Joomla is a content management system software that is designed to manage and help you build and manage websites that you create. As the technology associated with this software progresses, Joomla has been becoming more and more popular; in fact, today there are millions of websites that are powered by the site. Joomla hosting is available and free for anyone to create a website, but there is also a plethora of add-on tools available to enhance your site. Let’s take a moment to explore some of the best tools that you can use to optimize your user engagement.
- Jom Social
Social Media is a great way to encourage user engagement on your site, so using a tool like Jom Social is perfect for most Joomla hosted sites. This add-on helps you to create a Facebook-like site that can be customized to your specific interests. You can create a cooking site or a biking site that can connect individuals with the same interests to one location where they can share their photos, videos, chat about exciting events and even plan for events in the future. This tool is great for getting a community of individuals with similar interests involved instead of wasting time on social media posts that do not jive with your users.
- Community Builder
There is more than one tool that can be used to build a community, and Community Builder is one of the most popular options that are available right now. It is a free social networking solution for Joomla users that can be tailored to accommodate the needs of the site and the users visiting it. Having a thriving online community can help you achieve the user engagement goals that you set, and this tool is one of the best ways to build secure sites where your users have their own space for social media feeds and the like. Community Builder has a hand in over eight million websites around the world.
- JChatSocial for Joomla
JChatSocial is a live chat and video extension that is available for sites that utilize Joomla hosting. It is a great interactive tool that encourages users to communicate with one another through a number of different methods. There are live chat options, video feeds, chat room, email alerts, and private messaging systems that can be used. The tool is extremely easy to use, and there is even a language translator to help you communicate with individuals located around the world. The chat system does not need to be hosted to operate, which means that engaging your users can cost even less.
- InviteX
This tool is designed to improve the amount of visitors that come to your site by sending out viral invitations to emails and other messaging platforms that invite individuals to come to your site to check out engaging and interesting content. The key to making these invitations work is to have them link to content on your site that is intriguing. Once you get individuals on the site, have them fill out a questionnaire with an email to help convert the users into return visitors. This will allow you to send invitations to certain events as well as reminders for events that they have shown interest in.
- JFB Connect
JFB Connect is a social media network integration tool that makes using social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ easier for users to navigate through. Once the user is registered on these social sites, all they need to do is visit your site to be able to log onto all of the platforms using one sign in. All of your profiles, your posts, your friends, and invites are all included in one streamlined look that can be customized by each user who utilizes this tool on your site.
- DPCalendar
Life can be busy, so incorporating a calendar-based tool into the methods you use to get more user engagement is a great idea. DPCalendar is an events calendar that integrates Google maps. Users can download events to Google calendar or Outlook, and they can also share events across social media platforms that they use. If you have an event that you wish to share, you can also use the calendar to create an event that is shared with your users across the most popular social media sites as well.
- Disqus
Disqus is a Joomla tool that is used to make commenting on and discussing comments a much easier process. This tool gives you the ability to monitor comments and quickly respond to them so that you can keep the user engaged while they are interested in the topic that is being discussed. With Disqus you will not have to worry about spam, because this tool will eliminate it quickly. Disqus is designed to increase the amount of comments you receive, which will effectively increase the user engagement in your community.
- Raid Planner
This next tool is a little more specific than the rest, but it will affect over ten million individuals around the world who engage in playing the popular game: World of Warcraft. Raid Planner is a place where members of the community can go to sign up for raids that are scheduled. Here you can easily view the roster of applicants for the raid, their current gear level, and the individual leading the raid can decide whether to accept them into the raid, decline their interest, or place them on a waiting list.
Joomla hosting is a great way to create an engaging website that has a large community of followers. There are so many tools available for this program that it is difficult to know what is available, but when you are looking to engage your audience more, it is important to find tools that can help you keep the content interesting and interactive for your users. Calendars, social streams, galleries, and chat functionalities are perfect for encouraging more user engagement on your site. Hopefully this guide has helped you find a few tools that will work for you.