The One Simple Trick That Can Double Your Adsense

The One Simple Trick That Can Double Your Adsense Revenue

by: Brad Bahr

Iกve been working with Googleกs Adsense program for a while now. If you’re not already in the program, why not take a look at it now at https://www.google.com/adsense. I really like Adsense. It makes me money and itกs easy to work with. Just some simple copy & paste into your webpage and you’re done. Right?

Wrong! You can do it that way if you want. Who knows? Maybe youกll get lucky and get a lot of clicks. But if you’re really serious about making a lot of money with the program, you’re going to have to tweak it a little.

Iกve invested quite a bit of time experimenting with the program. When I first signed up, I got some clicks and made a tiny bit of money. That wasn’t good enough. I knew there must be a way to get more of my visitors to click on the ads.

Google has a strict policy about not pointing to the ads in any way or asking people to click on them, so there were two things I couldn’t do. What else was there?

Then I remembered reading an article once that discussed the psychological impact of colors on the human mind. I started researching everything I could find on the subject.

After a lot of reading, many tests and periods of watching my clicks go up and down, I found the one color combination that seemed to work the best.

Testing previously done at supermarkets had revealed that the same product could pull more sales from just changing the colors of the label. What were these colors? Red and yellow! The combination of these two colors has an immediate impact on the person who sees them. They make your eyes stop and focus. They pull your eyes right to that part of the page. They grab your attention! Iกm not sure exactly why the combination of red and yellow does this, but it does. On one of my sites, I changed my Adsense ads to a bright red border and a yellow background with black text and URL.

My click through rate more than doubled with just that one simple change. Thatกs what worked on my site. Your siteกs color scheme may work better with a slightly different color combination. Try lots of different color variations. Make a change in the morning and let it ride for the whole day. The next morning, try a different set of colors. Change the border, background, text. Change everything you can. Most importantly, keep detailed records of the color scheme you used, click ratio and revenue generated.

After youกve done all the experimenting you want to, go back to the most profitable one and let it run for a week or so and see how it does. Iกm always trying different colors even after my run of good clicks with red and yellow. There are a lot of color combinations to choose from. You never know when youกll find just the right one.

(c) Brad Bahr All Rights reserved

http://www.nononsenseinternetmarketing.com

About The Author

Brad Bahr is the author of the NEW eBook: กHow to ‘reallyก Make Money on the Internetก. Itกs filled with no nonsense, practical information. To get your FREE copy of the book, go to ==> http://www.nononsenseinternetmarketing.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Brad Bahr

Learn How To Diagnose Power Supply Problems

Learn How To Diagnose Power Supply Problems

by: Otis F Cooper

The Power Supply convertกs your regular household current into low DC voltage used by the computer. When this component fails,there is simply no activity going on wih your computer.Remember to do the easy troubleshooting first.Inspect the Power Supply for any damage.DoubleCheck all connections.

Learning how to check your power supply and how to replace it when needed can be a life saver if you’re a computer buff or in business with the trusted PC.Don’t take for granted the simple pleasure of turning on your PC and everything works just fine.

We turned on one of our computers recently and in about one hour,it just rebooted itself.And it continued doing so about 10 times a day until we found out the power supply was the culprit.Things to look for when your power supply is going bad or just dies on you are the following.

NO POWER TO THE COMPUTER

Here you must first check the wall outlet for power by connecting another device such as a radio or lamp to be sure power is present.If the computer is connected through a surge protector,check it as well.

If the wall out has power,check the power cable going to the PC to see if AC voltage is making its way to the system unit.Do this with the use of a multimeter.

If there is power,you will have to open the PC and check for power from the power supply to the motherboard.

When using a multimeter to check voltage,be sure you have a good ground for the black lead of the multimeter.

REBOOTING PROBLEMS

One main problem you may face with an ailing Power Supply is that it may reboot the computer without any warning.All information is lost and it seems as though this happens at the worst possible time.

Booting errors when the computer first startกs up is another indicator of this component going on the blink.

POWER DISTRIBUTION PROBLEMS

When the power supply begins to fail,you may receive power at one device and not another.For example,the Hard Drive may receive power but the CDROM Drive has nothing at all.

Another headache with would cause rebooting is the intermittent power going to the drives or the motherboard itself.Follow the steps below to check your power supply should you experience some of the above problems.

CHECKING THE POWER SUPPLY

If the wall outlet,and the power cord are good,make sure the connection at the motherboard is secure.Then you may have to face the fact that the power supply itself is bad.If you have a Multimeter you can test the power supply output before purchasing a new one.Simply follow these steps.

Turn off the PC,but do not unplug it,open the system unit. Set the multimeter to read DC volts in the next range higher than 12 volts.Locate a power connector similair to the hard drive,or cdrom drive connector that is unused and turn on the PC.

