I found an article by Leva Duell on how to use colors in your website design.  Since many of my clients seem to make poor choices with color, I think it’s worthwhile to look at website colors as they pertain to Web Analytics.

How to Choose Colors for Your Web Site
Color can have a profound impact on your prospective buyers. The wrong colors can negatively impact your sales, while the right colors can trigger positive emotions motivating your visitors to buy from you.

Color can affect how we feel and influence what we think. In general, bright bold colors tend to stir us up, while the softer pastel colors calm and relax us. Responses to colors can vary by age, gender and cultural background.

Colors will affect how a potential buyer reacts to your web site. Carefully select your color scheme for your web site, web header, and ebook cover. Here are some guidelines to help you make good color choices. Bear in mind that these are guidelines, and that there are no hard and fast rules. Just use common sense. * Consider your audience. For example, if your web site primarily targets men, then you will want to use strong, bold colors. If your target audience is women, then choose soft, pastel colors. If your focus is on children, choose bright, vibrant colors.

* Choose colors that are appropriate for your web site’s topic. For example, green may work well for web sites about starting a home business, making money, and reducing debt.

* Keep the number of colors down to two or three, and no more. This does not include photographs which can have a whole range of colors.

* Make sure that all of the colors you use work well together and do not clash.

* Communicate your message with easy-to-read text. Use colors for your text that contrast with the background color so your text is readable. For example, a dark font on a light background is easy to read.

* Consider the mood you want to create. Remember that emotions trigger sales. People buy what they want - not what they need. The list below will show you how colors can affect us in different ways.

Red - Action, energy, strength, passion, fire, heat, power, attention-getting. Can also mean love and romance. A strong masculine color. Red is a good color for a call-to-action. Red is cheerfulness, excitement, and warmth. Pink is a soft version of red. It is most associated with romance, calming affect; a feminine color.

Blue - Confidence, travel, freedom, truth, professionalism, wealth and power. Also tranquility, dependable, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security. It is one of the most calming colors and is associated with the sky and the sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust. Blue has also been known to be an appetite suppressant, so it would not be good for cookbooks or recipes but you can consider it for diet books.

Green - Money, wealth, prosperity, calm, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness. Green symbolizes spring, renewal, and fertility.

Orange - Health and vitality, autumn, youthfulness, fire, steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy. Has been known to stimulate the appetite. Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn and the earth.

Yellow - Light, purity, understanding, caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring. Yellow often represents sunshine, warmth, light, energy and happiness.

Purple - Dignity, sophistication, creativity, spirituality and mystery. Deep purple is associated with royalty and richness, while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia.

Brown - Credibility, stability, the hearth, home, the earth, wood, comfort and strength. Brown can be used as a neutral or a warm color.

Black - Space, night, authority, dramatic, classy, committed, serious, power, elegance, and sophistication.

White - Purity, peace, perfection, fresh, easy, cleanliness, goodness, and spirituality. Worth noting here, white represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death and sorrow in Eastern cultures.

Grey - A conservative color, symbolizing security, maturity and reliability.

Take advantage of the impact color can have on your online sales and choose colors that will create positive responses.

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About the Author: Leva Duell - Boost your ebook sales with quality 3D ebook covers! FREE 34+ clipart and photo resources. Quality custom design of Web graphics http://www.QualityEbookCovers.com.

I tend to stay away from muddy colors, both in my paintings and on websites - but recently I had a client who redesigned their site and used all the "wrong" colors; they sold house plans but made the background of every page an orange - tan color that promoted introspection - they should have had a light blue color that promoted lightness and the willingness to consider their plans.

I find olive colors work well resturants - and Coffee Houses like StarBucks - but I would not put them on a commerce site.   Sometimes, I think people confuse the colors they like to wear and have around them as the same colors they should put up on their sites  - WRONG.

There are companies that have spent a lot of money researching what colors work the best to their business - you won’t find AOL using a TAN color anywhere - they stay with Blue and Blue Green for a reason.