Business Cards.

4thGeneration

I recently restructured my paint company and am just about to run out of cards. What online company would be a good one for business cards?

Jimmy

dougchips

Do a search, about a month ago people were posting some really neat designs. Cheap boring cards are all over the net but a well designed card that attracts the eye is not found in the bulk on-line places.

I placed a giant order with vista print last year for plain Jane cards. If you are looking for a bargain price they are a good source. Order a small batch, when you check out they will give you a discount on an add on order + they will e-mail you with more discounts.

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Susan Betz

I have a color laser and make our cards now. But I'm still not happy with them.

When I ran another business years ago I used printingforless.com and was *always* satisfied. If you go with them, spend for the aqueous coating - it looks so professional.

I would also suggest getting some artwork done if you haven't already.

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ruskent

have it designed on designoutpost.com then go to gotprint.com and have it printed.

AtlanticWBConst

Ruskent...out of curiousity, is that what you did? Did you use those sites to design yours?

FWIW - Your logo looks good.

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- Build Well -

MattCoops

paying a professional $100 - $150 to design a smart looking business card is money well spent
It's good to make the "style" match your letterhead, website, and advertising materials. That helps branding your image.

gotprint.com is good
vistaprint I think is a little cheaper, and just as good quality

get the thicker paper stock
and the gloss finish makes a nice clean, brilliant look

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Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
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HUDSONVALLEYEXT

I have been buying from the guys for a while. They are real good and they do great design.

http://cgi.ebay.com/250-Full-Color-G...em120063314850

I just got 5000 postcards from these guys for $140 the quality is great to...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...8085&rd=1&rd=1

dayspring

If you have any design skills at all, Try Vista-Print @ http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/defa...5%3A02%3A12+PM

I have been using them for four years. High Quality, Satifaction Guaranteed, Quick service, and very, very reasonable. You can actually get 250 non premium cards for free, you pay shipping. Check 'em out.

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ruskent

I had my logo, and all stionary designed at designoutpost.com. I buy my letter head and envlopes from a local place. I get my business cards from gotprint.com. The price was great and the cards are high quality.

dougchips

http://www.contractortalk.com/showth...business+cards this is the thread I was looking for last night. Check out these cards

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GoodPainter

vistaprint.com

I just recieved my orders of 6000 biz cards, 4 post-its, 4 note pads, 4 rubber stamps, 25 flyers, 20 calander magnets, 75 biz card magnets, 400 post cards and more for a total of $90

It took 4 orders but got all the free things and just kept adding to my cart.

deal well done and i will always stick w/ them

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Robert Good
It's Your Life-Make Fun Of It!
http://www.robertgoodpainting.com

Dustball

Another vote for Vistaprint here...

ButlerDesigns

VistaPrint.com is a good deal and have been using them. I am going to try that ebay person cause heard they are just as good.

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

ButlerDesigns

I just used Keith. Hey is Fantastic and very easy process. Affordable as well. Remember you only have one shot when handing them your card. A rough looking card could give them feeling that your work is rough. Pay a pro to design. He designed my card for my company. Thanks

Keith Bruce
KBK GraphX
216-338-3635
www.kbkgraphics.com

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

carolinaprowash

Keith did all of our work......he is above the best! Orders are printed at overnightprints.com They are also quite wonderful

Celeste

TileLady

I previously used vista print for some basic business cards (their Free ones) and paid about $25 for a template type card, one sided and card stock.

Then on the suggestion of Ruskent, I tried gotprint.com and am blown away. I used their online editor and did a custom business card. I got 1,000 double sided, glossy business cards for $15 plus $7.50 shipping. The quality is awesome. A local shop said they'd do the same card for $60. Ya, he can kiss my a**. LOL.

And the turn around time was incredible. I placed the order online on Monday afternoon and received them on Friday. And they came via UPS from California.

