Choosing the colors for your website is an important decision that can be especially tough when designing a site for a business that has no established color scheme.  You may not have realized it, but the colors of your site can actually have a psychological effect on your visitors.

I recommend that you select three colors that you will use consistently throughout your site.  For your primary color, you may want to consider the emotions that specific colors can invoke.  For example:

• Red: food, energy, passion, excitement, power, aggression, danger, adventure.
• Yellow: light, optimism, happiness, brightness, joy, curiosity, playfullness.
• Blue: coolness, spirituality, freedom, patience, loyalty, peace, trustworthiness, success, healing.
• Brown: comfort, strength, stability, credibility, earth, nature.
• Green: animals, life, nature, restfulness, health, wealth, prosperity.
• Orange: friendliness, warmth, approachability, energy, playfulness, courage, creativity, youth.
• Purple: wisdom, sophistication, celebration, royalty, justice, uncertainty.
• Black: power, elegance, secrecy, mystery.
• Gray: security, maturity, reliability.
• White: purity, cleanliness, youth, freshness, peace, simplicity.
• Pink: romance, sweetness, innocence, tenderness, youth.

Think about how other colors will work with the primary color that you have chosen.  There are several free online applications that can help you choose your combined color palette, such as:

• http://colorschemedesigner.com
• http://kuler.adobe.com
• http://www.pictaculous.com

As you are making your selections, you will want to choose colors with a strong contrast in order to make sure that your text is easily readable on the background.  Even though black text on a white background is the standard for readability, there are many other acceptable combinations that will work for people with visual disabilities.  Here are some free online applications that will allow you to test your color schemes for visibilty by people with color deficiencies:

• http://www.iamcal.com/toys/colors/
• http://www.etre.com/tools/colourcheck/

Your color scheme needs to be carefully considered since the wrong choice may have an adverse effect on your visitors, leading to lost traffic and lost sales.  Take your time and choose wisely.