I ordered my LOLbiznes cards on November 25, and they arrived yesterday on December 3, a day ahead of schedule.

I compared two companies, VistaPrint and PrintsMadeEasy.com. I decided to order from PrintsMadeEasy.com, since they offered smaller quantities and I was just experimenting with this batch of cards, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, overall.

For cheap on-demand printing at low quantities of personal cards, the cards from PrintsMadeEasy.com came out fine. Some cards–I’d guess, maybe 1 in 10 or so–didn’t print properly, with toner not adhering to the card stock properly or other visual defects. The color profile of their printer is a bit too heavy on the magenta as the front-side art is a lot more purple-tinted than it should have been. The cards are good enough, but if you’re looking for perfection, this isn’t it.

I placed the order on Nov. 25 and it arrived Dec. 3, or eight days later. The guaranteed delivery was by Dec. 4. For 100 glossy, double-sided business cards, it cost $19.99 and $6.95 for shipping and handling, for a total of $26.94. Uploading my own design for the front and back was included, free. The net cost per card is $0.27 each.

Compare this to VistaPrint, whose minimum quantity is 250 cards for $19.99, and they charge $4.99 per uploaded design, plus $9.99 more for glossy finish, and $6.99 for double-sided: $46.95 total. Add $9.15 for 14-day shipping, and you’re talking $56.10, or a cost of $0.22 per card.

Generally, folks order in larger quantities, typically 1,000 at a time, so lets compare those prices. VistaPrint: $71.95 + $11.15 S&H = $83.10 or $0.083 per card. PrintsMadeEasy.com: $79.99 + $8.85 S&H = $88.84 or $0.089 per card.

Costs aside, both sites provide reasonable web interfaces for uploading your own designs and preparing your order. PrintsMadeEasy.com uses a Flash-based interface which I really dislike, but it does work and I was able to complete my order using it. No real surprises here.

In the end, I would certainly order from PrintsMadeEasy.com again for small quantity orders just to test out new designs, but I do want to give VistaPrint a try just to compare the print quality difference. If they can deliver better quality, I would definitely use them for larger quantity jobs, where the price difference becomes negligible.

Have you ordered cards from VistaPrint? How did they come out? Or, do you have any other on-demand business card printing companies to recommend? Let me know about them in the comments. Thanks!

Tags: LOL, business cards, VistaPrint, PrintsMadeEasy.com, review

The last time I had business cards printed was back around 1995. I think I ordered a box of 250 cards, ended up giving out maybe 100 at most, and used the rest as scrap paper for disposable notes on my desk. Since then, I haven’t bothered to order updated business cards as I’ve changed phone numbers, addresses or jobs.

Recently, though, I’ve been asked by people if I have a business card often enough that saying “no” has become a pattern. Just last night, I went out to dinner with my family, and while outside smoking a cigarette, I started chatting with another patron who was doing the same. Turns out he also works a tech. job and asked me for my card. I ended up jotting down my contact information on a card for the restaurant and handed it to him.

In the past, this wouldn’t have mattered to me. But, now that I’m consulting full-time, these quick introductions could turn into valuable business leads that I could really use, now. The lack of preparedness and professionalism isn’t going to give that prospective client the sense of confidence I want them to have in my abilities and overall product.

So, last night I decided I was going to design and order myself a set of business cards. I wanted to create a card that was unusual, humorous, unique and memorable–qualities that reflect my nature and approach. The front of the card borrows from the LOLcats meme, as well as the “let me show you them” meme. I have yet to hear of anyone else making semi-serious LOLbusiness cards, so let me be the first. (FIRST!)

The back of the card is simple, informative and efficient–qualities that represent the kind of work I perform. I list my name, a title and contact information with as little clutter as possible. I use the remaining space to list popular technologies (think: keyword stuffing) that I don’t mind taking on work doing. I list AOLserver and Tcl at the top because as the recipient quickly scans down the list, they should cause a hesitation and very likely a question like “what are AOLserver and Tcl” which give me the opportunity to explain them, rather than coming across as pushing them directly.

In case you’re wondering, here’s what the proofs of the card look like, showing front and back:

In theory, the order I placed online today should be arriving sometime during the first week of December. When I get them, I might write a little something about where I ordered them.

So, what do you think of the cards? Too edgy? Too risky? Not serious enough? Fun, or funny? Would you give me your business if I handed you one of these cards?

Tags: business cards, meme, consulting, freelance