Copywriting Q&A: The Best Business Card Resources

You’ll hear me say again and again how important your digital presence (online portfolio site, LinkedIn profile, etc.) is, but that doesn’t mean you can overlook your print one. Today, we’re going to talk about resources for getting your business cards created and ready to pass out to friends, contact, and potential clients. Read on…

Today’s question comes from Omar B., who asks, “I’m just starting out on my journey to become a copywriter, but I’ve met people who have already asked for my business card. Do you have any tips about how I can get some and what to put on them?”

So, yes: You need business cards. They can strike some people as a little “old school,” but they’re still essential. When someone meets you, they need something they can take away that will allow them to contact you or, at the very least, remember you.

On your business card, you need your name, what you do (oh, say, probably, “copywriter”), some way to contact you (both email and phone number are ideal), and the link to your portfolio site.

That’s the ideal. However, you should not wait to get some business cards until your portfolio site is launched. Often, you’ll be learning and talking about becoming a copywriter while you’re in the process of building your site. And in that case, you’ll still want to be able to give people a business card.

If your portfolio site isn’t built or finished yet, order a very small batch of business cards without your site information on it. Ideally, you want this batch to be as small as possible to avoid wasting money—around 50 or so.

Then, when your portfolio site is live, you can order up a ton more with your URL on it.

Now, let’s talk about resources.

Since you’re a copywriter, it’s very likely that your forte is writing, not designing. But that doesn’t mean that you need to hire an expensive designer to get great-looking business cards.

Sites like Moo, Vistaprint, Canva and GotPrint.com all let you “design” your own business cards by using their templates as they are, or customizing them by changing colors and images.

Many of the templates on these sites are both gorgeous and offer a lot of customization options. I’d absolutely recommend that new copywriters start with one of these sites to get a great looking card at a low price. These sites also save your business card for you, making it simple to order reprints or make changes (adding your URL, for example) when you need to.

If you want a bit more customization, though, you still don’t need to hire an expensive designer. The website 99Designs lets you post your business card job and get approximately 25 designs among which you can choose from designers around the world. The pricing (as of publication time) is $199, but it’s still a huge savings over hiring your own freelance designer.

Your turn! How did you design your first set of business cards? Do you have any tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!