How best to print your business card?

In most cases, once you’ve created your business card template, it’s time to print it.

If you’re not sure how to get your business cards printed cost-effectively, or how to choose the right service provider, we’ll answer these questions in this article, exploring the different solutions available to you.

A quick look at business cards and communication…

In recent years, the world of communication has seen extraordinary advances. To combat the mass creation of documents that are often forgotten at the bottom of drawers or in jacket pockets, professionals have been thinking about integrating much more innovative technology.

One example is connected business cards: these are based on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, a short-range wireless communication system that enables peripheral devices to exchange information.

All you have to do is hold your connected business card up to a phone, and the information will appear. The main advantage is that you won’t need to install any applications on either your phone or the other person’s, as this technology works with virtually all types of cell phone. But even if connected business cards with NFC or QR-code chips are enjoying a well-deserved success, printed business cards are still the way to go!

That’s why, once you’ve designed your presentation document, you’ll need to choose the best solution for getting it printed.

Solutions for printing your business card

There are two ways to get your business card printed: you can call on a local printer, located near your home, or you can entrust the job to online printers on dedicated websites.

The third option, to print your business cards using your inkjet or laser printer, is not recommended: on the one hand, the result is not optimal, both in terms of the precision of the lines and letters and the cutting of the cardboard, but also in terms of the cost of the operation.

To print dozens or even hundreds of full-color business cards, you’d need numerous ink cartridges, and you’d run the risk of damaging your equipment, which is generally not designed for this type of work.

The local printer

By entrusting the printing of your batch of business cards to your local printer, you can be sure of having a face-to-face conversation, which is sometimes a good thing, and of getting your order delivered fairly quickly.

On the other hand, many local printers won’t necessarily be competitive on price, and sometimes their equipment isn’t state-of-the-art: so be sure to check the final quality by asking for copies before you sign the press release.

Some printers won’t be able to offer you special finishes like selective lamination or “exotic” substrates like wood, bamboo, plastic or metal!

If you need a business card that’s out of the ordinary, pay attention to this point!

Online printing services

Online printing services are becoming increasingly popular, as they offer a wide range of options.

On these sites, you can get professional help with the design of your business card or, if you want to do it all yourself, you can use templates to save time and make sure you don’t make any mistakes.

This is the case, for example, with Vistaprint, an online site that offers to take care of the design work for you. To do this, the site provides you with pre-established templates that you can choose as you wish. All you have to do is fill in the various fields with the information you want to appear.

The operation is simple, but you’ll have only moderate freedom when it comes to the graphic design of your business card.

Nevertheless, you can take inspiration from these templates to create a business card that reflects your company’s image.

As we’ve said, the special feature of these sites is that you can also call on a graphic design professional to design the template for your card.

Once you’ve agreed, all you have to do is have the cards printed and delivered to your home after a few days’ waiting.

The main advantage of online services is that the overall cost of design and printing will be lower than if you use a freelance designer and then a printer. On the other hand, exchanges will be less fluid, since they’ll pass through a platform, and you won’t be able to request numerous retouching operations without a financial surcharge.

But if you’re in a hurry, these sites are worth considering, as you’ll often find well-designed business cards that can be used without major modifications.

Some specialized sites for printing your business cards

Helloprint

Helloprint is one of the most popular professional printers on the Internet, offering a wide range of templates with several customizable configurations.

It also makes the difference when it comes to the substrates used: if you want your card printed on recycled paper, wood or PVC, that’s no problem at all.

HelloPrint also offers its customers a simple step-by-step graphic design system, so you can easily reach your goal.

What’s more, you can print your cards in batches of 50, which can be interesting if you don’t need hundreds of business cards in one delivery.

Most of Helloprint’s services are offered at attractive rates: in any case, we invite you to compare services and prices before committing yourself.

Printoclock

Printoclock is a service that has chosen to focus on low printing costs, which are generally lower than those of the competition.

But even though this printing site offers a price below the market average, the print quality and workmanship are beyond reproach.

On the other hand, their site doesn’t offer a multitude of templates like some, and doesn’t have a wide choice of printing alternatives: only the “classic” format for printing your business cards is offered, and there’s no possibility of opting for special substrates like bamboo or gold plastic.

But as we’ve said, when it comes to price, Printoclock is by far the most attractive,vk especially as delivery is totally free throughout France.

Pixartprinting

Pixartprinting is a very special service. In addition to traditional business card printing, the site offers graphic design as well as the personalization of related communication products such as boxes and card holders.

All the items are of the highest quality, and you can sense that a great deal of research has gone into them.

Even though the site has a large number of positive reviews, a sign of confidence, you should be aware that you need to place an order for at least 250 business cards before printing can begin: this isn’t a great handicap, but just something to bear in mind.

Etsy

Yes, the famous Etsy website also offers a service that lets you design your own business card layouts from scratch.

It also provides you with pre-designed cards that you can modify to your liking before going to print. Generally speaking, the visuals are rather simple but very high quality, and there’s a real sense of artistic inspiration behind them.

But that’s also why prices are generally higher than those of the competition.