Kevin Hogan & Michael D. Walker
Today get the latest research on color and how it subconsciously influences behavior. Put this information to good use in nearly any area of your life to give yourself a decided edge.
- One little tweak that generates more responses to your online dating profile.
- What sells better: blue or red?
- How does changing the color of your plate cause you to lose or gain weight?
- Which background you should never use on your website.
- The color of pen to avoid using when brainstorming ideas or taking notes.
- The specific triggers that different colored walls fire off.
Color can save or take your life.
White cars are involved in the fewest car crashes per capita.
Meanwhile silver, black, blue, red, green and gray cars take more lives.
That’s real life … and death … influence.
So why would someone drive something that has a dramatically greater chance of taking their lives?
Chrysler says that color choice is about identification.
It’s who the driver see themselves as or who they want to be.
And what kinds of colors influence whether your car will be stolen or not?
Yep. Popular colored cars are stolen significantly more often than those painted with less popular colors.
Yellow cars don’t get stolen much.
Surprisingly perhaps, red, green and brown cars are less likely to be stolen as well.
The colors you surround yourself with matter …
Colors That Trigger The Results You Want
Consider the walls in your home and your office.
Red walls trigger arousal. In order, the next most arousing colored walls are orange followed by yellow, violet, blue and green.
I’ve written an entire article about the color red. It’s an important color to say the least.
In general, red triggers and causes identification with feelings of: defiance, sin, blood, lust, energy, royalty, fun.
Red is well known to build excitement, happiness, vitality, vivaciousness, anger, rage, and hostility.
Blue walls trigger or resonate with: business-like attitude, softness, tranquility, acceptance, coolness, calmness, pleasantness, tenderness, dependability, dignity, truth, and even royalty.
There’s a big difference between the influence of blue and red walls!
Let’s look at a few triggers for other colored paint on the walls.
- Yellow: Boldness, Excitement, fun, glory, cheerfulness, light, clarity, brilliance, softness
- Orange: Activity, perhaps unpleasantness, excitement, disturbing stimulation, distress
- Purple: Royalty, control, demandingness, coolness, calmness, thoughtfulness, wisdom
- Mauve: Calmness, respect, coolness, serenity, peace, acceptance
Before moving on from walls for today, know that colorful walls in schools dramatically increase grades. Old painted walls cause grades to go down.
Persuasion and the Art of Note Taking
For years, anyone who has ever attended one of my Influence Boot Camp events or taken one of our online E-courses (the next Internet Marketing & Wealth Building E-Course begins next month) knows that I constantly urge participants to take massive notes.
Why?
Because the very smartest (and wealthiest) people take notes. They doodle. They draw. They think out loud. They do everything except sit back and watch only as an observer of reality. Instead they participate. They capture ideas rather than leaving it to chance and their memory.
One of the best predictors of income and wealth is how many notes participants at Boot Camp take. It’s fascinating.
I recently wrote about the significance of using a pen with a logo that represents something you want the note taker to identify with. Example: A pen with M.I.T. embossed on it does indeed cause test scores to go up. Cool?
But, what about color ? …
What color of ink pen should you use when taking notes or brainstorming ideas?
What color of ink is going to screw things up?
Everything influences, right?
But people go about their lives as if nothing influences and that they are the sole determiners of their destiny.
Not true at all.
You become your environment.
Red ink pens actually hinder intellectual and creative performance.
In the article I wrote about the color red, I showed you how researchers at the University of Rochester have found that red can keep us from performing our best on tests but now there are also research studies showing evidence that people seem to write in a more haphazard or scattered manner under red light.
When using red ink their writing also becomes more illogical and inconsistent.
[Elliot, A.J., Maier, M.A., Moller, A.C., Friedman, R., and Meinhardt, J. “Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 154-168; Elliot, A.J., and Maier, M.A. Color and psychological functioning. Current Directions in Psychological Science,16, 250-254; Elliot, A.J., Maier, M.A., Binser, M.J., Friedman, R., and Pekun, R. “The effect of red on avoidance behavior.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 365-375.]
Color Persuasion and Learning
Red is not conducive to learning when it comes to ink or light. The ramifications are significant. I don’t get out to bars but I do peek my nose in and I can tell you that red lighting clearly helps generate more intense and unpredictable behavior. So what color do you take those hand written notes in?
There is a greater advantage to using blue ink pens to take notes, document brainstorming ideas, and writing down action steps to take when you hear an idea you want to implement.
