We all know the tremendous advantages to operating a store front on the Web. But often we overlook the built-in disadvantage that every Internet store front shares…

The flat surface of a computer monitor has to substitute for the brick, mortar and 3 dimensional colors of a real world business.

Which brings up a problem -

You built your site around a particular shade of blue that looks great on your PC. But your visitor is viewing your site on his Mac, which translates that shade of blue into something that looks very different!

But not to worry. The following free sites can help you whip out great looking web-safe color combinations in a flash.

http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/ is a free color lab that allows you to see how colors work together. It's very visual and simple. Click on the color wheel and different color choices are presented to the right of the wheel. Keep choosing colors until you find something that looks good to you.

http://www.reallybig.com/visibone/lab/ is the same color lab but with a *random* button. Click "random" until you find an interesting combination of colors. Then begin to remove the colors you don't like by clicking on the tiny "X"s.

http://www.paletteman.com/ allows you to experiment using up to four color combinations It gives you HEX or RGB values and will even email the combinations to you.

Now let's talk first about the IMPACT of colors - and how the colors you choose for your web site could impact your bottom line.

The basis for this information is http://www.pantone.com/index.asp?pn=home

[] Blue Studies have revealed that blue is the country's most Popular color.

Ford, "Big Blue" (IBM) and Benz, are all blue. When Exxon and Mobile merged, their color became blue.

[] Green Speaks of ecology and nature. Says Eiseman, "Consumers describe it as fresh, clean and revitalizing."

Yellow-Green is negative for adults (slime), but is liked by the youth market.

[] Red Red is viewed as the most exciting color - and creates a high arousal threshold.

Compare Chrysler (red) with Ford (blue). Which company do you view as the most cutting-edge and exciting?

[] Purple "The 18 to 29 year olds are especially partial to purple because they consider it sexy," says Eiseman. "And the influentials see it as powerful and sophisticated."

[] Black "Black remains the most mysterious, powerful, and sophisticated shade, especially with wealthy, achievement-oriented women." But not by middle-aged men and women, however, who still associate black with mourning.

[] Pink and red The two colors that are seen as the warmest as well as the most cheerful, with pink being the most popular of the two.

[] Bright orange The least favorite color

For more on this subject, go to http://www.pantone.com/index.asp?pn=home

Bottom line:

Better use of color will mean a better Web site that appeals to your visitor, and can even make your site appear better than it is.

Match the color scheme of your site with your target audience and you'll make more money.

It's as simple as that (and as hard!).