How to Choose Colors

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How to Choose Colors for your Web Site

Is Your Website Ready for the Holidays?

Making a List and Checking it Twice:

The holiday season is fast approaching, and now is the time to make sure your website is ready for the rush of holiday shoppers. With gas prices on the rise and many consumers having tightened budgets this year, you need to
make sure your website stands out from the competition if you want the shoppers to buy from your site. To help make sure your site doesn't end up on the naughty list, here is a brief website Holiday Preparedness Checklist:

No broken images or links Sometimes things you've linked to have become outdated & the only place broken links lead customers is away from your website.

Site is easy to navigate Ask a friend or family member to place a test order and give you their honest feedback.

Discontinued items removed Few things are more frustrating than finding the perfect holiday gift, only to learn it's no longer available.

Seasonal items uploaded and easy to get to (A direct link or featured holiday item on the home page is a good idea.)

Content updated with seasonal focus (Outdated content - spring specials in October? - doesn't create a lot of confidence that orders will be handled in a timely manner.)

Sales and promotions are prominently displayed (Online shoppers love a good bargain, so make sure they can find yours.)

Learn from Your Competitors: Also, checkout what your competition was doing last year. It may give you some tips on what or what not to do this year.

Offer Online Gift Certificates: If your site doesn't offer online gift certificates, and your visitors don't find that perfect gift, they will just leave. Gift certificates make great last minute gifts. In addition, they're
a great way to drive sales at the beginning of next year.

Gifts by Price: Organize and suggest gifts by price range. For example, highlight gifts under $10, 25, 50, 100 or whatever price points are appropriate for your business.

Gifts by Person: Organize gifts intended for different people groups such as kids, teens, parents, grandparents, etc.

Stocking Stuffers: Be sure to highlight low cost products that would make good stocking stuffers. These can be a great way to increase your average order total.

Shipping and Return Info on Product Pages: Shipping and return issues will be top of mind for your customers at this time. Assure them your policies are convenient and fair by linking to your shipping and returns page from your product pages.

Offer Gift Wrapping: Many don't like the idea of sending gifts to friends or family wrapped in nothing but bubble wrap or Styrofoam popcorn. If you can, offer gift wrapping services to your online customers. Be sure to charge enough to cover the labor and material costs for this additional service.

Emphasize Urgency: Let your customers know it's not safe to wait until the last minute. To prevent shipping issues or product stock outs, encourage your customers to shop early.

Most importantly! Don't forget to personalize your website with a note to your customers thanking them for their patronage and wishing them a joyous season!

How to Choose Colors for Your Web Site

Color can have a profound impact on your prospective buyers. The wrong colors can negatively impact your sales, while the right colors can trigger positive emotions motivating your visitors to buy from you.

Color can affect how we feel and influence what we think. In general, bright bold colors tend to stir us up, while the softer pastel colors calm and relax us. Responses to colors can vary by age, gender and cultural background.

Colors will affect how a potential buyer reacts to your web site. Carefully select your color scheme for your web site, web header, and ebook cover. Here are some guidelines to help you make good color choices. Bear in mind that these are guidelines, and that there are no hard and fast rules. Just use common sense. * Consider your audience. For example, if your web site primarily targets men, then you will want to use strong, bold colors. If your target audience is women, then choose soft, pastel colors. If your focus is on children, choose bright, vibrant colors.

* Choose colors that are appropriate for your web site's topic. For example, green may work well for web sites about starting a home business, making money, and reducing debt.

* Keep the number of colors down to two or three, and no more. This does not include photographs which can have a whole range of colors.

* Make sure that all of the colors you use work well together and do not clash.

* Communicate your message with easy-to-read text. Use colors for your text that contrast with the background color so your text is readable. For example, a dark font on a light background is easy to read.

* Consider the mood you want to create. Remember that emotions trigger sales. People buy what they want - not what they need. The list below will show you how colors can affect us in different ways.

Red - Action, energy, strength, passion, fire, heat, power, attention-getting. Can also mean love and romance. A strong masculine color. Red is a good color for a call-to-action. Red is cheerfulness, excitement, and warmth. Pink is a soft version of red. It is most associated with romance, calming affect; a feminine color.

Blue - Confidence, travel, freedom, truth, professionalism, wealth and power. Also tranquility, dependable, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security. It is one of the most calming colors and is associated with the sky and the sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust. Blue has also been known to be an appetite suppressant, so it would not be good for cookbooks or recipes but you can consider it for diet books.

Green - Money, wealth, prosperity, calm, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness. Green symbolizes spring, renewal, and fertility.

Orange - Health and vitality, autumn, youthfulness, fire, steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy. Has been known to stimulate the appetite. Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn and the earth.

Yellow - Light, purity, understanding, caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring. Yellow often represents sunshine, warmth, light, energy and happiness.

