Many people think that it’s not accepted to include a photo in their business card next to their contact details. But businesses have long been including a photograph along with their contact information on their card. This is even widely accepted and considered a standard these days.

Putting your picture in your business cards will help your target clients and customers to put a face to your name and business on top of giving your card a professional look and feel. If you don’t include a photo your customer or client might mistake you from your competitor or worse don’t even remember you.

Most printing companies today won’t charge you extra when you had your photo included in your card. It might be to your advantage to use this opportunity to make your card more memorable and easily recognizable. Without a doubt, adding a picture is really simple and won’t take a lot of time and money.

But before you start adding your picture in your card, make sure that you are using is the right photo. Also, ensure that your picture is high resolution and the file is not too large. If your file is too large, it would be possible to make the photo smaller without losing its quality, but if you are going to enlarge a small photo, it could make the photo to look blurry. Keep in mind that you want a crisp and clear photo, so choose the best picture to put in your card.

After you have carefully chosen your picture, it is time to make the design for your card. Many online printing companies will give you wide choices of business card templates to help you design your card. Be sure to choose the best design for your card and don’t rush the design process. Take your time in order to come up with the best look that suit you and your business.

After the design, you next move is to choose the font style and information to include in your card. Be sure to double check that information to make sure that you use the right info. Review the details before submitting for final printing as errors and typos can cost you a lot of money.

After that, you are now ready to upload your photo. Each printer is different, so be sure to follow the directions properly. Some web sites will let you to crop and resize your photo. If you think that is necessary go ahead and do that.

After that, you can now submit your design for printing. Most online printers will let you order your cards in the quantity that you desire. If you want to print on your own, just put paper into the printer and hit the print button.

Business cards are made of paper and hence it is only natural that they originated in the same country which is responsible for giving the world paper for the first time, China. The first generation business cards were believed to be in circulation as far back as the 15th century but it was only during the 17th century in France that they began to be accepted by the European aristocracy, especially the French, as a way of announcing the arrival of particularly distinguished guest of honor. During that epoch, they were referred to as ‘visite biletes’, meaning visiting cards in French and soon were incorporated as a part of the traditional formal etiquette. At the same time, in England, these were referred to as trade cards owing to their use by the English merchants not only as a form of marketing for their products but also as a map to indicate their location. In the absence of street numbers, these cards played a significant role in directing strangers to one’s place of business and hence were deliberately made large in size.

The advent of the 19th century witnessed a tremendous change in the appearance of business cards courtesy of the technological advancements and their application in this field. But they were still limited to the high society wherein the card with a folded upper right corner indicated the presence of the owner, a card folded in the middle meant that it was for all the members of the family, a ‘p.f.’ indicating a congratulatory visit while a ‘p.c.’ a condolence call. Business cards arrived in America towards the end of the nineteenth century and soon donned their role which is continuing even today. Often taken for granted, this card is an essential business requisite since it features all the relevant information about its owner.