Perfect for content management beginners!
April 25, 2019
Perfect for content management beginners!
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Joomla!
I've utilized Joomla to manage site content for a university, a startup company, and a nonprofit organization. The product was used mainly in one department at each company -- marketing. It addresses the fact that we needed to update our web content without having a developer on staff. It also helps that Joomla is free, especially when being utilized for non-profits and startup companies.
- Joomla's top strength is its simplicity. Even if everyone on your team is a beginner, they will be able to easily adapt to using Joomla. It mimics WordPress, but it's easier to use.
- Joomla is also great with helping beginners optimize their site for search engines. If your content does not already include keywords that your audience typically searches for, Joomla has a section where 'tags' can be added to a page so that potential visitors are more likely to find your site.
- Joomla is great at organizing content for a large website. Everything you publish can be listed by title in alphabetical order so you can search for different pieces of content easily.
- Joomla needs improvement when it comes to SEO features in comparison to other CMS's like WordPress. The features it currently has are great for beginners, but over time, users will realize that they need a more advanced system to continue to grow their site. I wouldn't choose Joomla if your team is already accustomed to using a CMS. It's only best for beginners or interns.
- The most difficult part of using Joomla, for me, is that there aren't many good web developers who specialize in Joomla. If you want to make big changes to your site that require a developer, it's much easier to find someone who's great at building WordPress sites.
- There are not as many plug-ins for Joomla as there are for WordPress so, if you need to add any special features to your site using Joomla, you will be limited.
- Joomla has been great when maintaining a budget for a startup or non-profit because it's free. It has its shortcomings, but it gets the job done at no cost.
- One negative issue I've had with Joomla was having a delay between the time I post something and the time it's live on the website. I've had some updates not show up for 24 hours. This can have a negative impact when sharing time-sensitive content like product launches.
I have selected Joomla when I needed an easy content management platform for a team of beginners. It's not as easy to customize or optimize like WordPress or Wix sites, but it's a great introduction until you are ready for the more advanced features offered by these alternative platforms. Wix is a close second for ease of use and WordPress trumps them all as far as features, but is not as simple to use.