You might not realize it but color has a huge impact on our perception of everyday life. Think of your mood on a sunny day compared to a cloudy day. How you feel in a yellow sweater compared to black. Different colors generate different emotions in people. Marketers have been using colors for years to derive certain emotions from customers.

Color combinations on business websites can have a greater impact than you realize. Great business web design with appropriate colors can work for your business or against it. So where do you begin? What colors will help and what colors will hurt the business web design of your website? What colors produce what emotions and how can you use them to your benefit.

Yellow: joy, happiness, optimism, intelligence

Blue: peaceful, calming, harmonious, confidence

Red: strength, anger, aggression, power

Black: modernity, elegance, mystery, style

Grey: stability, wisdom, respect, humility

Orange: energy, enthusiasm, happiness, balance

Purple: enlightenment, nobility, spirituality, creativity

Who are your customers and what are they looking for? With all business web design you must determine who you want to visit your site before you develop it. You must determine what mind set your customer is in to determine what colors you would like to use on your business website. Will the colors you choose frighten your customer away with a headache or invite and comfort them into a long visit on your business website.

Once you choose the colors most appropriate for your business website, how will you use them? The most successful business websites have their text in black on a white background. Think of the readability of your content. You want the visitor to your business website to be able to easily read the information you have posted or you would not have posted it. Colored text and colored backgrounds can be more difficult to read and may push away visitors to your business website.

As always, there are exceptions to the rule. If you have certain keywords you want to stand out highlighting them with a complementary color might be a good idea. This will help catch your visitors attention. You only have three seconds to catch the attention of a visitor to your site. Time is money in the business world and most website visitors will scan articles before they take the time to read the whole text. Highlighting keywords in complementary colors may increase the chances catching a visitors attention. Once you have caught that visitors attention your ideally, will turn them into a customer.