You’ve picked a name, written your business plan, and done the necessary paperwork to start your business. You even have a solid marketing plan in place.

Now it’s time to build your website and social media presence.

Picking the Best Website Color Scheme

This is where first impressions matter the most. Your website is the window every potential customer has to your business, so it’s important they like what they see. Though branding involves more than pure visuals, color does play a big role in how people perceive your business -- bigger than you may realize.

Read below to find out why color matters and how to choose the best website color scheme for your business.

Why Color Matters in the Customer Journey

Does the appearance of your website really matter to customers? Aren’t most people just looking for a good product?

Research suggests the impact of color on marketing is powerful enough to matter, with 62-90% of shoppers making purchase decisions based solely on color.

According to Hubspot, “There’s a reason companies test the colors of things like advertisements, banner ads, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons. When we did a button color test here at Hubspot, for example, we found that a red CTA button outperformed a green CTA button by 21%.

“In other words, we increased conversion rate without changing anything about the page except for the color of the CTA. That’s the power of color psychology in marketing.”

Appealing colors draw the eye, which is the first step toward attracting potential customers. As we saw with the Hubspot example above, sometimes an eye-catching visual is enough to convert a reader into a customer.

Colors evoke different emotions, and whether customers are aware or not, certain colors can trigger underlying thoughts and desires that may influence their purchasing decisions. Red, for example, can trigger powerful emotions (whether positive or negative), whereas green tends to be a more relaxing color associated with health and vitality.

Thinking about your product and what emotions you want to elicit will help you get started choosing the right color palette for your company’s brand.

Website Graphics - Creating and Using

Knowing how to choose color combinations for a website is but one step in creating attractive website graphics. But there’s good news. You don’t need to be a professional designer to create a polished website or color scheme. Plenty of tools exist to help even the least design-oriented among us create compelling website and social media graphics.

A quick Google search will reveal your graphics-building options. Tools like Canva and Visme are excellent tools for creating everything from website headers and logos to advertisements. Visme even provides lots of free educational resources to help you make the best materials you can for your website.

A few principles to keep in mind when designing compelling graphics for your website:

• Choose a primary color first.
• Decide how many additional colors you want in your scheme.
• Add secondary colors when needed.
• Don’t forget to choose neutrals for things like background and text.
• Use your colors strategically.
• Find inspiration on websites like Pinterest and Dribbble.
  
  

Remember to keep color psychology in mind not only when choosing your color scheme, but also when choosing how to use the specific colors in the palette you’ve chosen.

Branding and Color Consistency

It’s no accident that even the youngest children can point to the McDonald’s golden arches and know chicken nuggets are ahead.

Color consistency, combined with name, typography, and graphics, goes in hand with creating a memorable brand that people will recognize at a glance. In fact, color can help increase brand recognition by up to 80%.

According to WebsiteSetup, website color best practices include using “bold colors to sharpen navigation, create a more intuitive user experience, and create consistency across different pages and help users find what they need faster.”

And McDonald’s is but one example. Among the other most recognizable brands (and their corresponding colors) is Apple, Coca-Cola, Facebook, and LEGO.

“Customers can recognize leading brands with just a primary color or a certain shape of a logo and consumers naturally trust these companies more,” says Llorenç Solà, General Manager for Promotique by Vistaprint.

When you choose the right colors for your brand, customers will begin to associate your brand with positive emotions that will leave an impression.

Colors so recognizable they do the advertising for you -- that may just be the pinnacle of visual marketing.

Examples of Website Color Schemes

If you don’t already have a vague color scheme in mind, looking at color palette examples may spark your creativity to help you choose a color scheme for your website.

Here are a few examples of website color schemes that are currently trending.

Monochromatic Color Scheme

This involves using various muted colors (think varying shades of gray or blue) and works well for a more modern or mysterious look. This color scheme also tends to work well for portfolio websites and nonprofits.

Fresh and Organic

Green is the dominant color found in this color scheme, along with soft colors and a neutral background. Companies that sell organic and natural products, food, or beverages (specifically wine and spirits) gravitate toward a fresh and organic palette.

Calm and Inviting

Using a calm and inviting color scheme means choosing pastel shades that are simple and relaxing. Calm and inviting colors are best for cafes and restaurants, kids brands, and beauty brands.

Bright Accent Color

Color schemes with a bright accent color are meant to be attention-grabbing. Brighter colors work well for e-commerce websites, fashion brands, and sports brands.

Check out the infographic below, from our colleagues at WebsiteSetup, for more information (including a handy checklist) on how to create a website color scheme that converts more customers and helps your business thrive.