Colors have psychological, spiritual, and cultural meanings; and the interpretation of them gives an impression that is long lasting. Advertisers have been using colors as a way of  leading the viewer since the inception of color media. But what does this mean for you as a business owner? For starters, your business colors  and the color theme of your website reflect how people perceive your brand. And knowing is half the battle. Similar to keywords used by Google and other search engines, by knowing what expectation people place in specific words and phrases, by using specific colors you can make a lasting impression on potential customers. First we need to understand the color meanings. And how they currently represent wants and needs in media today. Have you ever noticed that during the hot summer months, you will see advertisements of cool blue skies and shimmering clear lakes; and then in the chilly winter months you will see advertisements of warm comfortable fires and suntanned people on hot beaches? There is a method to the madness. Weather is an easy trigger, and for advertising media, a predictable campaign. The following is a list of some colors and their meanings:

• Red:  Confidence, Vitality, Passion, and Courage
• Pink:  Love, Beauty
• Brown: Warmth, Earth, and Convention
• Orange: Fun, Light-hearted, and Youthful
• Gold: Wealth, Wisdom, and Good Health
• Yellow: Wisdom, Joy, and Happiness
• Green: Life, Nature, Fertility, and Well being
• Blue: Honesty, Youth, Spirituality, Truth, and Peace
• Purple: Royalty, Magic, and Mystery
• White: Purity, Cleanliness
• Black: Death, Earth, and Stability
• Silver: Sleek, High-tech, Modern, Pure, and  Graceful
• Gray: Sorrow, Security,and Maturity

When creating a website, the colors you use are very important. Its like color matching when painting your house. You dont want conflicting colors from room to room. Like Black and Orange, they may be great halloween colors, but mixing the two can be calamitous. Black representing death and orange representing youth, these colors will confuse your clients if not presented correctly (ie. referencing Halloween). Its not chance that most credit unions have the color green in there logos, nor is it coincidence that most banks have gold or blue in there logos. Not all certainly, but a fair amount of these companies have done their research and found that having a color meaning represented in their logo, creates an impression for their clients. Here is a link to a site called Logo Critiques that shows the representations of color in some popular logos and brands. Knowing that colors have meaning and power over people's emotions can help you when you are creating a logo, a website, or marketing campaign. By finding what the potential customer is looking for in a product or service, you can then create a website that caters to them.