July 7, 2008 76 Comments

You Need to Be Easy

Business Card I’m perpetually baffled when I see websites that don’t give me a sense of the human being behind them. I receive business cards by the ton at conferences, and I’m surprised when they don’t offer a great deal of value per square inch of paper. In fact, my own personal business cards don’t offer enough value, so they will be replaced eventually. People of Earth: make it easy for others to reach you and communicate with you.

About Pages

On your About page on your website, have a blurb about the company, if you have to, but then follow it up with a human, preferably with a picture. For every “we” site, you now need a “me” person on the site. Why? Because we do business with PEOPLE, not with corporations. The corporations give us branding and other legal constructs, but we buy from humans.

What’s important to go on that page otherwise? Two things: why should people care about you is the first. Second, here’s a hint: how do you want people to do business with you? What kind of business do you hope they do with you? (By the way, upon reviewing my About page, I’ll rewrite it tonight or tomorrow).

Business Cards

I think business cards need to be informative over clever. Clever is nice, and cheap is still icky, but if you’re not giving people enough queues about yourself, your business, your locale, and your contact particulars, it’s not going to get you to the dance. What should go on cards these days?

  • Name
  • Title (clever is okay, but remember this is another judgment someone is making about you)
  • Company Name (if there is one; if not, be you).
  • Phone number, specifically the one you hope people will call you on. I use my cell.
  • Email address. New world or not, email is still the way we tend to message folks.
  • Company URL (if you have such a thing)
  • Blog URL – this becomes more important these days, because you want to show your humanity, and/or what’s on your mind.
  • City/Town and State/Province information. I never used to have this on my cards, and even though I like being virtual, it seems that when professionals are looking at my cards, they follow up by asking where I work. When I show them my CrossTech Media cards, they immediately ask me where Canton is in regards to Boston. So that tells me they’re trying to anchor me in space.
  • Maybe a tagline about the kind of business you want to do with people.

What’s Your Take?

I’m curious to know what you think about this? How are you framing your about pages and your business cards? Are you easy?

Related articles by Zemanta
Zemanta Pixie

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

Genesis Theme Framework

The Genesis Framework empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Whether you're a novice or advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that takes WordPress to places you never thought it could go.

With automatic theme updates and world-class support included, Genesis is the smart choice for your WordPress website or blog.

Become a StudioPress Affiliate

Newer Comments →
  • http://www.fearlesscooking.tv Grace Piper

    Great Post Chris!

    I just got some new cards in, but I’m not satisfied with them. Totally agree about adding in State/Country, we think we’re global, but you still want that info to set a person in space in your mind. My new cards have my twitter and flickr info. I’m glad I did that.

    My latest batch came from a Hugh MacLeod cartoon at http://gapingvoid.streetcards.com/

    But, I’ve been really happy with the work, kickass customer service and even better the price at http://www.printsmadeeasy.com

    Grace

  • http://www.fearlesscooking.tv Grace Piper

    Great Post Chris!

    I just got some new cards in, but I’m not satisfied with them. Totally agree about adding in State/Country, we think we’re global, but you still want that info to set a person in space in your mind. My new cards have my twitter and flickr info. I’m glad I did that.

    My latest batch came from a Hugh MacLeod cartoon at http://gapingvoid.streetcards.com/

    But, I’ve been really happy with the work, kickass customer service and even better the price at http://www.printsmadeeasy.com

    Grace

  • http://www.kylelacy.com Kyle Lacy

    I completely agree with what you are saying when it comes to business cards. There are many times when marketing professionals and designers fail at creating something so simple. A business card is meant to be informative. My number one rule for business card design is the business name, your name, an email, and your tag line. You can even put some services offerings on there somewhere.

    When you are doing face-to-face networking it is EXTREMELY important for the receiver to remember what you do best. I could care less if you are a great designer. Are you going to alleviate my pain? Are you going to make me money?

    That is the bottom line.

