What’s the first thing you think of when you visit a website? What do you focus on? The chances are it won’t be the colours that have been used – but nonetheless they play a vital role in how you perceive that site.
Here are the basic factors that you need to take into consideration to make sure that your site doesn’t get neglected and lost in the sea of other sites:
Does your company use certain colours?
Some businesses make good use of colour to enhance their brand. For example, think about those companies that have some interest in green products and saving the environment. They traditionally use some element of green in their logo and website. This is the most obvious example, but there are others too. A business involved in selling toys to children may use the primary colours to indicate that particular marketplace. Pastel colours wouldn’t work as well in this case.
What's the kind of site that you’re building?
A lot depends on the type of site that you plan to build. If it’s a site for your home-based business, you can be liberal with colour combinations. If it’s for a big corporate house, the preferred colours could be Blue, White, and Green. So, see the kind of site that you plan to build up and choose the colours accordingly.
Who’s your audience?
Think on ‘who’ll be visiting your site?’ and choose colours accordingly. Younger users prefer colours like Red and Orange (and other vibrant colour schemes). Do some research on this and only then pick colours or a particular colour scheme.
Web designs by Orriss Design
As you can see, colour actually has far more importance in the grand scheme of things than you may think. Get it right and visitors will stay longer. Get it wrong and people will flee.
Don't just pick your favourite colours.
Some people will pick colours for their website on the premise that they are their favourites. But the colours should be chosen for the effect they have on the customer, not how much the website owner likes them. Some won’t have thought about colours at all, which is why hiring someone experienced in website design is often a good move.
Certain colours stand out more than others as well. Red is a classic example. A website for a fire station may well use red to grab people’s attention, as well as tying in with the fire theme. But red can also mean danger to a lot of people, so it is important not to put people off. It could be a case of experimenting with using different colours, to see which ones get the best results. And it has been known that changing the colour of an order button can influence the number of orders a website gets.
Mark Orriss - Owner and Art Director, Orriss Design
And don’t be afraid to approach a website designer to find out what they know about colour and the effect it has on marketing. They may be able to give you more advice and knowledge in a short conversation than you would get from weeks of research on your own.
Be aware that the perception people have about a particular colour can change depending on what country they are in too. That is a good point to consider if you have a market that is global, compared to one that is countrywide. But regardless of that, colour can certainly hold the key to more sales.
No matter how much confidence you have in your abilities, it pays when you’ve a professional web designer by your side.
Last but not the least; keep the above-mentioned factors in mind when finalising a colour scheme for your site so that your site looks eye-ball friendly and visitors stay longer.
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