Tapping Into The Visual Stimulus Of Your Web Site Visitors
"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 Irealize: it was just a nightmare.O.k., I'm not crazy, and no I haven't had this dream before. Butthink about this: what would you do if you came to a sitelittered with either tons of different colors, loud pinks,purples, greens and reds mixed incoherently, or more animationsand graphics than the rods and cones of your inner eye canpossibly absorb...
...? If your like me I simply go "click, bye-bye".Our visual stimulus is ever more so important on the web thanalmost anywhere else. The internet is most definitely aboutinformation. But, that information is shown graphically. So, ifyou want to keep people at your site, first appeal to theirvisual stimulus.There are a few guidelines that you should adhere to whendesigning your site, following known research results on colorsthat elicit certain psychological responses. The bottom line isthat it is hard enough to market on the internet today, why makeit harder by irritating your visitors.(1) Colors and Their Effect: I prefer blue and white. In generalblue seems to elicit a sense of trust and white a sense ofpurity. Gold, on the other hand is the color of wealth andprosperity, something we are all working towards. So, withrespect to general internet marketing, these colors tend to workthe best. They are easy on the eyes and don't strike up a senseof danger, such as with the color red. Of course, the colorsalso depend on purpose of your site. If selling baby items,pink, which represents femininity, and baby blue, representingweakness may work quite well. It depends in part on sitecontent. A high tech site selling electronic components may dobetter with greys, silvers, and black.(2) Animations and Banners: Animations are nice, but can taketime to load and be distracting. Use them to focus the attentionof a visitor. Place them at a single page location, at thecenter or all at the left side for instance. If you use morethan one and they are scattered all over the page, where can youexpect your eyes to focus. Yep, you heard right - click, bye,bye.Banners can also give you problems if there are two many and notwell organized. Pay attention to the color design to ensure thatit 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 gainingpopularity and many sites are tailoring their start-up page toinclude large flash animations. Beware. In online homebusinesses, your primary purpose is content. Only fit in flashwhere it is strictly meant to guide the visual stimulus to apart of your site. I know, I know, it does look cool. But cooldoesn'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.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html ,(3)http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa031501a.htm .As a good rule of thumb, if it hurts your eyes, it probablyhurts others as well. Keep it simple, professional, easy to lookat with color used just in the right place to highlight yourcontent. Content is what will build your home based business.Elicit a visual response from your visitors to drive them toyour content.
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