[haze]

I know that many people don't really do the business card thing anymore. But I personally still think its a very handy tool. I was watching the movie American Psycho (if you haven't seen it, its a book to movie adaptation starring christian bale) anyway there is a scene in which they are all showing off and comparing business cards to see who has the better one. Which lead me to wonder who makes your business card and what is the description?

[haze]

guess no one cares

[2gould]

Originally Posted by haze

I know that many people don't really do the business card thing anymore. But I personally still think its a very handy tool. I was watching the movie American Psycho (if you haven't seen it, its a book to movie adaptation starring christian bale) anyway there is a scene in which they are all showing off and comparing business cards to see who has the better one. Which lead me to wonder who makes your business card and what is the description?

As a general comment, business cards are still incredibly useful. This last week I handed out several to people, i.e. the guy I met at the airport bar, a conference just attended. It is a quick and easy way to provide your pertinent information, and, I good way to keep track of contacts.

I only have cards for my "9-5" job, but if my business idea gets off the ground, you can be sure that I will have business cards printed and I will be handing them out.

[ncik]

Business cards work wonders, as long as they're up to date and you actually do give them out. I've got some pretty general ones that cover all the web work I do.

Don't make them yourself though, and don't get them from an online printing firm, they're a bunch of cowboys. Do to a local printers in your city or town, and ask them to do a sample.

[haze]

I haven't personally started using business cards but I plan to. I'm going to be looking around in the next few months for a place that does quality business cards.

[rosshill]

I think it is really important to have your own cards because there are so many opportunities where they are useful to have. There really is no reason not to have your own cards, because they are so cheap.

If you are looking for a referral I have used Click a few times and have found them great. I just interviewed the founder on one of my blogs too so you might find that relevant. Gavin Tooley interview at Hatchthat.

Another one that is popular among the tech folks is moo.com who can print customised cards with your flickr photos on the front and your name number and url on the back. They have a much more personal feel and I have seen them being handed out quite a bit lately too.

[ADVERTISE HERE!]

Originally Posted by ncik

Business cards work wonders, as long as they're up to date and you actually do give them out. I've got some pretty general ones that cover all the web work I do.

Don't make them yourself though, and don't get them from an online printing firm, they're a bunch of cowboys. Do to a local printers in your city or town, and ask them to do a sample.

I agree. Business cards serve a number of purposes - allow you to quickly and easily transfer all of your contact information to anyone you meet, allowing them to retain all the information, and really provide a sense of legitimacy as to yourself and your business.

Obviously then, you need to make sure that your cards are clean, attractive, ACCURATE, and run with the theme of your business or personality. I disagree with ncik, though. A local printing firm often won't be any better than an online printing firm, but they WILL be more expensive.

For example, we considered both an online company and Kinko's.

Price: For a simple 100 business cards for each of 2 different partners, we were able to pay ONLY SHIPPING with the online company, which came to less than $20 total. To have the exact same cards made at Kinko's was going to set us back nearly $90.

You might be saying though, online cards are either not as well done or very simple, as they are made from a template. I've found that not to be the case. There are an infinite number of templates out there, which there need to be because there are so many different needs for the cards. What we did was find an online company that let us design our own. I can email you a sample of how ours look, if you'd like - color, include the logo and key words exactly as they appear on our website banner (Estate Publishers Limited), high quality paper, etc. They could not have been better.

Give that a shot before you pay someone else out the ass to design it for you. At the end of the day, you need to think about the costs and benefits of it though. Is the information (both in words and image) that I am conveying by giving this business card to someone worth $0.50, or is it probably more like $0.05-0.08, considering I'll be handing out hundreds to people both that I know, don't know, and might never hear from again?

[sleighter]

I have used vistaprint online for years.They allow you place pictures and design your own online.Cheap but yet high quality. I have a picture of my two adorable kids on the back of mine,and clients love the personal touch.

[ADVERTISE HERE!]

Originally Posted by sleighter

I have used vistaprint online for years.They allow you place pictures and design your own online.Cheap but yet high quality. I have a picture of my two adorable kids on the back of mine,and clients love the personal touch.

Also, printsmadeeasy.com

[bzboy]

I used printsmadeeazy.com and found them to be great. The quality of the cards were impressive and I recieved them within 3 days of order. The only thing thats expensive is shipping, but you do get them within 3 days of ordering normally which is awesome. I designed the card myself and that made everything go through a bit faster. I think I paid like $100 bux including shipping for 1000

[inthemaking]

Business cards IMO are essential tool for networking.
I just orderd some from vistaprint last week. I havn't got them yet, but my order was over $50 so I got 50% off the total before shipping. So that was awesome. There may be some places cheaper, I don't know. But my parents used them and they turned out pretty good. I will let you know when I get mine if their anyg ood.