Critique my business card!

[DamNative]

Hey guys,

Just started at a new gym and want to get a basic card made so I can have it available if needed. Would appreciate your opinion on my design. Good? bad? Any feedback please.

[Bryan_0025]

Looks good. Very clean appearance and not too cluttered.

Maybe instead of "Fat-loss" you could say "weight loss" more of a universal term

[Simmo0508]

Put a special offer on the back instead of just the generic "free consult upon showing this card". Put something that will make people actually inclined to call.

Maybe some discounted packages, or some extra minutes, or a subscription to your personal newsletter (if you have one, which you should..) Provide dollar value for each, and lay it out for them.

"Call today and receive my personal newsletters, saving you $x a month!"
"Call today and receive $x off your first session"
"Call today and receive 15 minutes extra on your first session, which saves you $x"

etc.

[DamNative]

Looks good. Very clean appearance and not too cluttered.

Maybe instead of "Fat-loss" you could say "weight loss" more of a universal term

Yeah I think your right, more people would be able to relate to that term, even though personally I think fat-loss is more important.

Put a special offer on the back instead of just the generic "free consult upon showing this card". Put something that will make people actually inclined to call.

Maybe some discounted packages, or some extra minutes, or a subscription to your personal newsletter (if you have one, which you should..) Provide dollar value for each, and lay it out for them.

"Call today and receive my personal newsletters, saving you $x a month!"
"Call today and receive $x off your first session"
"Call today and receive 15 minutes extra on your first session, which saves you $x"

etc.

cheers, will do this.

[askthetrainer]

Put a special offer on the back instead of just the generic "free consult upon showing this card". Put something that will make people actually inclined to call.

Maybe some discounted packages, or some extra minutes, or a subscription to your personal newsletter (if you have one, which you should..) Provide dollar value for each, and lay it out for them.

"Call today and receive my personal newsletters, saving you $x a month!"
"Call today and receive $x off your first session"
"Call today and receive 15 minutes extra on your first session, which saves you $x"

etc.

I just thought of a twist to this... why not have specific cards for specific months.... i.e. Start NOW and receive x off your first package in November

And make a conscious effort to hand out the alloted cards every month to use them up... it will give them real urgency to call rather than just putting the generic today, like the business card knows if you call today or next week...

and it will force you to actually use your cards in time

And yes, I like the design of the card although I would w/ something w/ a little more uniqueness and a photo

[Simmo0508]

I just thought of a twist to this... why not have specific cards for specific months....

Gotta remember at the end of the day it's only a business card, it's not some huge prospect generator. Business cards no matter what, often hardly ever get a second look after put in one's wallet.

It's one of the more overrated tools that PT's use imo.

Leave the things like specific marketing campaigns for certain times of the year for the additional advertising content one produces. Cos i agree that month-specific promos are great, just not on business cards. A business card really is just a means for contact info, it's not meant to be over the top in terms of offer. Just something small yet enticing to bait people.

[SurelyFunky]

Minor quibbles as a potential customer - use punctuation in the statements on the back, they are sentences, add a period at the end. Also, after "health" on the front of the card, for consistency, or separate those phrases with a dash and leave out the end punctuation. Spell out "text" - "txt" looks unprofessional on a business card.

Just my opinion, of course.

[tovlakas]

I just thought of a twist to this... why not have specific cards for specific months.... i.e. Start NOW and receive x off your first package in November

And make a conscious effort to hand out the alloted cards every month to use them up... it will give them real urgency to call rather than just putting the generic today, like the business card knows if you call today or next week...

and it will force you to actually use your cards in time

And yes, I like the design of the card although I would w/ something w/ a little more uniqueness and a photo

Better to just make it generic ("Start NOW and receive x off your first package this/next month") so you don't have to waste a ton of money printing out 12 different batches of cards.

[Ncsketch]

ok before you read this. please dont take it wrong. its constructive criticism

1. You don't show your certification
2. the card looks like anyone could have made it from home
3. ExSc wont make sense to some people. (if they are looking for a personal trainer do they even know what exercise science is?)

4. i really like the fact that the back reminds them of their appointments.

