Open Thread: What's On Your Business Cards?
It’s not difficult to get business cards. Order online at some place like OvernightPrints if you’re on a limited budget, try a copy center like Copy Max for nicer card stock at a moderate price, or go with a full-service printer like Sir Speedy for luxury cards at a price to match. Of course web working zealots may already have Moo cards from Flickr — they’re cheap, they’re fun, and they’re high quality, though not at all traditional.
The hard part might be deciding what exactly to put on your card. If you’re mashing up your career from a variety of income streams and skillsets (such as web development, web design, and search engine optimization) it’s not so obvious what to call yourself — especially if you work for yourself. If you’re a freelancer but haven’t incorporated your business, you might not know whether to list a business name, and if so, what name to use. If you write or work in multiple places online, you may not know which, if any, to list.
We discussed the question of web developer vs. web designer in an earlier Ask WWD post, arriving at such possibilities as “web technologist,” “front-end web developer,” “devigner,” and “back-end web developer” but this question is broader. It’s not just how you describe what you do, but how you present yourself professionally on a card no larger than three and a half by two inches.
If you do run your own business, you can call yourself anything you want from “Ubergeek of the Universe” to “Lazy Genius” to “Chief Executive and Janitor.” Corporate employees can get creative with job titles also. Subject to space constraints, you can put any combination of phone numbers, IM and VoIP contact names, URLs, photos, avatars, and mottos on your business cards. To make it even more complex, you can design any number of business cards for the different facets of your work life.
Of course there are things you may leave off your business cards: mailing address and fax numbers, while still used, aren’t the primary means of reaching web workers in a time of email, IM, and follow-you-anywhere phone numbers.
So, web workers, what is on your business card? What do you call yourself? And what bits of your persona appear there?
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I’ll go first. I cherish my moo cards. I chose nine pictures of Colorado mountain lakes to every one cookie picture for the back. On the front, I have a small photo of myself, my name, my website (www.annezelenka.com), email, and cell phone number. No IMs, I figure someone can email me first and if we get “intimate” we can move to IM. I’m kind of regretting putting my cell phone on, since I rarely turn it on.
Ha, I’ve got Moo cards, too, and I love them. Since I’m living in Mexico at the moment, I’ve got pictures of my sightseeing around pyramids and cacti on the back, and on the front I’ve got:
Jacob Patton
person of interest
http://trisignia.com
Skype:
I’d like to see a poll here on the WWD site: how many business owners actually buy and use cards? I’m still trying to decide whether to invest in them.
Geof,
I find that not having cards is a huge mistake. So many times I’m just chatting with someone and having a card that has my contact info is crucial. Even better, getting their card so I can follow up.
I’m in the middle of designing new cards/stationary and this article is timely for me.
Eric, wouldn’t just giving them your website URL be enough?
This year at SXSW, I brought business cards for the first time (didn’t bring them last year). I made super cheap ones (B&W, one-sided, 100 for $8 at office max) that were designed specifically for SXSW.
I learned last year that no matter how fancy your business card is – I won’t remember who the heck you are when I get back to my hotel room. This card aims to solve that – if only everyone else brought them!!
Check it out (PDF)
We just have the company name, address, phone, and email address on our cards.
http://www.bfmedia.com/businesscard.jpg
My official title of “Web Technology & Strategy” is somewhat misleading and always requires an explanation, so this year at SxSW Interactive I chose to make up some cards for my blog and hand them out mostly on the side.
First design, I just attached the URL (no name or anything else) then changed my mind. The printer messed up in the end and printed the URL only version. In the end I love it as it was a bit mysterious and I was hoping the recipient would go to the blog and ‘discover’ who I was.
Did it work? Who knows, but I had fun with it! Check out the card here.
oops! This sample looks like the ‘corrected’ version. (w/ name and email)
!. Name.