  • http://www.kylelacy.com Kyle Lacy

    I completely agree with what you are saying when it comes to business cards. There are many times when marketing professionals and designers fail at creating something so simple. A business card is meant to be informative. My number one rule for business card design is the business name, your name, an email, and your tag line. You can even put some services offerings on there somewhere.

    When you are doing face-to-face networking it is EXTREMELY important for the receiver to remember what you do best. I could care less if you are a great designer. Are you going to alleviate my pain? Are you going to make me money?

    That is the bottom line.

  • Royal8

    This is a sword that cuts both directions. War and Peace is smaller than a few of the cards I have received lately. I would say that cards should be designed around their function. Contact, networking or both. Name, number and email are sufficent for me. Either you made the impression or not and if so I will remember the who, what, when, where and why. You just need to provide me the how.

    Why do I need ten numbers to reach anyone? In this era of Grand Central and virtual PBX systems. One number to rule them all.

    I do not care if you have ten phones, ten email accounts, I just want someone to answer the call so I don’t have to leave Arrington another voice mail.

  • Royal8

    This is a sword that cuts both directions. War and Peace is smaller than a few of the cards I have received lately. I would say that cards should be designed around their function. Contact, networking or both. Name, number and email are sufficent for me. Either you made the impression or not and if so I will remember the who, what, when, where and why. You just need to provide me the how.

    Why do I need ten numbers to reach anyone? In this era of Grand Central and virtual PBX systems. One number to rule them all.

    I do not care if you have ten phones, ten email accounts, I just want someone to answer the call so I don’t have to leave Arrington another voice mail.

  • http://thecreativecareer.com/ Allie Osmar

    My boyfriend and I were talking about business cards the other day – we’re looking forward to bar code scanning cellphones becoming more commonplace in the U.S. Hope is that these bar codes will become integrated with business cards and one easy scan will be translated into a deeper picture of who we are.

  • http://thecreativecareer.com/ Allie Osmar

    My boyfriend and I were talking about business cards the other day – we’re looking forward to bar code scanning cellphones becoming more commonplace in the U.S. Hope is that these bar codes will become integrated with business cards and one easy scan will be translated into a deeper picture of who we are.

  • http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann

    Of course you would post this today, when I placed a new biz card order last night :)
    Our cards have a full-bleed logo with tagline and URL on the front. We’ve gotten many comments on our logo image as being very attention-getting for our target audience, so I think it’s a great use of the real estate. The back of the card features a short description of our site, and then our name, email address, and twitter account.

    I hesitated including the twitter, but I had these printed for Podcamp Boston as well as general use. And I realized that if I met someone briefly at Podcamp and wanted to connect with them without a specific agenda, I would be more likely to send them a quick ‘hi’ on twitter first, as it is less formal than an email.

  • http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann

    Of course you would post this today, when I placed a new biz card order last night :)
    Our cards have a full-bleed logo with tagline and URL on the front. We’ve gotten many comments on our logo image as being very attention-getting for our target audience, so I think it’s a great use of the real estate. The back of the card features a short description of our site, and then our name, email address, and twitter account.

    I hesitated including the twitter, but I had these printed for Podcamp Boston as well as general use. And I realized that if I met someone briefly at Podcamp and wanted to connect with them without a specific agenda, I would be more likely to send them a quick ‘hi’ on twitter first, as it is less formal than an email.

  • http://davemadethat.com/contact-dave Dave Delaney

    Hi Chris:
    Great post as always. My card is based on Twitter. It includes my avatar, name and URL. The hard copy actually has my phone number shaded like the “140 Character counter” on Twitter.

    I intentionally did not include my Twitter address, because I was concerned that when I hand them out Twitter could be down. :-)

    You can click my name to see my card, but I think you probably already have one. I guess I may need to update it to a FriendFeed style soon, but that beast ain’t as pretty as our blue bird friend.

    Cheers,
    Dave

  • http://davemadethat.com/contact-dave Dave Delaney

    Hi Chris:
    Great post as always. My card is based on Twitter. It includes my avatar, name and URL. The hard copy actually has my phone number shaded like the “140 Character counter” on Twitter.

