Website Color Scheme & Your Client Attraction Style

Your Client Attraction Style gives you a complete roadmap on everything from your website design to how to write your newsletter. What you might not have realized was that it can also point you in the right direction of the details, too. For instance, your Client Attraction Style is the perfect place to look for the right color scheme for your marketing materials! Find your type below to see what it means to the colors you use.

Katharine Hepburn

Kats are funnier than the rest of us–they’re the ones who can get away with long rants in their blogs and newsletters and people shower them with love and adoration. The ones who need to bring plenty of “tough love” to their work with clients, and balance it with a soft touch. They’re straight shooters with a playful side and require a color scheme to back that up.

The best mix is usually mostly neutral with a playful color or two thrown in for spark. A bit of orange, pink, or bright green gives the site a personality that lets visitors know right from the start that the Kat-style site won’t be like anything else they’ve visited that day.

How to choose a website color scheme

A couple of schemes to try: sepia tones plus teal, grays and a bright orange, corporate blue plus pink.

Liz Taylor

Lush and seductive, the Liz Taylor style requires texture. In your business cards, that can mean letterpress printing, great cardstock, and a touch of high-gloss ink. On the web, that means wood grain textures, layered design, and lots of carefully selected details. Since true sheen isn’t achievable on the web, look for other ways to add depth and texture, like etching effects, embossing (carefully and subtly used) and colors that are saturated and dynamic.

A common mistake with the Liz style is to go overboard with the colors in an attempt to make things interesting–instead, rely on a handful of carefully chosen colors because for your materials, less is definitely more. Liz’s colors are often similar to Audrey’s but need to be a touch more sophisticated.

How to choose a website color scheme

A couple of schemes to try: A dark, deep texture (like wood grain or wallpaper) plus neutrals, muted purples and greens plus dark gray to ground it, dark oranges with gray for a sophisticated yet friendly site.

Are you starting to see the ripples of your Client Attraction Style? It’s even easier if you take the quiz and then take me up on your complimentary consultation! From the way you write the text on your home page to the color you choose for your brochures, your Client Attraction Style will make everything you do to market your business, better. (Plus, having a role model makes everything a heck of a lot easier!)

So, start with the quiz, then let’s talk one-on-one so that you can explore what this means to you, and to your business.

(If you missed part one, it’s here.)

A Miscellaneous Compilation

There are a few things that have been going out in the newsletter that I haven’t been posting to the blog. (Which, btw is a great reason to sign up for the newsletter!)

How to Get Clients

First, if you haven’t yet checked out my call on Emergency Client Attraction, do. We did the live call about a month ago, and the recording’s been edited and is ready for download. Already people who were on the live call are racking up thousands of dollars worth of new business and they’re just getting started. I’ll be adding testimonials to that page soon, and when I do, I’ll also be making other changes, including raising the price… So, why not pick it up now so you can get started attracting clients right away *and* save yourself some coin!

Where Else You Can Find Me

Also, I’ve been doing more guest posting lately. Usually, I turn down requests to write guest posts because I don’t have much time for it, but as part of another project I’ve been squeezing in more writing time, so, enjoy these three new posts:

How to Use Your Sense of Style to Find Your Web Colors

Your Client Attraction Style gives you a complete roadmap on everything from your website design to how to write your newsletter. What you might not have realized was that it can also point you in the right direction of the details, too. For instance, your Client Attraction Style is the perfect place to look for the right color scheme for your marketing materials! Find your type below to see what it means to the colors you use.

Edith Head

The Edith Head brand is marked by calculated risks. This means stepping outside traditional website color schemes, using super saturated colors, and setting the tone by choosing colors that expand on what you’re saying. You can get away with more colors than most people can (typically, a good color scheme uses no more than 3-5 colors), but you also might decide to choose a less colorful scheme than others. Whether you choose a two-color scheme, or you decide to unleash 11 colors on your site, the important part is to make sure you know *why* you’re using the colors you are.

How to choose website color schemes

A couple of schemes to try: black and white (and no accent color), 10 shades of gray plus one accent color (instead of using red which is rather expected, try an orange or teal), orange + red (for a saturated, dynamic look).

Audrey Hepburn

The Audrey brand is marked by classic usage of softer colors. You don’t have to use pastels, but stay away from the most vivid colors of the spectrum (red and orange tend to be too “hot” for your site). Stick to the traditional 3-5 color scheme, but feel free to freshen it up by using a monochromatic plus one analogous color (touching on the color wheel) for subtle interest.

How to choose a website color scheme

A couple of schemes to try: two shades of blue plus purple, four shades of blue plus teal, three shades of purple plus two shades of blue.

