A business card helps people to remember you and keep contact with you. It also gives information about your company in an organized manner and helps to remember you. There are various techniques to deal with printing business cards.

Business cards are generally printed on various patterns of card stock. Depending upon the cost of business card, the thickness of the paper is decided for card stock. The characteristic weight or thickness of business card is 350 g/m2 or 12pt in thickness. High quality cards are given bleeds and the color is also completed to the end of the card. This helps to cut the paper in an appropriate manner eliminating the white edges of the card. Bounce is a process of shifting of images from one paper to another. It is generally disappeared by a hairline present on the offset press. Bleeds consists of 18 to 14 extra across the card to meet the necessity. To achieve the best quality of the card, the file must be printed at 350 dpi at least.

Your business card must be printed with the help of CMYK. CMYK consists of four colors. The colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. CMYK is the best procedure to acquire the required color and it is considered as the best technique to print business cards.

Apart from CMYK printing, digital printing is used to print cards. However the quality of the card may suffer. By the way, offset printing is the best method.

Things to avoid doing with your business cards:

- Do not use ‘free business cards’. There are a few companies around offering FREE business cards (by putting their logo on the back of your card). This is a priceless way for them to promote their company through you and your new business cards. Unfortunately there are very little benefits for you. While you may get free business cards, these business card will more than likely give the impression of cheapness and amateurness – not being able to afford proper business cards. Would you wear a free business suit that had a mcdonald’s logo on the back? If no, then don’t do the same with your business cards.

- Do not use a template. There are a number of online business card shops that offer templates for business cards. Choose a template, enter your contact details, order your business cards. While it may sound easy, you will get a generic business card, that does not use any clever business card marketing techniques and will do nothing ‘extra’ to promote your business. Be unique and get a custom design done that highlights your business and can be used as an effective marketing tool.

- Do not make a magnifying glass a necessity for reading your business card. Not everyone can boost having 20/20 vision. Consider this large percentage of people when you are designing your business card and try to make the text readable by the majority of readers.

- Do not use colors that clash. Choose colors wisely. Colors used with other colors can sometimes clash and become an eyesore and difficult to read or look at. Some colors go together and some colors don’t. Do your homework and find a color wheel or a color matcher/chooser online to help you find compatible and eye pleasing matching colors.

- Do not use some else’s business card or a corrected business card. Scribbling your details over your old details or on someone else’s business card and then giving to someone could reflect very badly on you and your company. Doing this could give the bad impression of being cheap and not being professional. Make sure you have enough of your own business cards and if you do not have your own, get them!

- Do not forget to proof read your business card before printing. Having the wrong information on your business cards can be misleading and can result in lost business. Proofread your business card details before you submit them. Double check, triple check, make sure 100% before printing that the details are correct. This simple thing could save a lot of money if you can avoid needing to reprint 1000’s of business cards with the wrong information.

- Do not print your business cards larger than standard size. I have seen business cards that are printed larger than normal as the people maybe looking to make their cards stand out and make them more memorable. While this may sound like a good idea, it could result in your card not being able to fit into business card filing systems or easily into wallets. This is best avoided, so stick to standard or smaller sizes.

- Do not neglect the material and paper that your cards are printed on. A lot of attention is paid to the design and colors of a business card and the same attention should be paid to the paper and coating. Thin papers give the impression of cheapness and leave them vulnerable to wear and environmental factors. Choosing good paper of at least 250GSM together with either a laminate or some kind of coating will ensure that your cards last a long time and give the right impression.

- Do not print your business cards yourself. While not always the case, we see far too many amateurish home printed cards which give nothing but a bad impression to the receiver. Getting your business cards printed professionally is not expensive and the difference in results in most cases will be a world apart.

You are also in luck.

The Popular Functions of Business Cards

Business cards are a multi-purpose print material that demonstrates great versatility. Business card are essential not only to corporations or executives, but to anyone who has great products or services to offer everyone else.

It is most handy to people who need constant interaction and social networks. This may include but are not limited to head hunters, account associates, PR officers, doctors, lawyers, agents and the like.

Those who render services too may find business cards an essential media in obtaining and maintaining contacts and potential clients. These may range from salons and spas, carpenters, plumbers to freelance graphic designers and writers.

Business Card Printing Uses

Business cards can perform in multiple ways other than being just that, business cards. Aside from initiating and enforcing connections, business cards are powerful tools that:

Can be used as a promotional material, wherein sent out items can be more personalized with your business cards attached to them.

Can be as intimate as other print products, wherein folded business cards may double as greeting cards.

