If you're like most people, you probably have an abundant supply of business cards you have collected in time. Go through that collection of business cards and chances are you'll end up realizing most all of them lack the ability to grab your attention.

Simply put, they just don't look good. There are many reasons why business cards don't look good, but let's focus on what you can do to make sure your business cards look good and are effective.

1. Make sure the basics are on there. Your name, title, company, slogan, address, phone fax,cell phone numbers, email, website url, and of course a logo.
2. Keep it clean. Don't clutter the business cards with too much information or images. A business card should be clean and easy to read.
3. Buy a pre-designed template. There are numerous companies you can find online.
4. Use the same family of fonts. Just because there are thousands of available fonts (most for free), it doesn't mean you should use them in your business card design. Use the same font throughout the design and make things stand out by making text bold or italic.
5. Use full color. Due to advancement in printing machines and processes it's easier and cheaper than ever to print full color business cards. Put a picture of yourself, display your products etc. Using full color sometimes has the opposite effect, so be very careful when choosing your images.
6. Use both sides. Business cards have two sides, use both! Put your contact information on the front, and use the back to list the products/services you offer, company tag line or anything else.
7. Don't make non-standard sizes or shapes. Why? They can't fit into binders. If a client can't keep your business card in their binders there is a good chance it will be lost or thrown away.
8. No Flimsy Paper. A business card is the image you leave with the person who receives it. A flimsy, cheap card is not the best image to leave behind. Spend a little more and get a thicker card stock. You will be glad you did.
9. Stand out with Extra Options. You can stand out even more by using options that others haven't used. Two examples are rounded corners and spot uv (also called spot varnish). You would be surprised at the difference rounded corners make, and the added benefit is the corners do not get bent out of shape as easily as a regular business card. When done right, the spot uv is a great option to make that "wow" effect. Spot uv is applying the uv coating to specific area on the card, for example your logo.