Design Personal Web Site - Why Using the Right Colors is Vital

I wonder if you knew that visitors to your website form an instant opinion? And they form it about you and your offer. They can't help themselves. Their instant opinion is formed in their subconscious mind. You might wonder why this happens. It has absolutely nothing to do with the text on your website. The visitor need not read a single word, and yet they will form their instant opinion.

You might also have invested in some really great pictures or images on your site. I'm afraid this will carry zero influence on your visitor 's instant opinion. Nor does your offer matter. You could be promoting a sensational deal, like selling dollars for dimes. But this too, will be overlooked by the site visitor. This is because the initial reaction to your website is instant, and occurs the moment the page appears in the browser of 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. It is the color scheme used on your website which causes your page visitors to create that instant opinion.

The reason this happens is because we all react psychological and intuitively to colors. The feelings evoked by colors are automatic, and there 's no way we can avoid them. This is one of the reasons why companies can invest millions in getting the colors exactly right for their products and marketing promotions. Big companies realize that colors are a psychological feature, and they can influence our reception of their marketing. 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.

The color scheme on your web pages can tell your visitor different things. The colors could convey a negative message, in which case be prepared for your visitors to leave your site very quickly. 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 don't despair. By using a different color scheme it is quite possible to influence your web page visitor to react positively to you and your offering. You may be aware, that the psychological impact of colors isn't a new phenomenon. In fact, it 's been with us for years and years. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.

The trick is in conveying the right feeling. A certain color combination might convey a nice feeling. Yet another, could convey bad feeling. Your choice with your color selections is to send a sense belonging, trust and warmth. The last thing you would want to do is convey feelings of rejection, distrust and coolness. Here is a list of colors showing the types of feelings each will evoke:

RED
Strength, love, leadership, sense of power, danger, excitement, energy etc

ORANGE
Steadfastness, confidence, courage, cheerfulness, friendliness, playfulness, comfort etc

YELLOW
Joy, curiosity, organization, intelligence, caution, brightness, amusement etc

GREEN
Healing, life, money, health, nature, food, harmony etc

BLUE
Acceptance, peace, tranquility, love, trustworthiness, patience, stability etc

PURPLE
Nobility, royalty, wisdom, dignity, luxury, ambition, independence etc

BROWN
Comfort, nature, durability, earthiness, reliability, tribal, primitive etc

BLACK
Style, elegance, power, formality, dramatic, health, sophistication etc

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

When designing your web pages, you ideally need to ensure that the color scheme you use is consistent with your offering. The reason is that your visitors' subconscious minds will look to reconcile the color with the message. If they are irreconcilable, you will find your visitors click away from your page very quickly. And you will lose your visitor. It is important therefore that your website uses the right color scheme. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. In summary, the difference between the right and wrong color scheme on your website can be the difference between profit and loss.

About the Author

Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur and business consultant, and author of the ebook CASH COLORS. If you wish to design personal web site, CASH COLORS shows how to make your web page colors work for you, as opposed to against you. http://www.cash-colors.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Mistakes To Avoid When Using Web Templates

Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.

The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbours.

To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond precognition. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort.

However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site 's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template.

In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.

Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here 's a rough guide:

First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer 's wages, advertising costs and so on.

Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it 's a "no-brainier" choice.

However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.

Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

About the Author

Roosevelt Simmons created Templates R Us Online with the express purpose to help others through website design. Find out how Templates R Us Online can expand your knowledge at http://www.templatesrusonline.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

3 Success Graphic Formats For Any Web Site

Internet is making major strides. This is not the case of graphic formats of web pages. At present we are still making use of old graphic formats like GIF and JPEG, although they are useful, do not have the characteristics that the new standards, as P-JPEG, PNG or SVG, may offer.

In this article I will show you 3 current graphic formats that Web pages should use, not to mention what the future comes to bring in this regard.

The graphic component of the web sites is very important because it allow us to apply our creativity to design sites as a pleasant task. It is also a tool to show the visitor a graphic piece that in some cases “could worth as much as a million of words”, but it is also responsible for serious errors in the web design; and in some cases can be a martyrdom for a visitor as the same graphic piece could “worth a million of seconds” to load if are not used correctly. The basics for using graphic files are simple, just knowledge on graphic formats, even slightly, will help us design sites nicely and fastest.

So let’s analyze the 3 graphics formats in more detail:

1- The GIF graphic format.

It is an acronym for the phrase "Graphics Interchange Format".

This is a graphic file format that is commonly used to display images indexed by colour in the Wold Wide Web. This format is used by its high-capacity compression of the information of an image.

It was developed in 1987 (GIF87) CompuServe solution for sharing images across platforms. He was subsequently revised in 1989 generating the new version GIF89a.

The GIF format is limited to a maximum of 256 colours. GIF is a compressed format designed to minimize the time to transfer files through standard telephone lines. Use LZW method to achieve compression ratios of approximately 1.5:1 to 2:1.

It is generally recommended for simple images.

2- The JPG graphic format.

A format with a colour depth of 24 bits, that is permitted to use up to 16.7 million colours with variable compression that may losses of image detail, the compression level can be specified. The JPG image is not allowed to use transparencies.

