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[C1182]Creating Websites For Dummies

by Turcanu Codrut, Tur

Colors are very important in the creation of websites. They give a non verbal message to those who visit the websites, perhaps one that speaks more loudly than the verbal one that is given there. Some years ago, it was discovered that colors themselves actually influence how a person feels and how they react in various situations and to various things.

For instance, back in the early 1950's, hospitals started having their nurses wear colors such as light green, light blue, and turquoise, rather than the usual stark white, because it was realized that these colors were warm and soothing and made the patients feel calmer. Hospital rooms were also painted in those colors, rather than in the neutral grays, tans and whites which had been the usual colors up until that time.

When you think of circus posters, you think immediately of reds and blues and yellows, colors which made you feel excited, the same sort of thing was done with movie posters, advertising movies which were going to be coming soon. The idea was to get the potential customer to feel excited about the circus or about the movie and want to be sure and be there and not miss out on anything.

This same sort of thinking is also used in the construction of our websites. What kind of feeling do you want to bring to the person who visits your website? If you are constructing a family genealogical website for example, one upon which you plan to sell genealogy software or family trees, then you may want to use warm colors, colors that will make the visitor feel soothed and comfortable and bring back memories of early homes, and of mom and dad and apple pie and holidays together, that sort of thing. If your website is one on which you wish to sell a different sort of product however, you may want to incorporate the use of brighter, more garish colors such as red, blue and yellow, colors which will get the visitor excited about what you have to offer, get them enthusiastic and encourage them to want to be a part of what you have to offer.

Some colors, when mixed together to create another color, such as red and blue to create purple, carry both the warm and the cooling aspect, a lot depending on the shade. Red, blue and a touch of white, create a color of purple that speaks of majesty and royalty, especially when combined with the color of gold in the creation of a website.

Each color brings with it its own special attractions and it is important to use those colors to deliver just the exact meaning that you want to give to those who visit your website. Shading is important too. A light blue for example, can be a soothing, calming color, that will make a visitor to your website feel relaxed, while a royal blue can be an exciting color, which will make them want to act upon what they are reading on your website.

Another thing to think about in constructing your website is the customer that you will want to attract. If you are constructing a website that is geared to sell items to ladies for example, you might want to use colors such as lavender and pink, while if you were constructing a website geared to sell hunting equipment to men, you probably would choose to bypass those particular colors in favor of browns, tans and greens.

If you were constructing a website that you wanted to appeal to children, who, while they might not be the customers, have a great deal of influence over those who may be, then you might want to use the bright colors that would bring forth the excitement of a circus. What one might term joyful colors. These colors would do well if you were selling children's books for example.

It is also important to think about the harmony of the colors that we put together.

We want them to have an eye appeal to the visitor at the website, not drive them away. This doesn't mean never using colors that don't “go together” on the same website, sometimes we do that because we can use them in a certain way that will make them work together, but when we do that we need to do it carefully and make sure that we get the desired results.

Colors are very important in the construction of a website and we want to be sure that what they say enhances what we are saying in words and pictures on the website. Make each element of your website work together to get across exactly the message you want to give. As strange as it may seem, the right colors on your website may lead to more “green” in your wallet.

As a logger, I started creating websites that I found personally interesting to me. I found articles that were fun and interesting and posted them for people to read. After all... people create blogs so they can share their feelings and aspirations. But when you create that blog you also feel that you are putting a large amount of time into the projects and wish to see if you are able to generate income from your work. This is where Google Ad sense comes into play.
I discovered Google Ad sense mostly by accident and was intrigued by the concept of Contextual Advertising. I felt if Google could deliver the ads, all I had to do was get the traffic. I could sit back and collect the money. I applied ad sense to my site and waited. Well...I waited a "long time" for little to nothing.

Not being one to give up easily, I used small and large ad formats and applied them to the top half of my website, to the right side and also to the bottom. I waited a period of time to see the results and "surprise, surprise". I did get an increase in clicks. The only problem was, the clicks were still small and didn't amount to much. By this time most people would have given up and would have just moved along to other advertisers.
I seriously started to look at "Bloats" and "crisp ads" but I finally came back to Google. After a period of reflection, I decided that I was missing some critical pieces of information and decided the best route to take was to learn by example.

I looked long and hard at people who were successful at ad sense. I looked at their sites. I made mental notes of what they were doing and what kind of content they had. I read their own stories of success and then compared what they did against each other.
What I found intrigued me. I found out that successful people in the ad sense program have relevant content and they use human behavior to their advantage. Now relevant content is a given, but what I mean by "using human behavior" is a little bit more complex.

Evidently people arrive at your site and make up their minds up in a flash. Instantly they choose to stay on your site or leave it. They look for something that catches their interests and if it does, they stay there to read your information or end up buying a product.

Internet users are "trained" to look in certain locations and ignore things that are outside of their narrow scope of vision. People can look to the sides for information, but the propensity for them to click your ads becomes significantly lower. By putting ads directly "in their face", you have a greater chance they will click it.

Now, I am not an ad sense expert by any stretch of the imagination and still learn new things everyday. I am like "you", a person who wants to generate an income and hopefully have more incentive to keep going. But...I know what works for me and what doesn't.

Now, there were only several things that I did to increase my ad sense click through and after experimentation, I am convinced these are the winning ticket.

These are things I did:

I use a white background instead of a color background.

I remove the border on ad sense so it does not look like an ad and make sure it matches the background

I keep the Title and the Hyperlink "Blue".

I keep Ad sense "above the fold", so they are the "FIRST" thing that people see when they arrive at the site.

I use these formats only.

The 338X280. This one is primarily used because it is large and it does not look like an ad.

The small Google "ad links", (180x90) or others similar, because they are not targeted tightly and give people options to see other things that relevant to THIER interest and I blend the ad to make it look like the rest of the titles.

I try to keep the ads "left" aligned.

I use the 160X600 vertical for people to see when they move vertically down the website page.

I try to place images near the Google ads. Images draw the eyes near the ads.

I keep the site concise, clean and focused.

By using these tactics I was able to increase my ad sense click through rate significantly depending on traffic level and people's interest.

Take my advice and give it a try. I believe you will see a change and hopefully make ad sense a more pleasurable experience.

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Both Turcanu Codrut & Jaipy Padda are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Turcanu Codrut has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Divorce and Infidelity and Computers and The Internet. . Turcanu Codrut's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.

Jaipy Padda has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Joint Venture and Advertising Guide. For more useful tips and hints, please browse for more information at our website:-. Jaipy Padda's top article generates over 5400 views. to your Favourites.