bla.st Business Card Directory thing…
If you haven’t seen it yet, bla.st has a business card directory that is a mixture of the business card museuem and Google AdWords. Pretty cool actually.
The premise is this. Upload your business card and people will see it. That’s about it. You can also pay (the AdWords part) to have your business card listed higher. I don’t know how much traffic this thing gets, but in 6 days I have not received 1 visitor from the site!
Pay at your own risk. Oh, here’s the link to my business card at bla.st!
Did I mention how very Web 2.0 this thing is? I don’t know why except that it has bold lines for a background and uses what looks like Arial Rounded for the font!
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Another Online Business Card Creator
As if there weren’t enough online business card creators, here is another one from BusinessCardLand.com.
Personally I like the layout of this one, it has a very “Web 2.0″ feel to it. I don’t know if it is Javascript or AJAX, but it is very intuitive and easy to use. On second look, the business card creator is Flash based which accounts for the “loading” time of the template maker. They only offer about 8 templates and they all are horribly ugly, but for a novice just looking for some basic cards, these might just be the ticket.
Here are a few of the screen shots I took of the process. First choose the template you want. Second, choose the fields you want. Third choose some colors. Print and you’re ready to go. Oh, you’ll need to print these at home.
This screenshot is the first screen you need to interact with. Choose the fields you want to have on your business cards.
This is the second screen you’ll see. This one allows you to change the colors on the front of the 
business card.
There you have it, another web based business card creator review!
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Business Card Design Best Practices
Dave Taylor at the Intuitive Life Blog has some great “Best Practices” for business card design. Many of them have already been discussed here. One however is the email address issue.
Many people that I’ve designed business cards for have used free email accounts like Yahoo!, Hotmail or even Gmail accounts. These are bad, bad, bad. I told my clients the same thing, for less that $30 a year they can have their own @YourName.com email address. Cheapo’s don’t want to pay it though, and they are left with an unprofessional looking email address.
Dave says, “Have a Credible Email Address — Here’s one that constantly amazes me, actually. For example, I have a business card from a Realtor, from someone whom I am presumably going to engage in incredibly expensive transactions that might involve me assuming debt for 25 years or longer. Yet their address? Something very similar to hername1234@comcast.com. Does that instill trust? Do you feel instantly that she’s a professional more than capable of handling my large business transactions? Or the chap who forgot the .com at the end of his email address. Not a huge error, but checking for typos is #2…”
I couldn’t agree more!
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Introduction Cards vs Business Cards
Many people claim that their “Introduction Cards” are more effective than regular business cards. This logic is seriously flawed.
Business cards usually do two things.
1. Represent you.
2. Represent your business, or the business you work for.
Introduction cards do one thing.
1. Represent you.
So with that in mind, how could introduction cards be “better” than business cards, they’re the same thing!
So next time someone tells you, “Don’t buy business cards, get introduction cards instead,” just laugh because you are well informed.
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Business Cards Text and Font Choices
Text and fonts choices is an area where everyone agrees on one thing, they’re right. I’m right, you’re right, they’re right, you get the point.
When choosing fonts and text sizes, only you know what is right for you. If someone tells you, “That font doesn’t work in that size”, tell them to take a hike. If you like that font in that size, it obviously does work.
Business cards are definitely more art than science, don’t forget that. Some of the most effective business cards ever created made waves in their social circles, and undoubtedly people complained that it just “didn’t work right.”
When designing your business cards, or having them designed, go with what looks good TO YOU!
Wanna know a secret? My favorite font is Papyrus, and I don’t care what you think!