Different cards have different purpose, and should be designed according to these four principles:

1) Define your message.

2) Incorporate visuals.

3) Choose your colors.

4) Pick the right font.

To illustrate how to work through the design process, here is an example of one of my cards.  I used a simple design-it-yourself, print shop called  Vista Print.  They have hundreds of stock designs you can work from, and even offer some business cards for free, (before shipping that is.)

In my case, I wanted a clean look, so I went with a white background and a simple san-serif font.  I usually prefer and recommend colored backgrounds for that extra attention getting POP, but since this card is advertising my writing skills, (and most publishers are known for ranting against writers who send manuscripts on flowery colored paper), I went with white.  It also has the feel of typed print on white paper, which is what I am selling.  So the card reflects the product.  I considered using a “Typewriter” font, but that cliche is overused, and in my case, the “Design and Social Media” components of my services required the card have a more modern look.

The point here is that font choice is important.  It reflects on your image just as much as those Bruno Magli Shoes and Armani suit.  Oh and if you are even THINKING about using the “Hobo” font or “Comic San Serif”,  — BACK AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD RIGHT NOW!

Also, unless you are working for The Vatican or are in the business of antique furniture refinishing, please stay away from Olde English. I don’t know why they used that font in the old days, but I think it had something to do with fooling the peasants who figured out  pig Latin.

Script fonts?  No.  Not unless you are a romance novelist.

No matter what font you choose, the first rule is readability.  The second rule is style.  The third rule is no teeny-tiny type.  If you can’t fit all your information on the card in 12 point type with some white space left over, use less words.  Really.  I know it’s hard to beleive, but we just don’t need to know that much about you.

Who are you,

Whatcha got to offer

How to contact you.

That’s all we need. Nothing more.  (Of course I once knew a handy man who added the joke: “Bomb disarming by appointment only” on the bottom of his card.  It was so memorable, I kept the card for twenty years, and never forgot the line.)

Logos are also important.  As a person who worked in the sign business for over twenty years, one thing I learned is people don’t read.  They scan first and look at the pictures.  They only read on if you can catch their eye and their interest.  So that apple logo will go on all of my Applesassy advertising.  With that in mind, I wanted my photo on the left to have some sense of color balance with the rest of the card.  So I chose a photo with some yellow in the background, to complement the yellow of the apple.  I also set the photo in a blue border and used that same blue in the main copy.   Balance is important in quality design.  A good rule of thumb: limit your color palate, and repeat each element at least twice.

I designed the phone number to look a little “artsy” by omitting the dashes and parenthesis.   I added my @Twitter address to show my involvement in emerging social media.  The idea is to make the layout reflect the product.  It’s the old adage of “Show, don’t tell.”

All in all, this is not the fanciest card I have ever designed, but the design reflects the product being offered, and in the end, that is always the goal.

If you need help designing your business cards, feel free to contact me.  I’m always happy to help.  Here, take my card…

(Hemingway said to never use exclamation points when you write, but this is clearly an exception to that rule.)

Chris Pearson is the designer behind The Thesis Theme, and his work is taking the web by storm.  Not only does it make your site look great, but it allows people like me who know next to nothing about html, css, or php codes to actually get in the game and play with the big dogs.

It also optimizes your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Which basically means that without knowing what you are doing, Thesis will do it’s magic in the background, get your site noticed by the search engines, and bring readers to your site.  That alone is worth the price.

It also has a really cool feature called Open Hook.  This may be tough to explain to anyone who has never worked with coding, but then again, that’s the whole point: It allows us nubes to figure that stuff out without losing our minds.

Here is an example:

In other Themes, if you want to add some custom work to your website footer, you need to get into your custom code files on your own computer, write some html gibberish, insert it into the correct spot on your master file, (wherever that is), upload it to your web host using ftp, and then go check your site to see if you crashed it.  If you did, then you need to figure out how to back out the changes without messing anything else up.

Sorry.  That’s not what this gal wants to spend her time doing on the world wide webbernet.

With Thesis, you just go to your WordPress dashboard and insert your code there.  If you did it wrong, you just go back to the dashboard and delete it.

Simple.

Here is a step by step example of how to add a custom Footer for Thesis Affiliates.  (By adding this to my footer, if you hit The Thesis link at the bottom of my page, and decide to buy Thesis, I earn some moola.)  So do that now.  I need the money for my Trans-Atlantic Cruise and Jimmy Choo Shoes.