2. Telephone
3. Email
4. That’s all.
I went with the Moo cards as well. I just chose 10 pictures from my Flickr photos that I liked, and on the backs I have my name, title (Web Developer), mobile phone number, website, and email address.
Even though I do a good amount of work that is outside of a traditional “web developer” role, development is what I do most often, so I just went with that.
I can’t say enough good things about Metalcards.com
If you’re looking to impress, they’re invaluable.
They’re not cheap (at AU$2.40 a card, you’ll want to be selective about handing them out), but they’re impressive, people look at them and (best of all) keep them.
http://www.metalcards.com/gallery/cards/index.html
Mine have my company banner, my name, a Skype-IN number that forwards to my cell phone when I’m out, my email, and my company URL. Since a lot of paperwork (filings with state & federal government, banks, vendors, etc.) require a title, I picked “Managing Director” and that’s below my name on my cards; I think being “President and CEO” of a single-person LLC is about as pretentious as it gets.
I ordered mine from VistaPrint ($4.99 for 500, plus shipping), created a simple vector graphic (with Inkscape) and exported it to a PNG: a white card, with a black banner at the top that has the company name and tagline, and the rest in black print. They ended up looking really sleek.
For those questioning the importance of cards, not having a business card, or worse, having the Walmart-special “print-your-own” cards that are misaligned and faded, sends a very strong message: “I am not a professional, my work is shoddy, and I may take your money and disappear with it.” Especially for those in design careers, customers judge you by the quality of your print material; if your business cards look like a 3 year old made them with crayons, why should a customer believe their website won’t end up looking the same? Some visages of the traditional world (like a skyscraper office and banker-gray suits) can be discharged, but some things, like quality business cards, are the difference between a real professional and some guy who slaps stuff together on the side.
How timely! I am in between full-time jobs at this point in my career and doing some consulting, contract work, and blogging. As I have been meeting and networking I have wanted to cards to hand out. I am currently in the process of redesigning my personal card and three items come to mind:
1) What to say
Much like this post discusses, what does one call ones self? I have varied skills that I have garnered over the years and bring to bear on most projects and meetings, among which are: producing, project managing, writing, web designing, directing, illustrating, mentoring, and strategizing. How do you communicate all that on a small card?
2) Design
At networking events well designed and unique cards get noticed more easily once you get home and start thumbing through the stack. One sided, two sided, embossed, foil stamped, vertical, etc. are all gimmicks to make ones card memorable and to make it stand out.
3) Does it Matter
Finally, in this day of instant messaging, mobile phones, email, and VoIP how important are business cards? Personally, I think they are valuable. They are another form of marketing. Business cards are part of a multi-media/format approach to PR. They are your mini-billboard.
Now, if only I can decide on my final design and find where I placed my oval die.
-Eric
VistaPrint is another great service that provides you with a wide variety of business cards. I’ve been using them for a few years now and use them to print my personal cards. They also offer FREE business cards.
We currently have very simple businesscards with ONLY our full name on one side and ONLY our emailaddresses on the other side.
When people get them they turn them over 2 or three times and then, with a smile, say “Yeah, that IS the only you need isn’t it?”.
We use three different emailaddresses for all our projects and then, depending on who we are talking to and about, select one of three cards.
With the emailaddress thy also know the domainnname and the company name all by just reading the emailaddress…
Geof,
Yep, that’s why you have to have your URL on your business card. :)
You seem resistant to the idea of business cards. True?
I’m involved in a few projects, so titles and taglines are out.
On the front: my name, email, phone, IM and personal web address.
On the back: the logos and web addresses for 3 main projects.
I’m a huge fan of Overnight Prints, and I love the 2-sided printing (and rounded corners!)
I’m currently starting my own business and have been thinking about cards recently.
I very much love those moo cards and thought of ordering some. When I talked to a friend, she told me that she kept the cards she receives in a certain flip-folder. This seems to be quite common over here in Germany.
Don’t those small moo cards get lost, when people organize their cards in some folder-system?
