Cheapest Acceptable Quality Business Cards

fayebernoulli wrote in post #11274242
Pretty sure. I just checked my spam folder right now and Gmail filtered out some comments from WordPress. Time to put it on my safe list.

One thing that concerns me though is the forwarding I'd probably still get because it comes to my domain email via the contact form. I get so much crap about SEO on there (despite cpanel filters) that it drives me batty. I put in a captcha but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I'm halfway tempted to ditch the form altogether and put a simple line like "Due to the suckage of SPAM, and I don't mean the lunch meat if you can even call it meat or lunch for that matter, I am now accepting website inquiries via gmail only at myaddy@gmail.com"

cdifoto wrote in post #11274296
One thing that concerns me though is the forwarding I'd probably still get because it comes to my domain email via the contact form. I get so much crap about SEO on there (despite cpanel filters) that it drives me batty. I put in a captcha but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I'm halfway tempted to ditch the form altogether and put a simple line like "Due to the suckage of SPAM, and I don't mean the lunch meat if you can even call it meat or lunch for that matter, I am now accepting website inquiries via gmail only at myaddy@gmail.com"

I do the same. Contact form goes to domain email, then gets forwarded to gmail. Gmail filters it out. I do have my domain email forwarded directly to my iphone and it gets loaded with spam. I put up with that because I don't always want to wait for gmail to push the forwarded mail to me.

cory1848 wrote in post #11274532
I do the same. Contact form goes to domain email, then gets forwarded to gmail. Gmail filters it out. I do have my domain email forwarded directly to my iphone and it gets loaded with spam. I put up with that because I don't always want to wait for gmail to push the forwarded mail to me.

How long is your wait? I did a few tests on different occasions and the longest I've waited is 2 minutes for my domain email to pop up in my Gmail box.

cory1848 wrote in post #11274532
I do the same. Contact form goes to domain email, then gets forwarded to gmail. Gmail filters it out. I do have my domain email forwarded directly to my iphone and it gets loaded with spam. I put up with that because I don't always want to wait for gmail to push the forwarded mail to me.

That's interesting. Gmail is amazing with its spam filtering. My phone is pretty much my office, which is why I switched to gmail in the first place when I bought the Android. I wanted to maintain instant notifications like I had on BlackBerry with the domain email but I didn't want my phone constantly dinging with BS the way the BlackBerry would, nor did I want to add a bunch of expenses and configurations for things like activesync, postini, etc. All those "trivial" expenses add up to a pretty nice monthly obligation.

For what it's worth, my cards still have the domain email since I printed an insane number of them, but everyone "in the know" gets the gmail address. Once I use these cards up, in about 100 years, I doubt I'll even get more.

fayebernoulli wrote in post #11274569
How long is your wait? I did a few tests on different occasions and the longest I've waited is 2 minutes for my domain email to pop up in my Gmail box.

It's pretty random. Happens to my business partner as well. I have seem it up to 55 minutes before.

Just checked it now and it says, last checked: 50 minutes ago. Might be related to my ISP or even my hosting company, not sure. My email accounts are set to IMAP.

Edit: I watched it and right at 55 minutes it automatically checked it. Almost like its on a timer. I don't see anywhere where that can be adjusted.

cory1848 wrote in post #11274724
It's pretty random. Happens to my business partner as well. I have seem it up to 55 minutes before.

Just checked it now and it says, last checked: 50 minutes ago. Might be related to my ISP or even my hosting company, not sure.

Are you talking about an Android phone? If so, mine's push for gmail but poll for the POP.

cdifoto wrote in post #11274733
Are you talking about an Android phone? If so, mine's push for gmail but poll for the POP.

iPhone on my end.

cory1848 wrote in post #11274771
iPhone on my end.

Oh okay. That's poll then, no?

cdifoto wrote in post #11274296
One thing that concerns me though is the forwarding I'd probably still get because it comes to my domain email via the contact form. I get so much crap about SEO on there (despite cpanel filters) that it drives me batty. I put in a captcha but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I get a lot of that too.

One day I might email all of them back giving them each other's email addresses as my contact email. They're mostly from gmail email addresses, which is why gmail or google apps doesn't filter them out as much.

cdifoto wrote in post #11274592
That's interesting. Gmail is amazing with its spam filtering. My phone is pretty much my office, which is why I switched to gmail in the first place when I bought the Android. I wanted to maintain instant notifications like I had on BlackBerry with the domain email

Right now I have two accounts setup on my Android phone - my gmail account as the main, but I also have it set to sync with my domain-based google apps gmail. I could have forwarded one to the other, but it works just as well to switch accounts when necessary.

SirStuey wrote in post #11275164
Right now I have two accounts setup on my Android phone - my gmail account as the main, but I also have it set to sync with my domain-based google apps gmail. I could have forwarded one to the other, but it works just as well to switch accounts when necessary.

That's what I do. The difference is the domain email checks whenever I tell it do (rather than automagically) and I have of course gmail pushed instantly or nearly so. I like to be uber prompt to real clients but I don't like an obnoxious phone for spam. It's mostly in transition right now until I figure out a way to completely kill off the domain addy, if I can ever do that at all.

I'm not looking for high quality glossy paper, or anything.

To the OP - do not skimp on things like this. One of the things your prospective clients are going to use to base spending their $$ on is how you present yourself. Cheap business cards = cheap photographer.

http://www.printdirect​forless.com/business-card-printing.html
Double sided full color, upload your own image sides to be used. 1000 for $14 plus shipping is about another $10. I have seen the cards and are very good quality.

I used uprinting.com for 1000 cards and Moo for 50.

The 1000 from Uprinting cost me ~$40, the 50 from Moo about $20. The Moo cards are a bit nicer, but the cards are also a slightly different aspect ratio than normal cards. I save the Moos for special contacts, the others for everyone else.

I totally agree that first impression makes a difference, but it varies from subject to subject. A website URL? Important, yes. E-mail address? Yeah, but not *as* critical.

Business cards? There's "cost conscious", and then there's "cheap". There is a difference. Don't make the mistake of settling for cheap in the pursuit of saving money. First impression makes a difference here.

On the flip side... and depending on what you do and the market you're trying to reach... it's possible to go too far, as well. Some talk about gold foil, and so on. That would have a negative effect on me as I would automatically presume their prices are too high.

I used Vistaprint.com a couple months ago, and I was very pleased with what I got. I spent next to nothing and got 250 double sided, good quality (thick) cards.