You can also unplug a drive connector and use it as well.Turn on the PC and insert the BLACK probe into the power connector on one of the BLACK wires.Touch the RED probe to the YELLOW wire on the power connector.

The multimeter reading should be +12 volts Now touch the RED probe to the RED wire and the reading should be +5 volts.If no readings or different readings occured,youกll have to replace the power supply.If the readings were correct,you should check the P8 or P9 connectors at the motherboard. These connectors may also be named P4 and P5.To check these connectors,perform the following…

Insert the BLACK probe into P8 at one of the BLACK wires. Insert the RED probe into the P8 connector at the RED wire. The reading on the multimeter should be +5 volts

Check the power going to the Motherboard connections by inserting the RED probe into P8 at the YELLOW wire and you should get +12 volts.Leave the BLACK wire touching the black wire at the P8 connector.Check the BLUE wire and the reading should be a 12 volts.

Now move the BLACK probe to the BLACK wire on the P9 connector.Test the WHITE wire by inserting the RED probe and the reading should be 5 volts.Check the RED wires on the P9 connector and you should get +5 volts on each red wire.You won’t get exactly 5 or 12 volts but the readings will be very close, such as 5.02 volts.

If the Power Supply is a couple of volts off,in either direction,such as when the RED wire should be reading 5 volts but it reads 8 volts,or if there are no readings,replace the power supply.

DO NOT remove the power supply from the system unit case when performing these tests.DO NOT perform these tests if you do not feel comfortable.Be sure to remove any and all electrical static buildup from your clothes and body BEFORE touching any parts inside the system unit.And NEVER open the power supply case for any reason,since high voltage may be present.

About The Author

Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user that is serious about knowing computers.Use his informative articles and videos to understand every aspect about the PC. Read more about his formula for pc training at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 26, 2004

by Otis F Cooper

Color’s Mighty Power of Persuasion

Color’s Mighty Power of Persuasion

by: Maricon Williams

Color is everywhere. It surrounds us. It’s with us every time. It does not only provide crucial visual cues but also influence our feelings and thoughts. It captures our emotions thus can persuade us. However, up to what level can it influence us?

Color exudes character and identity. In fact it has been associated with a lot of things. Blue means male, water, peacefulness and sadness on the other hand, pink means female, weakness and softness. One of the powerful colors is red. It conveys love, passion, heat and fire. The brightest color is yellow. It connotes happiness, caution and slowdown. Even the status of living is associated with colors. Royalty and grandeur is associated with purple. There are still a lot of meanings in colors. Green means money, envy, spring and fertility. Brown means grounded, earth and environmental. Orange conveys warmth, Halloween and fall. Color form part of our daily lives. Our cheeks can be described as ‘red as beet’, our personality ‘green with envy’.

Sir Isaac Newton in the early 1600’s proved that light can create colors. The glass prism that Newton used caused white light to disperse into spectrum of colors. He named it red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Colors flow in waves of varying length. A beam of light has frequency, wavelength and energy in it. In the spectrum the wavelengths are very narrow which ranges from 400 nm at the end of indigo to about 700 nm at the end of red. Lights that we cannot see like radio waves, microwaves and xrays fall on either end of the visible spectrum of light.

Color is very compelling this is the reason why it is regarded as the most powerful design tool of all. If you have selected the right colors, then expect a strong emotional response from the viewers. In turn, it enhances communication by way of ensuring comprehension. This is because you are relaying the right message. On the contrary, if you choose the wrong colors, it can result to an irreparable mistake which may ruin your business strategy.

To thrive, all you have to do is to master the basics of color theory, userinterface design and its application. The first two can be clearcut guides to create your perfect color. If made the right selection the viewers can easily comprehend what you want to communicate. Picking the right colors is the same way as choosing the right words to communicate. It is your key to achieve SUCCESS!

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.wholesaleprintingteam.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 25