    I intentionally did not include my Twitter address, because I was concerned that when I hand them out Twitter could be down. :-)

    You can click my name to see my card, but I think you probably already have one. I guess I may need to update it to a FriendFeed style soon, but that beast ain’t as pretty as our blue bird friend.

    Cheers,
    Dave

  • http://www.thehotiron.com/ Mike Maddaloni – The Hot Iron

    Great list Chris! One thing I would add for business cards is a little white space, so people can write notes on who you are, and what you talked about when you met.

    And if you use a service like OvernightPrints.com, make sure you don’t get the UV coating as people will never be able to write on your card. I learned that the hard way…

    mp/m

  • http://www.thehotiron.com/ Mike Maddaloni – The Hot Iron

    Great list Chris! One thing I would add for business cards is a little white space, so people can write notes on who you are, and what you talked about when you met.

    And if you use a service like OvernightPrints.com, make sure you don’t get the UV coating as people will never be able to write on your card. I learned that the hard way…

    mp/m

  • http://www.oldschoolnewmedia.com/matt-leonard-old-school-new-media/ Matt Leonard

    I completely agree with your take on business cards. There are times to be clever and that’s not one of them. A business card is meant to provide contact information. Make an impression with yourself, not your card. I haven’t seen an over the top card, even if well done, that doesn’t come off as cheesy.
    My blog is still new so don’t hold my About Page against me.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    I should also say that I like having my name be the biggest graphical element on the front of the card. Not for ego, but for eyeball/name recognition. In big fat business cards, the last thing I need to care about is your company. Because we, as humans, sort on name. Non?

  • http://www.oldschoolnewmedia.com/matt-leonard-old-school-new-media/ Matt Leonard

    I completely agree with your take on business cards. There are times to be clever and that’s not one of them. A business card is meant to provide contact information. Make an impression with yourself, not your card. I haven’t seen an over the top card, even if well done, that doesn’t come off as cheesy.
    My blog is still new so don’t hold my About Page against me.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    I should also say that I like having my name be the biggest graphical element on the front of the card. Not for ego, but for eyeball/name recognition. In big fat business cards, the last thing I need to care about is your company. Because we, as humans, sort on name. Non?

  • http://jedsundwall.com/ Jed Sundwall

    This is great, Chris.

    Mike’s right about the white space. Also, get uncoated paper, so your card is easy to write on. These are just a couple of my peeves.

    I’ve spent a few months working hard to make my website (jedsundwall.com) as clear as possible, saying exactly what I want it to say to people regarding my work and interests and nothing more.

  • http://jedsundwall.com Jed

    This is great, Chris.

    Mike’s right about the white space. Also, get uncoated paper, so your card is easy to write on. These are just a couple of my peeves.

    I’ve spent a few months working hard to make my website (jedsundwall.com) as clear as possible, saying exactly what I want it to say to people regarding my work and interests and nothing more.

  • http://getinternetmarketingstrategies.com/2008/07/internal-link-bulding-for-on-site-search-engine-optimization/ Internal Link Building for On-

    This is so true, whenever I visit any site or blog, I look to the About Page, if it’s a service type site, I think the About page is crucial because I want to see what they are offering explained in simple terms.

    Thanks Chris!

  • http://getinternetmarketingstrategies.com/2008/07/internal-link-bulding-for-on-site-search-engine-optimization/ Internal Link Building for On-Site SEO

    This is so true, whenever I visit any site or blog, I look to the About Page, if it’s a service type site, I think the About page is crucial because I want to see what they are offering explained in simple terms.

    Thanks Chris!