For my day job, I have my company name, title and contact information. For my side hustle (freelance web design and development — which, if anyone from my office is watching, I no longer do), I have cards with a simple logo, my name, my four strongest skills, my URL, mobile phone number (my only number, really), AOL IM handle, and Skype name.
Eric – I’m definitely not resistant to designing cards (I’d handle this myself) but simply questioning the validity given our level of “always on and everywhere” communications.
I’ve only been in my new business for less than two months but I’m jammed with work until July, so I was wondering if word of mouth, especially in a smaller market, is all it takes these days. From the sound of things here, this isn’t true, so off to Illustrator I go!
Thanks everyone.
Since our office just moved, I had to redo everyone’s card, including mine. We have 3 employees who work out of the office, me who telecommutes from 200 miles away, and 3 freelance/consultants who work remotely. So everyone has a different set of phone numbers on their card, along with the office address.
My card is a pretty standard card with logo, our website, my email address, title (Director of Operations and Communications), etc. The phone number is my GrandCentral number, though. I don’t have a separate card for my side jobs.
I usually get a strange look from folks who wonder why I live in New Jersey and my work address is in Virginia!
I use one of my graphs on my business card, enewsletter and letterhead. I’m evaluator working with small nonprofits.
The graph says – she can do this for me.
In our case the titles are not the best, but actual card. We figured that to stay in cleint’s mind we need to:
a) make client memorize the card through personalization
b) make the card stand out
You can see the card here: http://www.emotion.lt/company/bizcard.shtml
What we succeeded was to stay in client’s minds with the help of “scratch-off”. Not cheap, in fact 4 times more the price than a normal card. But sometimes it’s worth paying extra to stay in somebody’s minds for a while. When scratching off to see the contact info, they not only “personalized” and made their own mess, but also were playing with the card. Overall, it also looks messier when you look at all the other cards together…another way to stand out. So, i think overall we succeeded well.
My cards have my company name and logo (which forms a design element of the card), URL, phone (cell), fax, email, name, and SL avatar name. No titles. The back features our centered logo and faded, geometric iterations of our logo behind that.
We used VistaPrint and were very happy with them. One thing I find invaluable is having a matte stock as opposed to glossy. No one can write on the back of a glossy card!
It’s really fascinating to read how everyone’s approached this issue. I have my Moo cards, like I said, and those are fine for now. Depending on what projects I undertake in the future, I might have different ones made.
Regarding the question of whether you need business cards in this age of online work. I think you do and this is why: if you wait until the situation comes up that you need one (an important face to face meeting, a conference, a tech meetup), you won’t have time to figure out how to make some good ones. It takes time to make the decisions about what to put on it, have them designed, and choose where/how to have them printed. If you’re like me, you’ll regret it if you show up at an in-person event and don’t have any with you.
Geof,
It’s a good discussion. You’d think in the day of vcards, web sites, e-mail, RSS and mailing lists, we’d come up with something to move us forward regarding business contacts. And yet, we can’t think up of anything better than the paper-based business card.
Except word of mouth; that beats anything in my book.
I never took the need for a business card very seriously, until I showed up at one too many in-person events with a card that was out of date, not enough cards, or no cards at all. I think I missed the boat more than once as a result.
My current cards are very simliar to the design of my site (www.sharilynhorne.com). I ordered them from Overnight Prints, so they have the nifty rounded corners. The front has the standard list…name, business name, email, phone, fax, and several URLs.
The back has a matte finish, and a list of some of the things I actually do for my clients. I also repeat my main URL.
They are gorgeous, but I’ve hardly had a chance to use them since I got them. At least I’m prepared…
At my previous company, we all had little “quirky” touches on our cards, so we had our coffee order printed underneath the usual details.
It was always a conversation starter as I’d hand my card over, and everyone would always zero in on “skim latte with one sugar”, so a great icebreaker.
Hmmm interesting comments, i just recently dumps my biz cards and got a keyword and a shortcode. so when anyone wants my contact info i just tell them to send a txt message to my keyword and shortcode and bam. info directly to their phone.