Step by Step Instructions to Add the Thesis Affiliate Link to your Footer:

1) Sign up as a Thesis affiliate
2) Copy your affiliate link to notepad
3) Copy this code to notepad:

<?php echo “This site is proudly powered by <a href=’http://diythemes.com/thesis/?a_aid=PUT-YOUR-AFFILIATE-LINK-HERE’>Thesis</a>, of course.”;?>

4) Insert your affiliate link into the code
5) Go to your WordPress dashboard
6) Select Thesis Open Hook
7) Scroll down to the footer hook and copy the code from Notepad
Check the Execute php box and the Remove Thesis attribution box
9) Hit the Little Ass Save button
10) View your site and check out your new footer.

*Be sure to click the link to test it and make sure it takes you to the DIY Themes site.

Now, go write a nice Thesis review and remember to be transparent about your affiliate status in your post.

Hoffman as the amazing Lester Banks

“If you’re gonna be a true journalist, you CAN NOT make friends with the rock stars.  They’re gonna fly you places for free.  You’re gonna meet girls.  Oh God, it’s gonna get ugly.”  If you wanna be a real writer,   “Be honest, and…unmerciful.”

-Phillip Semore Hoffman as Lester Banks in the film Almost Famous

Miss Applesassy is thinking about paid blog endorsements and writing professionally.  Apparently it’s a hot topic in the Social Media webbernet. If you are not up to speed on the “Motrin Mommies” incident or the Chris Brogan controversy, just click this link to Lara Kretler’s beautiful blog to get the scoop.

The gist is some bloggers’ say paid endorsements are good.  It allows independent writers to get paid for their hard work on the web.  Others say it’s bad, because it downgrades blogger credibility.  Some Ad Houses see the concept of user testimonials as an all you can eat buffet that will define the future of advertising, while others look at the concept with the same expression as a picky toddler presented with a spinach souffle.

While Miss Apps is open to further discussion on the matter, she currently is of the opinion that if a blogger fully and openly discloses their financial relationship to the product, AND offers a REAL opinion, (free of marketer restrictions), paid posts are a good thing.

For instance Miss Apps, who enjoyed a *bountiful* holiday season of feasts and fun,  is currently finding herself mesmerized by those Nutrisystem ads on television.    So she is watching these ads, listening to celebrity testimonials and wondering if the diet might offer a reasonable New Years resolution.

She noted the little disclaimer on the television saying “Results Not Typical.”   Well, what sort of snickerdoodle is that all about?  Miss Applesassy is a typical girl.   It seems a fair question to ask what results a “typical” customer could expect for $360. per month.   Rather than calling the convenient 1-800 number or going to the marketer website, this Sassy Lass instead turned to the blogs.  In doing so she came across a candid post from an expert in the field that gave her the straight scoop on diet industry info.   The man is a doctor who has treated patients weight management concerns for twenty years.  He did not recommend Nutrisystem, and explained exactly what sort of “typical results” to actually expect.  Did it bother me that he was also selling a weight loss system of his own?

No.

It could have, but the writing style and content he provided was clearly an honest first hand account of his experience as a doctor, not an ad disguised as a post.  His ad was on a separate page, not linked to the article.  This method of full disclosure and honest transparency has a much more powerful effect than any paid celebrity endorsement or glitzy ad copy.  And that my dear AppSassers’, (in a cream covered nutshell), is the power of the blogs.

It’s the genuine voice of a post which makes all the difference.  Advertising as we know it is about to change.  Real people with real experience and real opinion will be the source of future product success.  Miss Apss likes that, because it puts the the free market back in the hands of the people.  But it’s up to us not to screw this gift up.

If bloggers’ sell out and offer sanctimonious endorsements touting “non-typical results” or out right lie about a product just to cash in, they will not only lose their own credibility, but they will ruin a great market shifting opportunity for us all.

So if you decide to enter the world of paid posts or product endorsement, just be true to yourself, and in the words of the great Lester Banks from the movie Almost Famous:

“If you’re gonna be a true journalist, you CAN NOT make friends with the rock stars.  They’re gonna fly you places for free.  You’re gonna meet girls.  Oh God, it’s gonna get ugly.”  If you wanna be a real writer,   “Be honest, and…unmerciful.”

Click here to view the Almost famous Movie Trailer. It pretty much sums up what it’s all about.

Make Money Blogging

Making money through blogging is an idea that attracts thousands of people, but in spite of the trumped up claims of  “Money Blogging Marketers“, the realization of this dream can be elusive.

Miss Apps is aware of a small number of Professional Bloggers who have indeed achieved the dream of earning a living from their blogs, but after much research, she concludes these people are working as hard, if not harder than everyone else in order to make their sites successful.  She has also learned the process of monetizing a website requires a great deal of expertise about the technical aspects of website management, including a working knowledge of coding terms like CSS, SEO and HTML.

If writing and coding are things you enjoy, and you have the business savvy to put on your marketers hat and do some cold calling to build professional relationships, Pro Blogging might be for you, if not, the web provides ample opportunity to join dynamic communities just for fun.