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About Business Card Templates
by Wanda Brito
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Overview
At a time when networking is so valuable both to businesses and individuals, business cards are a necessity. Although high-quality, professional business cards can be gotten relatively inexpensively, there are times when you might need to have business cards at hand right away. Templates are a practical way to produce business cards at your desktop without having to format the cards yourself. If you have access to a computer and a printer, you can easily print out business cards on demand using a business card template. This article will tell you more about using business card templates.
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Getting Templates
A simple Internet search for "free business card template" will produce a variety of links to websites where you can get business card templates for free. Some sites will provide downloadable templates while others allow you to use their software online. You may want to download a template for your use or you may prefer to just create your cards online.
Some of the templates available are for use with preformatted business card paper that you can buy at any office supply store. The advantages of going this route are that it is fast and easy and you can be assured that all the cards will be perfectly uniform in size. There are also templates that will allow you to use any paper you choose.
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Making the Cards
HP, Microsoft and many others provide templates for business cards (see Resources). There are also many printing companies that provide a wizard to design your own business cards online. Choose the style you want for the cards and fill in your information in the wizard. The program generates the cards, filling in your information in the proper places on the cards. You can proof the cards on your screen and make corrections before actually printing them out.
If you used paper that is designed for business cards, they are scored, so all you will need to do is push them out of the sheet. If you used another kind of paper you will need to manually cut the cards to size. You can use scissors but a paper cutter is recommended for a cleaner, straighter result. A cutter will also help with making sure the cards are all the same size since it has a built-in ruler.
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More on Paper and Templates: Avery
Many of the companies that sell preformatted business card paper also provide templates for their use. Avery is a company that produces paper products mostly for office use, including business cards. It is one of the most well-known and widely used for business card paper and labels. Avery has templates for Microsoft Word, Adobe, Mac and Linux programs that can be downloaded from their website. They also have templates you can use online without downloading. All that is required is that you sign up with them.
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More on Paper and Templates: PaperDirect
PaperDirect is another paper product provider that has templates for their business card paper. They sell a CD-ROM with over 1,000 designs and formats for their products or you can buy individual templates which are sent to you via email once you've completed your order. One advantage of PaperDirect is that they sell coordinating paper products so you can have matching stationery and brochures.
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About.com Desktop Publishing
About.com offers additional resources for finding business card templates. On their "Desktop Publishing" site they offer links to free printable business card templates (which include color and artwork), free blank business card templates (when all you need is help with sizing and margins) and free printable business cards designed online (for a custom business card designed online by you). All these options practically guarantee that you will find something that works for you.
