"Oh, my eyes, my eyes! What an eye sore. Quick, click away! Click away!"
Suddenly I wake up in a cold sweat. What happened. Oh, then I realize: it was just a nightmare.
O.k., I'm not crazy, and no I haven't had this dream before. But think about this: what would you do if you came to a site littered with either tons of different colors, loud pinks, purples, greens and reds mixed incoherently, or more animations and graphics than the rods and cones of your inner eye can possibly absorb? If your like me I simply go "click, bye-bye".
Our visual stimulus is ever more so important on the web than almost anywhere else. Most definitely the internet is about information. But, that information is shown graphically. So, if you want to keep people at your site, first appeal to their visual stimulus.
There are a few guidelines that you should adhere to when designing your site, following known research results on colors that elicit certain psychological responses people. The bottom line is that it is hard enough to market on the internet today, why make it harder by bugging your visitors.
(1) Colors and Their Effect: I prefer blue and white. In general blue seems to elicit a sense of trust and white a sense of purity. Gold, on the other hand is the color of wealth and prosperity, something we are all working towards. So, with respect to general internet marketing, these colors tend to work the best. They are easy on the eyes and don't strike up a sense of danger, such as with the color red. Of course, the colors also depend on purpose of your site. If selling baby items, pink, which represents femininity, and baby blue, representing weakness may work quite well. It depends in part on site content. A high tech site selling electronic components may do better with greys, silvers, and black.
(2) Animations and Banners: Animations are nice, but can take time to load and be distracting. Use them to focus the attention of a visitor. Place them at a single page location, at the center or all at the left side for instance. If you use more than one and they are scattered all over the page, where can you expect your eyes to focus. Yep, you heard right - click, bye, bye.
Banners can also give you problems if there are two many and not well organized. Pay attention to the color design to ensure that it matches your site. Remember, no eye sores here. Overall, banner are known not to have the highest clickthrough rates.
(3) Flash Media: Flash media animations are steadily gaining popularity and many sites are tailoring their start-up page to include large flash animations. Beware. In online home businesses, your primary purpose is content. Only fit in flash where it is strictly meant to guide the visual stimulus to a part of your site. I know, I know, it does look cool. But cool doesn't and never will build sales out of potential prospects.
A few further resources that are of particular interest here are
(1) http://www.internet-marketing-research.net,
(2) http://www.internet-marketing-research.net,
(3) http://www.internet-marketing-research.net.
As a good rule of thumb, if it hurts your eyes, it probably hurts others as well. Keep it simple, professional, easy to look at with color used just in the right place to highlight your content. Content is what will build your home based business. Elicit a visual response from your visitors to drive them to your content.
About The Author
Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of http://www.internet-marketing-research.net, a site devoted to providing resources for small budget home businesses. He has a PhD in Physics, two daughters and two cats. Subscribe to his free E-Zine on home business resources at http://www.internet-marketing-research.net or by visiting his Home Based Business site.
http://www.internet-marketing-research.net
shuttle to Midway Beardstown .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareDoes your website make a good first impression? Is the... Read More
In retailing there is a saying that sales are made... Read More
All websites have a homepage. It is the most important... Read More
Colors are powerful, and create strong feelings. They can also... Read More
Everything you say and do says something about you. This... Read More
As search engine marketers, we spend an enormous amount of... Read More
Before I discovered the concept of Web site templates, I... Read More
I'm not a professional web site designer and openly admit... Read More
You have probably viewed many Flash-based components while surfing the... Read More
Easy navigation and usability are one of the most important... Read More
It is common sense.The more time people spend at your... Read More
Unless you are an inventor, most likely you are selling... Read More
Why your site should be developed with CSS and semantic... Read More
What is a Website Template?Many smart and savvy businesses are... Read More
Content is undoubtedly the most important element of a website.... Read More
Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or... Read More
This is my second article on maximising web site viewability.... Read More
Want to know what the worst thing to say on... Read More
Do you remember playing with the jack-in-the-box toy as a... Read More
10 Ways Web Site Text Can Impact Your Reader's Buying... Read More
This article is the result of a conversation I had... Read More
What Will My Site Do?This is the first of eight... Read More
1. Lack of overall strategy and clear definition of success:Most... Read More
Well, you've got your product, started your home business, and... Read More
Hire a designer or a programmer for your website is... Read More
Green Bay Hummer H2 SUV rentals ..ActiveX uses an interesting method for enforcing security ... it... Read More
Designing your website means you have to be creative, plan... Read More
Website Design Usability Tips1. Getting to know about audience membersYou... Read More
When creating an e-cover the what's the first thought that... Read More
Websites, there's literally billions of them out there in cyber-space.... Read More
Even after you've managed to bring traffic to your site... Read More
Customers will form an opinion of your business as soon... Read More
A search engine robot actually reads the wording on your... Read More
As web designer my self, I have had the unfortunate... Read More
Probably you know someone who has created a web site... Read More
Color is one of the most important but least understood... Read More
In the of-line marketing world it is all about trying... Read More
With the advent of the Internet a whole new vista... Read More
So how do you know when your graphic designer costs... Read More
Let me repeat that.."The technology may change, but human nature... Read More
Are you a student of graphic design? If you have... Read More
Have you ever thought about the real stories behind all... Read More
If you are familiar with my work, then you have... Read More
Don't make a splash!Are you thinking about using a splash... Read More
7. Create high quality content - make clear points with... Read More
Favorite icon appears to the left of your link in... Read More
Surfing the internet is basically an information-fest! From intellectual discussions... Read More
Creating your own website is actually easy in today's world... Read More
Developing a software application is not easy at all; apart... Read More
In cascading style sheets you can specify how your web... Read More
Web Design |