Brand Create

It’s gotten way too confusing to order business cards online. How do you choose a business card printer when there seem to be millions of them competing for your business?

Shopping for business card printing online is like shopping for any other product – your goal is to find what you what, for a reasonable price, from a reputable dealer. The problem when buying business cards online is making sure you’re comparing apples to apples, as the saying goes.

Finding the Business Cards You Want

Your first task is to find an online business card printer who carries the type of business card you want. Most online business card printers offer full-color business cards in a standard size (3″ by 2.5″), so a simple search for “business cards” or “business card printing” will find those.

You will need to decide whether to use custom artwork for your business card or one of the pre-designed backgrounds or templates offered by many business card printers. Again, many online business card printers allow you to order business cards either way.

Don’t be put off by the idea of using backgrounds that are available to everyone else; odds are slim that any of your direct competitors will find and use the same background. And these are professionally done designs that flat-out make you look good to prospects. (Much better than a homemade business card!)

If you need different cards, such as die-cut business cards or embossed (raised print) business cards, those are also easy to find using your favorite search engine. Many business card printers offer more than one type of card – raised print, one-color or full-color, for example. Some even offer magnetic cards, sticker cards and more.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll assume you’re looking for full color business cards.

Paying a Reasonable Price for Business Cards

Business cards are the bargain buy of the marketing world, but comparison-shopping for business cards can be a nightmare. It’s not enough to compare style and price of business cards between printers (say, 1000 full-color cards, printed on one side – 4/0).

Besides the style and price, you also should compare:

the thickness of the card stock (a 14pt card is sturdier than a 10pt card);
whether or not a protective coating is included in the price (and which type – a card can be “glossy” without having the protection of UV coating, and UV coating is generally considered more desirable than aqueous coating);
whether or not there are extra charges, such as a fee to upload your own images;
how many (or how few) business cards you can order at a time;
shipping costs; and, last but not least;
the reputation of the business card printing company.
Finding a Reputable Business Card Printer
Online business card printers who’ve made it to the top of the search engines, and stayed there, are generally okay – but not necessarily.

In fact, one popular, high-ranking business card printer online has such a pattern of complaints that they’ve received an “Unsatisfactory” rating from the Better Business Bureau. (This company’s cards are also of substandard size, although it’s hard to tell unless you directly compare them with another business card.)

So one guideline is to look for a designation such as Better Business Bureau approval or Bizrate certification. If a company has won such a designation, they’ll probably mention it somewhere on their website. Testimonials are another clue – but it isn’t hard to find a dozen happy people out of thousands of customers, so read them with a grain of salt.

Another way to assess a business card printer is to request samples of their business cards – not only will you get to examine actual cards, but you’ll get a feel for their customer service as well.

One Last Complication

Did you know that many, if not most, of the business card printers on the web are dealers for two or three huge wholesale business card printing companies? That’s right – you spend all that time shopping for the right business card printer and you probably don’t realize you’re comparing identical cards.

(You usually can’t tell until you reach the section of the website where you actually choose and edit a business card template or background – the URL will change.)

Now there’s nothing wrong with these online business card dealers, many of whom add value by educating people about business cards, just as I do, and nothing wrong with the business cards. But knowing that many business card printers online offer the exact same cards should save you some comparison time!

Given the affordability, portability and versatility of business cards, it is certainly worth taking time to shop around for the right business card printer for your business. And now that you understand some of the differences, you’ll make a more informed decision when you next go looking for a business card printer on the Internet.

Benefits Of Personal Branding

There are many benefits of personal branding within any business venture. From the onset, of your business creating a brand/logo should be a priority to ensure you stand out and separate yourself from the masses over other related businesses.

Researching multi-million or even multi-billion dollar industries, personal branding is an application that has been proven and shown remarkable results. As an example regardless of the owner of franchises such as McDonald’s, the golden arches remain constant and recognizable to throughout all McDonald’s worldwide. The golden arches have become the brand of the business. These same concepts should be the applied within your business plan.

Personal Branding For Success

In order to create a strong business brand utilize the thought process of building strong brands. Put a considerable amount of time into selecting your brand. Once you’ve determined your brand image stick with it, this is key in the importance of branding yourself for success. It is essential for your business, to create a positive image in the minds of potential customers. Personal Branding Why Should You Brand There are some key reasons in regards to “why brand”? Some of the main reasons you should choose personal branding are:

to build a strong presence
put and image/face to the company
create “likeability” surrounding your brand
define your business’ purpose
differentiate you/your brand from the numerous others in your niche
Personal Branding Establishing Yourself As An Expert In Your Niche

On a daily basis, there are several new businesses opening both online and offline, in either circumstance strong personal branding is essential to your presence, visibility and success. Creating your business, be sure you are branding yourself and not the company product you represent. The main reason for doing so is if you want to add another product, you don’t have to begin to create a new brand. Establishing yourself as an expert within your area will allow you the ability to offer more than one service or product. As long as you stay within your niche, you will continue to brand yourself as an expert within that field.

Personal Branding Through Syndication

Once you’ve established your brand image, you must begin to create traffic to your site. One of the easiest and most cost effective ways is through article marketing for SEO (search engine optimization). Each article should then go through a process of content syndication. There are a couple of tools to utilize to make this process as automated as possible. These tools are:

OnlyWire – “send your content to the top social sites with the push of a single button”
TribePro -” a simple and powerful tool that allows your message to be shared across unlimited social networks without lifting a finger.”
Be sure to brand yourself and not the company when creating your online or offline presence.