Purple - Dignity, sophistication, creativity, spirituality and mystery. Deep purple is associated with royalty and richness, while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia.

Brown - Credibility, stability, the hearth, home, the earth, wood, comfort and strength. Brown can be used as a neutral or a warm color.

Black - Space, night, authority, dramatic, classy, committed, serious, power, elegance, and sophistication.

White - Purity, peace, perfection, fresh, easy, cleanliness, goodness, and spirituality. Worth noting here, white represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death and sorrow in Eastern cultures.

Grey - A conservative color, symbolizing security, maturity and reliability.

Take advantage of the impact color can have on your online sales and choose colors that will create positive responses.

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Affordable & reliable ways to sell your CDs or MP3s on your website:

As an artist or band, there are basic things that you need to have available on line. First on that list is YOUR MUSIC! The more musicians I talk to, the more this seems to be the big obstacle. After all, even people who have some computer savvy don’t always have the time, much less the motivation to research all of their options & put a plan into motion. I’ve also noticed that a lot of people have a strange, but understandable aversion to promoting themselves. The ones that look at it in a strictly professional light seem to be the ones who are able to get the job done in the most painless fashion.

For me it was always just a necessity. That doesn’t mean it was easy. Someone would want a 25 word description of one of my projects for a site or a bio in 50 words or less to promote an event & I needed inspiration. I went on line & read other peoples bios, articles, blogs… whatever I could find to help me learn the ins & outs of presenting yourself in a professional and hopefully entertaining way. For instance, by visiting sites like CD baby, or UMA and reading random artist listings, I was able to get a good feel for the ones that came across as pros and the ones that turned me off.

A great way to sell your CDs is by using CD Baby. For a set up fee of $35 per CD you are not only listed in CD Baby & search engine directories, but from that page I will be able to create a music page on your site that sells CDs professionally. On that page you can see the CD cover, description, tracks and people can hear samples of each song right on that page. Signing up is very easy. There is one form that you print & mail in w/5 or 6 CDs as stock and the $35 fee. One CD will be used to make the MP3s. And of course CD Baby keeps a percentage per CD sold. But on the bright side, you don't have to deal with the fulfilling the orders, the packaging or shipping & handling fees. Its a great place to sell CDs and also to browse & check out other artists like & unlike us.

Paypal is another fantastic way to sell anything at all on the web. I am currently selling my newest CD on my website using Paypal & have found it to be a great tool.

As a last option I'd like to mention that it is possible to create a download page for you where people can download your song or songs as MP3s for free. This might be a good way to get a demo on your site for club owners to check out, or for instance, if you have a song or 2 that you don't plan on releasing on a full CD. Or you can send me a few seconds of a song as a taste test for your browsers.

If you are too busy or don’t have access to the internet & decide that you want Hampton Website Design to build & maintain your site for you, I will give you an CD Baby application to fill out & mail in with your CDs so that your music page can be set up for you.

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PAGE OPTIONS

Flash Splash: Optional ‘Enter’ page with 'flash’ (THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU OUTSIDE OF THIS WEBSITE)

Please note! Although flash can be fun, it is usually not compatible with slower computers & is therefore not recommended.

Home Page: Sometimes called the ‘welcome’ page, this is your home base page that has all the basic info links to your site.

About: Also known as a ‘bio’ about yourself, or your co.

History Does your establishment have an interesting history you'd like to share?

Contact Us: Email, Address

Driving directions: Map can be included

Services: List details of services, along with prices if you’d like.

Menu: Your menu may change & through our easy maintenance plan, you can even post your specials weekly, monthly, etc.

Wine List

Catering Services

Services Whatever your specialty might be, this is the place to list what you can offer your customers

Resume: Looking for a job? Post it.

Careers & Jobs: Looking to hire someone? Post it.

Photo album: a place to show photos of your establishment, your services, your staff & yourself!

Calendar: List your events & details

News / Events: Your newsletter & event promotions & details.

Download Page: MP3s available for your visitors to check out.

Discography: All the CDs you’ve played on, kind of like a bio.

Links: Links to the websites that you are related to, or who are your pals.

Site Map: Literally a map, listing all the pages of your site for easy reference.

Genealogical Tree: your family tree

Lyrics: Categorize them by CD & post all of your lyrics.

Journal: A good way to express yourself & make your site more personal.

Guestbook: Visitors can leave comments on your guestbook.

Counter: Over time you’ll be amazed at how many ‘hits’ your site has gotten!

Frequently asked questions: List your most frequently asked questions along with the answers to help inform your customers.

Survey Form: Create a form that will ask specific questions & can be answered via email by your customers.

You create it: Every business is unique! Use a page to promote a special upcoming event with a photos & information, or create your own personal monthly newsletter, coupons, or just about anything that can be typed!

Email List Management & Marketing Available!

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