Final New Article of the Week

Finally, here's our last offering for the week. This article is titled, "Business Cards Make Good Sense for Job Seekers" and it is loaded with great tips for those folks who are currently looking for new employment.

Check it out:

"You could easily swing the vote in your favor with something as simple as a personal business card. A personal business card can have the usual contact information on the front of it with your name, address, e-mail, website, and phone numbers - as well as social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. But you can dramatically change your card to include a mini resume on the reverse side listing your degrees, certifications and other unique characteristics that make you the most qualified for the job you are interviewing for. You can even personalize these cards for each interview to ensure that the information about your qualifications is perfectly suited for each company and position."

Read more!

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Another New Article from CCA

Here's another new, fresh article that we just published. Let us know what you think of it. We would enjoy hearing from you.

This article is entitled, "Punch Cards Create Customer Loyalty" - here's a little snippet:

"Punch cards have been around a long time and are often called customer loyalty cards as they create as easy way to get repeat customers coming back to purchase a car wash or a latte so that when you have purchased ten you get a free car wash or a free cup of coffee. These loyalty cards do not really offer something for nothing as you have to keep coming back in order to qualify for the free product or service - but businesses use these cards because often a person doesn't just buy the coffee when they get their card punched. Customers may purchase a pastry or muffin to go with it, so they are spending more than the price of the coffee."


Read more!

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Check Out Our Latest Article: "Made in America - Why That is So Important"

At Color Card Administrator, we're working hard to create relevant, intriguing articles for business professionals and entrepreneurs. We hope you'll find these articles to be helpful. Here's a snippet of one of the latest articles we've published:

"In today's tough economy it is more and more important that we support the USA by buying products that are made here so that we can support the jobs here in our own country. It takes a little bit of effort but all you have to do is look a little further on a label or package to see where it is made. Often a product that is made in the USA is competitively priced with products made elsewhere so that is an even better reason to purchase USA made products."

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/made-in-america-why-that-is-so-important-4463501.html#ixzz1HdrR8AnG
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Color Card Administrator Announces the Ability to Order 250 Business Cards

Color Card Administrator is pleased to announce the ability to now order business cards in quantities of 250 now from all of their websites.

"250 card quantities are great for new entrepreneurs and for those occupations that don't require heavy business card usage. With new business startups, ordering 250 business cards will save them a few bucks in start up costs, but still give them high quality, professionally designed and printed business cards along with our superior customer service experience," says Gayle Hawks, President of CCA.

So, if you're looking to order new business cards for your new business start up, we encourage you to check out all of the great offerings at CCA's flagship website, PrintBusinessCards.com.

The great looking image used above for this post belongs to Kirsty Pargeter, who is one of the Featured Artists for Color Card Administrator. We encourage you to check out Kirsty's great (and always growing) portfolio of professionally designed business cards.

CCA is "Getting Busy" in Google Rankings

Okay, it's time for a little shameless self promotion. We don't do it very often, so that makes it okay...right? :)

We've been working hard recently on some various SEO strategies and we're pleased to say that it is working! PrintBusinessCards.com now shows up on the first page of Google results for the term "Business Cards". Can we just share that, while it might sound trivial to many folks who read this, it's an incredible accomplishment. That silly term, "business cards" is an incredibly competitive term. Best of all...we're ranking there organically (not via Paid Search).

So yes, we're proud of it! Thanks for letting us bask in our self-promotion for a moment. Okay - now we're off to keep working hard.

Thanks!

CCA's Latest Press Release Gets Some Great Coverage

CCA's latest press release regarding the exciting new launch of the Easy Card Designer System is getting some awesome coverage. We've been featured on MSNBC's website and Yahoo Finance. We're hopeful that it will be seen on even more well-known, well-respected websites shortly. We're also confident that we'll see a boost in sales for the members of our Featured Artist Community.

Curious about joining our Featured Artist Community? Take a moment and visit our website that's dedicated solely to our artists at TheArtofBusinessCards.com to learn more.

Advantages of Two Sided Business Cards

Just about everyone carries a business card today no matter if you are a chef, a gardener or a dog trainer - even if you are a small business owner who works out of his home. It makes it easier to give someone your telephone number or email address without having to write it down. Business cards can be used for far more than just supplying a name and contact information and your website or Facebook account information.

