Latest blog entries

Joomla 4 - Release date, new templates, features and download

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 17:33:07 +0700

The project for developing Joomla 4 has started way back in 2016, bearing the hope of a revolutionary version for Joomla. In the present time, Joomla 4 is on the horizon.

To keep you up to date with this new version. This article will contain everything you need to know about Joomla 4.0 version.

When is Joomla 4 release date?

Till now, there are only the RC3 version has been released with its latest version come out on 29th June 2021: Joomla 4.0 RC3.

According to Joomla.org, the final release date of Joomla 4.0 is still determined. To be specific, The Joomla 4 RC 4 will be released in early July 2021 and the stable version will be expected at the end of 2021. This is great news for Joomla community when we can finally experience the better version of Joomla 4.

Since Joomla is a community-based CMS, so if you want to have a closer look at the process of developing Joomla 4, you can visit their Github project.

Why Joomla 3.10 is important to Joomla 4?

Joomla 3.10 is a minor update version of Joomla 3.9 where it will become a bridge to upgrade to Joomla 4.0.

It will contain backports of API changes from the 4.0 development branch to help ease the transition to the next major release for the community. Joomla 3.10 and 4.0 will be released simultaneously.

Therefore, we can guess the Joomla 3.10 stable version will also be released at the end of 2019.

However, you can try out the Nightly Build version of Joomla 3.10 which has been updated on 16th June 2019. This version is for testing purpose only and you can compare to the stable versions during the process experience.

Download the Nightly Build version of Joomla 3.10

How can I download Joomla 4?

At present, you can download the latest Joomla 4 version from the link below. For future versions, you can check it out here.

Joomla Alpha 12 will be the final alpha version of Joomla 4

Right now, you could try Joomla 4 demo in local hosting with simple installation steps.

What are the requirements for installation?

The system requirements have been updated as follows:

PHP 7 +
MySQL 5.5.3 +
PostgreSQL 9.2 +
SQL Server support has been dropped.

Joomla no longer supports using PHP's ext/MySQL driver (which was removed in PHP 7.0). Joomla will automatically try and use the MySQL extension (available since PHP 5.3) or the MySQL PDO driver (available since PHP 5.3) else it will fail to create a database connection. If you plan to use Joomla in the future, it's time to update your site. Start with updating PHP

For more details, have a look at this article: Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 4

What are the new features of this version?

Since it’s the next major version, Joomla 4 is packed with many new and useful features. These changes mostly aim to enhance the system performance and revamp UI/UX design, making this version more convenient to use. Joomla is widely known as hard for a new user, so the development team makes sure to change this thought in this version.

This are the summary of these changes:

More powerful and much cleaner codebase. This new version will remove any outdated functions from the previous version. Moreover, Joomla developer will love the new use of PHP namespaces, it will allow you to bring more robust extensions, components to the version.
Remove jQuery from the core.
Install Joomla 4 within a minute. Very fast and simple installation process.
Brand new backend and frontend template. If you have familiar with and love the WordPress backend admin, Joomla 4 is for you.
Using Bootstrap 4. Neat!
Joomla Framework's power has been merged into the CMS
Rebuilt Media Manager with a cleaner UI and better UX (new image editing capabilities).
A new Publishing Workflow to manage your articles in an advanced and customizable way.
New security features: support for prepared SQL statements.
An enhanced event dispatching system.
Reworked Application for Command Line Interface (CLI)
And many more!

(According to joomla.org)

Joomla 4 new templates

We can finally say goodbye to Breeze 3 and Protostar front-end template and isis template in the backend.

Let say welcome to Joomla 4 new front-end template: Cassiopeia and new backend template: Atum.

New front end template: Cassiopeia

Continuing the space theme (SolarFlare from 1.0, MilkyWay from 1.5, and Protostar from 3.0), Cassiopeia is the Joomla 4 site template based on Bootstrap 4.

At first look, the template design still somewhat reflects its predecessor. However, the design is much lean and has adapted the modern style. Even without a 3rd-party template, you still can make a good-looking and professional site.

New back end template: Atum

Continuing the Egyptian god/goddess theme (Khepri from 1.5, Hathor from 1.6, Isis from 3.0), Atum is the Joomla 4 administrator template based on Bootstrap 4.

The backend user interface looks very promising even when we are still on the RC 3 version. Easy to notice that the menu bar has been changed from horizontal to vertical. The admin panel looks more logical and easy to understand.

If you want to know more about the current status of Joomla 4 backend template, you could watch this presentation of JoomlaDay Florida 2019: "Joomla 4 Backend Horizon" by Elisa Fotyn, the lead designer of Joomla team.

JoomlaShine’s plan with Joomla 4

As in our previous blog, we are planning in detail what we are working to prepare for Joomla 4. Here is the summary:

Make JoomlaShine product compatible with Joomla 4
Launch Joomla 4 Update Service
Making Joomla 4 tutorials and Joomla 4.x Made Easy eBook
Keep you update with Joomla 4

Try JoomlaShine premium templates

The top priority of JoomlaShine is to make sure all of our products compatible with Joomla 4.

8. Experience Joomla 4 demo

For you to experience all the changes in Joomla 4 to the fullest, we have built a Joomla 4 demo site with all the latest features. We hope with this demo site, you could easily get to know with the Joomla latest version without any installation trouble and be totally well prepared for upcoming changes. Or if you prefer to try out this version in localhost, you could see this Joomla 4 installation guide.

View Joomla 4 demo

We will update these information constantly. So, keep in touch with us to read the latest news around Joomla 4!

Build your Joomla E-commerce Website using redSHOP and JSN Ferado 2: Step-by-step guide

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 11:44:21 +0700

"E-commerce" - a word that has caught a lot of attention in recent years. Due to fast development in technologies and a huge impact from the COVID - 19 pandemic, people are moving their shopping habit from physical to online.

It is also a good way to make a bit of extra income and you can easily bring your products to a larger group of potential customers compared to a physical shop.

So, why don’t start it now?

You don’t need to be a “computer-geek” to build your own e-commerce website. With a little bit of concentration and some help from a CMS platform and its extensions/templates, you will be able to create your own online store before you even notice.

In this article, I’m going to guide you through, step-by-step, how you can build your own Joomla e-commerce website using redSHOP extensions and a template.

Shall we dive in?

I. What is redSHOP?

To some of you who haven’t heard of redSHOP, it is a shopping cart (e-commerce) solution that is designed to work with Joomla CMS platform.

With advanced modules and plugins developed by redSHOP team, the extension brings value to both store administrators and customers, reducing the time spent on creating, managing products for owners and delivering a better experience for users.

Some of redSHOP’s features include:

Showing unlimited number of products
Support multiple currencies
Support sending out newsletters and catalogues
Ready-to-use and easy-to-manage webshop
Statistic and Search Engine Optimization
And many more

To learn more about redSHOP and its outstanding features, please visit redCOMPONENT website for more insight.

