Tips for Creating a Marketable Website (Series: Part 4 of 5) – Guest blog by Prosper’s Ethan Willis and Randy Garn

About Prosper

Prosper offers long distance one-on-one customized education programs to help students realize their potential and achieve greater wealth. Prosper currently focuses mentoring programs on real estate and stock market investing, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, personal development, and personal finance.    Curriculum is geared towards students who want to get ahead, start a business and diversifying their income.  The programs offer the knowledge, skills and accountability students need to reach their goals.  For more information about Prosper Inc., visit www.prospering.com.

Tip 4: Avoid the pitfalls of poorly executed designs

Like it or not, your business marketing advertisements become an instantly recognizable symbol of your company. If successful, people see your advertisement or your logo and instantly recall your product and business information. If poorly executed, your advertisement becomes the punch line of a bad joke.

We’ve all seen them. Newspaper ads glaring at us from amid a hailstorm of exclamation points. The ever popular deliberate misspelling to create alliteration. Television ads with flashing bright lights that send you running for cover.

Like it or not, your business marketing advertisements become an instantly recognizable symbol of your company. If successful, people will see your advertisement or your logo and instantly recall your product and business information. If poorly executed, your advertisement becomes the punch line of a joke.

Think about the following animals. If I say blue elephant, most people will instantly associate that with the Republican Party. If I say red donkey, most people will automatically associate that with the Democratic Party.

Color plays a surprisingly large part in ensuring successful advertisements. Look at fast food restaurants. Most of the colors used in decorating, packaging, and advertising are oranges, yellows, and reds. Some psychologists suggest that these warm tones produce feelings of excitement and aggression, while others suggest that these colors stimulate the hunger response. Hospitals use softer colors for their walls and uniforms. Standard hospital issue is white, light pink or light blue. These soothing colors can have a pronounced affect on patients. When choosing colors for your advertisements, know your target audience and the intended affect you wish to have. Different age groups as well as genders tend to have an affinity for different colors and respond to their preferences differently than they respond to other colors. Tailor your designs to your target audience.