Business Cards Can Be Multi-Purpose

For the gardener or the chef or even the dog trainer, they usually have to make appointments to carry on business. Likewise a hair dresser or an electrician has to make appointments - so why not use the reverse side of the business card to jot down the appointment and give to the customer? Doctors and dentists of have been using two sided business cards for years but it is now catching on that the small business owner can do the same thing!

Showcase Your Services

Another terrific idea to use for the reverse side of your business card is to list the types of services that you specialize in. A gardener can say that there is weekly or monthly maintenance and tree removal services. A dog trainer can say he holds classes for age groups or specializes in a particular method of training. The chef might have cooking classes that you are not even aware of until you see it on the back of the business card!

Market Your Wares

The blank space on your business card's back side is ideal as a place to advertise! It is a golden opportunity not to be missed so you should take advantage of it. Use the space to make people aware of ALL of your services. A client might not know the extent of your services or product lines unless you make them aware of them. It is an inexpensive marketing tool that will surely increase your sales and will definitely lead to new customers. Find a great business card printer who specializes in two-sided business card services. It is an easy way to advertise and keep people informed about your business.

Gayle Hawks is President of Color Card Administrator (CCA). CCA is comprised of a combination of online industries involving cheap business card, stock photography, and e-commerce business cards software licensing. to

Personal Cards Don't Have to be for Business

Business cards are an important staple in the business world as a means of communication and introduction. This extends into the small business community and self-employed where just about any business owner has created a card to market his or her business.

When Business Becomes Personal

But business cards don't just have to be about business. They can also be personal. Most people today communicate via email or their cell phones for text messaging as well as phone conversations. Whether you are a student, a housewife or a clerk in a drug store you probably use these means of communication – and you probably should have a personal business card so you can easily transmit this information to others.

Personal Cards Introduce Your Information and You

Like calling cards of days gone by when people left their cards in a tray when they visited, personal cards have become a form of introduction and a means of relaying personal information without writing it down on a scrap of paper. Everyone has a phone number - sometimes more than one - along with an e-mail address, a Facebook or Twitter account and often their own website whether they have a business or not.

Unlike a scrap of paper that is easily lost, a personal card is more distinctive especially if you use color or a graphic that stands out in the crowd. It is a great means of communication when you meet someone new or want to establish your identity to someone.Personal business cards can also display other information about you if you have a part-time business like a band or that you belong to a biking club or other activities.

Keep in Touch With Your Personal Card

Personal cards are a means of keeping in touch with friends and when you meet someone new, it is so easy to hand them a card rather than explain everything or try to find a pen or piece of paper. If you are looking for a job, it is a great way to introduce yourself to a prospective employer who should be impressed that you have your own personal business card.

Use a Photo on Your Business Card

Some might think that having a photograph on a business card is a little bit hokey – especially when it is a picture of you. But in some businesses, having your photo on your business card is an essential part of doing business. Other types of photos can also be used and might be more representative of the business that you are in - such as photography or a fishing boat charter business so you might have a photograph that represents the business rather than you.

A Photo Showcases Your Business

People have more confidence in your abilities when they see a photograph on your card because they like what they see. Realtors almost always have a photo of themselves on the card that readily identifies them for clients and potential customers. This will reassure people rather than put them off because people want to be comfortable with who they are doing business with.

A photographer might specialize in child portraits so that type of photo should be shown on the business card. If the person is a wildlife photographer you might see a photo of a lion or the other types of animals that he most often photographs. A charter boat owner or limousine company might show a photograph of his boat or limo on his card so the client knows exactly what he is going to be using.

First Impressions Are Important

A business card with a high quality photograph makes a great first impression and is always an important means of attracting new customers. Quality counts and if you take the time and effort to portray yourself and your business in such a positive way it will be worth the effort as business cards are usually the first things that a potential client sees – sometimes even before you have met. Photographs are great marketing tools that should enhance your business and attract customers while it shows off who you are and that you care about images as well as succeeding in your business.

So take a look at your business and decide if a photograph on your business card might not be a good idea for you and for your business. It is certainly worth looking into. It's not hard to find an online business card printing company that features photo business card services. Photo business cards are easy to create using the simple to use Card Editor at PrintBusinessCards.com.

Author Detals: Gayle Hawks is President of Color Card Administrator (CCA). CCA is comprised of a combination of online industries involving business cards, stock photography, and e-commerce Professional business cards software licensing.