II. Building a Joomla e-commerce website using redSHOP extension and template

Now you have understood what is redSHOP and what it is capable of, it’s time to show you guys how you can use redSHOP and a template to build your online shop:

Step 1: Shape the structure of your website

The very first thing, before getting into detail, is to plan out the structure of your website. How do you want the page to present, which sections go to which area, etc… you need to plan all of that and make that plan a reality.

What if you find it difficult or have no innovative idea just yet?

When I find myself in this situation, I always go for the option of finding myself a suitable template that I find interesting.

Therefore, in this tutorial, I’m going to build a Joomla e-commerce website using JSN Ferado 2 template.

Step 2: Install redSHOP to your Joomla site

Before actually putting your hands on the creation process, you need to set up redSHOP on your Joomla site first.

Go to redSHOP website and download the extension for free.

DOWNLOAD REDSHOP NOW

And just like any other extension, you can install redSHOP by opening your site backend, navigate Extensions -> Manage -> Install and drag the file into the upload section.

After finishing the installation, the system will show you 3 options to choose from: Configuration Wizard, Install Demo Content and go to Dashboard.

From my experience, I would suggest you to choose the second option, to install the demo content and after installing, it will forward you to the Dashboard automatically.

Step 3: Create product categories

Category function allows you to sort out the products that are similar and put them into groups for easier navigation.

To create a product category, simply click on the categories section and create a new one.

And then you need to insert the information for your category as you wish.

Note: since we installed the demo content, there will be demo categories already available, what you need to do in this situation is to delete the demo contents or edit them as your preference.

If you want to create multiple categories with different levels, remember to select the category parent. If you have fewer products and only one category, a simple “Product category” will work just fine.

In this tutorial, I’m going to create 6 different categories for my online shop

Step 4: Add your Products and it detailed information

A Joomla e-commerce website is nothing without any products. Therefore, now it’s time to create products for our store.

Heads to Products -> Product Manager and click on “New” button to create your product.

There, you will find a bunch of fields that you need to fill out, such as: name, product number, price, product category, product image, description, etc …

The more detail you get, the easier it will be for the customers to understand and find the value of your products.

Note: Just like the categories, the same thing goes with the products. There will be demo products available and you need to delete them, or edit them as your preference.

Additionally, if you take a look on the left column, you will find that redSHOP supports various more functions other than creating products and product categories. These functions include: media management, order management, Discount management, Communication, Shipping methods, and many more.

If you want to learn in detail how these functions can help you and your online business, go check out redSHOP’s documentation.

Now let’s get back to the main reason why we are here, once you have finished creating your products, it’s time to show them on the front end.

Step 5: Show your products on frontend

After creating your online products, it’s time to publish them on your frontend.

To do that, go to your menu tab in the Joomla backend and create a new menu item.

Go to menu type, choose redSHOP and select the one you want to show.

Give the new menu item a name and click save. Once finished, it will be shown on your front end.

Step 6: Install JSN Ferado 2

It is time to set up the layout and display the content on your front end. And there’s no other way that is easier and less time consuming than getting a template for your Joomla e-commerce website.

You can choose any other templates from different third parties as you wish. However, I would strongly recommend you choose the one that is already compatible with redSHOP extensions. We have a few templates that are fully compatible with redSHOP of our own, you can check them out!

As aforesaid, I’m going to use JSN Ferado 2 for this project. Firstly, download the template from JoomlaShine website. Or you can click on the button below

DOWNLOAD JSN FERADO 2 NOW

And then you need to install it to your e-commerce site with the same process as other extensions. If you don’t know how to do that or suddenly forget without a reason, go back to Step 2 and follow it.

After the installation, you will have the foundation of your website using JSN Ferado theme.

Step 7: Building your Joomla e-commerce website

Since there are many pages and things to take care of in order to launch an ultimate online store and the time is limited. Hence, in this tutorial, I’m just going to show you my method to build a home page for your store. And, you can use this to other web pages as you wish.

To apply this method, I’m going to take advantage of another extension - JSN PageBuilder 4.

What is JSN PageBuilder 4?

JSN PageBuilder 4 is a Joomla page builder extension which helps you to build various types of pages, from homepage to sale page, contact page to 404 page, etc… without touching the template module.

With drag and drop feature and multiple built-in elements to support different sections of a webpage, you can easily build web pages for your Joomla e-commerce website.

You can check out this blog post on step-by-step guide to create Joomla pages using JSN PageBuilder 4.

Building a homepage with JSN PageBuilder 4

To build the homepage, as mentioned in Step 1, you need to layout the structure.

In my experience, a potential homepage should have these following sections:

Slideshow
Product category
Team members
Featured collection
Blog posts
Newsletter subscription

Once you have planned out what you are going to have on your homepage, go to Joomla backend and create a new article using JSN PageBuilder 4.

Section 1: Slideshow

A slide show on the top of your homepage will help you to demonstrate the key features/items that your store can offer.

To create this block, go to Add elements and find the element Slideshow

Here, you can choose from 4 different layouts as your preferences.

Section 2: The Product Categories

We don’t need to be fussy and bring ourselves to a difficult position. The product category in the homepage is made with 2 elements: a heading and images.

Once you have finished styling the headings and choosing the suitable images. Click on each image and link them to the category URL so that when users click on the images, it will redirect them to the category page.

Section 3: Team members

Adding a team member section is an effective way to give your business an accessible face. It gives your customers an idea of who they will be working with/buying from.

And luckily, JSN PageBuilder 4 has a pre-made section for team members.

Section 4: Featured collection

This section shows all of the “hot” items from your shop that are popular. It helps customers to easily find an item and fasten their shopping-to-checkout process.

The same method as the “Product Category” section applies here. Go back to section 2 to see how you can create this section if you forget how to.

Section 5: Best seller

Why do you put "best seller" in this position you ask? This position in a page is normally a lower selling position and since best selling items can sell itself, this combination is actually gonna increase your overall sales.

To show your best selling products, first you need to create a category with your top revenue items (see step 3 if you don’t know how to create a category with redSHOP)

Next, as mentioned above, there are many extra modules provided by redCOMPONENT to support redSHOP extension, and one of them is called “redSHOP Products” that’s gonna help you to show your best selling products on the homepage.

You need to download the module on redSHOP website. Once downloaded, simply install the module like any other plugins.

To create your bestseller module, go to Extension -> Modules to create a new module.

If you have successfully installed the “redSHOP Products” module, you will find the module in the module list, select it.

Now, it’s your turn to fill in the information detail of your best selling items.

After finishing the module. It’s time to show it on frontend.

There are 02 ways that you can show this piece of information on your homepage.

