Whether you’re using your business card to make a memorable impression with a potential client or a potential date (heck, it’s Valentine’s Day, after all), you need to make sure this tiny document is the marketing workhorse it was meant to be.

Too many business cards are bland, cluttered, nebulous (what DO you do, anyway?), flimsy or just plain disastrous. If your card looks like you don’t care—or that you spat it out of a cheap printer—it may leave prospects with the impression that, well, you DON’T care or that you’re a fly-by-night operation.

A business card is an entrepreneur’s best friend and one of the most important marketing tools you’ll ever create. So it’s worth spending time, energy and a few bucks to produce a keeper.

How does your card rate? Let’s find out. Go ahead, take your business card out ... now ask yourself these 10 questions:

1. Does it have a distinctive, professionally designed logo (not clip art)?
2. Does it feature a tagline or slogan that clarifies what you do?
3. Does it stand out with an eye-catching color scheme?
4. Is it easy to read, not cluttered?
5. Does it provide key contact information, including phone number,
e-mail address and Web site address?
6. Is it printed on high-quality stock?
7. Is the font size readable without the use of a magnifying glass (no smaller than 7 or 8 point)?
8. Are you using the card’s real estate wisely, i.e. both front and back, for additional information and/or tips?
9. Have you incorporated something a little offbeat, such as a vertical or fold-over format, odd shape (oval, free-form, square), or striking image?
10. Are the design, color scheme and overall look consistent with your other marketing materials?

If you answered “yes” to most of the above, you have a professional, effective, well-designed card you should be proud to hand out. If “no” prevailed, however, it’s time for an overhaul. Revamp this critical marketing tool so that it works for—not against—you.