Your business image is critical to its success but you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to have your business cards printed. With MS Word and Avery, you can design professional business cards quickly, easily and inexpensively.

Start your project by purchasing a package of – Avery Clean Edge Business Cards (5876) Choose White or Ivory. This product is compatible with label option 5371 in MS Word and will provide you with 200 extra sturdy business cards with no perforated edges.

You can freestyle your layout or visit Avery's Business Resource Center to select from a variety of pre-designed or fully customizable templates.

Download a Template
• Select the type of download you want – pre-designed or fully customizable
• Browse through the choices until you find the one you think will work best for your business. Next to your choice you will see a Download Template button.
• Click on the Download Template button and new window will be displayed with download instructions.
• Click on Save on the Download option box to save the template to your Hard Drive.
• Select the file folder where you want to store your templates from the Save As dialog box.
• Click on open when the Download Complete dialog box is displayed. The template will launch Word and display the template document for you to customize.

Use the template to add your logo, company name, your name and title, address, phone number, email address and website, as appropriate. When using the template, you will need to complete each block of the 10 business card blanks. However, if you feel comfortable with working with MS Word graphics, you can design the 1st block, delete template pre-established layout from the remaining 9 blocks; then copy and paste the block you designed into each of the remaining 9 blocks.

Freestyle Design
To freestyle your own design layout or create a template for yourself, you will use Word's Envelopes and Labels feature.
• Select Tools | Letters and Mailings | Envelopes and Labels from the main menu
• Click on the Labels tab of the Envelopes and Labels dialog box
• Click on the Options button to select the Avery Product Number – 5371
• Click on the New Document button to load the label layout to your document

Design your business card layout within the confines of the business card block. Include a logo, company name, your name and title, address, phone number, email address and website, as appropriate. Working with text boxes will allow you to group graphic elements which will make it easier to replicate your design layout on the remaining blocks using copy and paste.

Once you have completed the business card layout, print it on plain paper once to see that it is laying correctly. Next insert a page of the business card stock into your printer and print. You will have less frustration if you print one page of the card stock at a time.

Once printed, separate each of the business cards according to the directions on the Avery card stock. Now you are ready to distribute your business cards to promote your business.