[askthetrainer]

ok before you read this. please dont take it wrong. its constructive criticism

1. You don't show your certification
2. the card looks like anyone could have made it from home
3. ExSc wont make sense to some people. (if they are looking for a personal trainer do they even know what exercise science is?)

4. i really like the fact that the back reminds them of their appointments.

Location: Santa Ana, California, United State

The guy is in New Zezealand bro, see I'm from cali and can't even spell it, (Bachelor of Sport and Recreation ) ExSc could be well widely recognized down there

I disagree w/ your #2 too, it's a biz card, not a piece of fine art... it just needs the necessary info, a call to action and be clean, that design is clean, looks pro,

[askthetrainer]

Gotta remember at the end of the day it's only a business card, it's not some huge prospect generator. Business cards no matter what, often hardly ever get a second look after put in one's wallet.

It's one of the more overrated tools that PT's use imo.

Leave the things like specific marketing campaigns for certain times of the year for the additional advertising content one produces. Cos i agree that month-specific promos are great, just not on business cards. A business card really is just a means for contact info, it's not meant to be over the top in terms of offer. Just something small yet enticing to bait people.

While I totally understand what your're saying, w/ that attitude why even have them in the first place?

Yes, in the grand scheme of things they are just a biz card, but if a new strategy helps you get even 1 more client a year it's worth doing especially something that takes 0 time and effort.

Why am i posting so much in this biz card thread? I have no idea

[BobbyGott]

Location: Santa Ana, California, United State

The guy is in New Zezealand bro, see I'm from cali and can't even spell it, (Bachelor of Sport and Recreation ) ExSc could be well widely recognized down there

I disagree w/ your #2 too, it's a biz card, not a piece of fine art... it just needs the necessary info, a call to action and be clean, that design is clean, looks pro,

I agree buddy.. The layout looks gretty good, smooth, not cluttered etc.. A little fine tuning and your there! I should have done this when I ran my first batch of cards lol. Good luck!

[Liquid Rage]

Very nice. I like it. Simple and looks very professional.

[absolutexpinoy]

I like it. Simple and to the point. I think the "text" part as a contact seems a little less than professional tho.

[DamNative]

Minor quibbles as a potential customer - use punctuation in the statements on the back, they are sentences, add a period at the end. Also, after "health" on the front of the card, for consistency, or separate those phrases with a dash and leave out the end punctuation. Spell out "text" - "txt" looks unprofessional on a business card.

Just my opinion, of course.

Done.

Better to just make it generic ("Start NOW and receive x off your first package this/next month") so you don't have to waste a ton of money printing out 12 different batches of cards.

True. Thanks.

ok before you read this. please dont take it wrong. its constructive criticism

1. You don't show your certification
2. the card looks like anyone could have made it from home
3. ExSc wont make sense to some people. (if they are looking for a personal trainer do they even know what exercise science is?)

4. i really like the fact that the back reminds them of their appointments.

I won't take it wrong bro, I came in here for criticism! What do you think makes it look like it was just done at home? I mean I did make it at home lol, but I used illustrator which I think is the industry standard for making business cards? Could be wrong. Was my first time using it though, so my lack of skill with illustrator is what you can probably see.

I did think about people not knowing what ExSc means, but I'm sure they will ask if not sure. Should I put the full degree name maybe?

I like it. Simple and to the point. I think the "text" part as a contact seems a little less than professional tho.

which part do you mean bro? you mean the website, email and phone number part?


Thanks for all the replies, it has helped a lot. Here's the revised copy. I fixed the grammar, added a better call-to-action on the back, made my name little bigger on the front and spaced the contact details. I've found that making sure everything is lined up and sitting correctly is the hardest part.

good to go?

[Ncsketch]

yeah i think the full degree name would look more professional. try it out.

[gnomewerks]

I'll offer my 2 cents. For someone on a "fitness related board", I have an AA i Multimedia and Marketing and a BA in Art & Design. I've used the Adobe stuff professionally for the past 12yrs..