by Maricon Williams

Color Psychology for webpages

Color Psychology for webpages

by: Bud Smith

Colour is an aspect of a website that is often picked haphazardly and without any thought from a beginner web designer. The lesser known quality of the colour of a website is that it can greatly affect the mood of your visitors. It is because of this that a websites colours need to be picked carefully.
Other than the mood of the site, the colour can affect your visitors in the more known ways:
Too many bright colours may miss direct the user attention.
Too much of one colour many become irritating.
But the first point about colour that is not well known is that colour is extremely symbolic. Just think, how often have your heard the phrases that someone is กgreen with envyก, กblueก or can ขsee red.ก These symbolic influences come from when we are growing up. Name something Green, people say trees, name something blue, people say water. We have come to associate colours with where each colour is predominantly found. We can also summarise the traits for each colour.
Warm Colours
Red
Symbolises: Passion, fire, love, lust, war, violence, blood, and aggression
Suitable Uses: Where the aim is to motivate an individual to take action, convey a warning, or stop the user.
Some believe that: It stimulates the appetite and makes objects seem closer and larger.
When using different shades of red on a website, be careful. Because of the way the eye sees red, pink (which is a light shade of red) does not go with red. Also bright red can be quite irritating if used over large areas.
Pink
Symbolises: Romantic, calming, cute, candy, soft and feminine
Suitable Uses: When you want to appeal to a users caring or romantic side.
Orange
Symbolises: Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn, pumpkins, citrus and Halloween. It is like a less passionate red.
Suitable Uses: Could be used for food sites, nature sites.
Some believe that: It can convey warmth, assurance, stimulate the appetite, symbolise health, stimulates the mind and provides emotional lift. Also it is believed that it requires the eye to focus, therefore objects seem closer and larger.
Orange is one colour that would be good in moderation, avoid overuse.
Yellow
Symbolises: sunshine, caution, construction, happy, cheerful, warmth, hope, light, energy, weakness or illness, or symbolize cowardice.
Suitable Uses: To make a webpage seem brighter and more spring like.
Some believe that: It stimulates the nervous system as well as the mind, makes objects seem closer and larger.
Like red, it captivates the eye, but can be an irritant if overused.
Cool Colours
Green
Symbolises: spring, renewal, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, health, growth (vegetation) and wealth (money).
Suitable Uses: Great for websites about money and growing.
Some believe that: It lowers the blood pressure, relaxes the nervous system, calms the mind and creates a feeling of freshness. Also does not require the eye to focus, therefore objects and walls seem farther away.
Blue
Symbolises: sky, sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust but can also signify depression and sadness.
Suitable Uses: Make a website feel formal.
Some believe that: It does not require the eye to focus, therefore objects and walls seem farther away.
Purple
Symbolises: creativity, spiritual and mysterious.
Some believe that: is spiritual, mysterious and a very subduing colour.
Deep purple is associated with royalty and richness while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia.
Neutral Colours
Black
Symbolises: power, elegance, and sophistication, death (Western culture), evil, anger and sadness.
Just to be on the safe side, do not use over a wide area.
White
Symbolises: cleanliness, purity, and spirituality. It represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death in Eastern cultures.
Great as an accent or background colour because it makes other colours seem more vivid and bold
Grey
Symbolises: conservativeness, security, maturity and reliability, but it can also signify gloominess and sadness.
Brown
Symbolises: readability and stability, the hearth, home and the earth.
Web safe palettes
Although modern computers are capable of displaying millions of colours on the screen, Web design is limited to only 216 colours. The reason for this is that Mac computers and PCกs both use completely different colour palettes. However, they have 216 colours that are common to both. These 216 colours are considered ขWeb safeก. Using the 216 Web safe colours means that your Web site colours will look fairly consistent on different computers (Mac or PC), different operating systems (Windows or Mac), as well as different browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox, to name two).
Tips and Ideas
Use a single colour for your website design, but change the intensity of it to create other colours but to keep unity.
Try 2 pick 2 colours that are related, but not to similar.
Create contrasting colour designs with contrasting colours, like a warm and cool colour mix.
Try a colour that is getting close to white, and a dark colour.
Use white backgrounds with black text for ease of readability and when in doubt use red to draw the eye to your subject matter. Use caution when using any colours text. You want your content to be readable and easy on the readerกs eyes.
Keep your audience in mind
There is no one colour that sells better, but the wrong colours can hurt sales.
Limit your colour palette to no more than three colours to reduce visual clutter.
Use colours that are appropriate to the theme of your web site.
Use colours found in key photos or graphics on your web page for added harmony.
Avoid harsh oversaturated colours. Desaturate colours to approximate colours found in nature and textiles.
Improving colour picking skills
The great fine artists are masters at manipulating the emotions through colour. Many of the principles they employ can be applied to web design. Learn how to choose colours to set the right mood in your web design from colour principles and methods in fine art.

About The Author

Written by staff at infoweb.co.nz. Infoweb is the place to go for information on musical instruments and creating websites. Take a look at infowebs reprintable section (http://www.infoweb.co.nz/243.html). You can reprint this article free on your site as long as the above credit is not edited and the web addresses are work.

