Tips For Designing Your Business Cards

By Adriana Copaceanu

Once you've made the decision to start your own business, one of the first things you should do is create some business cards. Every business owner should have business cards. If you're setting up a local shop or office in your town, having business cards to give people will be a way for them to know where you're located and what you do.

Even if you're setting up a small home based or internet business though, you should still have business cards made. Why? Because they can be a form of advertising for you. If your home based business offers typing services for instance, then you can pass out business cards to people who might need typing services once in awhile. If you have an internet business though, you can still use business cards as a form of advertising, simply by putting your website address on them.

In fact, how you design your business cards will depend a bit on what type of business you have started. Let's look at some examples.

1. Your business name - This will usually be on all business cards, regardless of the type of business you have started. If you have started a home service business and aren't using a specific business name, then simply put your name on the business card instead.

2. A tag line, or summary of your services - This will be different from one business to another. Some people like to have a short tagline of some kind on their business cards, but others like to summarize the services or products they offer instead. If you've started a home typing business for instance, you might put something simple such as "Typing Services". If you've created a graphics design company though, your summary might say something like "Affordable Computer Graphics & Design".

3. Contact information - This area is flexible, but you'll need to decide what is most important because you can't always fit everything in. If you want people to contact you primarily through your business phone, then that number should be the most prominent on your business card. If instead, you want them to contact your cell phone, make that more prominent.

Some people put their email address, physical address, one or more telephone numbers, and website address all on their business cards together. This is fine if you have the room, but in some cases you might want to simplify the card a little more, so you're not overwhelming people with too many contact options.

4. Font & Style Tips - When you choose your fonts, colors, artwork and other styles for your business cards, be sure you don't overdo it. Some fonts for instance, are very pretty but they're difficult to read. And if people have a hard time reading your business card, they're less likely to use it. Likewise, don't put black words on a dark blue card, because this will also be difficult to read. And don't put a strong colorful picture on the card either, because could make the words on the card get lost as well.

More tips, advice, help and resources on how to start a home based business are available at http://www.gbExchange.net/