What’s a Content Management System (CMS)?

New to the world of e-commerce? Then before you go any further you’ll want to know what a CMS is.

A CMS is a software application that provides everything you need to create and manage all of your online content – text, photos, videos, galleries, widgets. All of it.

Joomla is one of the most well-known CMSs available. You can access it through either of EuroDNS's web hosting services.

Joomla is included with our Core Shared or Advanced web hosting plans but for e-commerce sites we do recommend the Advanced plan. (See our web hosting comparison page for more on why this plan is ideal for e-commerce.) Regardless of the plan you choose, easy setup via EuroDNS’s control panel will make Joomla available to you at no additional cost.

Why Joomla for e-commerce websites?

Joomla’s e-commerce themes

Two steps. That’s all it takes to install a Joomla template.

1. Find and download the template you want
2. Use Joomla’s extension manager to upload the template

Joomla offers countless templates, many of which are free, all of which are SEO and translation-ready. The following is a VERY small sampling of Joomla’s themes designed specifically for e-commerce websites. Don’t worry. No matter what kind of product or service you’re selling, you’ll find a template that’s just right for your online store.

Splash

• Designed for any kind of e-commerce site
• Responsive, retina-ready design so your site looks great from any device
• Customisable colour choice, fonts, and typography

Yummy

• Designed for restaurants or food business-related sites
• Template includes reservation forms and customisable menu
• Blog and gallery features make it easy to share content and images

Trendz

• Designed for fashion businesses
• Slick, simple layout helps you show off the season’s trendiest offerings
• Highly functional menu navigation so customers can shop from any device

Joomla’s e-commerce extensions

It’s just as easy to install extensions. You have two options:

1. Use the extension manager to download and then upload the extension
2. Insert the URL for the extension’s location and install from there

A Joomla website is customisable with numerous extensions, some free, others paid, all fully-featured to provide everything you could possibly need or want. To give you an idea, the following are among Joomla’s most popular extensions for online stores.*

VirtueMart

• Categorise products so visitors can easily locate what they’re looking for
• SEM technics like Meta tags, keyword functionality, and full media support
• Create shopper groups (B2B and B2C) and set up special pricing (in any currencies), unique payment/shipping methods, exclusive discounts, and languages
• Edit product descriptions based on currency, shopper group, dimension, and any other custom attribute you wish to highlight
• Push related products in an add-to cart pop-up
• Control inventory with stock warnings and details on items ordered but not purchased

DigiCom

• Install only the add-ons you need, eliminating unnecessary code and features
• Specifically designed to sell digital products like music and books
• Increase cross sells with product bundle features
• Provide various payment options – all credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, 2Checkout
• Drag and drop file manager and simple sales tracking

EShop

• Advanced search so customers can look for products via multiple search options
• Customers can see at all times which products are currently in their cart
• Easily viewable product categories and availability, as well as product manufacturer information and specific details about each product
• Customer notification when a product becomes available
• Supports more than fifteen languages

*This list reflects a very small sampling of Joomla's e-commerce website extensions. In fact, the number of extensions available are quite numerous.

Website security and maintenance

In addition to all other the security features already included with our web hosting plans, Joomla websites can be further customised with a variety of security extensions for even greater protection.

Web hosting plan features

• Backup manager (daily, weekly, yearly)
• DDoS mitigation (levels 3 and 4)
• Security advisor
• Firewall
• SSL support (Compare SSL certificates to get the right level of security for your site.)

Joomla website security extensions*

• Admin Tools Professional: Among Joomla’s most popular security extensions, protects against most common attacks. Provides login security, IP blocking/backlisting, IP whitelisting, and automatic IP blocking of repeat offenders.
• Eyesite: Scans directory structures, storing details of every file in a database table. Able to detect any directory tree files that are new, changed, or deleted. You’ll receive an email if changes are detected.
• KeyCAPTCHA: Prevents spamming by requiring visitors to complete an interactive task. If KeyCAPTCHA isn’t successfully solved, page refreshing is blocked and users must manually refill forms.

*Again, this list represents a just a select few of Joomla’s many e-commerce security offerings.

Set up your Joomla website today!

For all of the above reasons, Joomla is a solid choice for setting up and maintaining a professional-looking, fully-capable e-commerce website. Its extensive functionality, extendability, and ability to deliver a user-friendly shopping experience make it a top-choice CMS. Joomla really can handle just about anything you throw its way.

Need help setting up Joomla from the EuroDNS control panel? No problem! Our customer support team is standing by to offer all the assistance you need. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you run into any problems. We're here if you need us.

Select your Core Shared or Advanced web hosting plan and get started building your online store with Joomla!

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