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?

Engage or Ignore? How Do You Respond To Street Team Marketers?

We've all encountered street team marketers. We see them at concerts, clubs, on the street or at the mall passing out samples, performing or simply chatting up potential customers. In my previous post, I shared my favorite encounter with a street team. Granted, they were promoting a well-established brand, Oscar Mayer, one that I'm fond of, so I was more than willing to give them my time. And they really turned up the cool factor by traveling in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Guerilla marketing, which includes the use of street teams has grown in acceptance as an important part of the marketing mix. In fact, for some companies the use of street teams has become a real tour de force of their marketing efforts. Red Bull should immediately come mind.

But what about you? How do you respond to street teams? Do you stop to hear what they're talking about or rush to pass them by? Let me know by posting a comment.