The Use of Color in Your Website and Marketing

Color plays a big part in the minds of people, and have particular application as it pertains to evoking certain emotional responses we’d like to see happen, say for instance on our sales pages!

The potential to evoke responses based on the colors we choose for our marketing is a vastly underused tool. There is a lot of data to sift through, and a lot of choices to make regarding color for sites, logos, marketing materials and more.

The basics of color psychology

It starts with a surprising truism: the favorite color for both men and women is blue. That’s where the similarities end, however. A lot of the data means multiple things. For example, green can mean money, the environment, and calm to different people. Reds can mean stop, excitement and boldness, dependant upon whom you’re talking to. Brown could mean ruggedness, or suggest a warmth. Women love purple, men hate it. Are you beginning to see the issue here?

How to use this information to your benefit

So how best to take this information and apply it to our businesses? The first step is to realize that testing is mandatory, and that the colors you see work well on one site may not apply to yours.

• The starting point is knowing who your audience is. Is your audience mostly male, female, young or old? The colors are different, and speak different things to each set of people.
• Know which parts of your pages are the most significant. For example, any calls to action on your pages should stand out with a bolder, while at the same time complimentary, color.
• Think of the overall feeling you are trying to convey, and test accordingly. Color evokes mood, and you’ll want to consider this when determining exactly what you’re trying to say with color.
• Make your colors consistent, so as to keep your message consistant as well. Also, always keep any hyperlinks blue whenever possible, as this has been the link color since the Web began, and there is a case for familiarity.

Above all, take the time to test colors that work best for your unique audience, as it will be quite different, even from your competitors.