DIY Business Cards for $20

Big box chain stores often advertise package deals for ready-in-an-hour business cards and though $89.99 for 500 might seem attractive, you're paying for convenience. You can make your own business cards at home for much less without a lot of hassle. This makes sense on a practical level too - often by the time you give away even 100 business cards, your job title, email, mailing address or phone number has changed and then you're stuck with a bunch of useless bits of nice paper.

All you need for DIY business cards is an inkjet printer or access to one at a print shop and you're good to go.

First, buy a pack of Ink Jet business cards at the aforementioned big box store. Staples sells an variety of colors and designs from $7-$75. I recommend Avery style #38871 (10 cards a sheet for a total of 200 cards for $15.99). Look for "clean edge" cards and make sure they are "no perforate", which allows a more professional-looking product.

Choosing a template style is the most time-consuming - and pleasurable - part of the process, so set aside a weekend afternoon or whole evening to experiment. MS Word has pre-made business card templates already installed (look under Mailings-Labels-Options) but the purchase of the cards allows for a access to free online templates and software on the maker's website, no downloads required. These are the easiest to use and offer the greatest range of designs.

When filling in your personal info remember not to go smaller than 10pt font. And if you're not happy with pre-made designs, Google "free clip art images" to customize your card. Usually you can cut and paste the images, or import into the clip art choices of the program you're using. Avoid all royalty-free images which will still require an initial payment for use.

When you're ready to print, test the appearance of the cards first by printing on a blank sheet of regular printer paper. Then feed your cardstock paper and let it dry for a moment before snapping the cards out. You can save the template for future use in case any changes need to be made, and keep the remaining sheets. Et voila! Promote yourself to everyone you meet all for under $20.