Website Design: Color Me Blue

Chris, a new consulting client, asked me to help him increase sales on his affiliate marketing site.

As he was describing his site and the problem, I thought, "This is going to be a quick fix."

How wrong I was!

His site was excellent. Other than a few minor points, it followed all my basic rules for a successful affiliate marketing site.

The site was focused around a single theme in a profitable niche, with an excellent selection of high-priced, high-commission products.

Chris had gone the extra mile to have his site professionally designed, and it was simple, elegant and user-friendly, employing consistent navigation and a nifty database-driven search results system.

He was working directly with his merchant partners to create ad copy that offered his visitors the best possible deals.

And he was advertising in the pay-per-click search engines to drive tons of targeted traffic, and using hundreds of keyword listings with brilliantly worded titles and descriptions.

So, why on earth were his sales so low?

I knew I was picking at straws, but during our first session, I made a host of recommendations for improvement, which included:

- a domain name change
- a background color change
- reformatting the page table size
- rephrasing offers more positively
- adding relevant graphics and photos
- dropping poor performing merchants
- adding a newsletter
- adding new products
- redirecting non-buyers to additional offers

Chris implemented all my suggestions as well as a few of his own. After giving the new version a few weeks to prove itself, we scheduled our second teleconsulting session. I was anxious to hear how well the site was now performing.

You can appreciate my dismay when Chris told me that his sales had actually dropped!

Aargh!

I reviewed his site again, and it suddenly struck me... he should try blue links!

Why?

Because web design convention suggests that links should be blue, visited links purple and active links red. Although nothing written in stone about link color, I believe that those conventional colors should used whenever they compliment site design.

I'd changed my own site links, Sage-Hearts.com, from maroon to blue sometime before and noticed a nice conversion rate increase.

Sure enough, that WAS the answer to Chris' site problems...

His conversions increased 1100% almost overnight JUST by changing his link color to blue.

In addition to being underlined, people expect links to be blue, and in some cases visitors may have problems with sites that don't conform to their expectations.

With the average site visit lasting only about 8 seconds, we don't have time to waste confusing our visitors with basic site navigation. Use blue links if possible to keep your navigation instantly recognizable, unambiguous and consistent.

? Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://netprofitstoday.com

spotless home service Lincolnshire ...
In The News:

Facebook ads promising to recover stolen funds are targeting scam victims again, and Meta confirmed removing flagged accounts after investigation.
Tesla Cybertruck production is winding down at Gigafactory Texas to make room for Cybercab robotaxi manufacturing, but key questions remain for owners.
Identity theft can hide in phone accounts, medical records and utility bills long before it shows on a credit report. Eight places to check now.
JR East's towering ZIZAI ZX-3 chainsaw robot tackles dangerous branch-cutting along Japan's Koumi Line while a trained operator controls it remotely.
A massive DHS data leak exposed records of over 41,000 employees, revealing links to undercover ICE operations, Palantir tools and AI platforms.
The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
UCLA's PhoneBot turns old Android phones into the brain of a two-legged humanoid robot that walks, follows people and stands up after falling.
A fake Amazon invoice charging $988.18 for an iPad lists the same customer support phone number three times to steer panicked victims into calling.
A handful of food delivery robots from Uber Eats and other platforms have gotten kicked and knocked over in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
Data broker opt-out forms may not protect your family. People search sites can still expose your info through a spouse's or parent's profile.
Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 with a PROLED XDR OLED display, but the non-touch M6 model costs $900 less at $1,999.
Black Friday deals are already drawing scammers who use fake delivery notices and gift card payment requests to steal your personal financial information.
Apple's iPhone Duo reportedly outlasted the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 by over three hours in battery tests, but its weight and repair costs raise concerns.
Florida Polytechnic University's Jetson ONE eVTOL police vehicle named Astro still awaits FAA authorization before officers can fly operational patrols.
OpenAI's new locked chats feature lets you protect ChatGPT conversations with a PIN, Face ID or Touch ID, but there are key privacy limitations.
A phishing email disguised as an Evite fooled a man even after he emailed his friend to verify it, revealing how compromised Gmail accounts aid scams.
Microsoft's AI diagnostic system identified 83% of complex medical cases in a study, more than doubling the 36% accuracy of generalist doctors.
Account takeover threats go beyond stolen passwords as criminals exploit session cookies, SIM swaps and MFA fatigue to bypass your login security.
SpaceX is reportedly pursuing access to 80,000 cell sites to turn Starlink into a major wireless carrier rivaling Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Tech advocacy groups warn that foreign nationals at AI companies like OpenAI and Google pose a national security threat amid a lack of federal oversight.
Singapore researchers built the world's first touchscreen woven into clothing, surviving 50 machine washes while displaying images and responding to touch.
The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
A startup founder woke to $449 in unexpected OpenAI and Anthropic charges after stolen API keys were exploited during the "Black October" cyber wave.
Educational Testing Service hackers stole millions of California student records, but families who moved out of state years ago may also be affected.
Apple's iPhone Duo screens are cracking near the hinge just days after its $1,999 launch, and iFixit's CT scans may reveal what's going wrong.

User Experience and Search Engines: If Your Home Page Could Only Talk

Dear web site visitor.I can't tell you how glad I... Read More

Dont Lose The Sale In The Internets Last Three Feet

In retailing there is a saying that sales are made... Read More

How to Build Your Own Website - More Steps

To build a website, there are four methods to choose... Read More

10 Important Web Design Tips: SEO Friendly Website

A website should firstly be searched out by visitors before... Read More

Web Design: How To Get Your Visitors To Stay

Remember the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams,... Read More

Simplify Your Web Site for Clarity and Ease of Use

There are plenty of web sites out there in which... Read More

How To Increase Your Conversion Rate or What Most People Miss When It Comes To Optimization

Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy... Read More

Quality of Your Text Layout and Design

Why is the quality of your text layout and design... Read More

The Psychology of Color in Web Design

Persons engaged in website design, here's a scoop for you!... Read More

Create Favorite Icon

Favorite icon appears to the left of your link in... Read More

Tips for Getting More Sales From Your Website

(1) Create a Direct Response Website, with the minimum number... Read More

Build A Successful Website For Dummies

So you want to build a website here I will... Read More

Explode Your Homepage And Replace It With Something Dynamite!

You know that I'm always extolling the virtues of an... Read More

Get FASTER Download Times By Making BIGGER Web Pages!

As a webmaster you already know how important it is... Read More

What Happened to My Website when I Deleted the Home Page by Mistake?

There is a widespread confusion among lots of new website... Read More

Choose & Use the Best Colors, The Psychology of Color

Are you using the best colors for your web site?... Read More

How To Boost Your Sales Dramatically Using Dynamic Back-end Strategies

Getting a customer is not easy.Getting a visitor to decide... Read More

Tried and Tested Tips to Improve Your Website - Part 1

1. DO NOT use excessive graphics or banner images on... Read More

Text Is King!

Are you building your website? If so, STOP! Take a... Read More

Affordable Website Design In Manchester

If you have a business, big or small you may... Read More

Alternative to Web Site Templates and Design Software

Before I discovered the concept of Web site templates, I... Read More

Why Web Pages Appear in the Wrong Location after Uploading to my Website?

If your are a new web designer, you may face... Read More

Discover 7 Proven Shopping Cart Enhancements to Increase Your Sales

For online businesses with their main goal of selling products,... Read More

Keep Your Navigation Consistent!

One of the single most important aspects of effective navigation... Read More

Positive Design Attributes for a Successful Website

Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to... Read More

eco-friendly cleaning service Park Ridge ...