  • http://www.theperfectbalance.blogspot.com Chris Nadeau

    Great post and I would agree corporate sites need to get more personal. We have made the switch on our corporate website and it has definitely had a positive impact on our business.

    http://www.evolvingsolutions.ca/evolve/1007/who-we-are

    Cheers,
    Chris

  • http://www.theperfectbalance.blogspot.com Chris Nadeau

    Great post and I would agree corporate sites need to get more personal. We have made the switch on our corporate website and it has definitely had a positive impact on our business.

    http://www.evolvingsolutions.ca/evolve/1007/who-we-are

    Cheers,
    Chris

  • http://lieflarson.businesscard2.com Lief Larson

    Great article Chris. I think that’s what many of us need to work on. What we’ve been doing is trying to translate the card to a dynamic format (beyond hCard/vCard) on the web. You can see mine here…

    http://businesscard2.com/index.php/card/ad/lieflarson.businesscard2.com

    (note:only currently optimized for firefox)

    - Lief

  • http://lieflarson.businesscard2.com Lief Larson

    Great article Chris. I think that’s what many of us need to work on. What we’ve been doing is trying to translate the card to a dynamic format (beyond hCard/vCard) on the web. You can see mine here…

    http://businesscard2.com/index.php/card/ad/lieflarson.businesscard2.com

    (note:only currently optimized for firefox)

    - Lief

  • http://www.mediabadger.com Webconomist

    Too true Chris! Time to re-invent the Business Card…what about cards in other culture? Like Japan, where giving a biz card is a very serious affair (it’s so personal it’s cool)…but don’t dare write on a biz card in Japan; it’s a major insult. In other countries too.

    Like your comment for the “About” section of a website too. In larger company sites, the head shots are so formal, the bio’s so formal, we don’t get a real sense of the people, and a company is nothing without real people…maybe in business we’ve put up so many walls?

  • http://www.mediabadger.com Webconomist

    Too true Chris! Time to re-invent the Business Card…what about cards in other culture? Like Japan, where giving a biz card is a very serious affair (it’s so personal it’s cool)…but don’t dare write on a biz card in Japan; it’s a major insult. In other countries too.

    Like your comment for the “About” section of a website too. In larger company sites, the head shots are so formal, the bio’s so formal, we don’t get a real sense of the people, and a company is nothing without real people…maybe in business we’ve put up so many walls?

  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    That’s definitely something to talk about: headshots. Formal headshots that look like Glamour Shots photos are a total turnoff. I don’t mean that in the dating sense. I mean that in the “human relations” sense. Don’t you agree?

  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    That’s definitely something to talk about: headshots. Formal headshots that look like Glamour Shots photos are a total turnoff. I don’t mean that in the dating sense. I mean that in the “human relations” sense. Don’t you agree?

  • http://getsomehairapy.wordpress.com Aura Mae

    I think the one thing people forget when they design business cards is that sometimes (if you are lucky!) you will not be the one handing out your card. If it doesn’t communicate something about you, you are missing out. If you are a stiff, corporate entity, then a stiff, stuffy card makes sense.

    I own a small salon who’s marketing position is “you can wear your pajamas and cuss.” Stiff white cards with black raised letters isn’t going to communicate that very well, is it?

    As to the UV coating: often you can get that on the front side only leaving the back for scribbled notes.

    And I also have had great experiences and results with printsmadeeasy.com

  • http://getsomehairapy.wordpress.com Aura Mae

    I think the one thing people forget when they design business cards is that sometimes (if you are lucky!) you will not be the one handing out your card. If it doesn’t communicate something about you, you are missing out. If you are a stiff, corporate entity, then a stiff, stuffy card makes sense.

    I own a small salon who’s marketing position is “you can wear your pajamas and cuss.” Stiff white cards with black raised letters isn’t going to communicate that very well, is it?

    As to the UV coating: often you can get that on the front side only leaving the back for scribbled notes.

    And I also have had great experiences and results with printsmadeeasy.com

  • http://www.daniellerestivo.com Danielle Restivo

    Whenever there is a discussion about business cards, I can’t help but think of the wonderful scene from American Psycho, when the group of egocentric businessmen get together to compare typeset and colouring on their cards. Frankly I’m surprised that we still have business cards. I thought by now we’d solely be exchanging contact info online. I don’t use mine all that often but there is something to be said for the personal statement that a good card makes.
    Chris do you think we will always have physical cards or will they migrate completely online?