And business cards are great resources for acquiring and retrieving both old and new contacts. It can be a directory of sorts and reference to everyone you need.

Business Card Ideas

Business cards need to be unique, captivating and memorable. They are great pieces to start a conversation so your contact can retain a better memory of you and your business cards. It will also help your business card stand out from other ones as well.

Here then are some useful and inventive ways you can optimize your business cards and get maximum results.

1. Use the back of your business cards well. Plan for its use in your business cards’ functionality and even aesthetics.

2. Some people divide the layout of the business card and use the backside to create more impact and drama. For a minimalist effect, try printing your name on front and all the other details at the back.

3. You can experiment in using the back of your business card by including a timely or a yearlong offer or your company’s promotions.

4. The back of the business cards too can serve as a calendar. You could also try what merchants did back in the day, include maps for clients to easily find their way towards their shops or stores.

5. Create texture by employing raised printing for your business card, it can be ink printing or embossing wherein you can mould raised images or text on the card stock.

6. Foil stamping, using metallic or pearlized inks are also a great way to create more interest in your business cards. This creates texture and livens up your business card with its truly sparkling colors.

7. And to end on a safer note for your business card printing, always proof or check your file. Specifically, screen for typographical errors, punctuation and grammar. Remember to keep it memorable and not embarrassing, so check your texts carefully.

1. Business cards reflect who you are. This is important because people such as business clients and partners can gain an impression that distinguishes you from others.

This is important because perception matters. How people view you and how you do business or perform can be observed through the littlest details such as business cards.

2. Business cards are a language of business. Whoever you are or whatever your business, you know that business cards are essential on forging or initiating networks. Exchanging simple cards may not seem much but you know that when you hand your business card over to another person, it gives you and your business a link and potentially more links to increasing your connectivity.

Business Cards Combinations

Uniqueness is a quality that is a blessing. No person or company is identically alike. Build on this foundation and know that your image should be part of your business card design.

The first step to building up a business card results not just from studying and making up drafts. You always have to be conscious on what elements are essential to capture who you are.

1. Identity and Communicating Your Strongest Points

• Gauge just what type of company you are and who is your target market. It is important that your business cards build up an image of who you are so that your business cards can attract the right audience.

• Identity helps build up concepts for your business card design. If you are a professional interior designer, then build up on your strongest points. Include a small picture of a style you do best or would like to do more.

• If you belong to a more conservative industry, such as doctors or lawyers, then it would do more to use colors that go identify your profession. Doctors commonly use a white background while lawyers can go for deep blues or maroons. Remember, this is just one element you can take note of as there are many things you can still do to design business cards.

2. Rise to the Occasion

• If you have massive events to go to, like conferences where valuable contacts and clients would be present, then it helps to make business cards that would serve in more ways than one.

• Create business cards that would invite people over to booth in trade shows. Announce of demonstrations and promotions that would further motivate clients to participate. You can send these out even before the tradeshow begins.

• Business cards can be printed for at least 250 pieces. You can splurge on that and make business cards that fit on occasions such as holidays. You can make business cards too that are customized to your marketing strategies and promotional materials.

3. Contemporary Styles and Designs

• Do not hesitate to use styles and designs that you only seem to find in the business cards of advertising companies and other creative fields. You can use styles such as foil stamping, embossing and the likes not only to add color and interest.

• A different style or design can communicate innovativeness in today’s business world. Customizing business cards can further say who you are and what you can do. Be free to experiment and see what designs works best before you go into business card printing.

With your blank page, use a box drawing tool to create the outline of the card and give the box a border stroke. Now you have to set up guides for the margins. A 5mm margin is your best bet, as anything that bleeds over the edge later on will be covered. Zoom in on the card so you can see better, and adjust the ruler at the top left corner of the card. This positions the card in the right place. Drag a guide to the 5mm position and the 80mm position, and do the same thing on the vertical, except put the latter at the 50mm position.

The area you have shaded is where you’re going to work on the card and where you have to insert the different elements of your business card design. If you have a company logo all ready to go, import it now, but make sure you have the logo in the right format for printing. With free business cards that you make yourself, it’s important that the printing comes out properly. Now you can add your personal details.

Bleeds have to be added at this point to avoid problems with business card printing on a larger scale. If you plan to replicate your business card design hundreds of times, bleeding has the potential to occur on the edges of the cards. Bleeds allow you to stretch artwork or graphics on the card by 3mm so that cutting after the printing process doesn’t result in unsightly problems. Sometimes inaccuracies in the cutting of the cards results in bleeding, which has an unprofessional look, so it’s best to avoid it if at all possible.

