Crafty Business - Designing your own postcards

I've had a lot of postcards printed over the years - advertising my own art openings, marketing my scarf business and announcing craft shows.  Most printing companies have their own templates

for you to use to set up the sizing of the postcard - but as far as content goes, it is up to you.  I always print my postcards leaving room so that I can mail them if I want.  It's really frustrating when you receive a box of 250 postcards that are printed all the way across the back and you have to put them in an envelope to mail (and pay 44¢ postage instead of 27¢).

Some things to remember when designing the layout for the back of your postcards:

1. Leave a 1/2" strip at the bottom, all the way across, for the post office to put their tracking sticker.  Yes it is a removable sticker, but most people won't remove it to see what is underneath.
2. Make sure the area to the right is big enough for your mailing label.  There is nothing worse than addressing 100 postcards, then having to cut the excess sticky label off of each card.  (As a reference, Avery 5160 standard address labels are 1" x 2 5/8")
3. Don't forget YOUR contact info. I've received many postcards where the sender assumed I would take the time to look up a phone #, email address or website.  They were wrong.  Make it easy to find - or create a qr code (see #4).
4. One way to get your contact info quickly into the recipients hands is to use a QR code.  That's the black & white square pixelated code that you see popping up everywhere now - they are very handy for getting info across.  Here is a post about how to make a QR code.
5. PROOF your postcard.  You want to represent you company in a professional manner.
6. Put a return address on the card, so you can keep your mailing list up-to-date. HOWEVER, do not put the address on the left side of the postcard where the robot-machine at the post office can mistake it for the mail-to address.   I had a large percentage of postcards returned to a gallery where I had a show because I put the gallery address where the opening was happening at the same level as the recipients address.  Put the address up high, in a different font (smaller), or vertically.
7. Consider putting a cute graphic in the spot where the stamp will go.  Yes, this will get covered up by the stamp, but if you are not mailing them out it gives the postcard a fun & finished look.
8. Leave enough room for a short personal message.