If you take a look around the web, you’ll see a rainbow of color. Businesses are painting their sites in blues, reds, yellows, and oranges. Look at this post. You’re looking at a green and black Grasshopper logo, as well as an image of bright beach huts bathed in different hues.

Some of the colors around the web are chosen deliberately, while others come from the “web status quo.” Links, for example, are usually represented in blue. When people see blue-colored text, they know what to do—click, click, click.

Keeping the “web status quo” can be a great choice, but it should always be done deliberately.

If you’re in charge of design decisions for a startup or small business, how do you choose which colors to use?

Here are 6 great resources that can help you use color to jazz up your stuff. If you do color right, you’ll see more online conversions.

People judge companies and organizations by their websites. Good websites can lead to more business, while poor ones can scare potential customers away. In this day and age, there’s no excuse for any company to have a crummy website.

Yes, it can be expensive to hire a team of developers to design a site and a huge time commitment if you build it yourself, but a great website is an essential investment. Think of it as an advertisement for your brand.

When was the last time you took a good look at your company’s site? How would you rank it?

Here are five common website design pitfalls:

Did you know 93 percent of shoppers make purchase decisions based on color and visual appearance? With a stat like that, you better be picking the right colors for logos, websites, mailings, and other swag that comes from your business.

Not sure which color is right? Take our color quiz to find out>>

Video marketing is a new trend, and companies are putting together cool videos to put their brands on the map. Emma, our Content Marketing Specialist, hung out with Chris Bolman, CEO of ZoomTilt, to learn more about video marketing. ZoomTilt has a great platform for connecting companies with video producers.

If you’re strapped for time, here are the top takeaways:

• Lots of brands struggle to create great video content
• Video scavenger hunts are innovative and fun
• Companies don’t need huge budgets for video marketing
• Don’t get discouraged. Small companies have been successful with video. Just look at the “Will It Blend?” guy!

There’s no way around it — your customers are your company’s lifeblood. Without them, your business would be a product with no revenue. Your lifelong entrepreneurial dream would instantly transform from a game-changing vision into a shriveled dream deferred.

It’s your customers who drive your success. That’s why you’ve got to give back and show your gratitude. When was the last time you thanked a customer for choosing you?

Go beyond the thank you emails and promotional codes that currently flood the market. Be kind, give value, add an element of surprise, and be memorable. We know what you’re thinking, that’s customer service 101, right? You’d be surprised at how many companies just don’t get it!

Check out these fun ways to thank your customers: