Why Website Colors Matter

Yes, it is your website. And thanks to WordPress, you can use any combination of colors you want. You can change text, headlines, accents, and button colors with just a click or two.

But that doesn’t mean you should use any colors you want. Or as many as you want.

How your website looks, makes people feel, and, more importantly, what it makes people do is impacted by its appearance and colors. Colors also solidify your website’s credibility and legitimacy.

Why Create a Website Color Palette?

Look at my site. Do you notice anything? My entire website revolves around only three colors. And I use a lot of grayscale photos. Even with my featured images, I try to stay within the same color scheme — and theme.

Why do I do that? It lends to a clean, professional, and credible presentation. And a cohesive branding message.

You can look home-brewed fast when you add colors willy-nilly without concern about whether they will match or clash with other site elements. This is where establishing a color palette and then sticking to that works to provide a polished presentation.

Colors Have Meaning

A perfect example is a traffic light. Red for Stop, Green for Go, and Yellow for Caution. You see those colors, and you know how to react. They have a universal meaning.

This is why when you choose the colors for your website, you want to be aware of the possible perception of each color, even if subconsciously, and how they may make visitors feel. The colors you choose will determine what visitors think of your presentation.

What can colors imply when it comes to your website? Here are a handful of examples for each color.

BLACK: Formality, Elegance, Fear, Sophistication, Wealth

BLUES: Calm, Knowledge, Security, Stability, Trust.

BROWN: Comfort, Home, Endurance, Simplicity, Outdoors

GREENS: Generosity, Environment, Nature, Renewal, Youth

GRAYS: Calm, Conservative, Intelligence, Reliability, Security

RED: Aggression, Danger, Heat, Passion, Power

ORANGE: Demanding, Energy, Enthusiasm, Warmth, Vibrant

PURPLES: Ceremony, Honor, Nobility, Mysterious, Wisdom

YELLOW: Friendship, Happiness, Hope, Imagination, Optimism

WHITES/BEIGE/IVORY: Clinical, Goodness, Precision, Purity, Simplicity

If you do business internationally, colors may have different meanings in other cultures. For example, red in Japan reflects happiness; here in the USA, it is perceived as an aggressive power color. White in the West indicates marriage, while in Eastern Cultures, death.

Creating Your Color Palette

Back in the day, there were “web-safe colors.” These 216 colors were what you wanted to stick with as they were the only ones to be displayed consistently across all 8-bit platforms. Twenty-seven years later, that’s no longer the case, and you can use any colors you want.

The key is that they look good together and help to support your business’s image and perception. But, of course, some folks are better at determining what colors look good together than others. So if you are the latter, here’s what we do.

If you have a logo, start there. On the web, colors are called out by six-digit hex codes preceded by the hash/number sign. For example, white is #ffffff, and black is #000000.

Your graphic software should have a color picker tool. The icon looks like an eyedrop. You can get specific color codes from any graphic, including your logo. Then use those colors and lighter or darker variations to create your palette.

You want a palette of 3-5 colors you use for everything: links, headlines, buttons, mouseovers, and other accents.

Don’t Forget About Featured Images

Many website owners overlook how images and colors can impact the overall appearance of their website. So, first and foremost, regardless of color, stay away from clip art.

Photo quality is paramount—quality photos represent your business, image, and products. Therefore, I choose feature images in line with my overall palette and primary “blue” color.

The image color scheme has to look good — not stark, and with a contrast that does not clash. I don’t want anyone featured image to appear out of place or stand out as “which one is not like the others.”

Websites to Help Create Your Palette

And I have to put this out there. If you are not creative and don’t understand what colors look good together — use the tools below — don’t wing it.

Here are a few websites you can bookmark to learn about and create, then nail down your website palette.

Canva, Canva, Canva! I can’t say enough about this service that I use every day. From images to presentations to even having a color palette creator that lets you create a palette with the HTML color codes from an image — like your logo.
ColorHunt: Offers 4-color palettes for you to choose from, tweak and expand upon.
HTML Color Codes: This feature-rich resource lets you choose and determine your color schemes via a color picker, color charts, and even color names.
WordTracker has a great article on choosing your website color scheme. (Check out their keyword research tools while you are there.)

Color Choices Reflect on Your Web Presence

Colors can make all the difference in the world as to the success of your online presence. To be taken seriously, trusted, and build relationships with your site visitors. Choose your colors wisely.

At your service,