This article was posted on June 01, 2004

by Bud Smith

How to Effectively Design Your Business Image

How to Effectively Design Your Business Image

by: Faith Seekings

In many industries, image is one of the last things business owner looks at. If business is not booming, they assume there is something wrong with the sales method, as opposed to the image. กIf we just sent out a few thousand more fliersก they say, กwe will get some more clientsก. When in reality, they should be looking at how the message they’re sending to their target market is perceived in the first place. Here are a few pointers to look at:
Color
Colors evoke innate responses, which means not all colors are suitable for all business types. How does red make you feel? Angry, in pain, tense? It’s tricky. In the financial industry red is negative (in the red). In the world of health, red can represent discomfort, not good for people offering pain solutions. In fitness, red is very sporty and stimulating. How about blue? It tends to be calm and soothing. Blue can range from fun and playful sky blue to dark, corporate navy. Green is often associated with natural things, or ‘go’ and money – depending on the shades. Yellow/orange/reds/browns in combination stimulate the appetite think fast food and candy bars. Red is tricky. In some instances red means power and is striking. Purple can very easily go from sophisticated, royal aubergene to kid’s grape (Barney). Orange is still a little weird and often used as a shocker, not as the dominant color. The only industry that can get away with almost any color is Tech.
Personal Preference VS Market Preference
People often let their own personal tastes rule their image decisions Oneกs color preferences and styles may not suit the audience they are targeting. What style of design appeals to you? Now imagine that in the eyes of someone quite different, like your grandmother. For example: being too sporty and athletic when your target is professional businesspeople. Too earthy and organic when your target is average Joes. There may be imagery that means a lot to you in your profession, but doesn’t mean much to your target market. It may even scare them. Step back and look at your business as if you’ve never encountered it before. Imagine what might attract clients, or help explain simply what you do. Realizing that your image needs to portray a certain message to the general public, not the you or your colleagues, is the first step to image success.
Looking กNewก
Just because youกve only been in business for a few days, doesn’t mean you have to look like it. Having a well puttogether public image will build trust and a solid reputation. Taking a little time and care instead of quick ‘good enough’ fixes will help you appear more established. Potential clients may not consciously pin point it, but they will pick up on the homespun factor or the generic Staples business cards. How does that affect your credibility? It is good to get your name and information about your business out there. However, when it comes to points of contact like brochures and web sites, if they are messy and difficult to read, they aren’t doing you any favours. There are professionally designed, inexpensive web templates that can do a great job until you are ready for a custom web site. Find a real printer and ask them have a look at your layout and make sure your type isn’t falling off the edge and that the images sharp.
Looking like everyone else
You have a lot of competition. If everyone in your industry uses the same symbols and goes for the standard solution, how will you stand out? What makes your business unique? Is it the name? The location? Is there something meaningful to you that you could incorporate into your identity that shows your uniqueness, or that speaks to your target audience? Maybe a new take on an industry symbol. It could be as simple as having a blue card with a different typeface. Imagine this amongst a sea of black and white, times roman everything centered cards.
Looking good on a shoestring budget
If you can’t hire a designer there are a few things you can do to help look like a pro. Have things printed professionally – it is much better than your bubble jet. Don’t make all the type gigantic. Give everything some breathing room by not butting up against the edge of the page or pictures. Line things up. Look at the competition. Compare your work to professionally designed material and try to notice the differences that make theirs look cleaner. Put your own tastes aside and ask your target audience for their opinions and then listen to them.
Faith Seekings is the owner of Faith Seekings Design. She works with business owners to help align their business goals with their business image. She can be reached at 416.368.8956 or email [email protected]

About The Author

Faith is a graphic designer trained at George Brown College in Toronto. With more than 8 yearsก experience as a designer and project manager, Faith has created logos, stationery, advertising campaigns, ecommerce solutions, websites and collateral material for a host of clients, including: Rogers Cablesystems, Daniels Properties, Zona Health, Nooro Online Research, Agent Wildfire, Nymity Privacy Services and more. Faith is a skilled designer with a keen eye for the strategic as well as the tactical elements of graphic design.

faithseekingsdesign.ca

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 29, 2004

by Faith Seekings

Extracting Color Functions

Extracting Color Functions

by: Maricon Williams

Colors are as powerful as words. It can communicate though without the use of words. It can be as welcoming as a smile yet can be rude as a smirk. We have different perceptions about colors. They can tend to affect our emotions, memories, imagination especially our vision. Designers often neglect the importance of choosing the right colors. As a result, they’re not getting what they are supposed to get. The viewer’s attention is limited. They can also tend to be impatient. Thus, it is their duty to design not just a good design but a design with the right color scheme which makes it spectacular.

Advertisers and manufacturers on the other hand, must give enough attention to other factors in connection with colors. First is demographics. The market of a particular service may be composed of the young or the adult or simply the elderly. The younger the audience is the more essential the color message should be. Children want neon colors – bright, vivid, trendy and hot. Teenagers like diversities thus they can settle to any kind of color like pastel, neon and solid colors. Adults, on the other hand want solid and formal colors. But if your audience is general then you can be safe with the conventional colors. Colors greatly affect our moods. Warm colors like orange and red make us feel secured and safe. Cool colors like green and blue create a relaxed atmosphere. Now you will no longer be surprised why red is a color which is widely used. This is because warm colors grab attention instantly.

