With over 17 years experience building and looking after websites for a living, I have a fair idea of what does and doesn't work when it comes to templates, web hosting, plugins, extensions and online tools.
I only list resources and tools here that I use and find useful myself or that come highly recommended from industry experts that I trust.
You should always do your own research as your particular requirements may vary.
Also see https://webhostingdownunder.com.au for advice about choosing a suitable web hosting provider and which web hosting providers to avoid.
Affiliate Disclosure
Some of the links on this website are affiliate links so I receive a small commission when you use the link to make a purchase. In some cases, you may also receive a discount. This helps me to cover the cost of domain registration and web hosting and to continue providing free advice and resources on the website.
Akeeba Backup is the industry standard backup solution for Joomla and is probably the most important addition to a standard Joomla install. It is also now available for WordPress.
Akeeba Backup backs up the database and all the files in your web space into one compressed file. It is easy to restore the backup to your local machine or elsewhere by copying the backup file and Akeeba KickStart (another utility supplied by Akeeba) to your web space.
Paying a subscription is recommended as this entitles you to log support requests with the the developer and ensures he has an income to continue developing and supporting this excellent and essential extension.
Rating:
Akeeba Website
DreamIT Host is an excellent value web hosting provider in Australia.
Shared web hosting plans start at under $100 and the value for money is excellent.
With NVMe disk storage, websites hosted by DreamIT Host load very quickly.
Like many of the better Australian web hosting providers, DreamIT Host will migrate your website for free.
DreamIT Host have server infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand and you can pay invoices in Australian dollars or New Zealand dollars.
Rating:
DreamIT Host Website (Affiliate Link)
Dropbox is one of the leading and best known cloud storage tools.
Dropbox works well for storing and sharing files including backups.
Files can be shared publicly or with selected people only.
Dropbox or similar solutions are often essential for clients to share media files with their web professionals when the files are too big to send via email.
Dropbox provides 2GB of cloud storage for free.
Rating:
Dropbox Website (Affiliate Link)
GTMetrix provides a free or paid website performance testing tool.
Find out how fast your website loads and what optimisation opportunities are recommended.
Tip: Create a free account so you can choose the location from where to run the test.
Rating:
GTMetrix Website
Helix Ultimate is one of the most popular template frameworks for good reason.
Even the free version of Helix Ultimate loads quickly and has an excellent feature set including provision for multiple Google Fonts, an optional body background image, optimisation of CSS and JS files, provision for adding code into the header area and a simple page builder.
The Helix Ultimate template uses Bootstrap 5 so Joomla 3 websites using this template are relatively straightforward to migrate to Joomla 4.
Helix Ultimate is my current default template choice.
Rating:
JoomShaper Website (Affiliate Link)
ICDSoft is a good quality, reasonably priced and privately owned web hosting company that started in 2001.
Support and performance are excellent and you have a choice of servers in the USA, Europe or Hong Kong.
Check their website for the latest promotions.
Tip: Australian website owners with a local and international audience should choose the Hong Kong server option.
Rating:
ICDSoft Website (Affiliate Link)
JoomDonation provides excellent quality Joomla Extensions including Membership Pro, Event Booking and EShop to name a few.
Support is excellent and their extensions are versatile, well maintained and constantly improving.
JoomDonation extensions have a wide range of payment plugins including many localised and regional solutions.
Rating:
JoomDonation Website
Pixelarity offer a range of stunning single page and multiple page responsive HTML5 templates suitable for a wide range of projects.
They are beautifully designed, expertly coded and load quickly.
A subscription gives unlimited access to all 91 (as at July 2022) templates including support and updates for just US$19 and is a great way to support the developer.
Rating:
Pixelarity Website (Affiliate Link)
Regular Labs have many of the most useful and most popular Joomla extensions such as Advanced Module Manager, Modules Anywhere, Sourcerer, Modals and many more.
Many Joomla website builders (including me) find Regular Labs extensions indispensable and include them in their standard builds.
Much is included in the free versions of the extensions with more advanced features available in the paid versions.
Rating:
Regular Labs Website
ROBTEC Hosting is a great value web hosting provider in Australia.
Shared web hosting plans start at under $100 with good value for money.
Like many of the better Australian web hosting providers, ROBTEC Hosting will migrate your website for free.
The service and support are both excellent.
ROBTEC Hosting offer a choice of DirectAdmin or cPanel. The DirectAdmin plans are slightly cheaper.
Rating:
ROBTEC Hosting Website (Affiliate Link)
Start Bootstrap offer a range of excellent free Bootstrap HTML5 templates suitable for a wide range of projects.
They are beautifully designed, expertly coded and load quickly.
Rating:
Start Bootstrap Website
UpTime Web Hosting is an excellent value web hosting provider in Australia.
Shared web hosting plans start at less than $50 per year and you won't find better value for money in Australia.
Like many of the better Australian web hosting providers, UpTime Web Hosting will migrate your website for free.
UpTime Web Hosting are based in Brisbane with their server infrastructure in Sydney.
Rating:
UpTime Web Hosting Website (Affiliate Link)
VentraIP is one of the best value domain registration and web hosting providers in Australia.
I recommend the "Starter" web hosting plan which is adequate for smaller businesses and organisations.
Like many of the better Australian domain registrars, VentraIP will transfer your Australian domain for free.
The service and support is consistently good.
Tip: New clients often receive a discount on their first invoice so check for any current promotions before signing up.
Rating:
VentraIP Website (Affiliate Link)
