5 Tips for a Successful Business Card Design

Despite the move to everything digital, the exchange of a printed business card is time-tested tradition in face-to -face business interactions. Whether you are meeting a prospective client for the first time or at a networking event, your card is a critical factor in making a good impression. Savvy, well-connected business people never leave home without a stack of effectively designed cards in their wallet or purse, but what exactly constitutes an effective business card design? These 5 tips should give you some guidelines when looking to redesign your company's business card:

1. Information: The main purpose of a business card is to make it easy for people to contact you. Include only the contact information that is absolutely necessary. For example, email, phone, cell, website, address, name and job title. You don't need to provide a long list of services or every single mailing address if your company has multiple locations. There is very limited space on a business card, so by limiting the amount of textual information, the overall design will be cleaner and easier to read.
2. Brand: A business card conveys your brand by introducing brand elements, such as logo, colors and fonts. It is imperative that your card to be consistent with your other branded materials. This helps to reinforce your brands, helping new acquaintances remember you and your company better.
3. Size: If you've ever thought about making your business cards larger, smaller, or even a fancy die cut to stand apart from your competition, there are advantages and disadvantages to consider. The typically business card size is 3.5" x 2" - meaning wallets and card holders are designed to accommodate this size. If you card won't fit into these items, it may get tossed in the trash - making you lose out on potential business. So it's best to create a design that stands out while fitting within those dimensions so that you're newly made contacts can carry and store your information easily.
4. Paper: There are 3 things you want to consider when choosing the paper stock for your business card - weight, design, and finish. First you need your card to be sturdy so it doesn't get dented or torn in your wallet or business card holder. Just like a flimsy handshake doesn't make a good impression; neither does a flimsy business card. Next, you want to consider the design of the card and what color paper and texture will compliment the design the best. Simple variations such as an off-white linen paper stock verses a bright white smooth paper stock will really impact the final product. Lastly, you want to consider the finish - is uncoated, matte, or glossy the best? That's up to the designer and printer - but it's always nice to be able to jot down some additional information on your card if need be. Certain types of finishes or coats won't allow this - such as glossy and certain matte finishes.
5. Design: The business card design itself must present both your contact information and brand elements on a very small space. So it is best to keep the design clean and organized. This can be achieved by making sure there is negative space on the card. Negative space allows your eyes to rest and focused your attention on what's most important. Selecting appropriate fonts and font sizes is also important because it impacts the legibility. It's best to select a font that is still legible at a small size - a classic serif or sans serif font would be your best bet. Lastly, you want to organize the content (information and branding elements) so that it's user-friendly and visually appealing.

Having a strong, yet simple and easy to read business card design will present you as someone who is professional, savvy and tasteful-someone that is enjoyable to do business with. So before you begin your quest for the perfect business card design, keep these five tips in mind: information, brand, size, paper and design.

Folding Business Card Designs - Pros and Cons

Folding business cards are one of the current top trends in business card design.

They are designed to fold to the size of a standard business card, so easily fitting in a regular wallet or card-holder, but have twice as much space to fill. You can choose between the long fold, which will look like a mini greetings card, or the short fold, which allows it to stand vertically and fold out into a long bookmark shape. There is also the offset fold where the front is shorter than the back revealing the lower panel of information both open and closed. Well designed, all these formats can be appealing, functional and cutting edge, but there are also pitfalls to avoid.

Pros
You get a whole lot of extra space to include more information on products or services. You can add pictures, maps and all sorts of details on the inside of the fold, even making your cards into dual function mini-brochures.

The fold makes the cards self-supporting, so they can stand up and stand out on a table display making them far more noticeable and eye-catching than ordinary flat cards.

This format allows for plenty of creative design ideas and making your business cards into useful giveaways that people might want to keep longer - think about printing a reference guide relevant to your business in the middle: perhaps a weights and measures conversion guide; keyboard shortcuts list; a calendar; a planting guide; a colour chart, anything that your contacts might like to prop up on a desk or kitchen counter as a long-term reference.

You might prefer this format just because it allows for a whole lot of blank space inside to scribble notes. Some people print on the outside and leave the whole inside blank - especially in a business where the personal element is important. You can then scribble a twitter handle, a blog address a personal cellphone number inside before handing it over - whatever information is most relevant to that particular contact thus making your conversation more memorable.

Cons
Folding business cards can get too cluttered, as you try to cram in as much information as possible into what is still a relatively small space. Don't forget the prime design mantra of the business card - less is more.

These cards will cost more than ordinary business cards - they are effectively twice the size with twice as much printing and design involved, as well as the scoring for the fold. Weigh up whether you are saving money on other flyers and informational material by having the extra space inside - it could still be cost-effective if it saves you printing and giving out several other pieces of printed paper.

At double the size they are double the bulk, so you will have to carry more weight around in your pocket to have the same number of cards on hand: a small consideration, but worth remembering if you like to travel light.

In a similar vein, if you are going for the green approach they might not be your best bet - they use double the amount of card and ink, so even if you do choose recycled card stock and natural vegetable based inks, you are doubling the amount of resources used in your business cards.