The Pro's
1. The design is smooth. Its clean and because of that there isn't much clutter that takes away from what it is supposed to do - give people INFO. Whats your number? How do I contact you? What is your name and what do you do? All good there. The clean style of it all is partly because of your color choices. The black with contrasting green works really well. Black is elegant and the greenish color gives the pop to what you want to stand out.

2. You have really good font use. There's so many fonts out there that I don't have a strong preference for one vs. the other but you did it really well. Other than your name and a possible logo, I like simple fonts for business cards. Its legible and its familiar. Stick with what you would see on any mass text stuff - magazines, books, etc. There's a reason you don't see cursive fonts in capital letters conveying much info.

3. Double sided cards are nice. They allow you to give more information without too much clutter. Also, the back has the "why keep it logic" being used. A card may be looked at to find the number/email, after that - why keep it? Your appt. thing gives them a reason to keep the card. It has info that requires them to look at the card another time and keep it around. The idea behind this has been done so cleverly in the past. Granted the cards were expensive but I've seen cards (in biz card design books of the worlds top rated) that were made on a mirror. People kept them because they used them in their purse/wallet for just that - a small compact mirror. It was reflective but not glass per say so it wouldn't break. This is beyond what you need but the point is...give them a reason to keep your card around. If they don't call the 1st time, think about how you can get them to keep coming across your card day after day, week after week. Eventually - they'll remember to call or have an emotional decision and think - "You know what, I'm tired of being fat and need to call this guy."

You don't want the "damn, I threw that dudes card away now that I'm ready to get healthy. I don't even remember where I picked it up. Oh well, next..."

4. Keep the Fat loss. Its what you stand by and I agree as well. Some clients I don't want to lose weight. Keep weight close the same. Just drop bodyfat %.

The Con's (or suggestions)
NITPICKS - its all good as it stands.
1. You use the | to seperate your name from your contact info. You use the | to seperate from 'personal trainer' to 'massage therapist'. Why not use that same series of | to seperate the stuff at the bottom. strength | fitness | fat-loss | health | etc.

It just keeps things consistent visually. A period (.) is not a big deal but it then removes the grammar stuff of "is it punctuation?". Is it just a seperator? Should it be at the end of the word 'health', and stuff like that.

2. I agree with the word text vs. txt. It looks more classy and with your color choices, its an elegant card, not a mind blowing design thing. Maybe even eliminate the word text all together. call or email. I know text is pretty much the new thing but a phone call is more personal and you can convey more through a call. Its not as personal to text.

3. Now that I think of it, I kinda like the white boxes on the back for Date/Time stuff. Leave that alone. You have enough white in the front that it makes sense to have such bold design there. It is certainly the focal point of the back though, since it contrasts so much with the background. That leads me to the Date/Time. Everything, both front and back are centered. My eye is drawn off a bit with Date/Time being off center. I know you want it left justified to give room to actual write in - Date and Time but maybe...well I don't know. Play with it a bit perhaps.

*Remember, its just nitpick stuff. Its a great card and its clean. I like it a lot. With 12yrs experience and thousands of hours of biz card work, if you paid me to rework it, I'd be honest and tell you that I might only charge for 30mins of work. There woudn't be anything I could do. I've had my fair share of college course on aesthetics, design, what works, why this works, marketing, etc and I always remember one lesson. It was about SMALL details. Thats all my suggestions were. Small stuff.

If you decide to use an abbreviation - lets say, C: 555.555.2621 instead of Cell: 555.555.2621 then think about it. You can never please EVERYONE, but if that one person doesn't translate what the hell the C means, then you might not get his call. That 1 person might pay you for a yr of training. That 1 person might enjoy the training and refer you to 2 other people over time. Those 2 people might mention you to 2 of their friends. That C to CELL difference might add up to thousands of dollars.

Its nitpicking but somewhere - it might matter. Again, you cannot please everyone but at least consider it. Always remember, anything - no matter how small it is (3.5x2" or something for a biz card?) that has your name on it, represents you.

One last thing - think about the gloss vs. matte finish. Sometimes, unless the client has a sharpee/certain pen handy, doing a doublesided super glossy finish can make it hard to actually write down Date/Time info it. I've had beautiful cards in my hand with an area to write down "reminder" info on the back. All I had was a cheap pen/pencil and I couldn't write anything. Kinda defeated the point.