  • http://www.daniellerestivo.com Danielle Restivo

    Whenever there is a discussion about business cards, I can’t help but think of the wonderful scene from American Psycho, when the group of egocentric businessmen get together to compare typeset and colouring on their cards. Frankly I’m surprised that we still have business cards. I thought by now we’d solely be exchanging contact info online. I don’t use mine all that often but there is something to be said for the personal statement that a good card makes.
    Chris do you think we will always have physical cards or will they migrate completely online?

  • http://www.kylelacy.com Kyle Lacy

    As long as there is face to face networking we will always have business cards.

    Eventually traditional business cards will become extinct as the gen-y and millennial generations start taking over the business world.

    I wouldn’t mind electronically sending my business card at a networking event but you need TWO devices to connect. Most in the small business world (the baby boomers) have yet to adapt the technology.

  • http://www.kylelacy.com Kyle Lacy

    As long as there is face to face networking we will always have business cards.

    Eventually traditional business cards will become extinct as the gen-y and millennial generations start taking over the business world.

    I wouldn’t mind electronically sending my business card at a networking event but you need TWO devices to connect. Most in the small business world (the baby boomers) have yet to adapt the technology.

  • http://www.ramseymohsen.com Ramsey Mohsen
  • http://www.ramseymohsen.com Ramsey Mohsen
  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    @Danielle – we meet people face to face. You could argue that we could wave our phones at each other, but that suggests a level of interoperability that doesn’t even exist between different models within the same carrier, or different models within the same handset company. Because of that, oddly, paper is still the most efficient way for this particular type of exchange.

    Gimmicks are fun, but easy to lose. Tiny moo cards? I get about a hundred of these a year. I lose about 80. They slip out of holders, fall out of my pocket, blow away in the wind.

    One guy handed out fortune cookies where his contact info was on the strip of paper. Brilliant! Truly a gorgeous idea.

    Lost that “card” within seconds completely by accident.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

    @Danielle – we meet people face to face. You could argue that we could wave our phones at each other, but that suggests a level of interoperability that doesn’t even exist between different models within the same carrier, or different models within the same handset company. Because of that, oddly, paper is still the most efficient way for this particular type of exchange.

    Gimmicks are fun, but easy to lose. Tiny moo cards? I get about a hundred of these a year. I lose about 80. They slip out of holders, fall out of my pocket, blow away in the wind.

    One guy handed out fortune cookies where his contact info was on the strip of paper. Brilliant! Truly a gorgeous idea.

    Lost that “card” within seconds completely by accident.

  • http://www.saranx.com Saravanan Sahadevan

    Chris… What if you had a day job and a freelance Job at the same time.

    Or you had multiple jobs. I cant be placing every single job title that I have right?

    Could I just Have a Name & Contact Options at the front and Have a link of profiles at the back. Which then people could logon to know about you?

    The key questions here is, Is it alright not to have a job title printed on cards.

  • http://www.saranx.com Saravanan Sahadevan

    Chris… What if you had a day job and a freelance Job at the same time.

    Or you had multiple jobs. I cant be placing every single job title that I have right?

    Could I just Have a Name & Contact Options at the front and Have a link of profiles at the back. Which then people could logon to know about you?

    The key questions here is, Is it alright not to have a job title printed on cards.

  • Anonymous

    This is a perfect description of what should be on your personal business card! Excellent post.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/lewishowes Lewis Howes

    This is a perfect description of what should be on your personal business card! Excellent post.

