First, domain hosted email is email hosted at your own domain name as opposed to that of your ISP (internet service provider), eg. joe@bigpond.com or at a public server such as mary@hotmail.com.  If you register the domain name, www.joeslawnmowing.com.au, for example, you can then have sales@joeslawnmowing.com.au or info@ or whatever.

You may not need it but in many cases it will improve the perception of your business.  Also, if you have ISP hosted email, if you ever chose to leave your provider, then you can't take your email address with you.  So long as you own your domain name, you can have domain hosted email.  sales@joeslawnmowing.com.au just seems more professional than joeslawnmowing@gmail.com, doesn't it?

Contact us to discuss an email-only hosting package or get trained on how to setup your own account.

Yes!  Already knowing HTML and CSS is a huge advantage and can save hour$ in tuition time.  Also, you will be able easily transition into Joomla template design - generally the most difficult component in Joomla tutorials.  Some of my clients want to understand more about cPanel and website hosting and don't, necessarily, want to learn Joomla.  That, too, is perfectly fine.  I offer all levels of training. 

I had to ask that question for you because many Joomla web designers think it but won't ask it.  The short answer is yes you can.  I have trained many website owners at the request of the original website provider.  I work on a referral basis and completely respect your relationship with your client.  I do not offer any services outside of the scope of your agreements with your client.

Some web designers feel that once their client knows how to operate Joomla, they will lose an income stream.  This is not the case.  Their customers relieve them of nuisance value requests and appreciate the work and value of the service their designer provides.  

So long as you migrate your existing text and images over to the new site, you will save hours in design time.  If you're migrating from a non-Joomla website, it will typically cost you more but you will get a very fast return on your investment in terms of how efficient your new site will be to implement and maintain - especially if you learn how to self-manage. 

Because I'm such a Joomla fan and I have a vested interest in promoting Joomla, it's best to refer this question to an independent website. See http://www.goodwebpractices.com/other/wordpress-vs-joomla-vs-drupal.html.  The other consideration is whether you can find good backup and support.  I have trained a number of people on Joomla that originally preferred Wordpress simply because they had me as a personal backup and training service.  They are all good products and would not have the high user-numbers if they weren't.

It means that the programming code, the language that the program was written is, is freely available for software developers to use, modify and re-distribute.  It does not, necessarily, mean it's free.  Free doesn't mean bad nor does commercial mean good.  There are a lot of free Joomla extensions that are great and there are also some commercial extensions I wouldn't touch.  As you learn more about Joomla and other content managed software, you will experiment with some very useful and value-adding extensions.  What's good for you might not be to others.

This is probably one of the most hotly discussed and debated topics in all of website development.  In brief, it relates to how well your website performs in search engine ranking, i.e., Google page one, number one.  I will not attempt to conver the "how-to's" in this FAQ nor advise you on how to proceed other than to say DO YOUR RESEARCH and don't start writing out cheques to companies promising to deliver you a service.  Nowadays, everybody seems to be an expert.  If they were all right, they'd all be on Google's first page!

The other comment I would make is that if your business plan is based upon being found on Google, you should have a good backup plan.  Just Google the word "free".  At the time of writing, there were 15,850,000,000 (almost 16 BILLION) page returns.  You're a small needle in a large haystack.  I provide websites and still argue strongly in favour of conventional advertising media such as print, TV, radio, telephone directories, etc.  Having a website doesn't mean you no longer have to advertise your business.  You just need to learn how to target and balance your advertising budget.

eCommerce or online shopping is neither a license to print money nor is it easy.  In some ways, it's actually harder than conventional retailing.  It involves doing the same research and execution any other wholesale/retail outlet requires in order to succeed.  Fulfilment, the logistics of delivering an online product, can be a business on its own. Do you charge for shipping on top of the product or inclusive?  What is your return policy?  Do you have a secure (SSL) website to transact?  Of utmost importance, will your website be found on the internet?  I offer remote and on-site consultations as well as providing eCommerce websites but unlike most web designers, I conduct a marketing analysis before I will take on the project.  I would rather have a few happy customers than a lot of unhappy, disillusioned ones.  Online shopping is the future but it requires good management not good luck.  You don't buy success, you achieve it.