If you are going to display the image on a web page you can use the method of gradual compression. This option displays the image gradually, while downloading the web browser, using a series of lectures to show increasingly detailed versions of the entire image, until it had downloaded all the data. However, the JPEG images progressive need more RAM for display and not all Web browsers support them. It is commonly used in photographs where there are more than 256 colours.

This format is typically used by digital cameras to store its images.

3- The PNG graphic format.

In response to the problems of GIF format (essentially legal, but also technicians); a project was initiated through the Internet to create a replacement. The result of this project was the PNG format.

The initial mean Portable Network Format (PNG), and is the youngest of these three graphic formats we have here. Precisely this "youth" is the first and greatest flaw: PNG is completely unrecognizable by older browsers.

In terms of its graphics capability is not at all bad: Supports colour depth up to 24 bits (16.7 million colours), uses a system called LZ77 compression without losing quality when you reduce the size of the files , anyway if you reduce the image depth you can reduce further the size of the files.

PNG has a number of characteristics that it really becomes into an attractive one. In fact is a completely free format, so anyone can implement it in their programs or use it freely, in the way you want without paying royalties to anyone.

Although there are a multitude of graphic formats in the market, each one has a number of features that make it better or worse for a particular job; the web designer should focus on the formats targeted to the web. While many browsers recognize different formats, there are only three sufficiently widespread and efficient enough to be used on web pages. These three formats are JPEG, GIF and PNG, so we can conclude that they are the 3 success graphic formats for any Web Site, even yours.

About the Author

Do you want to learn web design fast and easy? Visit NOW the Web Design Tutorial or just discover How to build your own website easy in minutes D. Yoselle is a Graphic Designer and Webmaster of the Internet Resurces Free Guide

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Design Your Website for Affiliate Marketing Success

One of the most efficient forms of today 's internet marketing is the affiliate marketing, and this is done with the help of affiliate programs. This is mainly because many people know that money can be earned online, but they don't know exactly how to do that. For many, affiliate marketing may be the answer, as it requires less effort, having an own product to sell isn't mandatory, and it can bring reasonable profits.

Definition: Affiliate marketing is the action of referring your visitors to a merchant 's website, and getting a commission out of that merchant 's sales if the buyer was a person you referred. Although it can be done even without having a website of your own, it is better if you design one. Choosing an appropriate field for you, doing some quality research and finding good affiliate programs are all very important processes, which have to be dealt with a lot of involvement and perseverance.

And first thing 's first. Before you actually build your website, you have to think about how it is going to look, what it 's going to be about. Just sit down and start a brainstorming process. It is recommended you organize everything well, and write everything down. Find a subject you feel confident about, and start taking notes about the competition, affiliate programs, everything. You have to think of it as a serious project, and every good project needs a good sketch.

Now, once you've made your sketch, start designing your website accordingly. Buy a domain, preferably a .com one, because these are the ones that people trust the most. Now, if you are not a programmer, then you should hire one for designing your website according to your specifications. Even though it 's going to cost you some money, if you do it right, that amount should come back as profits multiplied many times.

Your website should look professional, the hallmark of a person who knows what he 's talking about. You should respect your visitors with quality content, if you want this internet marketing strategy to be successful. And although this affiliate marketing tutorial tells you what to do, it ultimately depends on you if it is going to work or not.

Now, once you've designed the site, it 's time to get some traffic in. There are many online marketing tactics to do that, and you could also consider hiring a Search Engine Optimizer to get you high ratings on Google searches for your site. If you can't afford one, don't lose hope, because there are many SEO tutorials available on the web. You can catch on a few of these important SEO techniques and try to do it yourself. Apply all this information to your sketch and continue working on your project.

Now that you've managed to get a decent amount of traffic to your site, it 's time to introduce you to the new term, which is conversion rate. The conversion rate shows you how many of your visitors actually click on the links of your affiliate partners and buy something from them. Taking into consideration that you don't have a product of your own, your approach in increasing your conversion rate should be pre-selling. What do I mean by pre-selling? Let 's put it this way. The content of your site is the one which actually forwards your visitors to your affiliate partners links. I mean, if you have a very high quality content site, your visitors will unknowingly be much more open-minded about visiting the links you display. Keeping in mind that you don't actually have a product of your own, it 's better not to have an aggressive looking page or your visitors will exit immediately. Also, choose the best affiliate partners in your field, and don't try to put so many links on your page. You need 3 or 4 quality partners at the most.

The rest is history. With a lot of involvement, professionalism, dedication and a little bit of luck, you can design a site which has the potential of being your cash machine. Once the whole mechanism starts to work, you don't have to do anything as it will run by itself. OK, maybe a few adjustments from time to time, but nothing too complicated. With the hope that this affiliate marketing tutorial has shed some light on the subject, grab a pen and design your sketch!

About the Author

Premier affiliate program resource

Affiliate programs.

http://www.affiliateprogramhub.com

Take advantage of the best affiliate marketing plans

Affiliate marketing plans.

http://www.affiliatemarketingplans.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint