Greetings from the JamJo bunker!

A cold morning for us here. Decaf tea in hand, we trudge through the digital dirge to bring you some interesting tidbits about all things digital. In this case we are talking about what one can expect when hiring a web design company in Ireland.

Ok before we start, the Irish (that’s us too btw) and online use:

• 90% of the population has access to the internet
• Nearly 80% of internet users in Ireland access the web through their smartphones
• 60% of Irish consumers make online purchases regularly
• Everyone and the dog in the street are on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Google rules the roost and is the primary search engine in Ireland (90%)
• Businesses in Ireland are increasingly investing in digital marketing strategies, including SEO, content marketing, and social media advertising, to enhance their online visibility and reach a wider audience

Looking at those numbers, it’s quite clear to see that having a compelling online presence is, at the very least, an ongoing concern. Certainly it will be if you are a business owner aiming to thrive in a competitive landscape. Your website serves as the virtual storefront after-all, so you want those first impressions to be positive. You might toil away for a weekend with a website builder or hire your sister’s friend’s brother’s youngest cousin to build your website (and pay him in Jaffa Cakes) but the outcome will not be optimal! Instead it might be best to hire a professional web design company to tackle the project. (Yes, yes, we are biased as we are that very web design company in Ireland you are looking for! ;) Read on to discover what one might expect when looking to engage a digital agency to build your next website project in 2024.

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Too long, gimme links!!

Any good web design company in Ireland will talk about how mobile browsing dominates user behaviour. (See stats above) Web design agencies these days are prioritising mobile-first approaches. This means a responsive design. What is a responsive design I hear you ask? Responsive design basically means that your website should work both on a desktop, a mobile device such as your phone or a tablet. It means that the website designer will have to bake in flexible layouts and elements that can adapt to the screen size (and orientation, vertical or horizontal) of the user.

A nicely responsive website will work regardless of the device so keep that in mind. (One thing to note is that responsive design does not mean you have a different website on each device. It simply means the one design can elegantly conform to the edges of the screen in use)

TL;DR: Expect responsive design as a standard offering. This means your site works nicely on any screen. Don’t ask for this, demand it, as it’s pretty standard these days.

Indeed AI is all the buzz these days. Chatbots and Virtual Assistants are particularly useful. These AI-driven friendly bots offer assistance to users as they navigate your website. They can answer queries and guide navigation. They can even perform tasks! It’s one way to offer a more interactive and responsive website experience to your users for sure.

AI can also assist in making websites more accessible by generating alternative text for images, providing voice enabled navigation, or improving readability for users who might have disabilities.

TL;DR: It’s early days yet for AI in web design (one wonders will AI make web design a sort of obsolete craft in the future? Rest assured, we are not there just yet. Get the (preferably human) professionals to do the dirty work for now.

In 2024, a web design company in Ireland will be prioritising collaborative design approaches. This means that clients are involved in the creative process from the start. Expect to bring to the table your own insights and feedback throughout the project lifecycle. Expect clear communication, regular updates, and a partnership mentality that keeps you in the loop at all times across the project. It’s a co-vision type thing. So don’t let those stroppy designers egos off the hook.

Yes, yes the super serious stuff. But the very important stuff too! Cybersecurity concerns are always on the rise. How do web design companies combat this? They will be integrating robust security measures into their designs. Expect heightened focus on data privacy, encryption protocols, and secure hosting solutions. Visitor trust is key here and if your website gets hacked and defaced (more common than you might think) the repercussions to your brand can be damaging to say the least. Any web design company worth their salt will be compliant with evolving regulations too so keep that in mind.

TL;DR: Expect to have a decent discussion with your designers/developers about the cybersecurity being used for your new website.

A relatively new trend (but one that is growing) is an environmental consciousness to web design practices. Expect web design companies to explain how they might embrace eco-friendly design principles for your website. Expect optimising your website’s performance for reduced energy consumption and implementing sustainable hosting solutions, contributing to a greener digital footprint.

Here’s some examples:

Efficient Hosting
Choose a web hosting provider that utilises renewable energy sources (or are committed to reducing their carbon footprint).

Optimised Performance
Streamline your website’s performance by reducing unnecessary code, compressing images, and optimising files.

Minimalist Design
Less is more! Simplifying design elements, using whitespace effectively, and reducing unnecessary graphics can lead to a lighter website that requires fewer resources to load.

Energy-Efficient Technologies
Implement energy-efficient technologies such as lazy loading of images.

Sustainable Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
Opt for CDNs that focus on reducing energy usage and employ efficient data routing to deliver website content.

With all the fuss about design and building your website one might forget that a website lives and breathes for many years and requires some TLC to survive in the cold hinterlands of the web. Expect comprehensive post-launch support from reputable web design companies. This will include a service that provides for maintenance, updates, performance monitoring, and analytics tracking to ensure the website’s continued success and ability to evolve with different market trends.

TL;DR: Yay my website is launched! Don’t pop the champagne cork yet friends. A website is like a car. It might look new and shiny but unless you get into it and drive it down the road, it will never be seen by any of your jealous neighbours!

In 2024, hiring a web design company in Ireland promises a blend of technological innovation, user-centric design, and ethical considerations. The landscape is always changing, and businesses seeking to establish a great online presence can expect web design agencies to deliver immersive, accessible, and secure websites that will resonate with their target audience.

Partnering with a forward-thinking web design company sets the stage for this success. So in closing, what does one expect from a web design company in Ireland?; kind, courteous, thoughtful consideration from creative and technically brained digital wizards. Is that too much to ask?

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Wow, if you got this far, either you’re a bot or you actually read some of the post. Thanks! You might also be interested in hiring JamJo for your next digital project. Contact us here (unless you’re a bot. In that case, be gone bot!)