Five Things Every Teacher Should Have: Business Cards

When I started teaching, I printed my business cards on the perforated, print-and-tear cards. I held off as long as I could in having cards professionally printed due to the expense. However, these days, I have professionally printed cards that I love, and I use my print-and-tear cards for making music games. The best part? The cards cost me very little!

Enter Vistaprint. Using their website, I was able to quickly and easily "design" my cards (and by design, I mean, choose my background and enter my information) and save myself a bunch of hassle and struggling with my printer.

(Rest assured, my last name and phone number ARE on my actual card!)

Now, typically I would not recommend getting Vistaprints free cards, as they have the Vistaprint logo on the back (henceforth, making them look less professional, in my opinion) however, they are currently offering the special that I got my cards on - 250 premium cards for free! (Except the cost of shipping.) They have tons of fabulous designs! You can find out about this deal HERE.

However, I thought I'd also pinpoint two other websites that offer business cards - keep in mind, though, that I have no personal experience with these companies. (However, if you do, please feel free to chime in with your comments!)

Zazzle has some really awesome business card designs. In fact, I am almost tempted to order my next set of business cards from them! They even have some MySpace and Facebook themed business cards (though I certainly do not recommend those for teachers trying to send a professional message!)

Moo also has business cards and mini cards that are to die for, and I've heard pretty good things about this company. They're a little bit more expensive, but they look like they might be worth it, depending on your taste.

So, there you go, a couple of options for business cards... hopefully I've inspired you to get out and get creative!

Previous Posts in the Five Things Every Teacher Should Have Series:

• The Studio Website

Five Things Teacher Should Have: The Studio Website

Note: As I've been getting the ball rolling on a bunch of business-related stuff this week, I got to thinking about what advice I would give new teachers, and I ended up coming up with a list of five things that I think every new teacher should have (or at least look into). For the next few weeks, I will be blogging this series along with my regularly scheduled posts! I hope that this advice can be of help to some of you.


I have a confession: when I started teaching, having a website was the farthest thing from my list of needs. Sure, I thought it would be nice, but I didn't think it was entirely necessary, and (I justified) it would just be another expense. However, as time passed, my opinions began to change for two reasons:

1. I received e-mail after e-mail asking the exact same questions

2. I realized that I always checked out the website before using the services or purchasing the products a business offered.

Having decided it was time to do something, I set out to find an economical and easy to maintain webpage. I have some basic skills with HTML, but (to be honest) I didn't (and still don't) have the time or energy to invest in building a webpage from scratch. Additionally, I wanted something that would give me a professional domain name, for a low cost, without any ads.

Impossible, right? I thought so, too. However, I've discovered that this isn't the case.

I built my website through Webs.com. Webs allows individuals and small businesses to create webpages for free with a domain name like rebeccawmusic.webs.com (which do have ads) or upgrade their package to a custom domain name (mine is www.rebeccawmusic.com) for $19.95 a year (that's about what I charge for one lesson)! Editing is simple, too, just drag and drop. Weebly.com has similar features and allows you to have a free spot on the web (just like Webs does) or upgrade to a pro account with a custom domain name for $3.99 a month (assuming you sign up for a year).

In this day and age, there are so many options and choices for creating webpages - even for those who are not technologically savvy! Take the time to look into it, because even setting up a webpage with just your contact information, a short bio and a photograph or two, goes a long way in making you look like the professional you are!