The Significance of Color

I wonder if you knew that visitors to your website form an instant opinion? And they form it about you and your offer. This instant opinion is created subconsciously. It happens automatically within the visitors mind. It happens automatically. Your site visitors can’t help themselves. It matters not a jot how clever the text is on your page. You can have paid an expensive professional to produce your copy for you. The visitor need not read a single word, and yet they will form their instant opinion.

The quality of the images on your web page won’t make any difference. Their quality doesn’t affect in this instant opinion. You might think if you make an unrepeatable offer, that your visitor is bound to be swayed by that! I’m sorry, the instant opinion clicks in, and your brilliant offer lies unseen. This is because the instant opinion is made when your web page is displayed to your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. You may have already worked out that the answer is colors. When your web page appears to your visitor, the colors you’ve used go to work on the subconscious of your visitors.

The reason this happens is because we all react psychological and intuitively to colors. There isn’t anything we can do about this. Colors has an affect on each of us. This is one of the reasons why companies can invest millions in getting the colors exactly right for their products and marketing promotions. They invest this money as they know how the psychology of color works. In their business propositions, the big companies understand that the use of appropriate colors is a key element. And so it is in web design. The colors of your web pages also convey feelings and emotions to the subconscious mind of your visitors.

By the psychological power you could encourage your website visitors to leave your page the instant they see it. This can happen even if the copy on your website is compelling. The chances are that visitors who are put off by your colors are unlikely to read your copy anyway. But all is not lost. In the same way that colors can be a turn off, it is possible to create a positive feeling through the use of colors. This isn’t a new discovery. The psychological power of colors is well known in the offline marketing world. It’s been around with us for decades. It doesn’t make any difference whether you know about color power, your subconscious mind is affected.

What we need to do in our website design is to ensure the color combination on our web pages convey a positive feelings. Your choice with your color selections is to send a sense belonging, trust and warmth. Conversely, the feeling sent may be one of distrust, coolness and rejection. Here is a list of colors showing the types of feelings each will evoke:

RED
Love, strength, sense of power, energy, excitement, danger, leadership etc

ORANGE
Comfort, friendliness, confidence, courage, steadfastness, playfulness, cheerfulness etc

YELLOW
Curiosity, intelligence, brightness, amusement, caution, joy, organization etc

GREEN
Harmony, nature, healing, life, food, health, money etc

BLUE
Patience, love, peace, tranquility, trustworthiness, stability, acceptance etc

PURPLE
Wisdom, independence, nobility, ambition, dignity, luxury, royalty etc

BROWN
Earthiness, nature, durability, tribal, comfort, reliability, primitive etc

BLACK
Elegance, sophistication, health, dramatic, power, formality, style etc

WHITE
Goodness, easy, simplicity, cleanliness, purity, fresh, innocence etc

Finally, be aware that your website color scheme should reflect the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can’t, it will lose interest. And you will lose your visitor. You should spend time in determining what are the right colors for your web pages. Try and make sure your colors and message are in harmony. If you can achieve this, you will produce better results from your website. In summary, the difference between the right and wrong color scheme on your website can be the difference between profit and loss.