Decide which Joomla Extensions you need for your website

Choose features for your site wisely.  Do not add something just because you can.  Does a reader who is buying widgets from your site really care what your temperature is that day?  Once you have determined the purpose of your website and the focus you want to take, start thinking like a visitor to your site.  Why would I want to come here?  Why would I come back?  If the content is always the same, what's the point? 

Here is a list of recommended types of features to add and why:

• Contact Us - post this so it is on every page, but give a page specifically set aside so they can email you conveniently.  No one trusts someone who hides how to find them.
• Do you blog?  No, blogging is not a sin, just misunderstood.  But give the reader a chance to respond to your opinion... or post a difference of opinion or agreement with your point of view.
• Search - an internal search engine is nice, especially if it is a site that is so big that is hard to find specific information.
• ECommerce - are you selling something?  Duuuhh!
• Email service - newsletter or RSS feeds.  Don't forget to add 3 magic words, "Free Downloads" (more on that later)

 There are certain extensions that I add to a new Joomla installation right away that make the design job easier and enhance the administrator's job easier.  But that will be a topic for the next phase of the website build process.

Here is a link to a website which did a poll to find out the most popular extensions for Joomla:  CLICK HERE