If you decide to go for a fold, then make sure your designers make the most of it, so that it really does stand out from the crowd.

Safe and Efficient Business Records Management Ideal for Every Modern Organization

Records management is regarded as both a management and discipline function that includes the secure document storage of the business records that any contemporary organization owns and keeps.

There are storage companies that also offer online document storage of essential business records at competitive rates.

Financial records are documented transactions that are needed and used by the organization in the regular course of business. They are also legally considered as evidence for every transaction entered into. Transactional records include, but not limited to, orderings, receipts, loans, contracts, notifications and schedules.

A record is defined as the business information that is created and received by a person or organization. It is also maintained as evidence pursuant to the legal obligations of the business.

A record is therefore something that can be taken into a court of law. If called upon, the record must be authentic, reliable and usable, complete and unaltered, so it can fully and accurately represent the facts that it attests to.

Records and Information Management

Records have a distinct life cycle that begins with creation or receipt, processing and distribution. The second phase includes maintenance and evaluation, and concludes with ultimate disposition.

The last phase of the cycle involves either destruction or transmittal of records for permanent housing. The company may either build its own vault, archive or another dedicated facility for the storage of the records or engage the services of an outsourcing storage company.

Recordkeeping systems include people who are directly involved in the creation and use of the organizational records, the policies related to such records and procedures that ensure optimum access to and use of said documents. They also include tools and technologies that are employed in the creation and storage of records in various formats.

An organization with a consistent recordkeeping program can conform itself to statutory requirements specifically for information retention. It has appropriate evidence of its transactions in case of audit and minimizes jeopardy at the discovery phase in case of litigation. There would be continuity of operation in the event of a disaster and costs can be controlled because of the timely disposition of financial information.

A recordkeeping system is required to have reliability, integrity, permanence, comprehensiveness and compliance. Reliability is about the consistent capture and access to organizational documents. Integrity involves no unauthorized alteration, removal and destruction of records. Permanence means that no record can be altered, tampered with or improperly deleted.

With comprehensiveness, it involves the management of all created and stored records that comprises the normal continuous activity that links all the units of the organization. Compliance is the creation and maintenance of the documents consistent with all of the applicable policies and procedures implemented in the organization.

Online Records Storage

Today, any type of financial record can be securely stored online and can be accessed via any web connected Mac or PC anywhere in the world.

As businesses now tend to go global, with employees assigned to various locations locally and internationally, online records storage becomes highly relevant and useful. Employees while travelling or telecommuting will be able to store essential documents and files online and instantly access them when needed.

There are online records storage companies that offer simplified online programs. Employees can easily drag and drop several files and folders and organize them in online libraries and folders. They can then share them with other team members.

There are also online storage systems with collaboration features such as version control, notifications, file locking, commenting and audit trails. Amazingly, there are no restrictions on the type of file to be used like MS Office, audio, images and pdfs.

Online storage programs allow only authorized users to gain access to the stored documents. Also, they save time and money, keeping IT costs low with easy to use online records storage solution that can be used with no software or hardware required.

Records management companies offer secure and efficient storage of documents in their vaults or archiving facilities. They have trained professionals who can handle the storage system, thereby keeping information in its strictest confidentiality. They are also experts in the legal aspects of secure document storage.

Small Business Accounting - How to Keep Good Business Records

Are you tired of scrambling at the last minute to get your financial records to your CPA? Or are you tired of wasting time trying to find an important invoice, or receipt? Or are you just fed up with being fined by the IRS, Worker's Comp, the State Employment or other agencies because you don't have your papers in order?

Then it is time you got organized.

Now I know that finding financial paperwork can be difficult, especially if you don't have a good system in place.

Or if you have the wrong system, you make it worst, by making it really hard for anyone in the business to locate any of your important papers.

Well, here is a system you can use that will help you stay organized, so that you and your team can find your important financial paperwork in a jiffy - or when you really need them.

1. File paid bills, canceled checks and/or bank statements, and other business documents where you can easily find them. Some people use manila folders or an accordion file divided into types of expenses, i.e. "car', "utilities", "entertainment", and so on.

2. At a minimum, stuff receipts in the proper folders throughout the year and total them up at tax time. Staple the adding machine tape to each folder or stack of receipts. If this works, good for you!

3. An adequate record-keeping system for a small business typically includes:

- Check register - preferably from a separate bank account for your business.

- Summary of receipts of gross income - totaled either daily, weekly, or monthly.

- Monthly summary listing of expenses.

- Disbursements record (check register or actual expense journal) showing payments of bills.

- Asset purchase listing (equipment, vehicles, real estate used in business), and employee compensation records (if you have workers).

4. Every time you spend money in the business (or once a week or month), note in your records the following:

- A brief description of the business purpose of the transaction (office rent, new stapler, gas, etc.).

- The amount.

- The date, and

- Whom you paid (Chevron, Kinko's).

5. Keep all business records for at least six years, then make sure to properly destroy any sensitive information before disposal. You may elect to keep records longer, but the minimum required by the IRS is 6 years.

Now, this is a minimal system for a small business, especially in start-up phase. As the business grows, it will need to migrate to a more structured accounting system to track their financial records.