Color Card Administrator Launches New Revenue Producing "Easy Card Designer" System

SAN DIEGO, CA (3/14/11) Color Card Administrator (CCA), recently contracted to handle the business card processes for Annex Brands, today announced "Easy Card Designer;" a full-service business card design and e-commerce platform, designed to allow small and large businesses to offer online business card design and ordering through their websites.

Perfected over a 2-year beta test period, Easy Card Designer lets businesses set up a vendor platform and accept business card orders designed online in a few simple steps with virtually no effort.

Customers can design a card choosing from tens of thousands of card templates made available from the world's largest business card design community, TheArtofBusinessCards.com.

"We know through research that a majority of customers who order business cards also purchase other core products and tend to become repeat customers. By implementing Easy Card Designer, business owners are able to offer a value added service without the burden of processes related to ordering, printing and delivery of business cards," says Gayle Hawks, President of CCA.

In addition to being rolled out with Annex Brands, Easy Card Designer is currently being used by other independent and franchise owned companies such as Franchise Services (Sir Speedy / Pip Printing), UPS and Proforma.

To implement Easy Card Designer requires no investment. The profit generated from each customer transaction is shared between CCA and the licensee, while the licensee retains the sole rights to all registrations.

"Easy Card Designer is truly a win-win, turn-key solution. Besides providing businesses with a blazing fast method to generate additional revenue, we are also helping them expand their customer base by gaining new customers on the Internet," says Gayle Hawks.

For more information, visit www.easycarddesigner.com

About Color Card Administrator (CCA)
CCA is a leading global provider of business card design solutions and related vendor platforms. Established in 2002, CCA currently provides business card related services through its websites and licensees. The company is headquartered in San Diego, CA. The new Easy Card Designer system is already the business card system of choice with several large organizations.

Check Out Our Newest Category: Wind Energy Business Cards

We're working hard to create new categories for exciting occupations and services. Wind Energy is one of our newest categories and we think you'll be pleased with the great looking business card templates that our Featured Artist Community has created so far. Check back often to see more new templates. Don't see what you're looking for? Let us know and we'll get our artists on the job designing a card specifically for you and your company! NO ONE ELSE can do that for you!

Five Tips for Creating a Great Business Card for Your Company

The following is an excerpt from an article we recently published at ArticlesBase:

Some business cards look great while others definitely give an amateur appearance. Many cards give the impression of a well-established business while others exude a different feeling altogether. What is it that makes some business cards give off a different impression? There are several things that can affect the overall impression of your business card when you present it to a prospective customer, client, or in some cases, employer. By focusing on 5 major areas, you can create a business card that is more effective and professional in its impression.


Visual Appearance
The first thing to keep in mind when designing a business card is its visual impact. Most modern companies have fortunately started exercising more creativity with their cards and have moved away from traditional, plain looking business cards. Many business owners now see and understand that those little 2" x 3.5" cards are important marketing tools. Be creative with the use of color, fonts, and imagery.

Paper Quality
Paper quality is judged and notated in many confusing different ways. For example “80# Text” and “80# Cover”, the first is thin like writing paper and the second is thicker, like a thin business card. There are three things that matter in determining what paper stock is going to produce a quality business card.

1. How thick the business card stock is.
2. How dense/compressed the business card stock is.
3. The quality of the finish on the business card stock that will be printed on.

One point is equal to 1/1,000 of an inch for card stock. Therefore, 15 point card stock is .015 inches thick. Paper with more points is thicker but not necessarily sturdier and paper with fewer points is thinner. Fifteen point paper is good for business cards if the paper is also quality made. It is common to have thick, cheaply made paper.

Let me discuss items #2 and #3; these two issues are more important to consider than the first. Most people, however, focus solely on the first question, “How thick is it?” Paper density and the finish quality of the paper that will be printed on is determined by how the paper is “calendered”.

“The calender is a series of hard pressure rollers used to form or smooth a sheet of material. The purpose of a calender is to make the paper smooth and glossy for printing and writing.” -Wikipedia

Think of it this way - in terms of bread. A slice of Wonder bread is much thicker than pita bread. It is how the bread is made that is more important than its thickness. Pita bread is denser than Wonder bread. When it comes to online business cards, not all thick papers are created equal either. You can have a 15pt thick card that feels cheap and spongy, yet it is still 15pt thick. On the other hand you can have a 15pt thick card that feels stiff like a metal blade. More expensive and higher quality papers are highly calendered and have that feeling of quality, thickness, and snap everyone desires for their business card.

