Dress Your Website for Success: Choose the Right Colors

Have ever logged onto a website and immediately thought, "This is a nice website?" Whenever I come upon a great looking website, I have high expectations that my actual experience with the company itself will be a good one. There are a number of elements that go into making a great website. From the basics, such as using the right fonts and point size, to custom features like e-commerce with FedX or UPS delivery and social media integration.

While you may not be able to add much that your web developer doesn't already know in terms of your website's functionality, you should work closely with your designer when it comes to creating the look of your website. If you're going to build your own website, be sure to get lots of feedback from others using a blind test. In my last post, I talked about the importance of choosing the right color for your personal brand. And as you may have already guessed, color is also very important in creating a website that your potential customers will find appealing.

It can be tempting to take the position that "It's my business, I'm paying for the website, so I'll choose the colors that I like for my website". Big mistake. Your website is not for you, it's for both your potential and existing customers. Remember, research shows that people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.

Take several things into consideration when selecting the colors for your website such as the type of product or service that you offer. Are you selling high end fashion jewelry or cakes? What gender are you targeting? Will there be more men or more women, or about even? Does your market expect a company like yours to be more conservative or less conventional? Perhaps your company is a combination of things such as a high end bakery for the weight conscious? Take a long hard look at your company and your market, but careful not to use too many colors.

And don't work yourself up over this. Yes, researchers, color theorists and marketers all agree about the relationship between color and psychology, just remember, this isn't an exact science.

For lots more information on selecting the right colors for your website, read Special Report - Color Attracts: Increase Your Sales by Choosing the Right Colors by Connie Casparie. The 25-page report provides a step-by-step method for selecting the right colors, and includes a helpful chart matching types of businesses and color schemes.

What colors would be really hard for you to use or avoid on your website?

Memory Lane

In my last post, we looked at Street Team marketing. Later in the day, I started to think about one particular Street Team event that swept me into nostalgic bliss. It was probably 20 years ago. I was out on lunch, walking across the Daley Plaza in the heart of Chicago's loop. Across the plaza, I saw an familiar vehicle parked at the curb. I knew it well, eventhough I'd never seen it in person, and the last time that I even saw it on tv, I wasn't even a teenager yet.

I got so excited that I began to double-time it, making a beeline to this iconic symbol of fun and deliciousness. As I approached the vehicle, a perky young lady from the Street Team approached me and asked if I would like special gift? Was she kidding me? Could there really be a perfectly grilled Oscar Mayer wiener steaming inside a special compartment of the Weinermobile? "Sure" I eagerly responded. And she told me to step over to the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.

I wasn't the only one delighted to see the Weinermobile either. There were 50-60 other friendly folks who had gathered around, just as excited as I was to get close to the giant frank on wheels, and to get our prize. Funny thing, I don't think there was a child in the entire bunch, after all it was lunch time in Chicago's business district. No, this crowd was there to re-connect with a simpler time from long ago. I know this because several of us sang the popular Oscar Mayer wiener jingle without hesitation--not a care in the world.

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
That is what I truly want to be
'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
Everyone would be in love with me.


The Oscar Mayer Street Team members were real pros. They cajoled us, laughed and applauded us, extinguishing any vestige of embarassment that may have been lingering. Aa for the prize? It was even better than a smokey weiner on a bun. The Street Team members handed out official Oscar Mayer weiner whistles!

I blew a short note and quickly placed mine in my purse. I'd said it before, but this time I really meant it, "lunch time is just too short".