Nifty business card helps you share your web portfolio, find out which prospective clients viewed it

 

 

Now this is just plain cool: A KickStarter project that has already surpassed its funding goal will soon give you a really memorable way to share your online portfolio, reports PetaPixel.

If you're a photographer looking for new clients, it's pretty obvious that the best way to persuade them to sign on the dotted line is to let your portfolio do the talking. Show off some of your best works, and a prospective client can see what to expect. But what to do when you're out and about, and don't have an easy way to show off your photos? Say you're somewhere with spotty cell coverage, or your phone / tablet just ran out of batteries. A plain old business card is easy to hand over, but it's equally easy to forget -- and if you don't hear back from an individual that had seemed really interested, you've no idea whether it was your card or the portfolio itself which let you down.

 

At first glance, the swivelCard looks much like any other business card, but for the cut and score-lines and the fact it's a little thicker than most.

The key is to have something more eyecatching than a regular business card: Something where the device itself ensures that your one-day customer remembers to check out the portfolio. We've seen plenty of ways to do this over the years, from special materials or form-factors that make the card an interesting, tactile experience you want to hold onto, to making the card itself a miniature DVD with the portfolio enclosed.

These techniques probably work better than a boring business card, at least in getting the individual to check out your work -- but if you don't get a callback, you still don't know why. Do you need to tweak your portfolio for a better response, or did that prospect simply not look at it in the first place for whatever reason?

 

Fold it up, and the swivelCard reveals its not-so-hidden secret: a USB jack.

That's the problem the swivelCard aims to solve, giving you a card that is at once eyecatching -- it folds like origami to reveal a working USB jack -- and also rather clever. Fold and insert the swivelCard into your USB port, and it provides a trackable link to your portfolio that's tied to the individual business card. Keep tabs on who you give the cards to, and you know precisely which prospects took the time to check out your site, and which went on to become paying customers. And realistically, you know most people are going to at least drop by for a visit. After all, how many times has somebody handed you a paper business card that's also a USB device?

Of course, there's a downside: These cards aren't cheap. In the Kickstarter campaign, they start at US$3 apiece for a set of ten Mini cards, and pricing gradually comes down to about $1.60 per full-sized card if you buy a couple hundred at once. Add NFC connectivity that lets potential clients on most mobile platforms except Apple's iOS visit your site by holding the card next to their phone or tablet, and the price goes up a bit more. Add custom printing, and you're potentially back up to US$2.40 per card even in a 200-card bulk order.

 

SwivelCard will be available in two sizes with options for custom printing and NFC connectivity.

But you've got the wow factor, and you've got the stats to help you hone your portfolio, and your choice of which customers to give the cards to. If you stand to make a big sale off the deal, sub-$3 per business card probably doesn't feel like that much to pay. Visit the Kickstarter page for more info.

(via PetaPixel)