Option 1: Using JSN PageBuilder 4

On JSN PageBuilder 4’s dashboard, click on Add Joomla Elements -> Joomla Modules and drag the element to the position you wish.

On the right column, in the content section, click on the "+" button and select the module you just created.

And it will automatically appear on the frontend.

Option 2: Using JSN Ferado 2 template

With this method, you need to assign the position for your module.

Then, go to the template dashboard, select module position and drag it to the position that you wish.

Next, on the right column, select the module position that you assigned earlier.

And that’s how you show your best selling items on your homepage using JSN Ferado 2 template.

Section 6: Blog posts

Blog posts are great marketing and SEO tools for your e-commerce. Showing latest or featured blog posts on your homepage to tell your customers about you, your business and your products or useful piece of information regarding the products or the field that you are in.

I recommend using the EasyBlog extension to create and manage your blog posts.

And to show these blog posts on the front end, go to Add third party elements -> EasyBlog -> EasyBlog Post list

There are different layouts for you to choose from, depending on your needs and the number of blog posts you want to show.

Section 7: Newsletter subscription

There’s no marketing method better than newsletter and email marketing. And to collect emails of your customers, you need a section where users can type in their email address.

A simple Mailchimp form can get the job done!

Go to Add element -> Advance -> Mailchimp form and select the form that you want to be displayed on your online store.

And those are all the necessary sections that you should include in your homepage and how you can optimize JSN PageBuilder 4 to display them. Once you have finished adding and styling the elements, it’s time to save the page and go online.

III. To Sum Up

And that’s the 7 steps to build your own Joomla e-commerce website using redSHOP and a JoomlaShine template. If you take a glance at it, it can be a lot to absorb within one read. But, try to read this in detail, you will find how simple it can be and your online shop will be finished in no time.

Hope that this article brings you some value in one way or another.

Happy building!

Top 5 JoomlaShine E-Commerce templates that work perfectly with J2Store

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 14:27:15 +0700

When creating a Joomla e-commerce website, sooner or later, you will come across J2Store, one of the top Joomla e-commerce extensions.

With its powerful features that help webmasters sell their products online easily, J2Store has slowly achieved its place in the Joomla community.

In order to provide a complete solution for anyone who is both seeking for a Joomla e-commerce extension and a beautiful Joomla template, we started a partnership with J2Store.

Till now, JoomlaShine has successfully released 12 Joomla eCommerce templates that work perfectly with J2Store extension and through that, we have helped thousands of customers to maximize their profit with an optimized Joomla e-commerce template.

Before going into the details of each template, let's see what J2Store got to offer.

Why should you choose J2Store?

“Let's help the newbies who want to start online businesses, setting up a store on the web and manage it easily. We need to make the whole thing easy peasy. Pretty much a child's play.”

That is the goal of J2Store since the day it is founded. In short, they want to help online businesses setting up an e-commerce shop as quick and easy as possible.

In order to achieve this, J2Store studied their targeted customers carefully. They get rid of any fancy features but hardly been used in predecessor shopping cart extensions. Instead, J2Store focuses mainly on those that are important and make it lightweight, and easy to use. You could learn more about J2Store features here.

Remember, you can experience J2Store extension with our exclusive 25% discount.

Now, let’s take a look at the top 5 JSN templates that work perfectly with J2Store

JSN BookStore

JSN BookStore is specially designed for online bookshops. With sleek, flexible and well-organized design, this e-commerce template is the best solution to create a showcase.

Despite the name, JSN BookStore can be used to exhibit arts, sculptures or any items that you have in mind.

JSN Kitchen

JSN Kitchen is the latest e-commerce template that our team released and updated at the end of 2020 in order to fully compatible with the J2Store extension.

This template is built with a clear interface and modern features in order to build a stylish website in a simple way.

Inspired by the vast world of home accessories, JSN Kitchen is promised to bring users the best experience for all parties involved, from web developers to store owners to customers.

JSN Miro

Unlike any template, JSN Miro embraces the idea of minimalism to its design. “Less is more”. The template strips down all the unnecessary design, leaving the template with a simple yet elegant display.

With that idea, the products will get the maximum attention from visitors - a perfect solution for furniture, electrical, or fashion stores.

JSN Taste Tea

I would like to introduce you to one of the most popular JoomlaShine templates.

The idea of JSN Taste Tea does not stop at selling tea but optimizing for any singular product store. Every section, image or layout was built to make that product outstanding in the eyes of the customers.

With the simple yet modern design, it brings a new style to your website that attracts your customers at the first glance. Being Integrated with J2Store extension, JSN Taste Tea is a good solution that helps to sell anything with ease.

JSN Shine

Last on the list, let’s bring back old school. JSN Shine is built based on the standard design for an online shop. And don’t get me wrong and underestimate when you heard “standard”. JSN Shine is one of the best multipurpose Joomla templates ever, containing 9 different niches templates with typical design.

Empowered by the most powerful Joomla template framework and a flexible Joomla page builder, JSN Shine is the ultimate solution for you to build an amazing website for almost any types and industries.

With that aforesaid, you will get the best value from this 9-in-1 Joomla e-commerce template.

In Summary,

That’s it. That is our top 5 Joomla eCommerce template that works perfectly with J2Store. However, there are plenty of other JoomlaShine templates that work with J2Store extension other than these 5. And don’t even think that we're gonna stop making them.

You now can experience all of these templates with our 25% discount for J2Store extension.

I hope our review will help you find the perfect template for your online business.

Explore 60+ more JoomlaShine template

JSN PageBuilder 4 v1.3.0 - Introducing J2Store element - a perfect combination for Joomla e-commerce website

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 11:23:40 +0700

Since the release of version 1.2.0, our JoomlaShine team has gathered feedback and comments from our beloved users. And on February 1, 2021, we are happy to announce the release of version 1.3.0 of JSN PageBuilder 4 with some minor bug fixes and new features.

During our R&D process, we noticed the rising demand for e-commerce websites and the compatibility with shopping cart extensions. Therefore, we have come up with a solution to serve your needs - adding J2Store elements to JSN PageBuilder 4.

Moreover, in order to optimize speed for the operation of Joomla website, browser-level image lazy-loading technology is supported with this version.

So, what are we waiting for, let’s get in detail about the new features and improvements.

Changelog

Before getting into detail about new features and improvements, let me go through some of the bug fixes we have resolved:

Fix: Styling tab issues with Joomla Article elements.
Fix: Typing mistake issue with the email content of Contact Form element.
Fix: Conflict issue with Joomla Editor Custom Field.
Fix: The “.” character issue with the email address field of Contact Form element.
New: Video Image Cover option for HTML Video Element.

J2Store Element Added

Version 1.3.0 allows you to fetch J2Store products and show them in various layouts via J2Store element.

