Six Easy Steps to Create a Blog #BusinessCard that Totally Rocks

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Want to create a business card design that won't soon be forgotten? Here are six easy steps to ensure that your blog's business card will stand out from the pack. 

I just got in from the Blissdom conference yesterday...and I'm still spinning from the AMAZINGNESS of it all. One HUGE underlying aspect of any conference is the constant exchange of business cards. 

I want to point out what Scott Stratten told us in his opening keynote address..."you aren't there to collect, you're there to connect". There's definitely a fine etiquette balance to the business card exchange...and blog conference newbies like myself often teetered on the wrong side of that line. But, that's okay. It's a learning process. 

Not everyone wants your card. Did you really make a connection or do you just feel the need to get your card in their hand? 98% of those cards up there were indeed connections. A couple were just handed to me {and I did that once, too, and am quite embarrassed about it now}. 

These were my cards that I brought. I'm soooo wishing I could go back and have a bit of a do-over with the way I laid out the design on them. Yeah...they're fun and all. And the shape of them helped them stand out. And I got a lot of "oh...cuuuuute!" But, man, that ridiculously oversized QR code on the back is taking up serious real-estate that I should have used for more important things {more on that below}. Like, really. Sometimes I'm a bit form over function. It's been my achilles' heal for over ten years.  People who have worked with me are nodding at this in complete agreement. When will I learn?

To give credit where credit is due: my original idea for the square card came from my bloggy friend, Mandy, over at Sugar Bee Crafts. She has some AWESOME card tips, too!

That's a bunch of fabulous bloggers' cards right there. 

I made some amazing connections and lifelong friendships as well.

The three cards above nailed it. And I mean NAILED IT. It took both sides of the cards, but they brought it on home. They have {what I consider to be} the six things every well-designed business card really needs:

1. PHOTO. 

This seems so obvious, but I totally missed the boat on this one. I can glance at these cards and remember these ladies {poor Kim Janocko up there was cursed with the seat next to me at the "Rock Your Camera" session...she probably thinks I'm a complete moron...I didn't have a clue about the Nikon I've owned for almost four years now. Thanks for your grace and patience with me, Kim.} Having a photo on your card at these mega conferences is so helpful. The cards without photos {mine included here} make me really have to think about where I met the card owners at. Some I really don't remember as well since I can't place a name with who it belongs to. I am actually going through the cards and finding people's sites and then saying "ohhhh, yeah...that's who that is". But that's a lot of work {I'm certainly guilty of it, too}. Take the work out of it for your card recipient...put your photo on it so it's an instant "A-HA" moment when they're reviewing cards at the end of a conference. And try to be consistent and use the same photo everywhere {on your blog, on your card, on your Twitter, FB, etc.}.

2. BLOG NAME{S}. 

Again, another seemingly obvious one. But it's actually so easy to get caught up in the fun time of designing a card that you may forget your blog name. If you have more than one blog, list them. That's the main way to find you...your blog!

3. NAME OF AUTHOR. 

I have several cards that have a blog name, but not the name of the person who the card belonged to. It's not that big of a deal, but this is a personal connection that we're making. Matt Lauer doesn't just hand out "Today Show" cards {does someone that significant really need/have cards?}...no, he has "Today Show" cards that also say his name and info in the corner. It's a self-promotion thing, but so important. It's a connection we're making between people, not just companies.

4. BLURB ABOUT THE BLOG or AUTHOR:

What's your blog about? My tag line is "a creative lifestyle blog worth neglecting your chores for". It's a summation that I can throw on a business card or give in my "elevator schpeel" {the one where you have 10 seconds to tell the person next to you in the elevator what it is that you do...not always easy in our line of work...can I get an amen?}. Some blog names {mine included} don't make it blatantly obvious what the blog is about. "Fabulously Felula" is a presh name for a blog...but if it's a blog about homeschooling or fashion or whatevs, you're going to have to spell it out. And there's not a darn thing wrong with that. 

5. QR CODE. 

This isn't a requirement, but it sure is helpful. During breaks between sessions, I often went through and scanned QR codes on business cards to see those people's blogs. Sometimes I did it within moments of meeting someone and getting their card. And I certainly wasn't the only conference attendee doing it. A lot of cards are looked at so briefly and then put in a pile...if someone can instantly be taken to your site, give them the opportunity. And don't be like me and make yours enormous and obnoxious. It will still scan on a much smaller scale. What was I thinking? 

You can make your own free QR code at qrstuff.com. 

6. ALL SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES AND SITE LINKS {and email, too}. 

I failed miserably at this one. Miserably. I put my site and email on my card and thought..."they'll find me", {again, after some work of going to my site and locating my social media links, they will find me...but will they even take the time to do all of that before saying "to heck with it"?}. This morning, I've been going through cards and following people's twitter handles, etc. Which ones am I doing first? The ones who put it all on their card and made it super easy. I will certainly do the others...but it may be a while before I make the time to go to sites and find social media buttons to follow. And I was warned about this one, too...and I still did my own thing {seriously, sometimes I am just a stubborn mule}. Don't be like me. Don't make people work to follow you. A lot of those who had all of their handles on their cards made it easy to just instantly follow at the conference...I've been tweeting with some of them for several days now. I'm wondering how many friends I haven't interacted with yet since I didn't have my info on my card? Bleh.

The above were the super unique cards that really stood out to me. How fun are these? They each added elements to their cards to make them super memorable and way cool. 

From the bottom of my heart, I hope I didn't step on any toes with this post. I wanted it to be informative and helpful to those of you thinking about making cards for your site {especially if you're attending a conference in the near future}. As you can blatantly see, I followed about half of my own suggestions {if that}. This is just my lil' disclaimer to say I'm not trying to slam people who didn't do these things...I'm just trying to put out there what I looked for in a card. After three days of the conference, I realized the cards that really made a successful impact on me. 

Happy card making!

{i linky-party here}

and at Coastal Charm and Savvy Southern Style

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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