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Printing Some Cheap Business Cards at Home

How About Printing Some Cheap Business Cards at Home?

Cheap business cards at home are common and used by almost every business. These are small and compact pieces of a card containing relevant contact information about a business. Sometimes you may get confused about printing business cards from the right place. Business cards are generally simple in design. The printing process has nothing to do with the design directly. But generally, a printer takes the responsibility of designing and printing. This will subsequently increase the making charges.

If you are not willing to spend a big sum behind the business card, simply do the task at home. The cheapest way of designing and printing a simple business card is to do it at home. You can even choose to get the design done from a professional and print it at home. You should have a good printer at home along with the paper required for printing. Once you meet these two criteria successfully, you are ready to go.

What are the Basic Requirements?

The basic requirements to print business cards at home are printer and paper. Apart from that, you need to keep a check of the ink quality. Make sure the printer runs smoothly. Try a few trial prints to ensure the printer is ready to provide the optimal output. You should also consider the paper type and quality. Business cards are printed in thick and tough papers. They are very different from the normal printing papers. You may not have a particular paper type at home. But you can get such papers easily from the nearest store. You can even order the paper online.

Advice

Here is a small piece of advice for you. Avoid using scissors to cut the printed business card. The outline of the card will go wrong when you cut it with scissors. In the end, your business card will get a very bad finish. You can instead use a paper trimmer to get precise sides and edges. If at all you are using scissors, your hands have to be steady.

Laser Printer

The most common printers people use at home are inkjet and laser printers. Different brands are offering these printers. If you are about to buy a printer for home utility, it is recommended that you buy a laser printer. Although they are more expensive than inkjet printers, the output is better. The durability is the main factor that will provoke you to get a laser printer over inkjet. You can enjoy many more benefits from a laser printer. For example, a laser printer will get the business cards waterproof and even let you get a good glossy finish.

Benefits of Laser Printers

Printing AND cutting Cheap Business Cards at Home

The biggest benefit of using a laser printer is the ink does not smear. A printed document look unprofessional with smudged ink. Unlike documents from inkjet printers, laser printers leave no wet ink. This prevents ink from smudging if moistened by water drops or sweaty fingers. As a result, the printed business card remains clear and readable.

The cost is another reason why you should print business cards with a laser printer. Laser printers are expensive when compared to inkjet printers. But in the long-run when a print business cards in bigger numbers you save based on cost per page. Over the years the cost of laser printers has dropped significantly. The primary cost for the laser printers comes from the toner cartridges. These are more expensive than the ink cartridges in the inkjet printers. However, the cost per page is significantly low.

Toner for Laser Printers Last Longer Stored

Out of the two types of personal use printers, laser printers are durable and meant for large printing jobs. These printers may take up some time in warming up, but once ready it can print 50% faster than a normal inkjet printer. Laser printers come with larger tray capacity. The machine is itself bigger to carry out heavy-duty printing jobs. They can also work smoothly without disruption during the printing process.
The final and the most convincing reason to get a laser printer is low maintenance cost. Maintenance is a headache for almost every gadget. It is a necessity of the machine yet an irritating headache. When It comes to printing, laser printers come with significantly lower maintenance costs. Moreover, when you replace the toner cartridges, you do not need to do any additional alignment work.

What about Inkjet Printers?

The benefits of a laser printer do not mean you cannot use an inkjet printer for business cards. If you got a powerful inkjet printer at home, it makes no sense to get a new laser printer. If you want to buy a good inkjet printer for the business cards, try the Epson waterproof versions. These printers may work comparatively slower than the other advanced printers. They can still print using waterproof technology. This is a must for printing business cards.

When buying a printer, it is essential to choose the one that can handle thicker papers. Cheaper printers can work only with the standard papers used for regular document printing jobs. Hence, when you use thick paper for printing business cards, you may end up struggling with the process.

Paper Quality

The next factor to determine the print of your business card is the paper quality. The paper used for printing business cards should be thicker than a magazine cover. To print a cheap business card you can use the 80lb cover paper. This paper type should provide you with fine-looking business cards at home. But if your printer can handle papers thicker than that, the card will get a better appearance. For this, you can shift up to 100 lb cover glossy paper. The majority of customers love the glossy look over matte finish. Generally, a glossy paper will give your business cards a touch of shyness. It will make the card stand out from the other types of business cards.

How to Cut Business Cards?

The printer will not print business cards in standard shape. It will print in the accurate size but only on a full sheet of paper. You need to trim out the card from the entire paper. As said above, use scissors to cut the cards is a mistake. With that, you are not going to get that neat and professional finish. Scissors cannot trim the edge of the business cards uniformly.

To give the business cards a professional look, you can work with a hand paper cutter or a bistro. The professional business card cutter is heavy and expensive. They also have tedious processes. Since using the industrial business card cutters at home does not sound like a good idea, a hand paper cutter can solve this problem. The process of using a hand paper trimmer is simple.

The tool comes with a ruler fixed on the top. On the side, it is fixed with a guided ruler. This is for ensuring accurate paper alignment. It is fun to work with a new paper cutter. The new cutter will cut the business card like a hot knife through butter. But if the cutter is not new, you can still make it sharp with the added metal piece below. Slide the knife of the cutter to make it sharper. Avoid bland knife as it twists the card and ruins the entire thing.

Bistro

A bistro is more like a sharp pen-like tool. You need to work with the bare hand to slit the card from the sheet. To get the accurate shape, remember to use a transparent ruler to get a clear view of the line while slitting the paper.

Storing the Business Cards

To conclude the production process in style, you can use stylish and durable business cardholders. It is important to retain the good shape of the business cards. You simply cannot leave them loose on a table. You can divide the printed business cards into two units. Keep one unit on a cardholder box or tray and place it on your office desk. Store the other unit on a pocket cardholder. This will make it easy to carry wherever you go.

Storing the business cards directly on your wallet can cause extra damage. You never know where you may encounter with a client. It looks so unprofessional to handover a crumpled business card. Be smart and store the business cards in a metal case. Not only will you have a good feeling, but your client will also have a good impression on you.

A little bit about Designing

Now that you know how to print cheap business cards at home, let’s discuss a little more about designing it. When you are determined to get the business cards done at home, you mean the designing too. A business card is important for any business. It helps to develop relations with clients. If designed correctly, a business card is powerful enough to make an impact. Here are some tips to design an effective business card.

Keep it simple

The first rule to design a good business card is to keep it simple and compelling. Do not influx with too much information. Let the business card serve the information it is expected to provide. A business card should include,

Logo
Company address
Contact number
Company name
Website
Relevant images

Keep the information simple and take special care of any typos and grammatical mistakes.

Make it Creative

It is important to make the business card creative. This will help it to stand out from the rest of the cards. It is possible to design business cards in unlimited ways. As long as it is smart and appealing, you can work with any concept. Incorporate, interesting color combinations and good contrasts. This will grab attention immediately.

Use professional software

Using professional software to design the business card is beneficial in many ways. You can maintain a good image resolution and design in the standard size. This provides the best output while printing. If you are not used to the professional software online, there are other simple applications as well. These applications do not require skills or special training to work with.

Most online applications provide free services. Moreover, you can work with pre-designed templates. These templates are customizable. You can design just the way you want. Once you have the design ready, proceed with the printing process. Good Luck!