Premium Business Cards – For Gratis

If you haven’t figured me out by now (not sure my husband has even after 18 years of marriage), at the very least you should know that I only use and associate myself with the best. The best quality, the best customer service, the best people.

As a graphic designer, printed materials are no exception. In fact, it is a must. If you use crappy paper, substandard ink, or just have poor quality control, you won’t be getting any business from me or my clients.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I don’t want you to take this offer lightly and I want you to know that when I recommend a company or service, it is because I use them, have used them, have experience with them, or just can’t get enough of them.

So here’s the deal. You can get 250 premium business cards absolutely FREE from PrintPlace.com just by clicking HERE. This is NOT an affiliate link and I do not get commissions of any kind…what kind of commission would I get on FREE anyway, right? And these cards will not be printed on flimsy paper. You can choose ANY option, paper type, coating, and EVEN rounded corners…my favorite option ever!

PrintPlace.com is my TOP pick for commercial printing for just about everything. They are the first online printer I check when quoting customers and 90% of the time, they are who I select. They are fast, inexpensive, but most importantly, they’re products are first-rate quality.

So what do you have to give up for these FREE business cards? Your first-born perhaps? Hardly, all you have to do is enter your email address on THIS page. They will send you a coupon code via email with full instructions on how to redeem it…they even include clear screenshots that anyone can follow. And of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

Of course f you are looking for a one-of-a-kind, fabulous business card design that you can have printed for FREE, I probably wouldn’t turn you down

Wrangle Your Creativity With Wordle

You may have heard of Wordle before now, but if you haven’t it is a MUST for your business. What is Wordle? Well here’s a little blurb straight from their site:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

So how can Wordle help your business? For starters, it can help you identify the frequency of words that appear in your marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, websites, or any other advertising material you currently have, or more importantly…plan to have. You can take things even further by using Wordle to analyze your business plan or mission statement. By doing this you can visually see the prominent keywords that reflect your business message…and what kind of image you’re portraying to your clients or potential customers. Heck, you could even use it to create a graphical representation of your products, services, or business values to use in your marketing materials.

You may be wondering why you wouldn’t just use a free keyword density tools to analyze your website pages for frequently used words. First, you only get a list of words – they’re not visual like Wordle. Second, you also have to typically enter a URL to get that information which doesn’t do you any good for all your off-line copy, while Wordle on the other hand allows you to enter text, a URL, or del.icio.user name to create a cloud. Last, but not least, you certainly won’t have as much fun as you would with Wordle.

What can you do with Wordle?

Change color schemes and even create a custom one
Change the fonts
Change the font style (lowercase, UPPERCASE, etc.)
Change the layout
Set a maximum number of words (default is 150)
Instead of single words, use phrases by inserting the tilde sign (~) between the words you want to keep together. For example if you want to use the phrase “Hooked on Wordle” simply enter it as Hooked~on~Wordle.

How do I use Wordle? Besides using it in many of the examples mentioned earlier, I also use it to brainstorm. When I’m working on a new tagline for a client or strategizing a new marketing campaign for them, I love to use Wordle. And I actually use it in conjunction with the Visual Thesaurus. These tools allow me to visualize my thoughts and notes, as well as to get better results by tweaking here and there.

I have to admit that I get a little caught up with Wordle, but it sure is fun and actually feels more like playing than work…which I don’t get to do much of these days unless it’s Duck, Duck, Goose with my 4 year old or peek-a-boo with my 10 month old.

I created a couple of “Signature Wordles” based on my Design and Marketing websites. I think Signature Worx is represented quite well as a Wordle. Take a look at the finished products [hint: you can click on the images to enlarge them]:

: Signature Worx Designs Wordle

: Signature Worx Web Design & Marketing Wordle

Have you used Wordle yet? How do you use it in your business?

The Twitter Guide Book – The Twitter Resource You CANNOT Live Without

Tweets, retweets, tweetups, tweeple, twaffic, tweeps…if you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, then you are obviously not using Twitter yet. If that’s the case and you’re running a business, you are missing out on a lot of networking with your current clients, potential customers, and all-around followers that will help you get your message out.

Twitter isn’t just about what are you doing anymore. Organizations are using it to get the word out about their cause or event, businesses are using it for giveaways and promotions, communities are using it to get organized and share information.

Just recently, XBox was giving away a new game room to the top 3 voted for children’s hospitals. Here in Jackson, Mississippi, we have the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children…the only children’s hospital in the entire state. Blair E. Batson used Twitter to their advantage to get the word out so people could vote for them to receive the game room. It was weeks of twittering and retweeting to get other people voting that pushed Blair E. Batson to the top of the list. After all was said and done, the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital for Children was one of the top 3 children’s hospitals in the county that received a brand new XBox game room. This is pretty significant considering we are certainly not one of the biggest states, and well people tend to forget about little ol’ us down here

The point is using Twitter is a very powerful marketing tool…and well, it’s quite fun which is a big fat bonus. So what is this post really about? If you want to get started on Twitter, or maybe you signed up, but just haven’t had time to mess with it or feel it’s beyond your comprehension, then I have the solution for you. Head on over to Mashable for The Twitter Guide Book. Seriously if you want to know everything about Twitter, but were always afraid to ask, THIS is your chance to redeem yourself.

The Twitter Guide Book isn’t even a book, although they do have a handy PDF to download. It is a web page with categorized links to the best information on how to use Twitter and it is easy to understand. They have it all…The Basics, Building Your Twitter Community, Twitter for Business, Sharing on Twitter, and Managing Your Twitter Stream.

So if you’ve been teetering on the fence about Twitter, this is your chance to put your fears aside and get twittering. Tweet. Tweet.

Early Labor Day Sale on Online Printing

sale_sticker This week only, get $10 off any order of $50 or more by using coupon code: LD10P from one of our preferred online printers during their early Labor Day Sale. They offer premium quality printing on business cards, postcards, brochures, letterhead, and more. Offer expires September 7th.

Of course if you need someone to design your marketing materials, we recommend Signature Worx!

Freebie Friday: Online Learning & Free Chocolate

If you’re like me and have a need to constantly learn or update your skills, then check out the online HP Learning Center. The HP Learning Center provides free, online classes that are available 24/7.

laptop Wondering what kind of classes they provide? Everything from MS Office to Adobe to business basics to digital photography. I’ve been using the HP Learning Center for a couple of years now to keep up with technology and software and have never been disappointed. You’re able to learn at your own pace, at whatever time you like, and update your skills at the same time.

Check out their entire class listing HERE. Don’t see anything you like? I can’t really imagine there isn’t anything, but bookmark it and keep checking because their offerings change almost weekly.

OH, and don’t forget the Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act – FREE chocolate every Friday all summer beginning at 9 AM ET to the first 250,000. See my original post HERE for a chance to get your coupon for a FREE Mars product

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Welcome to In The Worx! This blog is dedicated to the start-up business owner and the savvy solo entrepreneur...because after all, as business owners, isn’t everything always In The Worx?