And with the “old-fashion” drag & drop feature, the progress of designing your product page will be much more simple and cost effective.

Browser-level Image Lazy-loading

In addition to the "priority" new feature, in version 1.3.0, JSN PageBuilder 4 also supports lazy loading for image tag, which improves your Joomla site's speed and performance.

In conclusion

And that’s all of the new features and updates of JSN PageBuilder 4 version 1.3.0. To our JoomlaShine lovers, please try out the new version and criticize. Your feedback brings us value and helps to create better, more sufficient products.

We will always open to receive your message.

TRY JSN PAGEBUILDER 4 FOR FREE NOW

7 Tips to have an effective design for your Joomla E-commerce Website

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 15:16:30 +0700

Web design is one of the most critical aspects when it comes to creating a Joomla e-commerce website. A good design must have the harmony between different factors such as: color, font, images, graphics, etc. in order to convince your audience to purchase. Moreover, it should follow the popular, up-to-date design type. People are getting bored of old habits and always looking for modern tendency.

Hence, the real question is, How exactly do you design your website to attract customers and actually converts? In this article, I’m going to talk about 8 tips that I find very useful and effective and you should practice when designing your own e-commerce website.

Less is always more!

Lots of people have a mindset that, when designing a website in general, we should make it blossom. And by "blossom", I mean adding as many elements as possible to reduce the white spaces, making their websites packed with different colors, banners, pop-ups, etc. Afterwards, it becomes a graffiti wall - colorful, diverse, loads of elements but ineffective.

When it comes to designing a Joomla e-commerce website, my advice to all is that: keep it simple, less is always more. The more function you have on a webpage (CTAs, Pop-ups, Banner ads,...) the less possibility for you to close a deal.

All of these unnecessary designs are converted into one thing - Distraction. Present your Joomla e-commerce website in a clear, clean and simple manner and focus on the main goal, which is converting to sales.

If you have yet to know what are the necessities to create a Joomla e-commerce website, check out How you can create a Joomla e-commerce website.

Brand awareness comes first!

Branding should be your top priority. Credibility and trust play an important role when it comes to online shopping. You wouldn't want to buy products from a "no-name" e-commerce website that looks like a front trying to steal money from your bank, don't you?

Your e-commerce design cannot be successful without the work of defining your brand. Your design needs to represent your brand. If you find it hard to define who you are as a brand, there are questions that you can ask yourself:

Who would my brand be if it were a person?
What do we do better than our competitors out there?
If I had to describe my brand in three words, what would it be?
What makes my brand different from other brands in the market?

Once you have sorted this out, you can begin working on your branding.

However, building trust cannot be done in just a day or two, it can take several years or even decades to build up a strong and long lasting brand. And the great Warren Buffet once said: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently."

Work your way from the visitors’ view

Easy to navigate, well-designed, fast and easy payment process, straightforward,... These are some criteria that customers are expected from an e-commerce website. If you want your online business to succeed, you better give those to the users.

When designing your website, put yourself in the shoes of your audiences, think like them and ask yourself questions: What will be the best layout for ease of navigation? Which stage I can cut off for better payment processing? ...

Using high-quality images

How do you feel when visiting an online clothing shop and what you see is some blurry images of a pair of jeans and t-shirts? Do you still want to take a chance to look for more products and eventually make a purchase? Well, I know my answer - which is NO.

In the web design world, it is a common knowledge that high quality images increase conversion. And that applies to e-commerce websites as well. If you want your audience to be interested in your products, you need to show them the beauty of the products via high-quality images.

High quality, professional images can bring value to your brand and trust from your customers. If your audience feels comfortable and confident about what they see, there is a higher chance that they will make a purchase and refer your business to their surroundings.

Make your content scannable

This tip can bring bad news to some of you who likes to write and explain.

Statistically, visitors only read about 20% of the text on any given website. Instead of reading the whole thing, they tend to look for key information or images; hence the 4th tips I'm sharing with you.

When brainstorming and creating your content, from description to blog posts, make sure to display it in an easy - to - scan way, keeping paragraph shorts, using bolds for important information and use bullet points. And remember, blank space is your best friend.

The more scannable your webpage is, the more information that your audience will absorb and the higher chance it will convert into a sale.

Adding testimonials section

Creating a section to expose the testimonials of your customers when using your products will increase your brand credibility and attract more potential customers.

Also, when designing your Joomla e-commerce website, it is suggested that you should find a suitable place to show your soon-to-be customers the positive feedback from your existing customers. A rating section is also effective. Just remember to get as many 5 stars as possible.

The more potential customers see the positive vibe of your Joomla website, the more convincing and trustworthy your business will be.

Fast and straightforward checkout process

Making your checkout process feel like a warm summer as it directly affects the survival of your business.

Designing the page in a way that is simple, straightforward and as pain-free as possible. Everything must be informative and crystal clear: what information you need to give in order to process the purchase and where you can enter them; which shipping method available and at what cost; which payment methods are applicable; etc.

Create a mobile-friendly layout

In the modern society, everybody's using smartphones and tablets. It's becoming more and more popular every minute. That's why building a layout that fits with mobile devices is of the most importance.

Shoppers are gradually moving their online shopping sessions from desktop/laptop to mobile devices as it is more convenient and you can do that when and where ever they want. Therefore, if you want these huge potential customers, you need to make your Joomla e-commerce website to be responsive.

Designing a webpage that is responsive from scratch can be frustrating and consuming a lot of your time and effort. And that’s where templates come into play. When choosing templates for your website, make sure that it is responsive to all mobile devices.

TRY JSN TEMPLATES FOR FREE NOW

To sum up

The process of designing a great, yet functional and unique website can consume a lot of your effort. But with these few tips, I guarantee that you will be struggle-free when designing an amazing website that converts.

What do you think of these tips? If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I will be more than happy to help.

TOP 5 JOOMLA E-COMMERCE TEMPLATES IN 2021

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 10:11:53 +0700

I believe it goes without saying that having a professional and well designed website is overably essential, especially for an online business. Your online presence can make or break your business. And, the real question is, is it enough to have any website design or you need more than that?

In my opinion, an ideal Joomla e-commerce website should have:

A stunning and up-to-date design to display the store exquisitely and showing its own personality;
Maximum integration with the Shopping Cart Extension for better product sale;
Including all necessary pages/features of an e-commerce, allowing the business to run smoothly;
Fully compatible with Joomla 3.x for better user experience;
Giving the best quality at a given price.

Choosing a template that satisfies all the above mentioned requirements and is suitable with your business idea can be a tough task to handle. And I know that I cannot do this task for you. But to cut down the time and effort researching, I have gathered some of the best Joomla e-commerce templates in my opinion for your preferences.

