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Choosing the Right Online Printer

New North • February 5, 2020

Greener Printer

Kim: Greener Printer is one of my favorite online printers because not only are they a certified green printer (using only recycled papers with soy inks and following sustainable business practices), but they also offer high-quality, affordable printing. It's the best of both worlds! Greener Printer offers a wide range of templated products such as business cards, brochures, and even catalogs. In addition, they can do custom sizes and quotes as well. Their website is easy to use, allowing you to quickly calculate printing prices, with simple upload options. My only negative for this printer is that their turn-around time is not as fast as some of those “other” online printers.


Pros:
  • Lots of options
  • Certified "Green"
Cons:
  • Only phone customer service
  • Slow turn-around


Moo

Kim: So, I'll admit it, I've only recently come across Moo, but so far I love them! Their website not only offers great pricing on products such as business cards, mini cards, postcards, and more; but they also offer some great resources for design inspiration and printing tips. One especially cool feature on moo is their unique Printfinity technology, which allows you to print a different design on every single card in the pack! Um, did someone say, AWESOME! (oh, wait, that was me). My only negative for this printer is that while they continue to add more, their current product options are a tad limited.


Pros:
  • Unique capabilities for printing
  • Good resources
Cons:
  • Limited product offering


SmartPress

Tobin: I just recently used this printer for an online job and I was very impressed by the quality of the user experience, paper choices, and pricing. They really seem like they have a good process and system in place to make your account accessible as well. I like being able to see all my jobs in one place, and that is a nice feature. The proofing process was really easy and approvals seemed to be well controlled. I plan on using this printer for a few more projects to see how the other product offerings turn out.


Pros:
  • Great account interface
  • Great paper selection
Cons:
  • Digital only


VistaPrint

Kim: Good, old VistaPrint. The positives for VistaPrint are their 1) speed and 2) amount of product options. The negatives for VistaPrint are their 1) speed and 2) amount of product options. VistaPrint is a great go-to, online printer when you need something fast and cheap. While their quality is not bad, it's not super impressive either. As a general rule, I only use them for postcards and 4-color digital business cards…materials that don't need exact color matching, and things that I need in a hurry. I find that lately they almost have too many product offerings, which can make it a little confusing when trying to place an order. While they don't offer live chat or email customer service, their customer service via phone has always been extremely helpful.

Tobin: I've only used VistaPrint on one occasion for some folders a few years back. The quality was well done, but price was not the cheapest, which was something to be considered for my client. Everything was done on time, and I have no complaints about the service. I get TONs of emails from them now, which is good and bad.


Pros:
  • Lots of options
  • Quick turn-around
Cons:
  • Only phone customer service


Got Print

Tobin: Quality and price are both above average among providers although shipping price is a bit high from some others I have used. I've never had to send any work back, but I've not been blown away by good quality either. The biggest problem I find is the turn-around time. I've sent jobs and not heard from them for a week. If you're trying to meet a tight deadline stay away from this printer.


Pros:
  • Many product offerings
  • Low price options
Cons:
  • Turn-around has been poor at best


Overnight Prints

Kim: I do not recommend using OvernightPrints, and will never use them again. A few years ago, I was happy to send small, quick-turn-around runs for business cards or postcards to OvernightPrints. Unfortunately the last 3 orders I sent to them all returned with errors including trim mistakes and inconsistencies on business cards, major color errors, and in one case, a client's entire logo did not even print on his card (even though the files were set up correctly). While they offer extremely low pricing, I'd much prefer to spend a little more to alleviate the poor quality and errors this company has recently been producing.

Tobin: While product is speedily delivered, quality is sacrificed. Approximately half of the business card related print jobs I've requested were received with errors and I've had to send the work back and have it reprinted. The quality of brochures and envelopes, in my experience, has been fine.


Pros:
  • Quick turn-around on many types of printing
  • Low price options
Cons:
  • Poor quality of printing

3 Tips to Attract Website Visitors

By New North • January 16, 2020
The traditional ways of marketing, such as unsolicited emails, print advertising, and radio advertising, aren’t going to bring people to your website or get you leads like they once did - and they’re becoming much more expensive. In case you haven’t been introduced to the latest in lead generation, inbound marketing is the answer to your lead generation challenges. No matter what the demographics and psychographics of your consumers are, they are all using the Internet to meet their needs in one way or another. Since this is the norm now, we have 3 tips for you to attract website visitors using inbound methods.

When and Why You Don't Need a Blog

By New North • January 6, 2020
If you are just now getting on the blog bandwagon, you are definitely on the southern side of the bell curve. But it doesn't mean all is lost and you should drop what you are doing. Blog are great tools for business. They are a great way to journal the events and happenings of your company and bring them to your customers. But for some reason, the buzz surrounding these little publishing gems has reached a new threshold and now every business from janitors to dog sitters have blogs. Maybe we have reality TV to blame. Everyone thinks that details of their day-to-day activity should be passed on to the customers no matter how significant or insignificant they might be. Although I'm sure there is some value to these publications, I have to think that somewhere along the way the intention was lost. These weak or misdirected posts no longer serve their businesses, and may even have a negative effect. So as I'm sure there are list upon lists for reasons to start a blog, I've decided to post a list of the reasons to not have one. If your new blog project touches on any of these, you might want to take a second look before you hit "publish".

The Two Thousand Dollar Advertising Plan for Small Businesses

By New North • December 28, 2019
Please note that every business has its own needs and specialties that might benefit from some customization. One size might not fit all, but as you embark on this journey, you can use this plan as a template to start your market growth.
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