[DamNative]

^^^^^^^^^^^ wow thanks for the in-depth response. Wish I had read your post earlier, because I actually sent the files off for printing yesterday. I would have liked to try your separator suggestion and seen how that looked. Hopefully I'll be able to contact the printers in time to get a matte finish. Either way I'll be sure to take your suggestions and use them on the next batch perhaps. Thanks a lot, appreciate it.

[gnomewerks]

whether you contact them in time for this batch or not, the matte vs gloss is something thats a preference. Gloss LOOKS better, especially with a lot of color - at least to me. It has a higher quality impression and makes color saturation pop. Matte is only for writing on it concerns. I've also had clients and others say that the gloss is a bit "too much". To each his own.

I know I've gone through a place - overnightprints, online and they can do gloss on one side, matte on the other (the card feels weird though). Cards are good quality and I've used them for myself and other clients as well. About 1,000 cards for 45 bucks is a good deal.

[tovlakas]

meant to post earlier and comp burned out. next time you make them, you need to reduce the emphasis on your name and increase the emphasis on the deal. your card needs to serve a specific purpose, otherwise why have one?

If your purpose of the card is to give to people so they will call you, then you're going to be sorely disappointed. you likely won't have more than 5% of the people you give the card to actually calling you from it, if anyone.

YOU should be getting their information when u meet them, not vice versa. Most people expect contact info on a biz card so u should include it just for expectation's sake, but make it a very small piece (sort of how small ur offer is right now).

The advice about adding your certifications is mislead at best. That is a complete waste of space—nobody and I repeat, nobody is going to give a **** about that or probably even know what it means. More to the point, NOBODY is going to base whether they contact you off of your CERTIFICATIONS... even if on the rare chance they care about ur qualifications they will ASK you about them. I would also remove the part that has "strength, fitness, fat loss, etc" because its pointless, and wastes a ton of space. Nobody is going to see that part of the card and be attracted to your business any more than if it wasn't there... it's just fluff. Put fluff on a poster, billboard, or website if you have to, but not on a business card.

Curious, why is your email desk@blah.com? That is very impersonal... unless you have a huge team you should use firstname@domain.com. You aren't a huge corporation with a 24 person customer service team, so take advantage of that personal touch! It's much more effective!

I would put your contact info at the very bottom of the back of the card where the offer currently is, and that includes your name... why is your name so large on the card? It is by far the largest item on the card but by far the least useful (next to your certifications, of course). I can understand that our ego makes us want to make our name the center of the attention but you need to think about it in a business sense... your name really doesn't matter to pull in prospects... what matters is WHY they should waste their time talking to you in the first place.

A much better and more effective design would be to have one whole side of the card a big before/after of one of your clients, and an eye-catching offer that makes them want to get a hold of you ASAP. I actually give my clients my cards as promo tools because the offer on them makes people WANT to come in and redeem it. That's the only time I even use the cards... I NEVER hand cards to people... it's a waste of my money and paper because they won't use it. I get their info and add them to my list and that's that.

After this batch of cards, I would redo yours with this in mind. The space on a biz card is very limited and thus incredibly valuable... do not waste ANY of it on ANYTHING that doesn't serve a distinct purpose.

Finally, I absolutely disagree with absolutexpinoy on using the term "text". Sorry, this is 2010 and mobile marketing is HUGE and here to stay. Not using that avenue for contact is doing yourself a huge disservice and its not at all unprofessional to use the term text. Companies like GAP, Hooters and even UNIVERSITIES are starting to get into mobile marketing and use texting as a huge client hook. Texting is much lower commitment than calling and lower than emailing as well, so much more likely to get that first, critical contact.

Remember to vet all the advice you get on these forums, as much of it is complete nonsense and made up and has no basis in reality.

[JoshuaNeff]

The front is fine, it doesn't really GRAB me, but it's fine. It likes like a well designed card from someone who isn't an artist. It has the info it needs on the front.