To read this article in its entirety, please go here.

Feelin' Some "Love" from the Artist Community

Recently, one of our excellent Featured Artists had this to say about being part of our community:

"I would like to add something that I said at MSG [Microstock Group] as well. This site is not a "magazine store" like Zazzle. It's a specialty store that treat both clients (it seems) and us contributors in a direct, person-to-person way. I like that, and it's a differential that can help it get a good slice in this niche market.

And with improvements in the payment structure, how can I complain?"

Thanks Maria! We appreciate the confidence you have in us and we wish you the best with your portfolio! May you continue to sell lots and lots of business cards through PrintBusinessCards.com and our other sites.

Are you a creative artist, illustrator, graphic designer, or photographer? Looking for a way to generate another consistent revenue stream? Check out our Featured Artist Community at TheArtofBusinessCards.com.

Free Business Cards? Not Really

We've touched on the subject of free business cards several different times over the past few years. Recently (last Friday) though, an article came to our attention that brought the whole subject back to the forefront of our minds and we thought it was important enough to discuss it a little and link to the article.

The article is entitled, "Ray Wilson: Beware The 'Free Stuff'" and is found at The Bulletin (Philadelphia's Family Newspaper). The article is primarily focuses on free software programs and the potential for identification theft. However, he also touches on the very familiar SPAM advertisements seen all over the Internet touting "Free Business Cards". Here's a quick quote from Mr. Wilson:

"Spam ads for business cards at an unassuming price of $1.99 for 500 cards can be a source of privacy invasion. By giving your business address, personal location, with phone numbers, and credit card information is just about all that is needed. These ads may be perfectly legitimate except for the fact that in our fragmented economy anything is possible. Who can you trust?"

So, who can you trust? Many people don't realize that those "free" business cards come with a price. The price you pay is usually the sale and distribution (many times over) of your personal contact information. It may also result in the names and contact information for every single one of your employees as well. That's right...that business card company is most likely losing money by printing and shipping your business cards - but they're making loads of cash by selling your information to every nefarious list collector out there. So, is that set of 250 "free" business cards really worth it? Not in my personal opinion - nor in the opinion of our parent company (Color Card Administrator).

PrintBusinessCards.com (CCA's main Internet website) has been around for 10 years now. One of the core operating principles of PrintBusinessCards.com is the security of their customer's contact information. Since the site's inception, it has never shared or sold an email address or phone number from one of its customers.

We encourage you to do a little investigating of PBC and learn for yourself why it is a trusted source of quality, professionally designed and printed business cards for so many companies. Feel free to read our Google reviews, check out more information about our dedication to guarding our customer's information, and then learn more about our processes.

Thanks!

Kirsty Pargeter is Now Offering Her Designs on Business Cards

Color Card Administrator is pleased to offer the popular and professional designs of Kirsty Pargeter. Kirsty is well known and respected as one of the top selling designers in the microstock industry.

Her designs cover a broad range of topics and styles. Over the coming months, her portfolio at PrintBusinessCards.com will expand as her designs are transformed into high quality, professionally designed business card templates.



We're excited about the future and look forward to seeing Kirsty's designs sell as business cards in our system.

We Have a Great Group of Artists

One of the best things about what we do is getting to work with so many talented graphic designers, illustrators, artists, and photographers from all over the world. The creativity comprised within our Featured Artist Community is AMAZING. Seriously.

We appreciate their ability to quickly and professionally design so many attractive business card templates for our customers. Need some proof? Check out the great designs from our community that are featured on this web page. We also appreciate it when they spread the word about our business card website, our Featured Artist program, and the way we work with our artists.

If you're curious about joining our program, learning more about it, and getting true, relevant reactions from our participating artists, we encourage you to visit this forum thread over at the MicroStockGroup. I think you'll see from the conversation there that our program is a pretty cool place to be involved.

If you're interested in joining us, please take just a moment to watch this video that details how our program works:

We're Still Here - Just Been BUSY Growing Our Artist Community

I can't believe we haven't posted anything here in the blog for the past 11 months! Argh...time definitely flies by too quickly.

We're thankful for our artist community and the great, attractive, professional business cards they design for our growing customer base. We're also thankful that our artist community continues to grow.

Below is a quote from a new artist whose portfolio was published on 11/23/10 and their first sale occurred on 12/15/10. We're confident that Anita will continue to see sales from the great portfolio she has created (and continues to add to).

