“Don’t leave home without them.” This slogan belongs to American Express travelers’ checks, but it also applies to your business cards. If you’re seeking to have your work published or prospecting for clients, you are in business, and you need a business card to go with your Web site and/or blog.

Basics

Do NOT print your cards on your own printer. Have them professionally printed because you want your card to present a professional image. Home-printed cards look—well—home-made. There are ways to get them without spending too much money. But, first, make decisions about:

• Design: Creative people tend to go overboard with their designs. Keep it simple, and try to coordinate the fonts and colors on your card with your Web site design. Use color and graphics, if you want, but remember the purpose of the card—to give your name and contact information. These should be prominent.
• Photo or No Photo: There are mixed opinions about whether you should include your photo on your card. Some think the photo helps people remember you if they met you at a social function, while others think it’s corny.
• Content: Essentials are your name and/or business name, your tagline, and contact information. Contact info can be limited to e-mail address and Web URL. You can also include mailing address and phone number, but resist the temptation to fill the card up with text. It’s the mark of an amateur designer. Here’s an article discussing card content.
• Back Side: Many online sources now offer designs for the back side of your card. I don’t see the value of this, since it adds a good bit to your cost. However, if you have a number of Web sites or if you have too many services to list attractively on the front side, by all means, move some of it to the back. It’s better to have a good design than a crammed-full card.
• Quantity: Resist the temptation to order 1,000 cards. I guarantee you that you will want to change the design before you use them up. Then you will have a guilt trip about wasting the cards. Get 250 to start (unless you know you’re going to a conference with 250 attendees). At most, get 500. Especially if you include your photo, you will want to change your design at least annually.

Sources

A number of companies offer business cards online. Be sure to check with your local printing company, too, though. Sometimes they can offer you a unique design for just a little more than you would pay for the online cards plus shipping. Of course, the online companies offer a number of specials that you might find attractive. Be careful that you don’t waste a lot of time looking at designs, though. The information on the card is what is important. The design is secondary. The card must look professional and not cluttered.

I’ve used Vistaprint for the past few years. They offer a limited number of free designs plus Web sites and other promotional items to match. The Web site feature is fairly new, so I can’t comment on the dependability or effectiveness, but the designs are attractive. They offer a free one-month trial, so check it out. If you don’t like the free cards, look at the “premium” designs. You’ll pay for these, but it may be worth it to get a more custom look.

Vistaprint and some of the other online printers offer the option to upload a design of your own. You can create a design in MS Publisher or other design program. Here’s a how-to article on designing in Publisher. And there’s another one on Ehow. Once you upload your design, it’s likely that you’ll be offered other promotional articles to go with it.

Besides Vistaprint, I’ve used 123Print because their prices are reasonable, and I really like their designs for writers. Take a look. A more expensive option is Zazzle. I searched “editor” and got these results.

If you have a card already, make a note of ways you can improve it when you do your next printing. If you don’t have cards, order them as soon as possible.

Other Online Info about Business Cards:

Business card do/don’t

http://editorunleashed.com/2008/10/30/writers-business-cards-dos-and-donts/

How to use business card:

http://freelancewritinggigs.com/businesstips/do-freelance-writers-need-business-cards/

Article on card design (Warning: good content, but some of the language is questionable)

http://www.1099.com/c/ar/ta/businesscards_t010.html