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Everyone knows that postcards are a great way to advertise and market your business. To keep your current clients, as well as potential customers, updated with your business, postcards will do it for you. But getting a postcard printing company to do the job for you requires a great deal of resources. And boy, we are not just talking about finances here, but also a great deal of time and effort that we give to make sure our print postcards turn out right.

So what do we do if we happen to be a small scale businessman with limited budget? Believe it or not, you can create your own postcards right at you very own home, just by using Microsoft Publisher. This not only saves you time and money, but also the stress that accompanies postcard printing.

Here's what you can do to develop your very own postcards cost effectively and in just a matter of minutes: (Note: this applies to Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 and Microsoft Publisher 2002.)

Step 1: When you start Publisher, click on the 'New Publication' found in the task pane. Then click on 'Publications for Print', and then 'Postcards'. For Publisher 2002, you can directly click on 'Postcards' from 'New Publication'.

Step 2: After clicking on 'Postcards', choose the type of postcard you want to create. You will see the types like 'Informational', 'Sale', or 'Special Offer'. This sort of lets you choose the purpose of your postcard.

Step 3: Choose the design you want. It is indicated on the right side.

Step 4: To choose the size, click on the 'Postcard Options' task pane. You will see 'Size', and then click 'Quarter Page'. However, for some postcard styles, this choice may not be available.

Step 5: Choose the layout of your postcard's second side by clicking on 'Side 2 Information'. This will help you organize the information you want indicated on the other side of your postcard. If you want to see the other side, utilize the controls on the navigation page which may be found at the bottom of your Publisher window.

Step 6: Indicate the number of copies by clicking on 'Copies per sheet', then 'Multiple'. Again, this option may not be available with some of the postcard styles.

Step 7: To select the color scheme for your side 1, utilize the controls on the navigation page. Select from the 'Postcard Options', which can be seen on the left side of your window, then click on 'Color Schemes'. From there, you could choose from a wide list of color schemes you want for your postcard.

Step 8: Choose your font. Click on 'Font Schemes'.

Step 9: Change the information on your postcard by replacing the text and graphics found in the placeholder. Adjust the text size according to the size you want.

Step 10: Finally, save the postcard you created. If you want to see how your postcard will look like when printed, click on the 'File' menu, then choose 'Print Preview'.

You're now ready to print your postcard, custom made right at your very own home. At this time, you just need your personal ink jet printer and you can distribute your print postcards in no time, minus the cost of a professional postcard printing company.