Judy Garland

Judy’s colors are fresh and vibrant, but not quite as daring as Edith’s. Sunny, cheerful colors are a perfect accent for this brand, and using them in a playful way ensures you’re maximizing Tribe appeal. Use caution, though, because your propensity for primary colors can make your site too childlike (which really only works if you care for children). Bring an edge of sophistication with plenty of white space, and classic, clean fonts. (Attention Judys of the world: DO NOT use Comic Sans. Please.)

Designing a website color scheme

A couple of schemes to try: yellow plus blue evokes a sunny day, green plus blue is fresh and natural but slightly more sophisticated.

Next time, we’ll cover the remaining types, and in the meantime, make sure to take the Client Attraction Style Quiz.

The double opt in debate–the only question that matters

Apparently, double opt in versus single opt in* is making the rounds again because I’ve been getting a lot of emails about it. If you, too, have been wondering whether single opt in or double opt in is better, there’s only one question you need to answer:

Are you looking for readers who take the time to read and follow directions or for people who can’t be bothered?

If you’re building a list in which you plan to have strong relationships with your readers, your answer is easy. If you’re All About The Numbers and just want a big list in a hurry, then, sure, single opt in will do you just fine.

If you do it right, you can easily get 90% of potential subscribers to take the extra step. The 10% you’ll lose, in my opinion, probably wouldn’t have been the best subscribers anyway.

But, don’t just take my word for it. I recently reconfirmed a client’s list. They had 10,000+ subscribers and I warned them to expect to come through the process with a list of no more than 5000. Turned out, I was wrong–they came through with a list of 2000. Yipes!

We spent about a month on intensive list growth, this time with a double opt in policy firmly in place. Because I’d written the messages, I knew they would work (and this part is really key–you’ve got to write killer copy for each and every step [and there are more steps than you'd expect] if you want high double opt in rates).

We went through my complete 8 Keys to Utterly Unsexy List Growth program, one step at a time… And a month later, their list was above 10,000 again. That’s not particularly impressive–it’s always pretty easy to get back to a set number of subscribers–but what was impressive was that their profit per subscriber tripled. Cool, right? And, fortunately, well worth their winding up with fewer than half as many subscribers as I’d predicted they would.

But, the dollars aren’t really why I always strongly recommend double opt in. The reason I recommend it is that it gives you a bunch of extra opportunities to set the tone and ensure the people joining your list are going to be great subscribers. Plus, done right, the process is a heck of a lot of fun for both you *and* your new readers.

Really, the question isn’t whether double opt in or single opt in is better. Rather, it’s “how can we set up our double opt in process to welcome as many new readers as possible?”

Answer that question and your list will not grow like crazy, it’ll build you strong reader relationships. (It also cuts way down on complaints, by the way.)

* Double opt in = making people do something *else* to get on your list (click a link, reply to an email, etc) after they’ve entered their email address on your site. Single opt in = letting them on the list immediately after they enter their email address. Confirmed opt in = sending them a welcome message after they’ve entered their email address. Clear as mud?

Writer’s Block? Make mistakes and make it history

Last Saturday, I offered a call on how to get web design clients (and copywriting clients). (By the way, you’re welcome to pick it up and you’ll get the recording and all the materials.)

I don’t do a lot of teleclasses, so I carefully tested my tech for this one. I recruited a friend to listen in and make sure things worked properly. And then came Saturday. I called in early, chatted with an early arrival (not seeing that new people had joined us–I didn’t realize the system I was using didn’t have an entry chime–sorry guys!) and then started the recording… Or so I thought.

Turned out, I actually *stopped* the recording and kicked everyone out of the call. Yeah, I can program a computer, but apparently, I can’t use a phone system…

An hour later, we were finally up and running and everyone could hear and post questions in the chat room, and things were going well (although, after doing the first 15 minutes of the call twice, I was starting to lose my voice by the end).

Here’s the point: There were about a dozen business-related stories that came out of that two and a half hour call. Because I made a bit of a mess, and set out to do something I’ve not done a lot in the past, I have blog articles galore for the foreseeable future.

And that’s the thing–if you’re not making a mess, if you’re not trying new things, if you’re not screwing up left and right… Chances are you’re struggling to find things to write about.

So, today, set out to make a mistake or two. Sure, it’ll be uncomfortable. Sure, it may be completely mortifying. But you won’t have writer’s block anymore!

And if you were on Saturday’s call with me live, thank you so much for your patience and for asking such fantastic questions! I had a great time with you, even if I was completely mortified about my lack of phone skills…