The same exact card ordered from Vista Print is $67.50 plus $31.29 for 3 day turnaround time. So that comes out to $98.79. And I paid $23 for the same thing. So Vista print cannot even compare to Gotprint.com!

Gotprint.com RULES!

Max Nomad

Do yourself a huge favor -- hire a graphic designer to create your business cards. There are plenty of recommended designers scattered throughout threads on this site but you might find it better to work with some local talent. A solid designer will always create a design keeping in mind the environmental and cultural "flavor" of your area.

For example, if you were a General Contractor based in Phoenix, Arizona, the use of pastel earthy color schemes for your business card design would "fit" and probably subconsciously appeal to more people, especially since it's also common the cultural influences of life there in the Southwest. A local designer is more likely to keep those subtleties in mind whereas a designer in south Florida might be prone toward more "Miami Vice" style colors which might look nice but it's not the same. Confidence starts with that subconscious connection that provides the feeling that there is a fit between you and them... that you are the expert that knows what they need.

On designing your own business cards:

Unless you've studied principles of Graphic Design in Advertising (and not just a software jockey that learned how to use Photoshop or MS Publisher), do yourself a favor and don't create and print your own business cards. Aside from the reality that most cards done this way *look* amateurish, if you add it all up you'll discover that you're actually spending more.

Here's the math: Avery sells print-your-own business card kits; a pack costs $15 for 200 blanks. To get 1000 blanks you're looking $75 dollars. Add between $50 and $100 for the color/b&w inkjet cartridges (closer to $150 if you're using toner). If you add it all up *without* your hourly rate you're looking at about $125 dollars on the low end. Now, add in your hourly rate multiplied by the amount of time it took you to create the design (yes, your time is money, remember?)... Comparatively speaking, this is one DIY project that at starts off as a great idea that often falls very short of hitting the mark.

Why it's smarter and cheaper to go pro:

These days it costs less than $50 bucks to get 1000 business cards printed that are full-color, double-sided (14pt cardstock gloss or matte coating) -- and that includes shipping (I prefer to use www.uprinting.com for my printing needs). Add between $100 and $300 for a custom design. At the very most you're looking at maybe $0.35 cents per card, still way ahead of the alternative and your cards are top-notch and professional.

The main reasons to get the professionally designed/printed cards:

It's simple: Customer Confidence. Aside from the card holder's physical presence, the business card is often the customer's first impression of your entire operation. Regardless of the industry, in many cases the underlying psychology at work here is that if your cards don't look professionally produced, it infers that either you can't afford the $200-$300 dollar expense or you're not serious about your business -- both of which speak in volumes against your company and whether or not you can get the job done. Think of it like if you had to to hire a lawyer to sue a deadbeat customer but to discuss the case in person you always had to meet him at a Starbucks because he doesn't have an office... a lack of an office would infer that there's a lack of money, something that would cause most people to question how often this guy wins and loses.

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http://www.majestic-tile.com/
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TileLady

Max,

I appreciate your input, but I also used to do graphic design and publishing and my card looks great. Why should I pay somebody to do something that I can do myself? This goes for anybody.

Of course if somebody doesn't have any design or computer skills, etc. it might be wise to use a graphic designer.

Max Nomad

LOL @ another Graphic Designer that is also into the tile thing... me too. Once a Graphic Designer, always a Graphic Designer.

Of course it would rarely make sense for you to pay someone else do your design work. I handle all the design work for our company, too, along with the other admin stuff. In a way, this was a sort of natural progression for me. Doing computer graphics is just tile work on a screen because all pixels are squares; I did it for so long it took thinset, grout and Durock to give it all a new dimension.

Anyway, glad to make your acquaintance.

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Majestic-Tile, a division of Majestic Home Improvement, LLC.
http://www.majestic-tile.com/
My Publishing Company and Graphic Design Portfolio:
http://www.bgpublishing.com/

curapa

I use vistaprint, I consider them to be the best online printing service available.

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