And say no more, below are the list of top 5 Joomla e-commerce templates:

1. JSN Kitchen - JoomlaShine

JSN Kitchen is one of the latest Joomla e-commerce templates that was released at the end of 2020 and has just been updated on January 19, 2021 to be fully compatible with the latest version of 3rd party extensions.

JSN Kitchen is inspired by the home accessories store. But don’t let the name fool you, the template is suitable for any kind of online stores, from appliances to furniture, from food to spirits, from fashion to accessories or any e-commerce items that you have in mind.

Being perfectly responsive and integrated with J2Store, with a touch of stylish, modern yet soft and sophisticated design, JSN Kitchen by JoomlaShine will definitely "shine" your online store to success.

Exclusive features

Modern, fashionable and responsive design
SEO friendly
Fast and easy site development
Including Quickstart Package and Documentation
Fully integrated with J2Store
Multiple niches

Personal thought

JSN Kitchen brings a warm and friendly feeling with unique fonts and layout. Additionally, it includes multiple built-in Joomla extensions such as JSN PageBuilder 4, JSN PowerAdmin, JSN PageBuilder, JSN ImageShow, JSN Uniform. A perfect Joomla e-commerce template for small/medium businesses.

TRY JSN KITCHEN DEMO NOW

2. Podcast - JoomShaper

Podcast is an e-commerce template created by the JoomShaper team that was released in December 2020. It is created with a design that is suitable to promote your podcast shows or radio networks. What makes Podcast standing out from other templates is that it supports both audio and video formats. With modern and straightforward design, Podcast is a great template for comedians, storytellers, influencers or celebrities, etc.

Exclusive features

4 different home variations
A smart online presence
Richly designed podcast detail page
Multiple niches
Fully integrated with J2Store
Including Quickstart Package and Documentation

Personal thought

Podcast brings a modern and positive vibe. With the support of SP Page Builder and Helix Ultimate, it can be a great tool to carry your personality into your Joomla website.

3. JSN Bookstore - JoomlaShine

JSN BookStore is specially designed for an online bookshop. With sleek, flexible and well-organized design, this Joomla e-commerce template is the best solution to create a showcase. Though it is designed for a bookstore or for novelists, it can be used to exhibit arts or any other items that you have in mind.

Exclusive features

Flexible and well-organized design
Fully support for J2Store and HikaShop
Filterable Product Lists & Detail pages
Powered by JSN Extensions
Multiple niches

Personal thought

JSN Bookstore has a very neat design, a complete package to build an online business, reducing the need of customization. Furthermore, it has very diverse functionality where you can use it with both J2Store and HikaShop shopping cart extensions smoothly.

TRY JSN BOOKSTORE DEMO NOW

4. JA Shoestore - Joomlart

JA Shoe Store is a dedicated Joomla e-commerce template for multiple shop types: Shoe stores, Fashion, Clothing,...; the ultimate solution for your local brand. The template includes all of the pages that an e-commerce store required.

The e-commerce template is built with a robust T3 framework, integrates Bootstrap 3 and is fully responsive.

Exclusive features

Support all Joomla default pages
Fully responsive design
Fully support for Virtuemart
Support right to left language layout

Personal thought

JA Shoe Store is a perfect template that is designed for small, local brand clothing/ shoe stores. With straightforward, old-school with little modern touch, this template is the ultimate solution for youngsters who are planning to have their own online business.

5. JD Fitness - JoomDev

JD Fitness is a premium responsive and SEO optimized Gym/Fitness Joomla e-commerce template created by JoomDev. With the inbuilt HikaShop extension, it allows you to have a full fledged e-commerce shop in your website.

Exclusive features

Fully Responsive Design
Clean & Lightweight Code
Fully support for HikaShop extension
Multiple Header Variations
Fully Customizable

Personal thought

JoomDev team has done a great job in designing the template to be fully compatible with HikaShop. Everything connects perfectly with each other, bringing a satisfactory feeling when using the template.

Conclusion

And there you have it, the Top 5 Joomla e-commerce templates in 2021 as far as I can think of. Give them a try and see which one suits you the most, I am sure that it won’t waste your time.

If you disagree with my list and have something else in mind, let me know in the comments section below.

How to register your Joomla website with Google Search Console

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 11:17:25 +0700

Recently, I have seen many people in our Joomla community, asking questions about Google Search Console (GSC) and how to register their site with the tool.

I, myself have some experience with the process when registering our own JoomlaShine website with GSC. And in this article, I’m gonna show you the steps and some tips that I have gathered during the process.

Let’s see what I got for you guys!

What is Google Search Console?

Previously known as Google Webmaster Tool or Google Webmaster Central until 2015, Google Search Console is a free service that provides different types of resources and information serving the needs of website owners, webmasters, marketers and SEO professionals to monitor and analyze the performance of their websites in the Google search engine.

You don't have to sign up for Google Search Console to be included in Google Search results but the tool helps you to understand and improve how Google looks at your Joomla website.

Why does every Joomla website need Google Search Console?

Google Search Console lets you learn a great deal of information about your website and the users who visit it. The tool helps you:

To track the search ranking
To track how many people are visiting your website and how they find it
To find out which search phrases are driving the most traffic to your website
To find out which pages are the most popular among visitors
To add sitemap
To find and fix website errors
And many more

Beside a wide range of functions that Google Search Console offers for you and your online business, it also notices you when new errors occur through mail notifications. These notifications are the early awareness, notifying you to fix the issues.

These above mentioned functionalities are the reason why every Joomla website needs it and, entrepreneurs and marketers need to learn how to use it!

Adding your Joomla website to Google Search Console

Step 1

The first thing you need to do is to create an account on Google Search Console official website. After typing the website's address into the address bar and press enter, you will find the "Start Now" button. Click on it.

Step 2

Next, you need to log in through your Gmail account. Once you have successfully logged in, you need to add your property. Within the Google Search Console homepage, click on the main menu icon and "add a new property".

Step 3

After clicking on the "add a new property" button, a pop up will appear to select the property type. Here you can add the website you want to use Google Search Console with.

There are 2 options you can choose from:

Option 1: Domain

If you choose this option, the only thing you need to add is your domain. This means adding without "www" or any subdomains. Choosing this option will allow you to track everything that is related to the domain you submit.

Option 2: URL prefix

This is the "older" option where you have to add the right URL. This means that you have to add the URL with "https" and with or without "www". It's crucially important to insert the correct URL in order for Google Search Console to collect the right data.

Note: Keep in mind that Google considers HTTP and HTTPs are 2 different protocols and websites with and without “www” are 2 different websites.

Step 4

After adding your website, you need to verify that you are the rightful owner of it.

With the domain option, the system only allows a DNS verification, while using URL prefix allows you to verify in different methods.

If you want to learn more about the differences between the 2 options, have a go with Google documentation on adding a new property and verifying your site ownership.

