In order to design a website, you need to do your homework before you start to work on building the design. Based in Belfast, Evofrog have been at the cutting edge of web design since 1998 and provide a personalised service for each project. Although each website is different, there are similar areas of work that each web designer needs to think about. It is a good idea to check the competition and target market to see what you client’s needs would be in the future. You need to determine your client’s expectations to provide exactly what they need.

Strategic Objectives

The website needs to have a clear purpose and strategy. Strategic objectives maybe to:

Most new websites made in Belfast are based around new brands, due to the high number of entrepreneurs and small businesses in Northern Ireland. Therefore, web design tends to focus heavily on brand development to raise awareness, increase leads / enquiries and increase visibility in specific target markets.

The latest web design trends should be researched. For example, some of most popular design trends for 2021 include:

Choosing a platform and the infrastructure for your website is the most important decision you will need to make. The platform, and how you build your infrastructure, will heavily impact on your design, features, build time, resources needed, security, support and cost. Make sure that your website is fast, reliable and secure.

Evofrog websites are always of a high standard built upon our premium web platform infrastructure. We only use the latest top-level technology and continually update and upgrade the platform.

If you do not already have a high quality logo that is a perfect representation of the company or organisation you are promoting, you will to create a logo first. The logo will determine a large part of the layout of the website.

Our team have designed some of the most widely recognised logos used in Belfast and beyond, which have been central to promoting clients’ brand development with various marketing strategies.

Website Layout

When designing the website layout, you need to know the type of features required for the website you are building.

Layouts are the core of the interface design, which will determine the feel of the brand, product or service that you are offering. The layout must match the style of the logo. Chose colours, font styles and images that go well with your logo.

Colour is important in branding. Different colours trigger different emotions. For example, green is a calming colour and relates to nature. When deciding what colour to use it is important to research its effects to see if it is appropriate for your brand.

The correct style needs to be implemented to keep your brand awareness on point and build customer trust.

The navigation function of your website needs to be clear and precise so users have a memorable visit and can easily find the correct content.

Content styling, white space and appropriate sectioning are important, because if implemented wrongly your visitors will leave your website.

Logo Design

Another thing to think about is the size and position of the logo. Most websites have the logo positioned at the top left because this is the first place most humans look when they first look at a page or website.

Most people will only spend a few seconds looking at a webpage before they decide what to do next.

Content that is well written and optimised for the internet, is normally at the top of search engine results. Make sure your website gets the attention it deserves by knowing your target audience.

Always proofread text before being published on your website. You will need to check for spelling as well as grammar. Any images uploaded should be optimised for the internet and all links should be tested. If you have any 3^rd party integrations, you will need to check to ensure functionally.

With the internet becoming increasing popular on mobile devices, you need to make sure your website is perfect on any device.

Website Monitoring

After a website is published and live, it should be monitored 24/7 using different types of monitoring services. For example, if a website goes offline, it should trigger an alarm to the correct team who manage support for your website infrastructure.

Another important aspect that you need to implement are regular usability checks and brand monitoring.

Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media are two of the best aids you can utilise to keep your website relevant and improve your market reach.

Speed and performance are key factors which improve user experience and makes sure your website will have the best chance ranking highly in search results for your type of content.

We are proud to be leading the way in making sure every website we design covers all bases. The above is only a general snippet of what you need to be thinking about to implement web design effectively. For example, our team based in our Belfast HQ carries out a thorough analysis of brand market reach and potential before any web design is planned, and all our websites are maintained on the best hosting infrastructure available.