Web Color Schemes
What do they have to do with sales?
When it comes to the design of your website, a good deal of attention should be paid to choosing its color scheme.
One thing I've noticed is that if website visitors do not like the color scheme, you'll have to work much harder to get him or her to read on. The reaction is immediate; they may just click away at that point.
Colors Schemes and Personal or Commercial Websites
There is a huge difference between personal and commercial websites. With personal websites, you can do whatever you like. There, it's simply a matter of taste. Yours.
Business, especially e-commerce, is another world entirely.
There is general "think" about color association — blue is associated with serenity, red with impulse buying — and studies on this subject exist. However, without going into a dissertation on color and marketing, it is important to note that color causes an emotional reaction; that is, the color scheme you choose will have an effect on your website's visitors.
Not to mention that, the Web being an international communications medium, various countries have different color associations.
The bottom line is that you are trying to arrive at a color scheme that conveys what you're trying to say (and how you're trying to present yourself or your client) while seeming right to your website visitors.
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Color suitability for your business purposes
Here we enter into the matter of suitability for a particular subject or industry. Selling skateboards? Find out what skateboarders would find apt, exciting, compelling (sorry, that would be "cool").
But if you have a brokerage firm, the skateboard color scheme will probably not work too well for your website. Day-glo colors or purple-satin-sheet backgrounds will drive away potential customers expecting a more subtle, conservative, authoritative website.
That is, unless your website is an online trading firm marketing to those who would find the traditional blues and greens against white color scheme too conservative.
Knowing your target audience
The pertinent questions are:
- who is your target audience?
- how do you find out what they would find compelling and "right"?
And, of course, there are ways to find out. You just have to ask them. That's a matter for marketing surveys.
DianeV's Web Design Services
Diane Vigil founded DianeV Web Design Studio, has served as a consultant to numerous companies, as a moderator and administrator of the JimWorld SearchEngineForums and Cre8asiteforums, on the Site-Report Experts Panel — and has designed and built numerous websites since 1997.
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