Ordering Business Cards

Raised Letter Business Card Printing

Nearly every printer or office supply outlet has several books containing a wide variety of business card designs. You merely pick the design and logo that most closely represents your business and the company does the rest.

Office supply companies will produce cards with raised lettering called Thermography. Usually these are farmed out to local printers or to vendors located out of state. The process requires typesetting and a paper or metal printing plate that imprints the image onto the paper. Plastic powder is sprayed on the wet ink which absorbs the ink color. Ink color selection is adequate but somewhat limited. The paper is heated, the powder melts, and a raised ink surface is produced which you can feel with your fingers. Raised ink looks good and is sometimes cheaper than offset. The plates can be saved for reorders. Turnaround time is about 10 business days.

Offset Printing

Local printers produce offset printing using computerized typesetting and metal or paper plates onto which an image is “burned” or stamped. Paper plates are not durable and usually aren’t saved for reorders, while metal plates are.

Standard ink colors are available, but custom colors can be matched to a manufacturer's color palette. Custom colors are more expensive because the printer must mix primary color combinations of black, blue, magenta and yellow, until he matches the desired color. Separate plates are needed for each color printed onto a full sheet of card stock. Turnaround time will depend upon the printer’s workload, but is generally 10 business days or less.

Self-printed

Business cards can be printed -- using your computer and an inkjet or laser printer -- onto perforated business card stock available from your local office supply store.

Many of these cards will look like you printed them out on a PC, because the cards’ perforated edges are rough and the printing method is apparent to anyone given these cards. It may look inexpensive and not be the best representative for you and your business.

Avery business card stock is often better since the edges are cleaner. But the image depends upon the type of printer you have and how clean your print heads are. Avery does offer online software in their Avery Online Product Catalog with a selection of stocks, logos, layouts and fonts for use with a PC. Macintosh computers are not supported. Basic business card templates using Microsoft Word are available at this site.

Online

Online print shops such as VistaPrint offers a variety of printing options and are offered for “free” while you pay shipping.

While costs are low, printing does come with a slight catch. The Vista Print logo and service advertisement is printed on the back of each card.

From a business viewpoint, these cards may produce some questions about your business. If you use your cards for social contacts, it probably won’t matter that much. VistaPrint offers an option for backside printing of your card for an additional charge. Prices for added services can quickly add up.

Free Business Cards

Several online vendors offer free business cards. All that’s required is purchase of their software templates using word processing software which you use to print your cards on your computer.

Print quality will vary widely. Lasers produce the best output, depending upon fonts built into software. Inkjets are also good but far less expensive than laser printers. Not all printing templates will work on your computer, so make sure the software you purchase will be compatible.. Some vendors offer sample print outputs. Before you buy, run a printer test for compatibility.

Where to Purchase

Avery Clean Edge Business card blanks:

Staples :Office Max and  :Office Depot.

Raised Letter Printing:

Office Depot

Office Max

Staples