Your business card is a reflection of you and probably the most common marketing “piece” you’ll distribute–so why do so many business owners treat their cards as an afterthought? Here are the top 6 business card mistakes I see:

1. Leaving the back of the card blank. Here’s the perfect opportunity to expand a little on what you can do for the reader. Take advantage of it! Use a tagline or bullet pointed examples of what you do–better yet have a call to action here. My next iteration will have a sentence or two telling people to go to my web site for my new free report (right now it’s a tagline).

2. Creating a card you can’t write on. Most of us make notes on the back to remind ourselves where we met and what we should contact you about. Using a dark color, a glossy coating, or taking up the entire back of the card with your message is a no no! You do want me to remember you, right?

3. Choosing a bigger than standard size to “stand out.” It stands out all right–because the corners get all bent up and it’s annoying. And it doesn’t fit into the business card portfolio that many BNI and other leads group members carry with them so to make it easier to provide referrals.  

4. Going for the flimsy paper. You may profess to offer quality products and services–but having a flimsy business card is not a sign of quality.  Check to ensure what you’re getting is at least 80# cover stock paper (100# is even better).

5. Using a photo that’s more than a decade old. The point of a photo is to help the card recipient remember you — a photo that no longer looks like you is rather pointless.

And finally the cardinal sin of business cards– 

6.  Not paying the $10 to avoid having someone else’s logo printed on the back of your (free) business cards. Yes, I really do meet people at business events who haven’t and it always screams “unprofessional.” 

Personally, I use Greener Printer and love the result. I also love that they’re a lot less expensive now than they used to be.