Historically, we know teachers often use red pens for correcting papers and the correlation is that red triggers the avoidance motivation in people. Red captures attention and it holds attention but not always in the way you’d think is helpful.
Now let’s put the pen down and grab the computer.
What colors on backgrounds and screen savers are going to trigger the results you want?
In six studies conducted at the University of British Columbia, researchers came to the conclusion that “depending on the nature of the task, different colors might be beneficial.”
“If the task on hand requires people’s vigilant attention (e.g. memorizing important new information or understanding the side effects of a new drug) then red (or another color that activates an avoidance motivation) might be particularly appropriate. “However, if the task calls for creativity and imagination (e.g. designing an art shop, or a new product idea brainstorming session), then blue (or another color that activates an approach motivation) would be more beneficial.”
[Mehta, Ravi and Rui (Juliet) Zhu,”Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances,” Science, Published Online, In print, 28 February, Vol. 323, no. 5918, pp. 1226-1229. For more information about this study contact Rui (Juliet) Zhu, Ph.D. at rzhu@ckgsb.edu.cn]
Precisely what Colors Motivate You to Do? …
How Color Influences Motivation Styles
Avoidance motivation is experienced when our behavior involves action that takes us away from what we perceive to be negative or unwanted situation, possibilities or outcomes. In other words, avoidance motivation is when you’re more focused on avoiding failure than you are on obtaining success.
On the opposite side is approach motivation. It is generally considered to be behavior toward what we perceive to be positive or desired outcomes. In other words, approach motivation is when you’re more focused on achieving success than you are the possibility of failing.
According to researchers, the color red fires up the right hemisphere of the frontal cortex, a characteristic that usually signals avoidance motivation.
Red triggers PREVENTION FOCUS. And how do you use that color red and the resulting prevention focus in PERSUADING OTHERS?
Red leads to prevention focus. Red should enhance persuasion when paired with an ad that features images that are unambiguously related to the target product (e.g., specific product details).
This is so because such clearly unambiguous, product-related images ensure these prevention-focused individuals that everything is in order and the ad involves no ambiguity.
The brown bag is more likely to be a compelling purchase if the man carrying the bag is wearing blue.
Blue, due to its activation of promotion focus, should enhance persuasion when paired with an ad that features images that are remotely related to each other and to the product. As such a setup provides opportunities for these promotion-focused individuals to engage in creative processing. An ad featuring either unambiguously or remotely related images was adopted from Zhu and Meyers-Levy.
As expected, those in the red condition were more persuaded when the ad featured unambiguously related images than remotely related ones, whereas the opposite was true for those in the blue condition.
Red is not more influential as a trigger than blue.
Red combined with clear cut related images sells.
Blue combined with more ambiguous imagery sells.
One color isn’t more effective … until it’s used in connection with other persuasion factors.
The Scarlet Brain
Interestingly enough, one of the times when using red comes in handy is when one has to do detailed or analytical work. So, if you’re proofreading or trying to memorize important data, the color red is now your friend.
Another example of the color red being helpful is when it comes to online dating.
A study of 64 French women with personal ads online tested the color of the women’s shirts in their online photo. Nothing was changed in the photos except the color of their shirts. Of the six colors tested (blue, green, black, white, red and yellow) the response rate of emails was highest for each woman when her shirt was digitally altered to be red in color. Their response rate went from 14-16 percent without red up to 21 percent when “wearing red.”
Wow!
That’s an improvement of about 50% in the context of thousands of men online interested in contacting them from just one little tweak. Ladies, if you’re utilizing an online dating profile, what color of shirt are you wearing in your photo?
[Gueguen, Nicolas, “Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent”, Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 152, Issue 3, 2012, pp 261-265]
While online, here’s something you want to consider about color and perception …
Did you know the color red is “slow”? …
Red Web Pages are Slower to Load?
Did you know that web pages with red backgrounds load slower than blue ones?
Wait a minute.
How can that even be possible?
In reality it’s not, but the people in another color experiment perceived the red background pages to load more slowly than their blue counterparts. Even though the pages were timed to load at the same speed, people became agitated waiting on the red background pages. This also was true of yellow background pages.
Should you make all your background pages blue?
I don’t think you need to go that far. Just being aware of the influence red and yellow have an agitation factor and that gives you an advantage over website owners unaware of this subconscious element.