There are 5 different ways you can verify your Joomla website:

Using HTML Verification File

With this method, you need to upload a HTML file to the root directory of your Joomla website.

However, the downside is that you are required to have access to your server to upload the file.

Using HTML Tag

With the HTML Tag, you need to add the meta tag provided by Google Search Console to your Joomla site's homepage.

The Tag should be placed in the section, before the first section.

Using DNS TXT record

This method allows you to add a TXT record at your DNS provider side instead of your own Joomla website. And this method will come in handy, especially for a "performance fanatic", since there will be no coding involved in your Joomla website.

To get the TXT record, go to the "Domain name Provider" section and select your domain provider.

Afterward, you should be able to find a specific instruction from your domain provider to add the TXT record into the DNS configuration.

Using Google Analytics

If you already have a Google Analytics tracking code installed at your Joomla website, then you can simply go to the Alternate methods tab and select Google Analytics button to verify.

If your Joomla website hasn’t installed Google Analytics tracking code, then check out this article with a step-by-step guide to install Google Analytics.

Using Google Tag Manager

Similar to Google Analytics method, if you are already using Google Tag manager, you can verify your Joomla website with a single click.

So … which method you should choose?

In my opinion, whether or not you already have Google Analytics installed into your Joomla website, adding your site to Google Search Console using Google Analytics method seems to be the best option. As Google Analytics is also a very important and useful tool that you don’t want to miss out if you want to run a successful website.

Just a quick reminder, Google will regularly check your Joomla site’s verification. Therefore, no matter what method you use, it is essential to leave it in place after finishing the verification process.

What do you think of this article? If you have any questions regarding the verification process, please leave a comment under this post and we will try our best to support you.

Check out other articles:

How to drive more traffic to your Joomla e-commerce website and boost conversion

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:11:59 +0700

So ... after spending a good amount of time designing and creating your own Joomla e-commerce website, you believe it will bring a unique aspect to your potential customers and the community. But then a block suddenly slap you in the face and you realise, what’s next? How can you bring visitors to come to see your website and check out your products?

The truth is, after finishing putting together your online business, it's only half of the work done. The second half can be as much frustrating and also takes a substantial amount of time as the first half. And that’s the work of driving traffic to your website.

Most new entrepreneurs and marketers suffer at first where they don't have enough experience and knowledge to best perform the technique to drive website traffic.

That's where this blog comes in. You will find different ways and tips to help promote your websites to drive traffic and boost conversion in just a few seconds. And the clock starts NOW!

The importance of Website Traffic

"Why is website traffic important to your Joomla e-commerce website?" - a question that many have asked when they start their own online store. If your online business fails to attract visitors, a greater chance that it will not be found in the Internet Universe.

Traffic can be considered as the blood running in your Joomla e-commerce website "vein" that keeps it alive. Despite the attractive design, rich and informative content or having an appealing user interface, the business won't generate any sales or reach any strategic goals without a steady traffic flow.

Many entrepreneurs make a mistake in the beginning where they focus too much on creating a prodigious, content rich website but forget to find ways to present their stunning store to the audiences. And this is a fatal mistake that slowly drowns their online business.

An experienced business owner will find balance between the two.

How to drive more traffic to your Joomla site and boost e-commerce sales

By searching through the Internet, you can find a great sum of different ways and tactics to drive traffic to your website. And entrepreneurs and digital marketers are constantly looking for unique ways to drive more traffic and increase sales for the Joomla e-commerce website.

Following this mind set, let discuss these 6 tips, some of which you might or might not have heard/practiced, but in our opinion, these are the most solid and easy ones to implement.

Understanding your current Website Traffic situation

The very first step before making any adjustments or improvements regarding website traffic is to know your current traffic statistic. And Google Analytics is a good tool that could help you with it.

You can check out this article which shows you the step-by-step guide on How you can connect your Joomla e-commerce website to Google Analytics.

Google Analytics (G.A) is the most popular and powerful analytics software that allows you to analyze in-depth detail regarding your website’s visitors. It provides important insights that can help you to form the success strategy of your business.

However, Google Analytics provides a wide range of information and reports, it’s gonna be hard to find the one that suits your business the most. During the time practicing with Google Analytics, we have gathered with 3 different ways you can manipulate the tool to improve your Joomla website traffic:

Improving traffic from sources that you're losing
Improving the quality of your traffic from AdWords campaign
Improving your traffic from search engines

You can check out this Google Analytics tutorial on how to improve your website traffic using G.A.

Optimizing your e-commerce site for search engine

There is a great chance that you have heard about this, probably more than enough, but I still put it in here for the soon-to-be or freshly new online business owner and the fact that, SEO is the ultimate factor that tremendously affects your Joomla e-commerce website’s traffic.

In case you miss it, Google has more than 200 ranking factors, this is an enormous amount of knowledge to comprehend if you want to SEO properly for your online business. Though, only 20% of those factors contribute to the overall ranking of your site. By sorting out these factors, you can improve your joomla site traffic by a whole sum.

I believe that this definitive guide to dominate Top #1 Google with your Joomla site will be valuable to you and your online business. It includes tips and actions you need to carry out in order to achieve high rankings in search engines.

Loading speed takes a crucial part in the process of driving traffic to your site

According to a kissmetric report, 47% of users expect your website to load in under two seconds and 57% of visitors will abandon your site if it takes 3 seconds or more to load.

Therefore, without further saying, you can see how important loading speed is to your website in order to drive more traffic and generate revenue.

There are different ways you can speed up your Joomla website such as:

Choosing the the right Web Hosting Provider
Enable Gzip Compression
Enable Caching System
Reducing redirect links
Optimizing images
Minimizing the use of blocking JavaScript/ Render-blocking CSS
And the list goes on.

If loading speed is your priority concern, check out these 8 tips to speed up your Joomla 3.x website.

A well-planned content marketing strategy will go a long way

Content marketing answers your audience's questions. It helps you to gain trust from your audience, boost conversion rates, generate leads … With consistent and high quality content, it affects the decision-making of your customers more than any other technique. And before making any content, there will be a process carrying out the strategy. Below are the steps to create a suitable content strategy for your business:

Identifying your target audience
Looking for trends in the industry
Setting up your marketing goals
Researching keywords
Generating informative and useful content and remember that, consistency matters

There are different extensions that you can choose from for better blogging on your Joomla e-commerce website. Check out our opinion on the 8 best extensions for Joomla blog website.

Social media and email marketing

In the vast world of Internet and online networking, social media and email marketing take a crucial part attracting traffic to your website.

It offers free exposure, brand recognition, lead generation and so on. With good practice and time to master the platform, social media and email marketing can be the fastest and most effective way to drive website traffic.

Always consider building your Joomla e-commerce website to be mobile responsive

Nowaday, everybody owns and uses smartphones and tablets. It is becoming more and more popular every minute. And this also affects the number of traffic coming to your website since as a result, more and more users will surf the Internet through their mobile devices.

Using a responsive design template will help you sort out this problem. It will help you save time and effort when creating your website as it will support you to adapt different screen-sizes and devices.

With our collection of over 70 Joomla templates, all are fully responsive, I'm sure that you will find a solution that suits your needs.

TRY FREE JSN TEMPLATES NOW

Final words

And those are the tips that I can share with you to help you drive more traffic to your online business. At first it seems to be a lot of work and hard to follow. But when you get a hang of it, I'm sure that you will enjoy every single minute practicing it and seeing your website traffic grow.

Check out other articles on Joomla e-commerce:

Joomla 4! Web Authentication (WebAuthn) support: Make Joomla login, faster, more secure and easy

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 16:48:15 +0700

Joomla 4, an ultimate version that has been expected by the Joomla community for quite a while now, has introduced numbers of exciting new features. Now, these features can be very visible to the eye such as new ways to build, different functions, etc. And one of the aspects that attracts lots of attention from the public is the security that Joomla 4 offers.

On December 20, 2020, Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos, one of many that contributed the code to support the new security feature of Joomla 4 had published an article on Joomla! Community Magazine talking about this new feature. These few lines below are a summary of the keys aspect in Nicholas’s article.

Let’s dive in!

The forever-problem of insecurity password leads to a site hacked

It is commonly mistaken that only high value websites are at risk of being hacked. Truthfully, high value websites have higher potential of being hacked, though it doesn’t mean that smaller websites won’t be targeted. Hacked sites can then be used to send spams or phishing emails, host malware or become unwitting accomplices to their crimes as part of a botnet.

And the most common reason behind the compromise of the websites is very simple: using insecure passwords or reusing passwords, that got discovered by an automatic attack tool.

In the effort of preventing site hacking, Joomla had upgraded the way it stores passwords in its database and using stronger hashing algorithms. Nonetheless, the arrival of cloud computing providers with the relatively cheap price they offer for GPU computing, creating an ideal computing power to crack passwords. This makes those efforts of preventing site hacking seem useless, at least to a certain extent.

Adding to the effort of bringing the highest level of security to the platform, Joomla added Two Factor Authentication (2FA) since version 3.2 to minimize the impact of bad passwords. Though, bringing 2FA into Joomla didn’t really solve the problem since 2FA has its own trouble. For examples:

It requires to enter another piece of information via another device or application
IF you reset/change/lost your phone, you will lock yourself out from your site unless some "database surgery" is carried out to regain the access

Introducing WebAuthn

Web Authentication (WebAuthn) is a W3C standard. The basic mechanism of WebAuthn is based on the public key cryptography introduced in the 1970s.

Basically, two very long numbers which are mathematically entwined, called Public key and Private Key (together called a Key Pair) are generated by the browser. Then the Public Key is given to the server. When a user decides to login, the server will send a chunk of randomly generated data to the browser and remember it. The browser then uses Private Key to encode and send it back to the server to decrypt. It then checks that the decrypted data matches the one it remembered. If the decrypted data matches, you will be logged in.

WebAuthn is considered the closest thing to "unhackable" we can obtain with modern technology. Not only is it the replacement of passwords, it is also designed to fix the problem that normal passwords occur.

WebAuthn Requirements

WebAuthn is a new security feature included in Joomla 4. And in order to use this feature, you need to meet the following requirements:

System - WebAuthn Passwordless Login Plugin

This is the feature that implements WebAuthn in Joomla, which includes authenticator management and login. This plugin is enabled by default.

A valid HTTPS with certification

Your site must always and only be accessible through HTTPS. You can do that by going to your Global Configuration and set Force HTTPS to Entire Site.

Note: WebAuthn only works on your live site, it will NOT work on your local folder or on a temporary URL.

Browsers and Platforms that support WebAuthn

Currently, WebAuthn is supported in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari web browsers, as well as Window 10 and Android platforms.

You can get a closer look at the adoption status for various platforms here.

An authenticator

Typically there are two types of authentication you should be using:

Embedded authenticators:
If you are using devices that run Window 10 version 1903 or later, Android Pie or Later, macOS Big Sur or later, or IOS/iPadOS 14 or later that has biometric authentication (using fingerprint, face scanning, etc.) you can use the device itself as a WebAuthn authenticator.
Secure hardware dongles:
You can use any hardware dongles that support FIDO or FIDO 2. This is an option for older and cheaper devices.

Note: The hardware dongles usually cost between 10 and 30 euros.

A small reminder

It is experienced that WebAuthn key pairs are tied to the exact domain name of your site. It means that "www.joomlashine.com" and "joomlashine.com" in the "eyes" of WebAuthn are considered 2 different sites.

Therefore, it is recommended that you should set up a redirection from the non-www to the www domain name or vice versa.

WebAuthn authentication registration process

Before you can use WebAuthn to login to your website instead of using a password, first you need to register an authenticator. Below are the steps you can follow to register:

Step 1

Go to your website and log in. Afterward, you need to navigate to your Joomla user profile and edit it. There are 2 ways you can do this:

In the frontend there’s usually a profile link in the login module
In your site’s backend, click on the User Menu icon at the top right corner and click on Edit Account.

Both ways will lead you to a section/tab called "W3C Web Authentication (WebAuthn) Login".

Step 2

Click on Add New Authenticator button, select whichever option that suits your needs and follow the instructions displayed to activate the authenticator for your Joomla site.

On your mobile devices, the system might ask for further information if you want to use integrated fingerprint / TouchID / FaceID or a security key.

Step 3

After finish adding a new authentication, click Edit Name button to rename it and click on Save.

And that’s it to register for a WebAuthn Authenticator.

Logging in with a WebAuthn authenticator

Simply go to your backend login page and enter your login username. Then, instead of typing in your password, choose the Web Authentication button.

After completing the above action, the system will ask you to select and activate your authenticator to login.

Obtaining an authenticator

If you are using a device with a built-in authenticator, then you can use the device itself as an authenticator.

However, if you own a device that does not have a built-in authenticator, you will need an external secure hardware dongle. It is suggested by Nicholas that you use a Security Key NFC by Yubico.

Sharing Login information

One small downside of this security feature of Joomla 4 is that you cannot share your login information to third party developers or consultants, etc. The only way you can do this is by sending them a physical security key which is impractical.

The practice to solve this downside is divided into 2 steps. First step, you need to ask them to create an account on your site. When they’re done, you can change their account’s user groups to give them the access level needed to work on your site.