Your choice of color must be linked with gender, ethnic and cultural inclination of your target audience. In China, you wear white when you are mourning however in North America it is used to connote snow, youth and is the color of bridal gowns. Caucasians color for power is red while Hispanic’s blue. We are living in a diverse world thus we have to extract the meaning of every color in relation to every one.

The second factor to consider is technology. It was predicted that the colors bronze, copper and metallic will make it as a ‘high tech’ color. They say these colors are attractive and fresh to the eyes thus may be appealing.

To give you a backgrounder on colors, primary colors include red, blue and yellow. They are pure colors. If you mix one to another the colors produced are called secondary colors. Mixing a primary to a secondary color produces tertiary colors. Complementary colors are those found directly across from one another on the color wheel. These colors came from the scientific palette. Artistic palette of colors, on the other hand, includes additive colors which include red, green and blue. Mixing them in equal quantities produces white. Mixing two of them produces cyan, magenta and yellow, also called the subtractive colors. This system of colors is also called the CMYK where K indicates black.

In order to make the color function, these color basics can help you extract the function that’s in them. You got to find it to experience the power.

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.wholesaleprintingteam.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 25

by Maricon Williams

You Bored Me at Hello! Three Strategies for Netw

You Bored Me at Hello! Three Strategies for Networking Your Brand

by: Kevin Kearns

กYou had me at hello,ก those famous words from the movie Jerry McGuire let Tom Cruise know that Rene Zellwegerกs character was hooked from that point and the rest of his talking was unnecessary. When in networking situations, many small business owners leave people with a slightly different feeling. If questioned for the truth, what would likely be said is, กyou bored me at hello!ก That is definitely not a great way to grow your business into a powerful name brand. Networking works, but not if you leave your prospects bored.

Networking opportunities are everywhere. You can find them at Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau events, not to mention when you are in line at the grocery store. There are even groups of people who regularly meet solely for the purpose of networking. Unfortunately, all of the networking opportunities in the world will not help grow your business unless people remember you and your company after you are gone.

Here are three strategies to avoid boring people during your next networking opportunity:

1) Gone in ThirtySeconds Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Any longer than thirty seconds for your กelevator speechก and you will be tuned out. People cannot sit through a thirtysecond commercial without changing the channel on the television. Your business will be treated the same way. They will start thinking about what they need to pick up on the way home or other random thoughts. Many times, they are simply waiting for you to stop talking so they can try to sell you on their business. Your brand message must be short, simple and to the point. If you ramble too much, the person will start feeling like Charlie Brown in school กwahwah, wah wah wah,ก กyes maกam.ก

2) Red or Black Pick a color. Roulette gives you the option of betting on red or black. If you bet red, you win when it hits on any red number. Winning is good. If it hits on any black number, you lose. Losing is not so good. However, when you กhedgeก and bet on red and black together you are guaranteed to not win. In a networking situation, limit what you talk about. Sure, you are risking leaving out something the prospect would like to hear. However, unless you get lucky and mention it first, the odds are that you will lose their attention by then anyway. Limit the scope of your brand, or say everything and be remembered for nothing.

3) Listen Thatกs right, you are remembered more when you listen. Most of us go through our day fighting to be heard. It feels really good to be acknowledged and understood. So good that we automatically think highly of the person listening to us. Listening demonstrates that you value the person talking. Sincerely listen to what the other person has to say and they will leave with high regard for you and your business.

There ya have it, networking success as simple as 1, 2, 3! Follow all three strategies and you are sure to notice a sharp improvement in your networking. Before you know it, you will leave your future clients saying กyou sold me at hello!ก Now, those types of responses build a powerful brand!

About The Author

Kevin Kearns is a small business branding coach. He holds a Master of Science degree in Organization Development and is a member of the Coachville Graduate School of Coaching. With a mixture of handson experience, research, and FUN, Kevin helps small businesses become the only choice for their customers. As one of the founding partners of the Worldกs First Snowboarder Hotel, THE BLOCK, Kevin has profited from the level of success only true branding can bring. Visit www.KevinKearns.com to join The Branding Bunch newsletter for free brandbuilding tips.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 28

by Kevin Kearns

Breathtaking Color Power!

Breathtaking Color Power!

by: Maricon Williams

Colors convey character, emotion and intention. You are what colors you choose. Thus, your choice of colors should reflect the message or feeling you to hope to convey to the viewer.

Red Red is hot color. It is an established color of love, urgency, courage, danger, passion, blood, intensity, aggression, and competition. It is best used as an accent color. This color does not usually blend well with greens or purples of the same intensity, so if you use red with these colors, modify the brightness or intensity.

Blue Blue is a color of peace, tranquility and wisdom. It also conveys honesty, truth, loyalty, power, coolness, health, harmony, and confidence. Blue is a safe choice for most uses, and goes well with the majority colors. Don’t use blue if your site is food or drink related, since there are hardly any blue foods and drinks.