How Color Persuades Your Waist Line
There is a phenomenon involving visual perception bias called The Delboeuf Illusion.
It is an optical illusion that was initially recorded back in 1865. The easiest way to demonstrate it is to take two black dots of the same size and place them next to each other. Then you can give the illusion of one dot being larger or smaller than its neighboring dot depending on how large of a circle you place around the black dot.
All by itself that’s interesting … but hardly amazing.
But what if you have to influence someone … like yourself … to LOSE WEIGHT?
If you have losing weight as a goal, knowing this information can help you prevent unconsciously giving yourself larger portions of food than you think you’ve taken.
In the test study they used tomato sauce and Alfredo sauce served on red or white plates. If there was a sharp contrast between the color of the plate and the color of the food being placed on it — such as tomato sauce on a white plate, the research shows you will not put as much food on your plate.
But when there was little or no contrast in color between the plate and the food, such as Alfredo sauce being put on a white plate, then people put 22% more Alfredo sauce on their plate.
Add up how many times a day you eat. Now add that 22% in for each meal time. Is it any wonder why we people think they have tried everything to lose weight?
Everything but influence …
Color persuasion to lose weight
Here’s what researchers Dr. Brian Wansink and Dr. Koert Van Ittersum discovered that can help you overcome the Delbouef Illusion.
The most obvious strategy is to simply replace your larger plates and only use smaller plates. If your budget doesn’t permit that, your other option is to make sure there is a strong contrast between the color of the food and the color of the plate you’re going to serve the food on.
But if you only have, for example, white plates and are eating pasta with Alfredo sauce, then put a placemat or table cloth with strongly contrasting color under the plate to help offset the Delbouef Illusion.
[Van Ittersum, Koert, & Wansink, B. (2012). “Plate size and color suggestibility: The Delbouef Illusion’s bias on serving and eating behavior.” Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 215-228]
Today you learned how to make more sales, lose weight, get better grades, learn more, and how to paint your walls to generate specific feelings and emotions.
It’s now time for a second cup of Coffee. Black coffee …
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“Will YOU be the next person to do ‘six figures’ annually on the Internet?”
Create the Lifestyle You Want with Internet Marketing
Scott lives in California but has recorded most of his online video training material in Hawaii. He does it on his own time, in his own way. Probably because it’s his best possible personal lifestyle. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps he’d be doing better somewhere else.
You can do the same thing as Scott and the dozens of other participants who have been using the longest ongoing Internet Marketing Course to help launch profitable projects for people across all industries and fields of work.
Using the same strategies and techniques we’ve used to make a ZERO investment turn into *seven* digits … I’m thinking, you can do it.
I’m not suggesting you’ll do EIGHT digits annually … or even seven. THAT requires a significant amount of work, and maybe even some luck. So let’s stick with more attainable outcomes, at least for now.
Making Money Online
When you want to make money online … you either:
a) pay a lot of money to get people to hear about you, or
b) you cause people to come to you without cost.
I prefer that latter and that is one of the most important variables to your success.
Online marketing is how you make money in life in 2019. People who don’t market online have very little chance of achieving any kind of financial success going forward. When you search for any phrase there are a few people/sites that the search engines consider the most important for you to see. You’re going to learn to be one of those people who end up in the search results.
And that is simply the beginning…
“But I can I really do it?”
Using the same strategies and techniques we’ve used to make a ZERO investment turn into *seven* digits … I’m thinking, you can do the same or at least half or a third or a quarter of that …
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You’ll be right along side of people who have had an online business for several years.
Would You Like An Experienced Expert Mentor?
You have a MENTOR. (Actually a few this go ’round!) You get to ask someone who has those seven digits instead of the guy who works for the guy who would like to earn five digits. The difference is critical as should be obvious.
You have me at your email pleasure for as many hours as I’m awake. That’s most hours … I will answer EVERY question in copious detail so you have 100% understanding.
Question: What is the value of a 9+ week course if it brings in $100,000 in say 2015?
Half?
$30,000?
$20,000?
Well, I’ll tell you what it’s worth to me.
The answer is $10,000.
It’s like a finders fee.
When your website(s) NET revenues total $100,000, that’s when you pay 2/3 of the course tuition. Less than 1/3 of your tuition is paid in advance.
Perhaps you have paid for numerous big Internet Marketing packages.
