Tag: business cards

How to Make Your Own Business Cards

As a business owner, it’s essential that you have a business card to hand out to potential customers anywhere, any time. Creating a unique, eye-catching card doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. All it takes is a little imagination and some decisions on how best to produce your cards.

Templates

One of the easiest ways to start creating a card for your business is to browse templates for programs such as Microsoft Publisher and Word. These can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft website and imported into programs on your computer. From there, you can add custom text and images to make the card look just the way you want.

Be sure to include your business name, physical address, phone number and e-mail address on the card. If you have specific contact numbers or extensions for customer service, product inquiries or technical support, you may wish to include those as well. And don’t forget to put your company logo in a prominent place so people will remember at a glance who they got the card from.

business card tips
Image: Lenore Edman / Flickr

Specialty Paper

If you’re going to be printing your own business card designs, choosing the right paper is important. You should seek out sturdy, high-quality paper so that your finished cards appear clean and professional. Companies such as Avery make special business card stock just for this purpose. You might also be able to find card stock that is already divided into individual boxes, so all you have to do is print your designs and punch the cards out along a set of perforated lines.

Online Services

A wider selection of templates and printing options may be found online. Many services offer an initial free run of business cards. This allows you to get a small number of your chosen card for just the cost of shipping so you can see your design in practice before investing money in a larger run. It always pays to shop around, so take the time to research the different options to find one that’s right for your business and your budget. If you still prefer to print your own cards and just need a user-friendly template selection to get you started, a service like Business Card Star can help in your design efforts.

Having all of your information on a concise, attractive card makes it easy to connect with potential customers and remind others that your business is always there when they need it. With the variety of templates and services available, you can have the perfect business card printed in no time.

About the Author: The article is written by Jo Turnbull. There are many different printing services throughout Australia which offer affordable business card design and printing. For printing and web design services, visit your local printing company.

Tips for Creating a Great Business Card

Creating a business card is easy. Creating a great business card requires a little more attention to detail.

Whatever the nature of your work, a business card is a great tool for networking, advertising and reminding potential customers that you’re there for them. Thanks to the rise of digital printing, it has never been easier – or cheaper – to have a set of cards run off. However, this increase in popularity has meant that many printing companies have ended up competing on price alone – something that has led to a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of quality. And, as you’ll discover, penny pinching on your business cards is one compromise you should not make.

quality business card design

Branding 101

One of the mistakes a lot of people make with their business cards is thinking that they are simply a way of leaving their contact details with a prospective client. Whilst they certainly serve this purpose, they are far more than this. Like any piece of marketing – your website, flyers, posters and other promotional material – your business card makes a statement about you, your company, and the quality of your work. Your card gives a customer an impression about your business: perhaps their only impression. A low-quality, dog-eared, badly-designed card will not inspire confidence. A clean, sharp and professional-looking card communicates a very different impression.

For this reason, it’s worth spending a little more time and money on your cards than many others do. You don’t have to pay a fortune, as there are still plenty of digital print companies who will do good work cheaply, but you shouldn’t assume that your customers will treat all business cards the same. If you’re proud of your work, that should come across in the card you hand them.

What makes for a quality card?

One of the biggest factors is the weight of the card. Thin cards are flimsy and easily damaged; heavier cards feel more substantial and impressive, and are less likely to be thrown away. Typical printer paper is 80 gsm (grams per square metre). Postcards generally come in at around 300 gsm. A good quality business card will usually be upwards of 350 gsm. 400 is a good starting point, and plenty are heavier still.

Print quality is another major factor. This will differ markedly across companies due to the variations in printers used. Ask for samples, look at reviews and do your research. You want any logos and images to come out at photo quality, and text to be clean and crisp. Cheaper cards (you can sometimes even get freebies) tend to have low-quality print that fades quickly and looks awful.

Finally, the card’s finish will make a big difference. Although you can leave it as plain card, better business cards will have a layer of varnish on to make them more durable, help keep them clean and bring out any images. This comes in a variety of forms (matte, gloss, silk), each of which will suit different designs and feels of card. A spot-UV finish gives a brighter shine to specific images or words.

The bottom line?

All customers have to be bought in one way or another, and you get what you pay for. Clients will recognise when you’ve made an effort to reach out to them, and when you’ve cut corners.

About the Author: This article was supplied by printed.com, a supplier of quality leaflet printing and an accredited member of the Direct Marketing Association.

Image: _overanalyzer / Flickr