Color schemes are one of the most important things that needs to be considered with regard to your site's design in order to make it more attractive and readable.

Contrast
The chosen colors must provide good contrast so that the text is completely readable. Never use colors such as red text on blue background, or orange on yellow. Never use a light shade of a color on a darker shade of the same color. It is very important that the text is readable.

Never Use Black Backgrounds
Almost any color can be used in the color scheme but avoid the use of black backgrounds. It gives a threatening look to the website and is also very old-fashioned.

Not Too Many Colors
Don't use more than three or four colors for the entire site. The use of too many colors can make the site look flashy and this is not appreciated by most of the users. Stick to three or four colors only.

Complementary Colors
Complementary colors are opposite of each other on the color wheel. These colors look great together. Some example for complementary colors that look great with each other are blue-orange, purple-yellow and red-green. These colors will be very much readable if used against each other, one as background and the other as text.

Analog Colors
Colors similar to the main color can also be used together. This means the color near each other on the color wheel can be used with each other. For instance, Red can be used with its analog colors, that are, yellow and orange. But they should be used in subtle shades, otherwise they can make the site look over bright.

Chromatic Colors
Another approach is to be different hues and shades for a single color along with black and white in your design. This gives a professional and sleek look to your site.

Take Colors from Nature
Nature is the best source of inspiration for deciding a color scheme. Great color schemes can be derived by looking at the flowers, plants and animals.

Color Blindness
Always use colors that look pleasing in an aesthetic manner. There are a number of people who are color blind almost as high as 10 percent of the people. These people too have to be considered when you design your site. Keep your colors in such a way so that the text would be readable to the color blind people too.