Anyhow, here are her comments:

Posted: December 15, 2010, 1:39 pm Post subject: Cards purchased from Anita
Got my first sale today. Very happy. I need to make some more templates



Posted: December 15, 2010, 10:02 pm Post subject:
Congrats on the sale! It's a great card - you're off to an awesome start!

Posted: December 15, 2010, 10:40 pm Post subject:
Thanks Tim I also wasn't expecting to get paid for that today either but I did which was awesome

I'm hoping that once all the holiday hoopla is all settled I can get back to making templates.

I heart this place

We like to see every one of our featured artists succeed. We also enjoy sharing those successes with others. Are you interested in joining our Featured Artist Community? Please visit www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com for more information.

Thanks.

Interested in Becoming a Featured Artist for Color Card Administrator? Here's How!

Attention Graphic Designers, Illustrators, Photographers, and Artists! CCA is making an open call for you to join its Featured Artist Community. If you are looking for a new, interesting, and exciting way to generate additional income with your existing portfolio, we encourage you to check this out!








Dear Artist,

Color Card Administrator, Inc (CCA) has been building a community of Featured Artists on its main website, www.PrintBusinessCards.com as well as affiliated websites that now number well over 450. Featured Artists are rewarded financially for the use of their images on business cards as well as the sale of the artwork on the business card template. Our site does not compete with any site on which you currently display your artwork. The benefits of our community include monetary compensation each time a customer chooses one of your images, occasional contests, a profile of your creative design, and a network with fellow artists. We envision this as a nice exchange: a way for us to build our community, while allowing you to market your artwork through our website. If you would like to join our community please visit our exclusive artist website to learn more, www.theartofbusinesscards.com.

In order to be a Featured Artist, you will need to be proficient in Photoshop and display a minimum of 25 business card templates. You will manage your online portfolio by adding or removing templates as you choose. There are only two restrictions that we place on your portfolio: we do not allow nudity and do not allow recognizable photos of people's faces. We provide you with a multitude of information and tools for increasing your sales, as well as an artist profile page, featuring your images, a biography that includes information about your work, and links to your personal website. Potential customers can view your business card templates on your page as well as many other pages within our system and select them for their business cards.

The artist is paid a flat rate of $5.00 USD for the purchase of a card with his/her image (for more details on how this works, please read through the Content License and Payment Agreement for Content Providers. If you are interested in allowing customers to purchase the image from your business card for additional uses (website, letterhead, brochures, etc.), we have an Additional Use Program that allows you to sell the image for an additional $20. After you have registered, you will have the opportunity to read more about this program and choose whether or not to participate in it. Periodically (one to two times per year), we open up for template submissions from our featured artists that will be sent out as a supplemental update to the templates in our Easy Card Designer Catalog, which is placed in various retail stores throughout the USA.

Once you have applied to become a Featured Artist for our company, your application will be processed within 24-48 hours (it may take longer if you have applied over a weekend). If your application is approved, you will be notified via email and you will have full access to The Art of Business Cards website in order to proceed with fulfilling the registration requirements.

If you have any questions about joining our Featured Artist Community, please contact our Community Development Manager via email, tim@cardadmin.com.

Immediate Sales Opportunity for Our Featured Artist Community

As promised in the Sales Builder section at TheArtofBusinessCards.com we are number one on Google organically for the search term “Tax Preparer Business Cards.”

Our current issue is that we could be converting many more sales if we had more quality Tax Preparer Business Card templates. Please add templates for this category and enjoy some immediate sales as it is just going into tax season here in the United States!



We still desperately need new templates for many other categories as well. To view the entire list of categories, please login to your account at TAOBC, click on the Sales Builder tab and then click on the article "Template Categories Soon to be Promoted by "Sponsored Links" on Search Engines." Also, please feel free to refer new, qualified artists, photographers, and illustrators to join our Community. We would appreciate your continued assistance in growing our program and making other talented people aware of it.

Thanks everyone!

We Enjoy Hearing from Our Artists!

We enjoy all of our interactions with the Featured Artist Community. We are privileged to work with each and every one of them. Selfishly, we think we have the best group of artists anywhere on the Internet! Here's a quote from one of the great artists who displays their work for sale:

"I think you are doing a great job marketing the business cards. My sales here are better than some microstock sites with millions of photos. I like being part of a group that is innovative and forward thinking and hope for limitless growth in the future." Melinda