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Choosing the Right Colors for Your Web Site

by Adriana Iordan

Do colors influence web site visitors?

Several years ago, having a web page (as a business or as an individual), was an indicator of prosperity, and required a certain amount of financial power. Nowadays, almost everybody has one. They are easy to create (thanks to instant web page generators), even if they are not always works of art.

The main problem resides primarily in choosing the right colors for the web site. It is not always easy to properly assort the background color with the text color. The readability of a page can be influenced negatively if the color contrast is badly chosen. The background of web pages is white by default, like a sheet of paper.

Colors for Web Site Visitors

Researchers agree that colors greatly influence the human psychic. Consequently, the color scheme that you use on your web site can entice the visitor to engage in the goal of your site (i.e. make a purchase or request your services) or leave it after the first few seconds. It is the human nature to yield to the concept according to which "the first impression counts".

Even if they are not aware of it, your visitors will be greatly influenced in their decision to keep browsing your site or to leave it because of the poor choosing of colors and other visual displayed elements. On a psychological level, they will respond to the stimuli offered by the web site.

When viewing a web page, people will get excited, happy or bored. All this depends on the color selection. You need to be aware of the audience to which you're addressing and make the right choices. Color is a great means of communications, and it is best to make sure that you are saying the right thing.

Here are a few tips that you should consider

Use a palette of colors found in nature. They are more pleasing than any of their artificial counterparts. Combine them in order to get the emotional response that you want to get from your visitors. Unnatural colors, such as bright greens, blues or reds usually cause eye fatigue and chase visitors (i.e. prospects) away.

Create a strong contrast between a page's background and its text. The best combination for readability is black text on white background, but there are other excellent combinations also. Besides white, other effective web site background, colors are dark blue, gray and black.

Avoid pairing blue and red, or blue and yellow. Green text on red background or red text on green / blue background are also choices that you shouldn't make, because such combinations usually cause eye fatigue.

Select up to five (some say seven) different colors and use them consistently throughout the web site.