Create Your Business Cards Using Online Templates

Even if your business is based primarily through the Internet, you need professional business cards if you want to make a good impression. Business cards are portable, which means that you can take them wherever you go, and they frequently fall into the hands, pockets, briefcases and desk drawers of your target customer.

The bad thing about producing business cards is that they can get expensive. If you hire a professional graphic designer to create business cards for your company, you're looking at a minimum charge of $500. After that, you can hire a professional printing company to print your cards, which can add hundreds of dollars to the bill, depending on how many you want.

A great alternative, however, is to use online templates to create business cards. Some of these services are free, while others cost a nominal fee, but either way you save money. Not only do you gain access to a pre-prepared template, but you don't have to print a minimum number of cards that you might never use. If you run out, you can simply print a new batch when you're ready.

Using online templates to creative business cards might not produce the fancy results you would find with a professional graphic artist, but many of the templates you find online are surprisingly attractive. You can upload photos, logos and other information to customize your card, and with some Internet sources, you can manipulate the images using Photoshop, Corel, MS Word or the Gimp.

After trying out more than twelve Web sites that provide templates for business cards, I've narrowed my list of favorites down to the top four.

Free Business Card Templates

Although this Web site is unnecessarily cluttered with advertisements, the business card templates you can find far exceed much of the competition. You can select from multiple card designs in seventeen categories, with separate lists for corporate and textured cards. The graphics are professionally rendered, and it gives you the freedom to place your text wherever you think it should go.

When you download a business card template from this Web site, it saves to its destination in a .ZIP folder. The two documents in that folder are the template itself and an example template with the text filled in. When you add text to the template, you'll need to use another program, such as MS Word or Photoshop.

Business Card Land

This business card template Web site is slightly different than the previous one in that it is almost entirely Web-based. You add information to the design you choose via the Web site itself, and it places the text automatically onto your business card. From there, you can change the colors for your text and design. This format doesn't allow for much creativity, and it limits the amount of information you can add, but it does make it easier for non-Web-savvy individuals.

The one thing I don't like about these online business card templates is that the designs are far more simple than the previous Web site. The designs don't represent a particular theme or image; rather, they focus more on simple designs with shapes. Plus, the Web site creates a .PDF document with your finished business cards, so you can't customize them easily after the fact.

Biz Card Templates

This is one of the best online sources for business card templates if you are more comfortable working in MS Word than any other application. You simply select the type of template you like, and download it to a specified folder. The template is created in MS Word format, which allows you to manipulate it as you see fit.

Although these business card templates are only in black and white, and the selection isn't large, it does provide quite a bit of freedom. If you want, you can add your logo, your photograph or any number of colors to the base template to make it more your own.

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard has an excellent online selection of business card templates available for free. In addition, they provide royalty-free images that you can use on your cards to make them more professional. These templates are also customizable in MS Word, and can be matched with a plethora of other marketing materials, such as newsletters and brochures. This is the Web site you should use if you want to coordinate a large bundle of literature for distribution.

A Few Tips for the Road

Regardless of which online source of business card templates you use, you don't have to break the bank just to get the word out about your business. Adding professional touches like borders, matching colors, taglines, product photographs and logos can make any business card look like a graphic designer produced it in her office.

It's usually easier to print online business card templates with perforated card stock, which you can find at your local office supply store. The cost will depend on the weight of the paper; thick, glossy card stock will be more expensive than your standard business card material.