Printing Services

Online printing services provide businesses and organizations a comprehensive and cost-effective solution for printing custom marketing materials, professional documents, promotional flyers, brochures, business cards and many other types of printed media. These companies use the two common commercial printing technologies: traditional offset lithography or the modern digital printing method. However, many of them are now using both – for different tasks and projects.

Offset printing is great for larger runs, supports a large number of paper types (and other mediums) with custom finishes, however it’s very time consuming.
Alternatively, digital printing is fantastic for small quantities and low volume jobs, supports the use of variable data from databases or external files (like names, addresses, etc.), offers great proofing options, requires less setup and maintenance, extremely fast and can support smaller sizes.

In terms of final product quality, the untrained eye will usually find it difficult to tell the difference between the two technologies.
In terms of costs, generally speaking, digital printing is a better choice when the customer orders less than 500-1,000 copies.

Online Design Tool vs. Custom Artwork

Different printing services offer different approaches to the design options of your materials.
Here are the 2 common alternatives:

• Online design tools – Such tools enable the user to start a custom design from scratch or edit an existing, ready-made one and just to tweak it.
  It requires no knowledge or experience in graphic design and even basic computer users can work with it conveniently.

• Downloadable templates – Can be opened in a design program (like Photoshop). Then the user creates the artwork, submits it and have it approved by the company.
  This option requires a professional graphic designer.

Choosing a Good Printing Service Provider

Finding and selecting a solid online printing company that will support your business needs is an important decision that should not be taken lightly, especially when you’re working under severe time constraints.
In many cases, the competing online printers offer similar products at very similar prices, something that makes choosing the right company for the project a challenging and quite confusing task.

Obviously, everybody are looking for a reliable partner that will provide them with top quality documents and materials at competitive costs.
However, there are equally important factors that also need to be addressed, like how soon the order can be ready and shipped, how does the proofing process actually work, can the company provide complementary services like graphic design if needed and other technical, technological or design related factors that might be critical to your individual needs.

Express Printing Tips

If you’re in a hurry and need an urgent printing solution, here are a few quick ideas that you can start implementing instantly. Most printers do not have the ability to process last-minute, rush orders that can be completed in up to 24 hours.

However, some companies do specialize in tight-schedule projects and offer fast turnaround times, even as quick as the same day or overnight.
The key to ensure that your project will be successfully completed and delivered within a timely manner is to closely follow the guidelines, requirements and instructions provided by the website.

Pay close attention to critical aspects like order cutoff time, artwork / material submission and proofreading issues, order processing time, shipping methods and times, etc.
If you feel that you still have unanswered questions after reading everything, pick up the phone, call the service and ask for further help and more information.