When it comes time to print the free business cards, you have several choices. You can purchase business card printing and have a printing company take your design and print it, or you can print the cards yourself at home. The latter option may prove rather expensive due to paper costs and the amount of time it takes to do all the printing, but it works if you only need to print a small amount of cards. If you require a large batch, however, buying business card printing services for your business card design is probably the most cost effective way to get your free business cards ready for dispersal.

Business card design is pretty straightforward even if you don’t possess a lot of artistic ability. Anyone can do it, as long as you have a computer and some basic knowledge of business cards and how they are put together. Of course, you can use a business card template if you really need help. Business card templates make the entire process very easy because all you have to do is use the template as a basic starting point and then fill it in with your company’s information and logo. This is a good option for those who don’t have a clue where to begin with business card design, and would like to put something together that is aesthetically pleasing and conveys the right information.

A business card can:

Tell others about you and your business and services offered by you
Provide easy access to your contact information
Create awareness among people about existence of your business and services
Represent your work, style and business sense through design and information provided
Gain business or create new business opportunities for you

Exchange of Business Cards

There are several opportunities where one can exchange business cards with prospective customers, or people involved with similar kind of activities. Business meetings, conventions, trade shows, business fairs and one-on-one meeting with someone are the main places where flaunting your business cards can return you big benefits or can generate new set of potential customers for your business.

You can also build a business network incorporating non-competing businesses that relate to your business directly or indirectly. Leave a bunch of your business cards at their places and convey him to distribute your greeting cards with their products, or to interested set of their customers. It can be a great benefit for you, as you can get direct customers from their existing set of customers.

New Trend of Multilingual Business Cards

These days a new trend of having multilingual business cards is popular among organization. During international conventions or trade fairs, business executives or marketing personnel’s can distribute such multilingual business cards (English on one side and local language of host country onto another) to visitors or interested people in your services or products offering.

Effective Sales and Marketing Tricks

Business cards can become more productive for your organization, if you start delivering business cards with every sales packet you deliver or with other communication envelopes. You can send your follow up letters to enquiries along with one or more business cards with a “Thank You for Your Interest” note. It will increase your customer orientation as well as provides them with an easy and handy mode of contact.

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Business cards should spark an interest that would initiate a positive reaction or response. It shouldn’t be tackily made. It should also be unique enough to avoid being ignored by your prospective clients. Your best option would be to go directly to a printing professional for a guaranteed quality-made, decent-looking business card.

Business cards are not just made on an offhand chance of meeting a big or famous person. It is preparedness itself. It is intended to be handed out to potential clients, big or small. It functions both ways as you, as an entrepreneur establishes contact and the client, at the other end of the line, has access he or she can utilize.

Added to this, business cards carry great potential. It can passed from one person to another, a referral of sorts that creates even a wider network of clients.

The beauty of the business cards is in its simplicity, functionality and practicality. Almost everyone has to have one, whether you’re a small time businessman or a big scale entrepreneur.

Who Should Have Business Cards?

Nowadays, business cards are given out by almost everybody. From freelancers to entrepreneurs, even people as young as teenagers can be seen exchanging their customized and jazzed up business cards among their friends.

Small scale businesses, individuals in private practice and the like rely heavily on client relationships. To this, they make the most out of their business cards.

These businesses can range from self practicing lawyers to local dressmakers. They can be real estate agents who build a foundation of trust to friendly hair dressers who offer home services. They can be musicians, gardeners and plumbers, to baby sitters.

The Perks of Having Your Own Business Cards

Business cards are enjoyed by many individuals who seek a boost in their career and in their business. Business cards too, are not as disposable as some may have thought, for business cards act as a directory of sorts when compiled.

A great business card functions better if it attracts the attention of the client, beating out the other business cards in their card organizers. Such that a quality-made and designed business card allows you to be recalled, again and again, increasing your business activities.

Customizing your business cards gives you more edge from the rest of the competition. Your business cards will definitely be singled out easily.

Customization may refer to your own original design, making template based business cards weaker in comparison. Customization too may refer to extra features you would want your printer to put in your business cards, which further enhances its uniqueness. However, it may also mean a few extra dollars as well.

Make sure that your business cards are designed to fit your company profile or that it embodies your specific line of occupation. This gives their clients the benefit of reaching for your business cards directly for it is identifiable.

Business cards are a necessity for the success of your business. Through them, you can get the needed attention and recognition you need. The more people who notices and patronizes your service, then the better it is for your company’s future.