Seth Godin talks about business cards today. Mandy at J Allan Studios remarks:

I see way too many DIY, print-it-yourself cards when I’m networking.  As soon as I see one of these I make a mental note not to do business with them or take them on as a client. If you don’t know that DIY business cards are bad, there’s a mess of other stuff you don’t know is bad.  And if you’re not embarrassed to present DIY cards to folks, there’s nothing I can do to help your sales and marketing. Believe it!

Seth doesn’t like DIY cards either. This is the most important marketing piece you deliver. It is your image, your billboard, your calling card. You want people to do a double take, to go Ooh!

And leave room for notes. Many networkers like to take notes about you on the card.

People confuse networking with lead generation. Networking is about helping other people – not trading leads. Networking is about building a system to get referrals. But to give you have to get. I network to learn things and to meet people. Much of my business comes because people perceive me as the answer man with a nice rolodex. It’s not about an immediate revenue, but a long-term strategy. It’s more IRA than day trading.

Jeffrey Gitomer has 17.5 Strategies, Guidelines and Rules for Connecting here.