That’s cool but will you REALLY do IT???!?!?! And even if you did, who would you have someone to communicate with every single day when you need help?
There’s no one there and the research says NO, you won’t use the program. Research says … the probability approaches zero.
You won’t fail because you won’t start.
The System you are going to learn is unlike anything you’ve seen or heard of before.
Is it Time for A Different Approach?
Building wealth on the web requires doing a number of simple things right. It requires doing a few more complicated things fairly well and it requires being able to master ONE of about 20 different marketing tools. That’s it … one.
ONE!
Most Internet Marketers will tell you WHAT you need to know. I will show you HOW to do it and WHY so you can replicate results in the future.
Everything you learn in this experience is 100% for your business.
Your total knowledge of the web/internet/media today doesn’t have to even hit the radar. We walk you through everything, step by step.
For example: If I tell you that you are going to use video on your website … I’ll SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT in such a way that it works FAST and EASY. I won’t just say, “Oh, video on the website is really helpful …”
I’ll show you how to get video on a website for the world to see. (It’s not 1/10 as hard as you think it might be.)
I’ve learned to do things quickly, effectively and efficiently mostly because I am not tech savvy. I want to simply share with you what works and how to grow a successful online marketing Coffee Table Business.
The First 50 Reasons To Do This Specific Course
Here are just some of the 100 key points reflecting what you will learn:
Note: There is no mandatory schedule you need to follow – you create your own schedule with Kevin to follow for the duration of the course. You WILL have Kevin for the asking via email 24-7.
1) How to get a web name in 2 minutes. (like kevinhogan.net)
2) How to start a website and have it UP in 55 minutes.
3) How to post the website to the Internet in 10 minutes.
4) How to get people to come to the website within 4 HOURS.
5) How to get the biggest search engines to direct people to you instead of your competitor, for free.
6) Exactly WHAT you need on your website to make your website popular. (Within days.)
7) How to engender love from search engines and develop a “long term relationship” with search engines, so you get more and more traffic your way quickly and for a long, long time.
8) Specific things you can do that will cause search engines to know your site is important enough to push you onto the first page.
9) How to KNOW what to sell on your website(s). Whether to start a Coffee Table Business or use the Internet to make your current business thrive.
10) Choosing products and services to sell.
“Kevin’s Internet Marketing and Web Wealth E-Course was excellent. He gave us LOADS of stuff to learn, and he also personally answered every single question I could throw at him. So now I have all the knowledge needed to successfully market ANY product. There’s no need to guess or wonder what some other guru knows that I don’t know because he gave us everything that actually works!” Jason Lowe, New Zealand
11) How to make a relatively nice income stream, without having to create a product or service yourself!
12) How to get other people to help you build your empire as quickly as possible. And not just how, but your team will indeed do this with you as you will help them do the same thing.
13) How to create a sales force of people, without cost, to tell the world about you…Try doing that in the brick and mortar world.
14) How to WRITE the copy (advertisements) that will sell the products and services you will earn money from.
15) How to know what to write.
16) Learn all the wrong ways to write that will cause any site to go broke.
17) Learn the EXACT WORDS and PHRASES that the pros use to bring in big numbers every year.
18) How to appeal to a very specific audience so your message doesn’t have to be wasted on people not interested in what you are selling.
19) Learn the art and science of writing copy.
20) Find out what sizes of print and what FONTS and COLORS of type make the most money the fastest.
21) Learn how to test, in just a few DAYS, what is working for YOU and change QUICKLY so there are NO WASTED DAYS in building your business.
22) Learn to do the things that sound complicated that can be SUPER EASY….like picking the right keywords for your website and the products you decide you want people to own.
23) How to let the search engines how you want your stuff to be promoted and referenced.
24) How to gain the trust of the search engines in a changing environment.
25) Search engines are getting smarter but they still don’t read like people. If I want to promote myself as a body language expert, my metatags and keywords might have to read “EXPERT BODY LANGUAGE” and not, “BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT.” I’ll show you how to figure this out in SECONDS.
“Kevin, I want to thank you for your Internet Marketing E-Course, as I was able to write a book (me! I wrote a book!) with the information you gave. I was a bit of a silent partner as I didn’t talk, email or respond with the group much, but I have learned a great deal and this course has been invaluable to me and my business. Thank you!” Betty Eastman, LCSW
26) Find out how to get other people to help you build your business…even your competitors. (REALLY) So all that you do every day…it’s all done so you are in total control of your own income.
