with drag and drop feature. You don’t need to have any coding skills.
Security Matters a Lot
What if you wake up in the morning and you open your website and saw a porn banner? Will you love it? I am sure not at all. So before using any template on your website, consider to check its security. Never compromise with your website security.
Check the theme with www.virustotal.com that if it is safe to use or include any kind of malware.
Also you can read this article to secure your Joomla website.
Loading Speed
Do you love to wait for anything when there are lots of options available? I am sure, you will not love. Same the way no one will wait for minutes to load a website. They will simply exit and check your competitors. So it is important to have a fast loading speed.
Loading speed depends on many factors but a fast loading template is also a biggest factor of fast loading website. So I will suggest you to check demo page of a template before purchasing. If it load fast, you can go with it. Here is an article to optimize your Joomla website for fast loading.
User’s review
It is important to check the customer’s review about any template. You can check the template review from marketplaces or from social media. People always talk about the product like or dislike. You can get an idea about the product which can make it easy to decide.
Latest Technologies
Yes, it is important to adopt the latest technologies. Because if you are using outdated technologies, you are compromising with the security of your website. So before making the purchase always check that if it is using the latest version of Joomla and other extensions. If template is not up to date, never go with that template.
Update History
Always check for the update history. If template is updated frequently, it means developer is serious about the template and he is working to improve it on regular basis. If there is no update after the release of the template never go with the template. Always choose a template which is frequently updated.
Final Words.
Hope it is now clear that what are the key things you need to take care while purchasing the a free or premium Joomla template.
Article by AS Marketplace author JoomDev
Thanks for the article, rather short and sensible advices. I agree with the fact that the website must be adapted for the mobile device, since most people always surf the internet from the mobile. And I liked the example in the council on security issues. I immediately wanted to check the chosen topic for safety.