As cool as Moo cards are, I can’t justify spending the extra cash for it when VistaPrint cards are high quality, and you can get 250 for 5 bucks or less with shipping, usually.
I run a music blog and keep tossing the idea around of doing some cards up for the site, to give myself a bit more of an “official” appeal. I think I’d just put my name, the name of the blog, Any Given Tuesday, plus the URL, email, and my contact number. A physical address is unnecessary. If a band wants me to review their album, call or email first!
I’ve been pleased with VistaPrint, but be aware that their shipping charges are high, so their FREE cards are anything but.
If you have a lot you want to say about your services, the back of the card is a good place for that.
And if you just want to give out a URL without worrying about your reputation, buy a box of microperf business card sheets and print ‘em yourself.
Interesting post, I just went through this myself. I’m a sole proprietor and I operate under my own name so I just have my business name, my website, email, cell phone and fax number. I didn’t put my name as separate from my business name, and I didn’t put a title.
I think business cards are extremely important for web workers who are freelancers, I don’t know how you’d spread the word about your business without having someone to hand someone so they can remember your name/url. Also as someone just starting out I felt it was important for me to have expensive, professional looking business cards (I chose letterpressing and a high-quality, textured duplex paper for mine) in order to be taken seriously.
I use the back of my cards in reversed out colours to encourage people to join my organisation’s email list.
success leads mlm http://mlm-leads.zaa.pl
I definitely do business cards. They are what you need when talking with someone, and you want to give them your email address, phone #, etc. I don’t care if you’ve got a totally catch name for your business – people walk away and forget.
But if they’ve got your card, it’ll get end up sitting on their desk, or their bureau, and they’ll see it and go “Oh yeah, I meant to send her that link we were talking about”, or whatever.
They are cheap, they are easy, why wouldn’t you?
Mine have the usual name, logo, url, phone #, email, and what I think is key: the tag line. Like most web workers I do a variety of things, but it all has to do with making things easier to use. So my tag is
“Making it Clear”.
I think that’s the branding part of business cards.
I have owned several small businesses along with my husband for several years now and have had business cards for each one. In our previous businesses, such as the recording studio and consulting business, we definitely needed business cards that contained our name, title, company name, and contact information along with our logo. Recently, though, I have begun freelance work for websites and was debating whether or not I really needed a business card. Well, this weekend I attended a friend’s wedding and met a potential client. He was a manager for the website of a major retail store. I was kicking myself the whole way home for not having printed any business cards yet.
Because I do a variety of work from my freelance business, I’m thinking about printing two-sided business cards, something I have never done before. My plan for the front side is to include the information that I have always included and on the backside list my services or maybe print URLs of published work. I am also thinking about printing with color, so that I can include my logo. I think that black-and-white business cards can look cheap, and I want people to know that I complete high quality work for major companies. I am not sure that I will include a title, though. I don’t think this is necessary for every business, and I am not sure what I would call myself, except for “freelancer,” which doesn’t seem professional. Since business cards represent a company and are a powerful marketing tool, I am very picky about the design. Sometimes maybe too picky, if this is possible when creating an image for my new business.
Has anyone had experience with CLevelCrossing for CLevel jobs and high-level executive jobs paying 250k+ per year? I have been hearing that this site has more clevel jobs than The Ladders, ExecuNet, etc. but that it is more expensive.
Apparently, the http://www.CLevelCrossing.com site goes out and researches jobs instead of charging employers to post jobs like other sites do and takes jobs from employer websites instead of recruiters. I have heard some good things about CLevelCrossing for CEO jobs and CFO job but am skeptical of any site that charges money.
Apparently, http://www.CLevelCrossing.com is the most expensive membership job site out there. It costs twice as much as TheLdders, though, so I am not sure if it is worth it. I work in finance and no one is having luck getting jobs in finance in New York these days.