27) How to get people to buy products you release today….today…yes…you make it, produce it and release it today…and it sells TODAY and it sells A LOT.
28) How to write an ad for that product that will actually work. (If you have written an ad before and discovered it failed miserably you know that almost ALL ads fail.)
29) How to develop LOYAL customers.
30) There is NOTHING more important in web marketing than using email or better, an “E-zine.” I’ll show you how to write your own Coffee with Kevin Hogan and have people caffeine CRAVING IT every week.
31) I’ll share with you the biggest risk I ever took in Internet Marketing. It has to do with Coffee with Kevin Hogan and it paid off like the lottery. NO ONE ELSE does this who has an e-zine. I’ll show you what it is and how I did it.
32) You’ll see specifically and in a step by step fashion, just how to get your e-zine DELIVERED into the email boxes around the world so it isn’t filtered as spam.
33) I’ll show you step by step how to develop LOYAL readers where everyone else just has their e-zine read rarely and often by accident.
34) You’ll learn whether or not you should promote specific products and services through your e-zine when you are approached.
35) People talk about their “lists” of one million people. Let me tell you that number means diddly. If you are on a LIST you are NEXT IN LINE at the hotel. I have READERS. People who want to read Coffee as much as they want to read Cosmo, Maxim or The Wall Street Journal. The difference between a LIST and YOUR READERS is ENORMOUS. I’ll show you EXACTLY how to have people KNOW they are important to you.
“Kevin, the Internet Marketing Course was great! I highly recommend Kevin Hogan’s web marketing and Internet E-Course to anyone who is serious about learning and implementing the nuts and bolts of having a profitable online business. Hogan without a doubt over-delivers on the information he provides. This course was well worth the price and way more. Again, if you are looking to learn and grow your Internet business, this course is for you. Whether you are a beginner or advanced, I highly recommend it.” Michael Roth, DC, www.rothwellnesscenter.com
36) I’ll show you how to develop a relationship with your readers, no matter how many your have…so that when you take a week off and your E-zine or email doesn’t show up in their mailbox, they are screaming at you and telling you they miss you!!!
37) You’ll learn EXACTLY the formula I have discovered for success using an E-zine in conjunction with your work.
38) I’ll show you how to get articles for your E-zine if you can’t write them all yourself. (Free articles that are surprisingly good.)
39) I’ll show you how to get the biggest names in your field to contribute articles to your fledgling E-zine.
40) FACT: The E-zine is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE of the Web Wealth puzzle. I’ll show you why and how to make sure nothing ever goes wrong.
41) I ‘ll show you EVERY secret I have learned about E-zines that will make you a LOT of money.
42) I will walk you through STEP BY STEP how I write Coffee with Kevin Hogan every week. Not so it’s the fastest, or easiest but so it’s the BEST.
43) How many OTHER E-zines do you read other than Coffee with Kevin Hogan? I get hundreds in my mail box every week. I read 7. That’s it. I’ll show you those seven and why I like them and why they are as profitable or MORE PROFITABLE than Coffee. Almost all E-zines are TERRIBLE. 99% is not a big enough number. People do NOT GET WHAT AN E-ZINE NEEDS TO DO. You will.
44) You will find out how to decide whether you should have a full color e-zine or a simple text e-zine. There is an EASY ANSWER for YOU and there are only THREE VARIABLES. But if you make the wrong decision, you go broke.
45) I’ll show you how to write a SUBJECT LINE. NOTHING IN YOUR ENTIRE BUSINESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR E-ZINE each week. Not your product quality, not your website, not YOU, NOTHING. I will show you successful subject lines and then I’ll grab subject lines from my email box and show you what other people are doing that is wasting their time and their life.
46) I’ll show you how to make extra money once per month in your e-zine with an idea very few have ever thought of.
47) I’ll show you how to get your first 5,000 READERS as quickly as possible and compare them with the first 100,000 people on anyones list and show you why YOU WILL MAKE FAR MORE MONEY being valuable to your 5,000.
48) I’ll show you REAL SECRETS that will help you use your E-ZINE to boost web traffic to your website that NO ONE ELSE IS DOING RIGHT NOW. (They will be after they take the course.)
49) I’ll show you what NOT TO PUT IN YOUR E-ZINE so you save yourself legal problems.
50) I’ll show you what is necessary to make your email is virtually 100% deliverable.