[Advance practice] Bringing your Joomla site’s security to the next level

Passwords are never unnecessary

Even though WebAuthn is a secure and advanced technique to apply to your account, an “old-fashion” account and password is still essential. The password will allow you to have full access to your website without going through WebAuthn. However this will be used as the last option, you won’t be using the password to login your site on a daily basis.

A good practice recommended by Nicholas is that you should use a password manager to set up a long and random password, with 32 to 64 characters to make it impossible to guess or even crack in.

A second layer of WebAuthn will come in handy

It is idealed to set up more than one WebAuthn authenticator, one with a cheap hardware token protected with a PIN. This will be your backup plan when all of your devices get reset and you don’t have access to your password manager when your long, random password is stored.

Final words

WebAuthn is a fast and advanced guardian of your Joomla website. It’s secure, it’s easy to use and it works the same on every site; a great feature to be seen in Joomla 4 version. Looking forward to testing out this feature by myself!

How to track your Joomla e-commerce website using Google Analytics

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:04:17 +0700

If you are a fresh online business entrepreneur, have you ever wondered how many visitors are coming to your website monthly? Or How many leads does your Joomla e-commerce website generate? Or Which product is the most popular among your customers? And if the answer to all of these questions is a simple "I don't know" answer, then chances are you're not measuring your e-commerce website performance OR you are not doing it right!

In this article, I will talk about why it is important to keep track of your Joomla e-commerce online store and which metrics you should put attention to help you understand better what your customers did on your online shopping site.

Why is it important to track your Joomla e-commerce site?

You need to invest a great amount of time and money to create your online store, then it goes without saying that you want a good return on your investment.

But how do you know what goes well and what's not?

Obviously, you'll know you’re doing a great job when your bank account keeps increasing. But what if it is not? Or you need more detailed information on what’s actually working and what isn't?

Therefore, tracking your online store performance takes a crucial role in measuring what is working well and what needs to be adjusted. If you haven’t been keeping track of your results, then you won't be able to identify the problems that your customers are experiencing on your site. It is a serious issue for your online business, and as a result, the Conversion Rate (CR) will go down.

Now, there are many tools out there that can help you with the matter. But the most popular one is Google Analytics (GA). If you do not yet know how to install GA on a Joomla website, this step-by-step guide will help you go through the process.

The importance of Google Analytics to your online shop

Yes! Having an appealing design will grab more attention from targeted customers. However, with the only effort of good design won't help your Joomla e-commerce website to be successful.

After launching your Joomla online store, don't let your guard down yet, the hard-work has just begun. You need to keep your audience engaged. Google Analytics provides you with informative information such as: how many visitors you get, the pages or products they look at, how long they stay on your site, etc.

This information is vital when evaluating your online business and deciding what to adjust.

Which metrics should be measured?

Google Analytics provides a wide range of information and this can be overwhelming at first with the numbers, charts, columns, etc.

However, it will get easier once you understand these numbers and their function. You don’t need to keep track of all metrics, just some basic. And once you have mastered the metrics, you can easily expand your data portfolio as you build up your analytic skills.

Below are basic metrics that you should consider when measuring the performance of your Joomla e-commerce website:

Average Acquisition Cost

I’m sure that when you are running an online business, there will be a point in time where you pay for web traffics through ads, social media, review sites, referrals, etc. However, not all of this paid traffic will convert to customers and sales growth. And this e-commerce performance metrics measures how much it costs to acquire a new customer.

Analyzing your acquisition channels so that you only spend money on quality traffic only and minimize your cost.

It is believed that less traffic with high conversion rate can be more profitable than huge traffics but minimum converts.

Therefore, make sure that you figure out the maximum cost spot and don't exceed it.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate probably is the most important metric for a Joomla e-commerce website.

The metric measures the number of visitors turning into customers. Marketers love to point to the total number of new visitors to show how effective the top-funnel traffic efforts are. But quantity does not always come hand-in-hand with quality. One of the issues that e-commerce entrepreneurs face is getting loads of traffic but very few or no sales at all.

There are many reasons behind this failure: due to untrustworthy design, no social proof, high price for mediocre products, payment options are not diversified, etc.

Analyzing your conversion rates to see how many users actually purchase something from you; and to determine which marketing channels are doing the job and what's not to make reasonable adjustments.

Goal conversion rate

This metric can be considered as an upgrade of the "conversion rate" metric. It will help you setting up specific goals and keeping track of those goals.

Do you want to make 100 sales a day? Do you want to know which keywords have the most conversions and by how many? Plot out the goals that matter the most to your business and add them here so you can better track and analyze them.

Even though it is going to take some work and analysis to get it up and running, it will be very valuable in the long run.

Landing Pages

In Google Analytics terminology, a landing page is a page where your visitors arrive first when they enter your site.

This metric will show you which sort of contents, products or information that draw the visitors' attention. Then you will get an idea of customers' behavior and make suitable adjustments to your products and website.

You can check out this article on how you can make a perfect Joomla landing page using JSN PageBuilder 4.

Search Terms Analytics

An on-site search toolbar is important since it is the fastest and easiest way to find the products or activities that your customers are most interested in.

By analyzing your Search Terms, you can improve the customers' experience by updating your contents to suit their preferences and allocate the popular products to boost sales.

Page Per Session

Page per session determines the number of pages that your visitors browsed through during the time on your Joomla e-commerce website. You can extract a lot of information from this number if you break down into channels or look into new customers to have a clearer insight on user behavior.

Comparing the actions of new visitors with existing ones who are already familiar with the navigation of your website can help you find a better way to display/design your layout for better user experience and increase its effectiveness.

Exit Pages

Improving your site's conversion rate begins with understanding where and why your visitors bounce. It is essential to analyze your exit pages to see where in the process of checking out that the customers give up or decide not to buy.

By measuring this metric, you can start optimizing or simplifying your checkout process.

Cart Abandonment Rate

On average, over 65% of shoppers will abandon their carts and leave a site without completing a purchase. Imagine someone walking in a store, choosing what they like, then deciding to leave it back and exit empty-handed. That's cart abandonment, except that it is much easier to do online.

Cart abandonment is a deadly serious problem for many e-commerce businesses. Though, despite the astounding statistics of this, and the matter that these visitors are just 1 step away from converting, online store owners tend to overlook the situation.

By measuring cart abandonment, you will understand the reason behind it and improve your customer journey while securing further sales for your e-commerce business.

I find this blog very helpful with 4 steps to track shopping cart abandonment in GA.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the basic metrics that you should use to measure your e-commerce website. There are a lot more tools and metrics that can bring valuable insights to you and your business.

Finding the ones that are most suitable for you to achieve your goals and bring your business to the next level.

And for the fresh entrepreneurs out there who are looking for opportunities to invest in e-commerce and online business, let's have a quick read through our series regarding Joomla e-commerce website so you can have an idea on how you can start your own online business and at what cost: