Business Cards and other Advertising 'Gumpf'

I officially became self employed at the beginning of July this year and boy oh boy am I finding it hard! In my first trading month I made just over 10% of my projected sales....and 2 parties people promised to hold for me got postponed/moved to September.:'( I have struggled to get my website started but can't get the right conditions to photograph any more stuff to put on it (%£&&*" British summer!!:rain:) and played around with Photoshop - which is as easy for me as pushing porrige up hill - to try to design 'professional' looking flyers and leaflets.

I have done myself some business cards which border on the 'OK' but nothing more - and which my son puts into his extensive daily mailings to spread the word nation wide (and occasionally internationally) but I don't think they are good enough for me to proudly hand them to people I meet personally. So here is my question... I want a good value, good looking, business card.....any ideas??? I have looked at MOO which I think looks really good and I am definitely leaning that way but does anyone else have any other recommendations, suggestions or experiences?

I don't want one that advertises the printer on it...and I don't want one that looks like it could belong to every other business on the planet (which is why I like the look of the MOO ones as they put your own photos on them {which would be great - weather permitting!!])....but with everything else I am trying to do I haven't got the time to be trawling the internet on the hope of finding just what I want.

All thoughts, ideas and suggestions for business cards (and any other advertising ideas) eagerly awaited....don't let me down......:help:[-o<

Barbara I've used Moo for a couple of enterprises and now for Moon Cottage. Their quality is superb, delivery is fast and everything is reasonably priced. I don't think you can do better but look forward to hearing what the other guys have to say.

I like Moo cards as well ~ I sometimes use the mini-moos as tags for my jewellery. They are good quality and feel nice to the touch.

Most of my advertising gumpf I get from Vistaprint for consistency (and prices), and I used to use their standard designs, but now I use my own, and omit the vistaprint web address shown.

Last year I bought some artwork from someone on Etsy ~ a standard avatar and business card set, but then commissioned her to create headers, different business cards (standard and mini-moo sizes) and gift tags using the same design. She created these in the sizes required for both Vistaprint and Moo so I have a choice. I think all the work cost me $36, which is less than £20.

I take advantage of Vistaprint's freebies and special offers. I order standard business cards (you can get them coated so they have a heavier quality), vertical cards for earring displays and information cards, postcards advertising my products and market days (placed on corner of the table), and gift tags (business card size folded in half).

Everything has my name and contact details (of course). When I display my jewellery, each piece has a vertical card that details the materials and price, then I just cut the price off when it's boxed + if it's a gift, I pop in a gift tag as well. That way, the buyer/recipient has information about the jewelley + contact for potential follow up sales.

Crumbs Kym - what is your budget for advertising??!! =:-O... I feel quite overwhelmed! ...I think I need to read it all again and make notes!!!

I knew I would get some great ideas from you lot!![[]]

.....but don't stop there folks - keep it coming!!

And thanks both to you Kym, and Di, for your imput on MOO... that's 2 big ticks in the box for them then...

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Originally Posted by kymbi

Most of my advertising gumpf I get from Vistaprint for consistency (and prices), and I used to use their standard designs, but now I use my own, and omit the vistaprint web address shown.

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Have you had any problems with VistaPrint? They seem to have a bit of a reputation online...

I don't spend much with Vistaprint as I only order when they send me their email advertising freebies, so I mainly just pay for the postage. Usually I get 250 business cards for less than £6 using the "slow postage" option.

I've been using Vistaprint for about 3 years and I've only had 1 problem with one order not arriving (but refunded). However, I am aware of problems that people have found with them ~ these seem to occur when you click-through to their partners sites and then get charged for things you haven't signed up to or get bombarded with advertising. I just make sure I checkout only the items I have put into my basket and don't get sucked in to any of their tempting add-ons.

Hi I have used vistaprint they were ok but I use goodprint.good quality card and you can have photo of your work on the back of card. I also think its good to think about what colours your going to use I have always gone for black and white it stands-out well especially if your competing with a whole load of other advertising.

I also use vistaprint. I upload my own images/designs and don't use their templates (all a but naff imho and will have their details on the back).

They are a bit sneaky though, cos you think you are getting a great deal, but by the time you check out, loads of other costs get added to the bill. They do still work out cheap though, and reprints are cheaper still.

I used vistaprint once and they were fine. The trick is to save copies of the email offers they send to you (on an almost daily basis) and resurrect them when you need to order something - as long as you put the correct code in from the email, they still honour the offer. (that reminds me of a joke but perhaps here is not the place)

I'm another one that uses Moo's mini cards as swing tags and their portrait format cards for earrings. For the swing tags I punch a whole and put one of those little metal ring things in it (can't for the life of me remember what they're called). They look quite cool.

I just tried to scan an image in so you could see but the scanner seems to be knackered :confused:

Vista is sllllooooooowwwww and the quality is just about OK...useful if you need 100 postcards....don't believe the its free stuff you pay extra for uploading your own images, postage over the odds.....
moo is good if you want lots of different images.
Personally I now use petrol cards, they are good, quick and fantastic quality (I find a pro looking card makes all the differences). I got together with a group of jewellery friends to get a discount, and they all loved them too (and we are a hard bunch to satisfy). Didn't think postcard company much good, my model looked like she had sunburn.....
Em

PS why not post drafts on here...I find second opinions most helpful!! have a good look at others cards for design tips!
Em

Did you mean 'Eyelets' Di,

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I know I am penny pinching...but 'times is 'ard' n all that... Doesn't using business cards for earring cards actually put quite an extra few pennies onto the materials cost?

...and talking of presentation and packaging - I have just had a look at your blog Kym....tell me, tell me do...where do you get your boxes printed?? Is it The Tiny Box Company? I've been looking for somewhere that does foil printing on short runs and that is the only one I have found so far....but I do like to have a choice!!:-D

Eyelets :Y:

The reason for using them - because I have thousands of the buggers and I want to get rid. You get 100 mini-tags things for 9.99 and I can't remember how much I worked the eyelets out at but, no, it didn't add a whole lot to the cost (which I recouped - nowt's free) and they looked good.

Currently I'm looking at packaging too. My necklaces are on the chunky side - I use a lot of semi-precious nuggets - which is proving to be problematic in terms of box cost.

Barbara, yep you were spot on... I got my boxes from the Tiny Box Co :Y:

If I remember, it was about £20 to set up the press with my design, then 8p per box printed. They advised on the size of print I would need to cover all sizes of boxes with only one press ~ for the larger boxes, I get them printed on the bottom-right so the design doesn't look lost in the middle. They don't have minimum orders for runs, but the boxes work out cheaper if you buy them in quantities over 100.

I've been happy with the boxes ~ the wadding inside is nice and firm. I usually split the wadding so that I have some below and over the jewellery and with TBC it's firm enough to do this and doesn't shred or move about.

I use Noble Packaging and Potters for my packaging/boxes (good price/quality) and my cards were printed on Staples card which my OH kindly did for me. I also have some blurb on the back of the card. My 'logo', if you could call it that, is a little red heart, 'cos my jewellery is made with love

:<3:

hope that helps
Jules x

I design my own (sadly only B&W), print on paper and then laminate and cut!

Costs me less than £2 for materials and I can get 10 cards to a sheet and I usually make around 200 at a time!

Tomorrow I am making some new business cards, I don't know if they will work but I'll be sure to post a photo if they do because they should be rather different and eye-catching!! :-D

Get my boxes from Noble, can't recommend them enough never had a problem.

Business card - I design and print these myself. normally using Serif (pageplus/drawplus) does everything I want. My main problem is if I go down a third party printer, if they are not local to me they want to charge me extra postage as I live in a (very) remote area and postage tends to take an extra day or two to get to me.

Until recently, I'd bought my boxes from Noble as well and I've been very pleased with their range and service.

I went over to the Tiny Box Co as I liked the recycled nature of their boxes and the wadding inside is better than Noble's + I found the overprinting was a bit cheaper. There are some size of boxes (eg long bracelet boxes) that I don't need to buy in batches of 100 and with TBC I can just get a smaller order.

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Originally Posted by kymbi

There are some size of boxes (eg long bracelet boxes) that I don't need to buy in batches of 100

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It is that minimum order that has stopped me from using Noble. There were boxes on there just right for Jewellery from Moon Cottage (silver marbled) but, atm anyway, I don't need 100 of anything.

I've ordered three different boxes from TBC to take a look and I got some beautiful boxes from a company via Ebay - shame is that, if I order a larger quantity direct from the company, they are phenomenally expensive even taking free p+p into account.

I use vista for big card runs that I hand out like confetti...
then Moo Cards for more "select" gifting and Potters for my boxes.
With Potters you have to pay for plate charges but the printing is free :Y:

nic x

Moo all the way for me, quality and options for the price are superb, and they have a great selection of products, like the mini cards and stickers, I have business cards with my logo one side and 5 different images on the backs (as in on image on each card but 5 different ones!) and I have mini cards that I will use as tags with a variation of my logo, and also, finally stickers with my logo, that I will use for envalopes and parcels, and for sticking down wrapping paper. Now I just need to get my blooming shop up and running and get making more jewellery!!

LOL 44, you seem to be at the same stage as me - got the gumph but need to get up and running. Getting the spider to list your site takes forever, which is why I'm quietly chuffed that I've got the two NT craft fairs later on this year - bit of cross-pollination.

Hadn't thought about the stickers,what a brill idea!

moo cards for me - but I have used VistaPrint in the past - the knack with them is to select their logo or web address and make it white and then it doesn't appear. Or I think I also selected it once and just moved it outside the printable area - either way i got cards without their gumpf on the back.

As for moo cards here's a discount code for anyone wanting to get 15% off their first order - 2RB2CK - only works for new customers, not existing ones.

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Originally Posted by Moon Cottage

LOL 44, you seem to be at the same stage as me - got the gumph but need to get up and running. Getting the spider to list your site takes forever, which is why I'm quietly chuffed that I've got the two NT craft fairs later on this year - bit of cross-pollination.

Hadn't thought about the stickers,what a brill idea!

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SPIDER???

What am I missing here?

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Originally Posted by Milomade

As for moo cards here's a discount code for anyone wanting to get 15% off their first order - 2RB2CK - only works for new customers, not existing ones.

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Great thanks! I've not used Moo, will look into it for my next order as you all seem to be raving about it :)

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Originally Posted by Moon Cottage

LOL 44, you seem to be at the same stage as me - got the gumph but need to get up and running. Getting the spider to list your site takes forever, which is why I'm quietly chuffed that I've got the two NT craft fairs later on this year - bit of cross-pollination.

Hadn't thought about the stickers,what a brill idea!

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Hehe yes! Well, I have been trying to get sorted for a good chunk of this year but I have had a ton of things get in the way. They're all getting sorted now, and once I have moved in Sept I should be able to really get going with it, and now I have started my new job, I should be able to get more jewellery made prior to the move, fingers crossed!!

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Originally Posted by Solunar Silver Studio

SPIDER???

What am I missing here?

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A spider is the thing that the search engines send out to crawl the web and index all the pages and sites. It picks up the metatags and the oft-used phrases in a site so that when somebody uses a search phrase it can throw up the relevant sites.

When you launch a site onto the web you need to submit your URL (web address) to the various search engines but it takes forever for your site to be picked up.

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Originally Posted by Moon Cottage

A spider is the thing that the search engines send out to crawl the web and index all the pages and sites. It picks up the metatags and the oft-used phrases in a site so that when somebody uses a search phrase it can throw up the relevant sites.

When you launch a site onto the web you need to submit your URL (web address) to the various search engines but it takes forever for your site to be picked up.

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OK - I have heard of tags...what is a metatag?? ...and how do you submit your url to the various search engines....God I feel such an idiot!!:'( I really REALLY don't know a thing about the Internet and how it works...even if I am a pretty neat Googler!!;)

I'll put together something for you and write it up later. My freelance writing work is mostly webcontent, which is why I sort of understand it all.

You had to mention the Google didn't you:mad:

:D. I had to get one up on you somehow...my inferiority complex was showing!! []

ANYTHING you can do to help fill this yawning gap in my knowledge will be gratefully received!! :ta:

Listen, darlin', with beautiful, delicate silverwork like yours you don't need an inferiority comples. I'd love to be delicate [-o<

:X[]:flowers::o. !!!!!