I really don't like the back. Coming from someone who deals in a LOT of business cards, the place to write appointments is great--- but that's going to be tiny on a card and hard to write/read. You want an area where you can scribble a name, date, notes, etc. Most every important card I get from someone ends up getting written on somewhere... with what we discussed, numbers, additional information, etc. So the part to write appointments is good--- but it could be MUCH better.

Also, I would do black on the side with your name, then flip the colors on the other. On the white side, have a print (smaller with a less out of place font than now) your "Get half off" or whatever sales business you want to do. On the top area, you can write appointment, and ONE space for date/time with the rest open white matte area. So folks can take more notes in that. If they make another appointment, give them another card. It's an excuse for them to collect cards which they may give out to a friend if they recommend you.

As far as credentials- Photoshop since mid 90s, Corel Draw before than, and I work as an art director and do a lot of company rep and PR stuff having to handle a billion cards.

[tovlakas]

The front is fine, it doesn't really GRAB me, but it's fine. It likes like a well designed card from someone who isn't an artist. It has the info it needs on the front.

I really don't like the back. Coming from someone who deals in a LOT of business cards, the place to write appointments is great--- but that's going to be tiny on a card and hard to write/read. You want an area where you can scribble a name, date, notes, etc. Most every important card I get from someone ends up getting written on somewhere... with what we discussed, numbers, additional information, etc. So the part to write appointments is good--- but it could be MUCH better.

Also, I would do black on the side with your name, then flip the colors on the other. On the white side, have a print (smaller with a less out of place font than now) your "Get half off" or whatever sales business you want to do. On the top area, you can write appointment, and ONE space for date/time with the rest open white matte area. So folks can take more notes in that. If they make another appointment, give them another card. It's an excuse for them to collect cards which they may give out to a friend if they recommend you.

As far as credentials- Photoshop since mid 90s, Corel Draw before than, and I work as an art director and do a lot of company rep and PR stuff having to handle a billion cards.

Successful personal training is NOT about flashy, fancy graphics design that corporations and large businesses swear by, nor at all about the traditional marketing and PR that larger firms do... so your experience as such isn't really much in the way of credentials. I say that as a fellow graphics designer who had to completely re-learn the art of marketing for this industry. Trying to make stuff super fancy or "branding" it or making it how, say, 24hourfitness would make their marketing materials, will simply lead to abysmal failure.

Most of the most successful personal trainers I've ever met have pretty ****ty business cards in terms of how they look and the fonts and crap like that. Doesn't seem to hurt anything. What ISN'T ****ty is their messaging and the use of the space. I've never seen a successful trainer with a card that had their name huge on the front and appointments or a "notes section" taking up the back (a clever idea but it's not going to be used until the person is ALREADY a client, and thus not useful as a tool to pull new clients which should be the point of a business card). Also, I've never had a single client write notes on a business card... nor ever heard of one doing that. Maybe in another industry but not going to happen in this one.

[JoshuaNeff]

Right--- I never said flashy mattered at all.

As far as appointments and stuff now-- I don't have cards with appointment sections obviously... however previously worked for 5 years with tattoo artists who probably have a VERY similar approach to getting clients as personal trainers. And if I'm completely wrong on this, I apologize. A personal trainer is going to know more about their clients than I do. I'm not going to argue that for a second---

however if you DO have a space for say appointments, then make the most use out of it. From independent contractors, tattoo artists, and things of the like--- the idea is not only for the client to write on the card, but for you to do it as well. Additional information or something personal can help someone feel more important than "just another client." The whole "When you get home, check out this site, (writes a website on the card) there is a lot of information that could really help you out." Things like that.

I agree with you on a lot of points--- however I was aiming to tweak his idea instead of say "do something completely different." There's no need for me to reiterate points that you and others have already made.

[askthetrainer]

card that had their name huge on the front .

It isn't that huge, it may be your monitor?

I'm viewing on a 24" monitor and I just put it up to my business card and it's over 4x as big...

[AlyseMcKee]

I think it looks good. I would stand for a moment and read over the whole card because it's attractive.

[DamNative]

meant to post earlier and comp burned out. next time you make them, you need to reduce the emphasis on your name and increase the emphasis on the deal. your card needs to serve a specific purpose, otherwise why have one?

