Lesson 3: Name, Logo, Business Cards, Letterhead, Website
Your letterhead and other forms
You'll probably have to write letters and send out invoices in your new business and to look professional, that should be done on company letterhead. Luckily, with almost any kind of computer and word processor, this is a bit a work and takes time but doesn't cost a lot of money.
While you can have letterheads and invoices printed and then set your word processor so that it prints your letters on the pre-printed paper, this is a cost which doesn't give you a lot of advantages. A well-printed letterhead may look marginally better than one printed out from an ink-jet printer but you'll also need second page letterheads, invoices on letterheads and possibly other forms. And, when something changes, as it's bound to do, you have to have the whole lot re-printed.
It is generally easier to create the letterhead, invoices and other forms on your computer and then type your letters straight on the empty template. This lets you change contact information as required and gives you great flexibility to improve your logo, add little messages or otherwise customize the letterhead to suit the particular occasion.
So, put your logo at the top left corner, put the company name and contact information beside it to the right and you're done. Repeat, but smaller for the second page letterhead and invoice and you'll have those as well. Save them as normal files, not templates and make them read-only if you're afraid you'll inadvertently ruin them.
The letterhead should have margins of at least 0.75" all around and a margin of more than 1.25" looks odd. My own personal preference is 1" on the sides, 0.75" top and bottom and start the text of the letter at least 0.5" down from the logo.
In many word processors you can put the logo and text into a header. You'll then have to adjust the margin to where the letter text should start and program the header to start where the margin was. You'll also have to tell the program that the first page header is different but the advantage of all this is that all the pages get the right letterhead automatically as you use them.
To work this way, you'll have to have an ink-jet printer which has at least 600 dpi resolution. Less doesn't look good. If you're using standard paper, get bright white with a 24 lb. weight. If you want to use special paper, you can get great textured paper but make sure it will work with ink jet printers - such paper is often porous and the ink from the ink jets will bleed.
Now you're seeing your business image come to life before your eyes. As you see it, make sure it is consistent. If at all possible, use the same colours and fonts on all your material. Check that the business cards you come up with match the letterhead and keep this in mind for the other parts of your business image.