Beige and Gray These are neutral colors. As neutrals, they can be combined with almost any color and still come across well. Both make for very readable backgrounds, but be sure to use glints of bright colors or the site will appear uninteresting. You can also accent beige or gray with dark colors. It will create an illustrious, professional look.

Black Black entails death, seriousness, solid strength, elegance, sophistication, rebellion, evil, power, and mystery. It can be powerful, aloof and intimidating. However, black is very useful in separating things such as graphic images. Black can make colors explode!

Yellow Yellow is the brightest of all colors and has the greatest illuminating power. It is a warm and cheerful color. In addition to cheerfulness, yellow can also convey caution, optimism, idealism, cowardice, and imagination. Too much yellow can be an eyesore. Be careful using yellow with greens and purples of the same intensity. It might tone down one or the other.

Green Green connotes youth, fertility, ecology, nature, health, growth, money, safety, healing, and food. However, to other viewers, it may connote envy, insects, and reptiles. Green can be well suited as a secondary or accent color.

Brown Brown implies simplicity, earthiness, comfort, durability, and stability. However, like the neutral grays and beiges, a site that is mostly brown can be very dull. However, a site that had a light brown/beige background, a rich brown secondary color, and bright or dark red accents can give the impression of being very professional.

When choosing colors for your web site. Choose wisely because colors have a larger impact on the viewers. To know its impact, try this test: Open your web site and write on a piece of paper as many words and images that you can think of. Now, have another person to do the same. After that, compare your notes. If you made correct color choices, the list should be almost impossible to tell apart.

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For Inquiries and Comments about the article and for additional information about web designs, log on to http://www.webdesignsprovider.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 06

by Maricon Williams

ขBuzz Marketing: Marketing to nonmarketable custo

ขBuzz Marketing: Marketing to nonmarketable customerข.

by: Arvind Kumar

Buzz marketing, also known as ‘wordofmouth marketing’ ‘guerilla marketing’ or ‘stealth marketing’ is an art of human kind to involve the trendsetters in any community to carry the brand’s message, thus creating an interest in, and a demand for, the brand with no overt advertising.

Nirmalya Kumar, professor of marketing, director of center for marketing and codirector of A.V. Birla India at London Business School.

When Dietrich Mateschitz formulated the drink ขRed Bullข in 1987 for Australian market, bars initially refused to stock it, seeing it as more of a medicinal drink than a mixer. However snowboarders and clubbers soon recognized. The boost it gave them. They started to bring it with them to non – alcohol bars and pubs.

Red Bull has mastered the buzz marketing. In the 8 sales area in US, the representative scouts for the hot spot. They distributed their branded refrigerator and some goodies to the bars and clubs. If other conventional establishments ask for Red Bull, they refuse them to retain the credibility and uniqueness of their community and clubbers. To connect this community, Red Bull use to organize a two – week annual music festival.

Red Bull first marketing technique was to distribute and target the teenagers and college goers. They went where these guys goes. Then Red Bull went around the cities full of Red Bull cars and distributed the drinks to anybody who need energy Free, the construction workers, Athletes all.

Coke and Pepsi recognized a new segmentation of their market and tried to capture it with big marketing budget. They created energy drinks. But after millions of write off they are distance number 3 and 4. Red Bull is still the king of energy drink with 65% of market and that is with the fraction of their spending.

Five years back on internet, Google started it operation in the dorm of two Stanford guys (You do not need to know there name, I guess) they created a system for search and marketed it on net with minimal of advertising. End result, after 3 years they become numro uno no in search – marketing in the presence of heavy spenders like Yahoo, overture etc

That the power of Buzz marketing. Gone are the days when you write a Cheque for your ad agency and agency will do the marketing. According to Philip Kotler, advertising is a lazy way of marketing and branding. You outsource almost everything, even your brand’s undergarments. Traditional marketer thinks that job is over. But buzz marketing is an engaging art of marketing. It is a hard way to market a product and services. Most of marketers do not like it. Because they like their comfortable aircondition rooms.

But in real world, you can’t close your eyes and think that your competitor will take pity on you. They are here to eliminate you. Buzz marketing is not a passé’ anymore. It is here and happening.

CEOs, be aware, if your people are saying they need different budget for branding, marketing and sales. Think again, someone is not ready to move his butts.

About The Author

Arvind Kumar is an Electrical Engineer from a premier Institute, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. He has 3 years experince in marketing business consulting services and marketing services. He is founder and CEO of www.nuttymarketer.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 05

by Arvind Kumar

Graphic Design Using Color

Graphic Design Using Color

by: Kelly Paal

Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors ขsayข in your own corner of the universe, and even what color means to your target market.

