Most often simple things tend to be the most difficult.  Designing a professional quality business card is a perfect example.  People rarely read articles titled How to Design a Business Card, because they assume that it’s easy to figure out.  Of course, the direct result is stack after stack of badly designed cards.

It is not necessarily difficult to design a business card that looks all right.  Think of your business card like a mini billboard for your business. Design your billboard well and customers will respond the way you want them too. Design it poorly and you’re really just wasting trees.

So without futher ado, BIZBuzz gives you the ins and outs of designing the perfect business card.

1.  Make it Clear and Readable

You need to ensure that your business card prominently and clearly displays your business name.  Imagine how many clients you would lose if they had to scan your card to find your business name. Most people only have an attention span of 8 seconds. If the card does not make an instant impression, then they will never look at it again in most cases.

The average time a person looks at a business card is 3 seconds. By that time you have to present all your key facts.  If your information is not available for them to see within this time, they will move on.

Remember, your card is like a tiny billboard, not a flyer or brochure. If the recipient can’t get what they are looking for as they go by, then it’s highly unlikely that they will swing back around for a closer look.

Avoid cluttering your card with any unnecessary information. The more you put on your card, the greater the chance that the recipient is going to miss the important parts. The key parts are:

• The name of your company
• Your Name
• Your Position
• Address
• Phone / Fax Number
• Your email
• Company Website

Remember to include the company slogan under its name. Donot indulge in your desire to post more information, any further information will only reduce the pertinence of the main points above.

Create a Sense of Urgency with a Call to Action

Depending on the nature of your business, there may be one more thing that you might consider including: a call to action. This is usually in the form of an offer, for example “turn this card in and receive _______”. Make sure that your offer / call to action is clear and concise - again the three second rule. The other alternative is to place the offer on the back of the card, so as to not delineate from your key points.

Always remember the potential recipient of the card prior to considering a call to action. Is the recipient a future client, or is the card for a client you wish to maintain an enduring relationship with. A call to action is usually much more effective for prospective customers rather than current ones. Many small business people will keep a supply of two different business cards, one for existing customers and one for new ones.

Never forget that the primary purpose of a business card is to provide contact information.  Your current customers - and all prospective ones for that matter – need to have the ability to instantly locate your phone number, location and web address.  Make sure that the above points are not covered up in the multitude of other data.

Headshots: Something to Avoid

Some people have a desire to place their own photo in the business card, the idea is to create a personal relationship with their client. Such “headshots” tend to remove the focus off the business, and push the individual to the front decreasing the professional message intended by a business card.

When someone puts a headshot on their business card, they are counting on that photo eliciting a positive response from the recipient. Faces are so personal that they may also generate a negative response from potential clients.

However, this is sort of a moot point. The bottom line is that there is no specific reason to use a headshot.  If it serves no purpose, they why have it take up valuable real estate? The standard parts of a business cards are there for a specific reason, such as communicating the name of your company, or providing contact information. Every client will know why you put your name, phone and other contact information. However, the picture of yourself may be open to interpretation since it is not part of a standard form. If they do not instantly know the why, then you are leaving them to their own assumptions and conclusions, and these could be favorable or they could be not so favorable. Don’t leave anything to chance or misinterpretation

Your Business Identity

One element that you always want on your card is a logo. Deciding on your logo can be one of the most important decisions a company can make early on.

Ambiguity and indecision that show up on your logo will lead to lack of corporate identity. This may baffle or mislead your pontential clients.  At worst, it will communicate a lack of seriousness or a sense of instability while also drawing attention away from the more important parts of your card.

Logos carry with them the innate ability to brand your company. The reason that branding has become such a critical piece of the marketing puzzle is because your brand is what will be remembered long after the prospect has left your sight. Branding consists of much more than just a good logo, but a poorly designed one will certainly get you started on the wrong foot.

Outdated or low quality clipart, logos, graphics and photos can create a lack of trust in your business. causing customers to question whether you are the kind of company that they want to do business with. Ruining your brand can be avoided if the business owner would spend a few pennies upfront in either choosing a quality printing company.

Paper Type and Color

As we’ve already discussed, your business card has the ability to create an impression of your company that can either good or bad. Shabby printing and poor quality paper is all but guaranteed to push things to the bad side. The basic problem is that most people have seen a well designed card at some point, and if yours doesn’t meet that standard, then they are likely to think less of your company as a whole.  High end cards are usually printed on 110 lbs paper. The rigidity of the card creates a correlation to the strength of your company.

Printing at Home

In an attempt to save a few bucks here and there, many small businesses attempt to create business cards on their home computer. We cannot say that it is impossible to create a high quality card from home, but it is generally not recommended.

Some vendors have carved a niche in the paper industry to specifically provide supplies to those individuals that still try to print at home. Avery being the top most company spends millions of dollars trying hard to get customers to print on their inkjet desktop printers. Do-it-yourself business cards almost never stack up to the quality that a professional company can create. It is very unlikely that a home printer will beat the half a million dollar printers that large printing companies have.

Cost savings as a justification to print at home is not a viable reason to print at home. When you consider the cost of ink and specialty paper, you mine as well of just purchased your cards online. Online printers are usually lower cost than printing at home.

Ok, are you ready to create your business card yet?  Visit Bizcard.com to get started.  We hope this tutorial has been helpful.

Happy Bizcarding!