Our visual stimulus is ever more so important on the web than almost anywhere else. Most definitely the internet is about information. But, that information is shown graphically. So, if you want to keep people at your site, first appeal to their visual stimulus.
There are a few guidelines that you should adhere to when designing your site, following known research results on colors that elicit certain psychological responses people. The bottom line is that it is hard enough to market on the internet today, why make it harder by bugging your visitors.
(1) Colors and Their Effect: I prefer blue and white. In general blue seems to elicit a sense of trust and white a sense of purity. Gold, on the other hand is the color of wealth and prosperity, something we are all working towards. So, with respect to general internet marketing, these colors tend to work the best. They are easy on the eyes and don't strike up a sense of danger, such as with the color red. Of course, the colors also depend on purpose of your site. If selling baby items, pink, which represents femininity, and baby blue, representing weakness may work quite well. It depends in part on site content. A high tech site selling electronic components may do better with greys, silvers, and black.
(2) Animations and Banners: Animations are nice, but can take time to load and be distracting. Use them to focus the attention of a visitor. Place them at a single page location, at the center or all at the left side for instance. If you use more than one and they are scattered all over the page, where can you expect your eyes to focus. Yep, you heard right - click, bye, bye.
Banners can also give you problems if there are two many and not well organized. Pay attention to the color design to ensure that it matches your site. Remember, no eye sores here. Overall, banner are known not to have the highest clickthrough rates.
(3) Flash Media: Flash media animations are steadily gaining popularity and many sites are tailoring their start-up page to include large flash animations. Beware. In online home businesses, your primary purpose is content. Only fit in flash where it is strictly meant to guide the visual stimulus to a part of your site. I know, I know, it does look cool. But cool doesn't and never will build sales out of potential prospects.
A few further resources that are of particular interest here are
(1) http://www.internet-marketing-research.net,
(2) http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html,
(3) http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa031501a.htm.
As a good rule of thumb, if it hurts your eyes, it probably hurts others as well. Keep it simple, professional, easy to look at with color used just in the right place to highlight your content. Content is what will build your home based business. Elicit a visual response from your visitors to drive them to your content.
About The Author
Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of e-Kinetic.com, a site devoted to providing resources for small budget home businesses. He has a PhD in Physics, two daughters and two cats. Subscribe to his free E-Zine on home business resources at e-kinetic@GetResponse.com or by visiting his Home Based Business site.
comp@e-kinetic.com

Marketing Research In Practise
By Michael Russell 
Upon study completion, these companies typically provide a single, consolidated invoice for the project. Generally lean on staff, these companies are designed to provide the service clients need without attempting to compete with the design and analytical capabilities of full-service companies and advertising agency research staff.
Quite simply, field management is not for everyone. However, if one or more of the following conditions exist in your company or department, it may be right for you to hire the services of a data acquisition company or field management company. Your staff is stretched to the limit, your time is better spent dealing with clients than handling the details of fielding custom projects or you demand value for your research dollar. Once you have made the decision to try field management, it is important to select a data acquisition company that best meets the specific needs of your organization. Considering the following factors when selecting a data acquisition company will greatly increase the desired marketing research goals set out by management.
Experience in the data acquisition field is of the utmost importance in achieving optimum results. A field management company with an excellent service and track record in the types of projects or with the types of respondents your company is targeting will surely produce effective results. Many data acquisition companies specialize in particular methodologies or study types such as large, difficult, or ongoing projects. Some have international expertise, others don't. Make certain that you get the most qualified company by probing their areas of expertise.