If you don’t think that color speaks just complete this sentence, ขred means and green means –ข even a child will know what red means stop and green means go. If such simple ideas work for all of a given culture or market what could it mean to the graphic design of your website, brochure, or product if you know some of this information.

First let’s start with the basics. The color wheel. We’ve all seen it. The color wheel shows the basic colors, each wheel is different in how many shades of each color is shown, but they are essentially the same.

Color harmony, colors that go together well. These will be colors that are next door to each other on the color wheel. Such as blue and green. In reference to clothes these colors match each other. Instinctively most of us know which colors go together when we dress ourselves every morning.

Color complements, colors that set each other off, they complement each other. These are colors that are opposite on the color wheel. Such as blue and orange.

Color depth, colors can recede or jump forward. Remember that some colors seem to fall back such as blue, black, dark green, and brown. Other colors will seem to step forward such as white, yellow, red, and orange. This is why if you have a bright orange background it may seem to fight with any text or images that you place on it. The orange will always seem to move forward.

Now you have the basics so let’s go further. Just because to colors go together or complement each other doesn’t mean that yo necessarily want to use them on your project. I opened this article with the meaning of colors now here is an example, keep in mind this is one example from western culture.

Color Survey: what respondents said colors mean to them.

Happy = Yellow

Pure = White

Good Luck = green

Good tasting = Red (tomato)

Dignity = Purple

Technology = Silver

Sexiness = Red (tomato)

Mourning = Black

Expensive = Gold

Inexpensive = Brown

Powerful = Red (tomato)

Dependable = Blue

High Quality = Black

Nausea = Green

Deity = White

Bad Luck = Black

Favorite color = Blue

Least favorite color = Orange

So in designing your project it’s important to know what colors mean. You can now see why a black back ground with green type would be bad, beyond being nearly impossible to read, if your target market thinks that black represents mourning and green makes them sick. There are exceptions to every rule of course.

So you may want to include some research in what colors mean to your target market. Colors that would get the attention of a teen would probably annoy an older person and the colors that appeal to the older person wouldn’t get a second look from a young person.

Color may be one of the most overlooked aspects of design.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on August 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal

The Color of Success?

The Color of Success?

by: Bibi Liew

Color should be one of your first concern when it comes to website design. Colors creates mood. It is immediate and memorable. It conveys character, expresses intention and emotion. Colors play a vital role in websiteกs impact. It reflect the message and identity you want to convey to your viewers and can heavily influence the decisionmaking process. Your site will end up either plain and boring or chaotic and hard to look at. Thus, it must be carefully considered.

Colors affect us psychologically. They can make us excited, happy, irritate, angry or sad. For example, if you owned a restaurant, try to use some orange color for your interior, or a red color table cloth to increase customers appetite. A good color combination that create a relaxed atmosphere and a big appetite are the perfect environment for a restaurant. Itกs the same for a website.

Choosing safe color for your Website.

Thatกs my advice! If you are not an expert in colors, you can refer to the color wheel to achieve safe colors The Complementary colors or the Monochromatic colors. The reason for choosing safe colors is because the web browsers shares 256 colors, but bear in mind that not all browsers share the same 256 color pallet. They only share 216 colors in common (Mac or PC). If you go outside the 216 color pallet, that means you are using the color that does not exist in the browser.

Lets take a look at some of the color meaning:

Red the color of passion

Red is the warmest of all colors. It represent passion, energy, desire, excitement, love, strength, courage, leadership and power. It also symbolizes fire, danger, blood, anger and war. Red reflects energy and can increase enthusiasm and interest. It enhances human metabolism, raises blood pressure and increases respiration rate. It has very high visibility, which is perfect for กClick Hereก or กBuy Nowก button in a website. Use this color to stimulate people to make quick decisions.

Blue the color of peace

Blue is the coolest color. It represent calm, truth, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, harmony, heaven, sincerity and trust. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body which slows down human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is often the chosen color by conservative people. It also symbolize coldness, depression and obscenity. According to studies, blue is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with expertise and stability.

Yellow the color of joy

Yellow is always full of creative and intellectual energy. Yellow symbolizes wisdom, happiness, wealth, hope, cheerful, and intellect. It brings clarity for decisionmaking and awareness, sharper memory and concentration skills. You can choose yellow to promote childrenกs product. Men usually perceive yellow as a very กchildishก color, so it is not recommended to use it when selling products for men nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow business bag. Yellow also symbolizes sickness, jealousy, and unstable.

Green the color of nature

It symbolize the master healer, well being, life, fertility, freshness, ambition, growth, stability and endurance. It is the most restful color for the human eye. Dark green is always associated with money, banking, and the financial world. It is best when you want to promote health products. On the other hand, it can denotes lack of experience and cowardice. Green is a safe color and if you don’t know what color to use, use green.

Orange the color of energy

Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, success, attraction, encouragement, and determination. It is always associated with sunshine, joy and autumn. Curiosity is a driving characteristic of orange when it comes to explore new things. It is said that people who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. It has a high visibility as well, so you can use it to catch attention or highlight an important elements in your website.

Purple the color of power

It is associated with royalty. Purple symbolizes luxury, ambition, magic and mystery, inspirational and imagination. It is also a color of good judgment. Being the combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, purple is most favored by children.

White the color of purity

It means cleanliness, innocent, goddess and safety. It is considered to be the color of perfection. White can represent a successful beginning. In advertising and design, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness. You can use white to suggest simplicity in hightech products.

Gray the color of neutrality

Gray is the color of sorrow. It is the symbol for security, maturity, dependability and reliability. Light hues of gray make a good readability and backgrounds. Gray with more silver in it can be a very active color.

Black the color of stability

Black is the most misunderstood color. Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown. It is also associated with power, elegance, formality, death and evil. Black is considered to be a very formal, elegant and prestigious color. A black background diminishes readability. It contrast well with bright colors. You can use a black background when designing photography to make the other colors stand out.

Do not take colors for granted. Your choice of color represents you and your products or services. Colors can emphasize the theme of your website. It must be used as a tool to attract viewers. Keep in mind what the different colors symbolize during website design and you will be delighted with the positive output.

Have fun!

About The Author

Bibi Liew is an Interior Designer and a webmaster of http://www.eBusinessinsights.com. Visit her website if you want to start an Online Business and get your ecommerce website set up FREE on your own Domain with 400 Days EzineInABox. Don’t miss it!

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 05

by Bibi Liew

Choosing A Color Scheme

Choosing A Color Scheme

by: Joanne Glasspoole

When you begin the design of your Web site, one of the first things you need to do is decide on a color scheme. Although choosing colors seems like a relatively easy proposition, itกs not easy at all. In fact, itกs hard.
One of the pluses we have as Web designers is that millions of colors are at our disposal. Unlike the print world, we do not have to pay for each color we use. If we want to use a specific hue of yellow, for example, all we need to know is the hexadecimal code for that particular color.
One of the pitfalls of having millions of colors to pick from is that some people go crazy and use every color imaginable on their Web site. This is a big nono. Not only does it look unprofessional to use 20 different colors on your home page, but depending on the colors you choose, your page may not be readable.
It is extremely important to pick hues that complement each other. You will want to use a background color that contrasts well with the color of your text. People are used to reading black text on a white background. I keep this fact in mind when I design my clientsก Web sites. Although I have never stuck with the black and white color scheme, I try to use a dark font on a light background. It makes for easier reading and a more pleasant experience for my visitors.
Color affects our emotions. For example, the color red makes us hungry. If you’re on a diet, it wouldn’t be a good idea to set your table with a red tablecloth!
Colors like blue and green are cool. Have you noticed in the summertime how sitting in a blue room automatically makes you feel refreshed?
Yellow is a wonderful brightener. It is cheerful and warm like the sun.
When using colors on your Web site, you need to consider the mood you want to create and the audience you are designing for.
If you are designing a Web site for children, red is an excellent color choice, because it attracts the eye and stimulates our metabolism. Red is cheerful and exuberant.
Blue is an excellent choice for a business site because it exudes professionalism, wealth and power.
If you are designing a Web site for a nature group, greens and browns are natural choices because they are colors that are commonly found in the outdoors.
Another important consideration when choosing color schemes is cultural differences. For example, black is the color most commonly associated with mourning in the United States, but in Japan, white symbolizes sorrow. In Malaysia, green is associated with disease, and red symbolizes anger in Indonesia. As you can see by just these three examples, color is interpreted quite differently depending on the country. You must be careful if you don’t want to insult your visitors.
Choosing an appropriate color scheme for your Web site is extremely important. Your color scheme must be carefully considered because the wrong choices could adversely affect your visitorกs experience at your Web site. You only have one chance to make a good impression. Don’t blow it!
For more information about choosing color schemes, visit the following resources on the Web:
The Color Schemer

http://www.godigitalstudios.com/www/color
Clear Inkกs Palette Man

http://www.paletteman.com/
Project Cool Developer Zone

http://www.projectcool.com/developer/reference/colorchart.html
VisiBone Web Design Color References

http://www.visibone.com/color/
A book that illustrates excellent use of color on the Web is "Web Site Graphics: Color" by Jeff Carlson, Toby Malina and Glenn Fleishman. For more information about this book, visit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564965163/glasspoolewebdev

About The Author

Joanne Glasspoole is a Webmaster and freelance Web designer. Visit her Web site for Internet and technology news, insightful articles, and links to excellent Webmaster resources to help you grow your online business. http://www.glasspoole.com

This article was posted on February 4, 2002

by Joanne Glasspoole