Website Design and the Importance of Color

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

Website design for your jewelry business involves making a lot of fun and creative choices. Your site needs to influence customers to purchase and to return regularly. It also needs to express the essence of your jewelry business. Color is an extremely important factor in influencing customers' behavior and setting the mood of your site.

I came across this article about the use of color in website design. After you read it, visit some jewelry websites and see how their color choices make you feel. Then visit your own site and feel the color scheme you've used. Fascinating and thought-provoking stuff!

As Internet marketers it is imperative that we constantly look for ways to make a good impression on our viewers. Your business depends on it. We only have a short amount of time, before a decision on whether or not we are professionals will be made. We must make good use of this time.

The first instant we have at presenting ourselves to viewers is our web page. Which brings us to the importance of good website design and proper color choices. First impressions are very important. We must make the best of them because we are only allowed one.

Remember this is your store front, and you must treat it respectfully. While content, customer service, a niche in your market, and a high subscriber list, are crucial to your life on the internet. Good website design and proper color choices, are crucial as well. It is a good part of the reason why viewers bother to look over your content at all. Regardless of how incredible your content may be, you need to welcome them and make them feel at home, while they are there. Or they will leave.

Did know you can control the mood of your visitors by using certain color choices? This is a simple concept that is very often ignored. Why?

Human emotions are very often triggered by color. You need to know which colors trigger which emotions.

Color can make the difference between buying and selling. If used correctly. You need to choose the right color combinations for your site and product.

Everything we, buy, eat, wear, and all of the things that take up space where we live, work or play, all have colors. These colors provide a psychological and emotional response in everyone. These responses reflects who we are and the things that we think and feel.

Color is the first thing we notice and the last thing we forget. If used properly it can be a powerful tool. It is the doorway to our deepest thoughts and feelings, and desires. This is an issue worth discussing.

Which colors should you use?

Well, it is always best to keep your main content on a white background. This is easier on the eyes and will provide a sense of professionalism. The color white triggers emotions such as: purity, peace, and perfection.

While white is an important color, you will probably want to compliment your website design with other colors as well. After all, there is creativity in each and every one of us. There is huge color spectrum for us to choose from. Which colors are best!

Here are a few ideas to help you.

Red colors can stimulate warmth, hunger, and excitement. Cooler colors such as green and blues, enhance calm and content feelings. Dark colors make objects seem heavier, while light colors make them seem lighter.

Yellow may reflect a lack of worry, while black a troubled state. Of course not all colors mean the same things to all people. Yellow may sometimes mean cheap, Green may mean money or greed, black may mean elegance or death.

Color has become a science and it is a much needed factor in your website design. You will need to take great thought in choosing color as it will identify you, because once a color is owned it is associated with you and your company. I am sure you have noticed this with examples such as Coca Cola red, Tide orange, and John Deere Green. It is just as important to your identity as your logo. If a shape provides a symbol, be aware that color does the same.

Think carefully when choosing colors! Applying a certain color to your product is just plain logic.

For example: In stores colors identify, flavors, brands, and products: Green in a cleaner says pine - in a mouthwash says mint, blue very often means strong mint - icy cool. Clear means additive free. Red found in strawberries, cherries, and apples is very appealing. You would never choose gray for laundry detergent because you don't want gray clothes, you want brightly colored clothes. Blue, very unappetizing as the food on a dinner plate, is much more successful as the dinner plate itself.

Color it strongly affects mood. Grays and browns seem somber and often depressing. But they can take on a more cheerful attitude with compliments of red. No matter how you use them they suggest weight, or something heavy. This would provide your visitors with a feeling of stableness and strength. Emotions like this will help your visitors to associate your site with solidity and confidence. Other colors such as burgundy, oyster, beige, blues will also provide a feeling of solidity.

The list goes on and on.

Don't over look the issue of color with your business and your website design. Believe me it matters!

You see once we lived in a black and white world. TV was black, printed publications were predominantly black. All of that changed in the 60's and has created a chain reaction that holds true today. Color is the most important attention getter. As humans we bring our own tastes to the world. How do we choose which color to be identified with? What is the right color? Sometimes there is no right answer you just have to take your best shot. But the number one choice of Corporate America is still blue.

I hope you'll evaluate the use of color in your website design with a critical eye. Try experimenting with small changes and see how you like the effect of the new colors.

Then look at your website statistics and see how small color changes affect your site's traffic. Do customers linger or leave your pages faster? Do they stay to travel through more pages with the new colors of your website design?

Have fun applying color theory to your website design! :o)

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