About What I Do…

I am searching for a person who is familiar with joomla/virtuemart and is informed on what is going on here…I mean someone who knows which components should we install to make the online shop better, any special settings we should make or anything else connected with better sales (SEF, JRE, …).

For example we have installed SH404sef but I do not have time to search for free instructions on how to set & optimaze it. I need payable advise…

I am searching for a person that could be a type of consultant on developing, improving and making the best settings on it…

Please let me know what experience you have and if perhaps your are interested to work with us.

Let me know the pricing info and if you are used to issue an invoice for your service (I hope it’s so).

Thank you for sending me this email.

I am a professional freelancer specializing in Joomla, and Virtuemart, plus the occassional WordPress site.

Yes, I help people figure out what Joomla components to install. With new components coming out all the time, sometimes the only way to tell what to install is to try them out. This happened just today with video.

Do we install Seyret, which I’ve used? Or, do we install the untried hwdVideoShare component (still in alpha, but I’m game!)? Or another one? The answer is to try “hwd” (which is just alpha) and use my experience with Seyret as a basis of comparison.

I’ll be micro-blogging about the components I use. I just installed the new MyBlog 2.0 for Joomla 1.5 earlier this week.

I have definite opinions about Joomla templates.

Having used JoomlArt.com, RocketTheme.com (where I have a “pro” membership), TemplatePlazza.com, and YooTheme.com, I can tell you that you are almost always better off starting with a commercial template. Is it because I’m a lazy s.o.b.? No, it is because commercial templates represent tremendous value for your money. There is so much capability built into today’s commercial templates that it’s hard to make a case to not start with one, even if I end up deleting most of the stuff between the tags.

I can tell you that the biggest mistake people make is not grasping what Joomla modules are. Without fail, when someone hands me a Dreamweaver template, it’s a crappy Joomla template! Why? There are no provisions for modules. Modules are the key!

I have definite opinions about which Joomla version to use.

The latest 1.5.x. Joomla 1.0 is dead. It is irresponsible of me to install fresh Joomla 1.0.x sites.

As much as is possible, use only native 1.5 extensions.

I have definite opinions about running email lists from Joomla. Do not do it. You will choke on your success when your expanding list is marked as spam by your host, who then close down your site without so much as a by-your-leave.

I suspect that once I actually install CB 1.2 with Joomla 1.5.x and VM 1.1.x on a real client site, I will proclaim that all Joomla sites install CB 1.2 right off the bat. CB 1.2 looks like the great integrator.

Virtuemart is where the Joomla ecommerce action is, and that’s where I’ve gravitated.

My work is concentrated on the checkout process, as you can see with my Shipping Bypass add-on.

I do a lot of VM fixes.

My most interesting VM task this summer was creating a custom product that bypasses the shipping methods, whose successful purchase launches a “post request” to a remote server. That was a first, having VM talk to another server.

How do you increase your Virtuemart sites’ sales? Making more money is the basis of my “JoomlaMart” concept. Every site is different, and there are no pat answers. Except one: blog! In some form, blog!

I am not an affiliate seller because it makes me a shill. I’m just me, and if I like something I’ll recommend it. If not, I won’t. I’m not tied to affiliate programs. One exception: I recommend HostGator, and I have HG affiliate link on my blog. But I never ask people to click on my link anyways, lest they think I’m just shilling.

I have a lot of experience with paid Joomla subscription sites. Way back, I used aMember. Then I switched to J!Content Subscription. I used JCS so much that programmed an add-on for it: PayPal Trial Codes.

I’ve not used the JCS version for Joomla 1.5 called JoomSuite Member. However, it is based on JCS and it is what I recommend. Community Builder has a intriguing subscription component but it is not in production.

-Bob