Perforated Edges Don't Mean Business

(okay so that last one is a little bit gross...but come on I know you've all seen it done.)

This 3.5" X 2" piece of cardstock can be the life line of your business or the downfall of the image that you are trying to portray if not done correctly. I want you to go and get one of your business cards...go! Right now. I'll wait.

You've got one? Good. (for those of you that didn't go get one, shame on you for making the rest of us wait.) I want you to look at the card. There are two things that I want you to look for:

- perforations around the edges.

-streaks in the ink from the inkjet printer that you used for printing your own cards.

-a logo or graphic on the card that was either downloaded off the internet, created using an online or software based logo creator or free graphics

You don't see any of these things? Great. You get an A+ and can quit reading now. (unless of course you really want to see where I am going with this or just like the way that things are going here and can't wait to see what happens next. If you are the latter, you really should go to a book store and buy a good novel, this is a blog and I'm really not that enjoying to read am I?)

Sorry. Okay for those of you that saw one or two or even....HOLY HELL - ALL THREE!!! - you need to pay attention to what I am going to say next.

Throw out all of the cards that you made with your inkjet printer, get rid of all the blanks that you still have that you purchased at that big box retailer and get in touch with a graphic designer. You can do it. You owe it to your business and to the professional image that you want to give to those that might be interested in you and your business.

I can tell you from experience when I first started in the business world that home made cards will not gain you clients. You could just grab a felt pen and a bar napkin, jot down your name, phone number, web address and draw a little smiley face with your company name beside it ... this would be as effective as the business card you hold in your hands right now.

Trust me, make the investment in your company. Get a graphic designer to create a card and a logo for you. It really doesn't need to cost you thousands of dollars. You can find great local designers, if you take the time to look, that will charge from $50.00 to $100.00 to design a professional looking business card and $250.00 - $300.00 for a logo that can be then printed at a professional print shop and will make you look just as big and important as the big dogs out there - you know that Bill Gates doesn't have his cards printed at home, even though I'm sure that he could.

As a graphic designer I understand that costs need to be kept to a minimum when starting a new company.  This is why my design firm specializes in assisting new businesses with their identity.  We charge less than the large corporate firms but we still offer a hands on approach to design.

If you enjoyed this post .... just wait until the next one.

I am going to strive to write entertaining and informative information to assist small business owners understand that they don't have to spend thousands of dollars to have their business look as professional as a large company with millions of dollars in advertising budgets.