  • http://www.print-it-247.com Barry Messer

    Spot on great article!
    Giving out your business card is like saying hello it should be done with a certain amount of decorum, by that I mean the design layout and feel give the recipient the first impression of you or your company, in the same way that people will judge you on appearance and the manner in which you speak. I am all for not judging a book by its cover, however we are human and that means we are all guilty of doing exactly that. I am fortunate that we print thousands of business cards each day, which means that I get to see a variety of different designs of business cards, from corporate designs to the local mobile mechanic. Some have clearly spent money on their design, showing off creativity and some have created their own master piece in microsoft word, most of the latter tend to be of poor design this obviously only based upon my own judgement, however it is these self crafted designs which often win us our most praise, I think it is something do with seeing your own design printed, laminated and delivered in those lovely clear plastic boxes that makes people email us with their praise. Lately I have seen 2 business cards that have really caught my eye, this strangely hasn’t been down to striking design or colour but becasuse they have added that little something extra to their business card a simple personal note. Ill explain the first business card had the usual company logo, contact details etc… etc… but on the reverse was how the person liked their coffee it read ‘I like my coffee with one and a half teaspoons of gold blend and a generous helping of milk, plus one sugar’ I found this quirky and different and strangely nearly all the factory staff had passed comment. The second card was similar but below the contact details the customer had added their favorite colour and where they most liked to holiday which again to me created that break the ice conversation piece. So remember to give a little thought when designing your business to add that little something to make your business card memorable!

  • http://www.print-it-247.com Barry Messer

    Spot on great article!
    Giving out your business card is like saying hello it should be done with a certain amount of decorum, by that I mean the design layout and feel give the recipient the first impression of you or your company, in the same way that people will judge you on appearance and the manner in which you speak. I am all for not judging a book by its cover, however we are human and that means we are all guilty of doing exactly that. I am fortunate that we print thousands of business cards each day, which means that I get to see a variety of different designs of business cards, from corporate designs to the local mobile mechanic. Some have clearly spent money on their design, showing off creativity and some have created their own master piece in microsoft word, most of the latter tend to be of poor design this obviously only based upon my own judgement, however it is these self crafted designs which often win us our most praise, I think it is something do with seeing your own design printed, laminated and delivered in those lovely clear plastic boxes that makes people email us with their praise. Lately I have seen 2 business cards that have really caught my eye, this strangely hasn’t been down to striking design or colour but becasuse they have added that little something extra to their business card a simple personal note. Ill explain the first business card had the usual company logo, contact details etc… etc… but on the reverse was how the person liked their coffee it read ‘I like my coffee with one and a half teaspoons of gold blend and a generous helping of milk, plus one sugar’ I found this quirky and different and strangely nearly all the factory staff had passed comment. The second card was similar but below the contact details the customer had added their favorite colour and where they most liked to holiday which again to me created that break the ice conversation piece. So remember to give a little thought when designing your business to add that little something to make your business card memorable!

  • http://suzemuse.wordpress.com Sue Murphy

    As far as business cards go – don’t be too kitschy (sp?) with shapes and sizes. It’s hard to fit an octagon in my wallet (which is where most of the cards I get end up), and if it doesn’t fit, it ends up at the bottom of my purse….a place no one wants to be.

    Also do two-sided if you can afford it, even if you just put a watermark or logo and slogan on the back. that way in the shuffle of cards I can easily find yours even if it’s flipped over.

  • http://suzemuse.wordpress.com Sue Murphy

    As far as business cards go – don’t be too kitschy (sp?) with shapes and sizes. It’s hard to fit an octagon in my wallet (which is where most of the cards I get end up), and if it doesn’t fit, it ends up at the bottom of my purse….a place no one wants to be.

    Also do two-sided if you can afford it, even if you just put a watermark or logo and slogan on the back. that way in the shuffle of cards I can easily find yours even if it’s flipped over.

  • http://wordsofabrokenmirror.com Alina Popescu

    Hi Chris, I never thought of having my blog url on a business card. But that’s actually a great idea to both make you look human and promote it offline. Thanks for the tip!

  • http://wordsofabrokenmirror.com Alina Popescu

    Hi Chris, I never thought of having my blog url on a business card. But that’s actually a great idea to both make you look human and promote it offline. Thanks for the tip!

Newer Comments →
GetSocial