If your purpose of the card is to give to people so they will call you, then you're going to be sorely disappointed. you likely won't have more than 5% of the people you give the card to actually calling you from it, if anyone.

YOU should be getting their information when u meet them, not vice versa. Most people expect contact info on a biz card so u should include it just for expectation's sake, but make it a very small piece (sort of how small ur offer is right now).

The advice about adding your certifications is mislead at best. That is a complete waste of space—nobody and I repeat, nobody is going to give a **** about that or probably even know what it means. More to the point, NOBODY is going to base whether they contact you off of your CERTIFICATIONS... even if on the rare chance they care about ur qualifications they will ASK you about them. I would also remove the part that has "strength, fitness, fat loss, etc" because its pointless, and wastes a ton of space. Nobody is going to see that part of the card and be attracted to your business any more than if it wasn't there... it's just fluff. Put fluff on a poster, billboard, or website if you have to, but not on a business card.

Curious, why is your email desk@blah.com? That is very impersonal... unless you have a huge team you should use firstname@domain.com. You aren't a huge corporation with a 24 person customer service team, so take advantage of that personal touch! It's much more effective!

I would put your contact info at the very bottom of the back of the card where the offer currently is, and that includes your name... why is your name so large on the card? It is by far the largest item on the card but by far the least useful (next to your certifications, of course). I can understand that our ego makes us want to make our name the center of the attention but you need to think about it in a business sense... your name really doesn't matter to pull in prospects... what matters is WHY they should waste their time talking to you in the first place.

A much better and more effective design would be to have one whole side of the card a big before/after of one of your clients, and an eye-catching offer that makes them want to get a hold of you ASAP. I actually give my clients my cards as promo tools because the offer on them makes people WANT to come in and redeem it. That's the only time I even use the cards... I NEVER hand cards to people... it's a waste of my money and paper because they won't use it. I get their info and add them to my list and that's that.

After this batch of cards, I would redo yours with this in mind. The space on a biz card is very limited and thus incredibly valuable... do not waste ANY of it on ANYTHING that doesn't serve a distinct purpose.

Finally, I absolutely disagree with absolutexpinoy on using the term "text". Sorry, this is 2010 and mobile marketing is HUGE and here to stay. Not using that avenue for contact is doing yourself a huge disservice and its not at all unprofessional to use the term text. Companies like GAP, Hooters and even UNIVERSITIES are starting to get into mobile marketing and use texting as a huge client hook. Texting is much lower commitment than calling and lower than emailing as well, so much more likely to get that first, critical contact.

Remember to vet all the advice you get on these forums, as much of it is complete nonsense and made up and has no basis in reality.

Good info, thanks for taking the time to write it out. The name is big because I don't have a business name right now, so my name is the "brand" as such, and because I'm new at this gym I just want people to see my name and get some exposure, since we only have about 3 trainers at the gym currently and only one other trainer that's really got any promotional material out, I just want the members to be aware that there are personal training services available, because at the moment that awareness is lacking.

That being said, I see what your saying and I like the idea of having before and after photos, just not too sure how I would go about it next time around.

I only made it desk@myname.co.nz because I thought it would look stupid as myname@myname.co.nz. I thought having the domain as myname.co.nz was personal enough and emails would be received at "my desk". Hope that makes sense.

The front is fine, it doesn't really GRAB me, but it's fine. It likes like a well designed card from someone who isn't an artist. It has the info it needs on the front.

I really don't like the back. Coming from someone who deals in a LOT of business cards, the place to write appointments is great--- but that's going to be tiny on a card and hard to write/read. You want an area where you can scribble a name, date, notes, etc. Most every important card I get from someone ends up getting written on somewhere... with what we discussed, numbers, additional information, etc. So the part to write appointments is good--- but it could be MUCH better.

Also, I would do black on the side with your name, then flip the colors on the other. On the white side, have a print (smaller with a less out of place font than now) your "Get half off" or whatever sales business you want to do. On the top area, you can write appointment, and ONE space for date/time with the rest open white matte area. So folks can take more notes in that. If they make another appointment, give them another card. It's an excuse for them to collect cards which they may give out to a friend if they recommend you.

