Gary Harouff Printer Buying Tips

By Kaye Marks

In addition to being concrete representatives of your business, your business card, done by business card printing experts, is the one thing that creates that first impression.

More than your name and contact information, your business cards convey a very strong message of who you are and what kind of business you are in. It takes a lot to create that perfect card for your business. Even if you do online business card printing, you have to make sure that the end result embodies everything that you stand for.

The most basic guideline when starting your business card printing job is to create your design according to the identity you would want for your business. This is where your particular brand comes in. More than your company’s name and contact information, your cards should be able to reflect your company’s image. This then is the most common mistake made when business card printing. You should avoid creating a design that does not speak of your brand and corporate identity.

Other mistakes include the following:

Use of low quality paper - It may save you money but low quality paper definitely gets you a very unprofessional image. It looks cheap and it rubs your clients in a different and uncomfortable way. Low quality paper gives you that rough-feel texture, and you would not want that to rub off your image, right? Not only that. Low quality stock also softens and eventually melts with water. You would not want your clients to always feel fear every time your business card gets near anything liquid.

Use of design and logo that do not match - It is a no brainer. Your design and logo, and any element you have in your business cards should match. Any business card printing company worth their salt knows that. If you want to be professional, you should look it, especially in your business cards.

Most businesses commit this mistake because many use a common template, particularly made by most online business card printing providers, which match a generic design. If you want to be consistent in both your design and logo, might as well develop something that would reflect your unique qualities.

Use of too many colors - Remember that you are writing on a very small piece of paper. Too many elements would only make your business card seem too crowded. Too much color can also be offensive because it may look like you are screaming at your clients at the top of your lungs. Just remember that too much too many is bad for you. Two color shades is enough to match that of your logo.

The logo is bigger than everything else - The logo is important but not too much that you forget the main purpose of your business card- information about you and your company. All the elements should blend well to create a perfect harmony.

By Ryan Perry

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is the calculation of direct and indirect cost of equipment purchases. Why is this important to understand? Because most small to mid-sized business have no idea that printer and copier cost cost can account for up to 6% of gross revenue.

How is TCO determined? Below is a simple explanation that will provide a basic understanding of TCO.

TCO boils down to 3 primary costs:

1. Initial hardware cost and installation - This is the most basic of cost to understand and typically represents about 15% to 20% of TCO.
2. Supplies - This category includes all supplies such as toner, ink and imaging units, but does not include paper. Supplies typically represent 75% to 80% of TCO cost.
3. Maintenance - Maintenance includes all cost, both labor and parts, associated with maintaining the equipment including pick up rollers, fuser assembly and maintenance kits. This represents the last 5% to 10% of a printers or copiers TCO.

With the 3 primary categories laid out, research must be done to determine the cost to acquire the equipment and at least 12 months worth of supplies and service invoices totaled. Multiple the annual supplies and service by 3 or 5, depending on how many years you plan on keeping the equipment and add the initial purchase price to determine the TCO. Those companies on a supplies and service contract simply need to tally the total cost of the contract, including overages and equipment cost and installation.

Understanding TCO is not just for the Fortune 500. Knowing TCO is a useful exercise for small and mid-sized companies as it will make a case for a complete understanding of consumable cost as they are typically the major expense of owning a printer. By comparing cost from one printer model to another, most will find that high priced equipment will have a lower supply cost, thus a lower TCO.

By Jaymee Lacap

Plastic card printers have the capacity to create personalized cards based on your requirements. Using a computer and an image capture system, like a digital camera, plastic card printers give a well integrated system. At just a few seconds per card, the printing method is fast, so that cards are created and custom-made instantly. Digitally printed plastic cards begin with a clear and plain card that can be printed with any mixture of design, text, graphics, digital photograph, logos, bar codes and others. These designs and features are limited only by the issuers’ creativeness. Other machine-legible information, such as smart card chips and magnetic stripes can also be programmed.

Magnetic stripes can complement your plastic card order where the upper 1/3 of one part of the card is clear to contain the stripe. Magnetic Stripes have beneficial qualities that you can consider to be included on your card order. These help the new card works with previous card readers and software programs. Magnetic stripes save a small amount of information such as customer information, report numbers, user id, member numbers or also access codes for locks and other operational systems. They are compatible with other complicated software programs such as those used in Gift Card programs or Loyalty Card programs as well. The magnetic striped card is also suited with the promoter’s software so that it can provide the holder with special offers, credit towards marketing incentives and purchases, and is also used in building database that assist you in buying habits of customers. This information is useful since retailers can better serve their customers depending on stocks products that pull the interest of their customers. Also, it has many more advantages that offer a wealth of valuable marketing applications.

Another feature of plastic card that you can utilize is the signature panel on the digitally scanned signature on the face of the card or reverse of the card. Most cards are too glossy to draw on a ball point pen for signing. A signature panel provides a perfect surface to tolerate a handwritten signature. Also, a scanned signature can be added and can be personalized, however there are many card options available that can be printed on your card using digital signature.

It is simple and easy to add to your order, just ask your plastic card printing service provider about adding the Signature Panel feature. They will handle the rest. Just call them anytime if you have any queries and they can begin the process producing your high quality plastic cards. Bar-coding is a trendy choice at many plastic cards printing service provider. Most of the new retail cash register systems translate barcodes at the checkout stand, creating a perfect and fast way to collect data about customers and the products they are buying. It is also a great way to handle memberships in services and procedures that have many cards to surge in and out. Each card has the ability to carry a unique barcode on either front or reverse side. The advantages are almost endless: the card can then be linked to a database of select information customized toward your individual requirements. Indeed, digital plastic card printing symbolizes the next generation of card production.