When you're on a budget, getting business cards for your new business is both exciting and worrying. Looking at that business card gives you a sense that you're truly official now, but the cost is likely something you don't want to deal with. Many companies offer affordable cards online, which can save your budget if you're careful and know how to use their templates correctly. Otherwise, you could end up with cards that don't look quite how you intended them to look. Here are 3 tips to help you print the perfect business cards for your business.

Have Them Professionally Printed and Cut

First, even if you're on a really tight budget, have the cards professionally printed and cut. You can buy card stock for your printer that comes with free templates, but these card pages don't give you the cleanest edges when you separate the cards. The card stock you can get may have fairly clean perforated edges, so when you separate the cards, you won't have much of the fuzz or bumps that often accompany perforated pages. But the edges of each card won't have that trim look that you'd get from professionally cut cards. If you're truly strapped for cash, there are companies that will provide you with cards for free or for a very low price if you agree to let them place a small logo on the back of the card (as advertising), but you want to get non-advertisement cards as soon as you can afford to do so.

Make Sure You Know Where the Template's Visible Boundaries Are

When you order cards online, you'll upload your graphics to the card company's site and fit the graphics into a template. Make sure you know where the visible boundaries are. Sometimes the template space is a bit bigger than the portion that will actually get printed on the card. You should see boundary lines that your graphic is supposed to fit inside if you want the whole graphic to appear on the card. If you don't see measurements or boundary lines, contact the company to make sure you know at what point the graphics will be cut off. You risk having a card that looks badly printed if you don't pay attention to these lines.

Match the Finish to the Graphics

You can have different finishes on your cards, from standard gloss to matte. These finishes work better for different types of graphics. For example, if you plan to have a plain white or beige card with a small logo and printing on it, you might want a matte finish. If you plan to have graphics all over the card, such as a field of flowers, you might want a gloss finish.

It helps if the card printing company has samples that they can give you, especially for other business printing products too. That lets you match your cards to your letterhead and brochures, making all of your printed products look even better.

Contact a local business printing service to learn more.