As far as credentials- Photoshop since mid 90s, Corel Draw before than, and I work as an art director and do a lot of company rep and PR stuff having to handle a billion cards.

Like the idea of having space to write, might possibly flip the colours next time so I can do this. Cheers.

[gnomewerks]

meant to post earlier and comp burned out. next time you make them, you need to reduce the emphasis on your name and increase the emphasis on the deal. your card needs to serve a specific purpose, otherwise why have one?

If your purpose of the card is to give to people so they will call you, then you're going to be sorely disappointed. you likely won't have more than 5% of the people you give the card to actually calling you from it, if anyone.

YOU should be getting their information when u meet them, not vice versa. Most people expect contact info on a biz card so u should include it just for expectation's sake, but make it a very small piece (sort of how small ur offer is right now).

The advice about adding your certifications is mislead at best. That is a complete waste of space—nobody and I repeat, nobody is going to give a **** about that or probably even know what it means. More to the point, NOBODY is going to base whether they contact you off of your CERTIFICATIONS... even if on the rare chance they care about ur qualifications they will ASK you about them. I would also remove the part that has "strength, fitness, fat loss, etc" because its pointless, and wastes a ton of space. Nobody is going to see that part of the card and be attracted to your business any more than if it wasn't there... it's just fluff. Put fluff on a poster, billboard, or website if you have to, but not on a business card.

Curious, why is your email desk@blah.com? That is very impersonal... unless you have a huge team you should use firstname@domain.com. You aren't a huge corporation with a 24 person customer service team, so take advantage of that personal touch! It's much more effective!

I would put your contact info at the very bottom of the back of the card where the offer currently is, and that includes your name... why is your name so large on the card? It is by far the largest item on the card but by far the least useful (next to your certifications, of course). I can understand that our ego makes us want to make our name the center of the attention but you need to think about it in a business sense... your name really doesn't matter to pull in prospects... what matters is WHY they should waste their time talking to you in the first place.

A much better and more effective design would be to have one whole side of the card a big before/after of one of your clients, and an eye-catching offer that makes them want to get a hold of you ASAP. I actually give my clients my cards as promo tools because the offer on them makes people WANT to come in and redeem it. That's the only time I even use the cards... I NEVER hand cards to people... it's a waste of my money and paper because they won't use it. I get their info and add them to my list and that's that.

After this batch of cards, I would redo yours with this in mind. The space on a biz card is very limited and thus incredibly valuable... do not waste ANY of it on ANYTHING that doesn't serve a distinct purpose.

Finally, I absolutely disagree with absolutexpinoy on using the term "text". Sorry, this is 2010 and mobile marketing is HUGE and here to stay. Not using that avenue for contact is doing yourself a huge disservice and its not at all unprofessional to use the term text. Companies like GAP, Hooters and even UNIVERSITIES are starting to get into mobile marketing and use texting as a huge client hook. Texting is much lower commitment than calling and lower than emailing as well, so much more likely to get that first, critical contact.

Remember to vet all the advice you get on these forums, as much of it is complete nonsense and made up and has no basis in reality.

Your coming off a bit harsh, as though everyone else is full of $hit and you have it all right. You have your thoughts and others have theirs. Might I ask...

Exactly what credentials do you have that makes your thoughts on all this any better than others? You're on a PT forum, on a Bodybuilding website. What sort of extensive experience do you have with design software, marketing and media?

Personally, I'll call it like it is. I think your advice is to chest pounding and quite frankly - way off. One whole side of the card with a before and after? Photo's of people that NO ONE knows is about as amateur as seeing a photo of some realtor smiling on their REMAX business card.

[SideSteal]

I think the card looks very nice.

I have an opinion that you can take for what it's worth, but you may not agree. It is not a major issue and I do like your design.

I would not put both personal training and massage therapy on the same business card. I would make a business card that strictly focuses on personal training. If massage therapy is a major part of your business, I would make a separate card for this.

EDIT: I can go into detail on this but this is somewhat philosophical.