Small companies have small budgets for advertising, sales and marketing printing. Professional marketing and design services can be expensive. Many small business owners believe they can stretch their business printing budget by doing it themselves or pass it down the chain to an employee that has the time to take on this unfamiliar task. With a few simple tips just about anybody can design and produce an effective color flyer to create more sales.

To begin the process of creating and effective marketing flyer, start with a layout template to avoid printing problems later. Free printing templates are available online from many online printing services.

There are a few printing terms that would be helpful to understand when using these templates. Bleed is necessary when color or images extend beyond the trim line of the flyer. Be sure to extend your image border.125" past the trim line to avoid a white line on the edges of your flyer. Trim is the four cutlines on your flyer that make it the correct size. Live copy area is the distance between the trim (cut) line and type or image on the flyer. For a standard 8.5 X 11 flyer, be sure to indent your type or images at least.25" inside from the cut line.

Other important terms you need to know when creating your own artwork are CYMK and DPI. CMYK is the color printing process that uses cyan, yellow, magenta and black (CMYK) to create all the possible printing colors. Your computer produces its color in red, green and blue (RGB). Make sure your files have been converted to CMYK before sending them to your printer. The RGB process can create more color variation than CYMK, so it is a good idea to take a closer look at your colors after conversion so you will see what colors you will get. Be aware that your computer produces backlit color that transmits light and are brighter than the reflected light of a printed page. DPI refers to dots per inch.Be sure to use only high resolution photos and illustrations. The standard resolution of your computer monitor and the web is 72 dpi (dots per inch). The standard for the high quality color printing is 300 dpi. You cannot take a 72 dpi image and convert it to 300 dpi without reducing its size or clarity. All images have to be 300 dpi at the size you plan on using. You can reduce the dpi of an image but you should not increase it.

When you have your flyer set up correctly for printing, it's time to start the design process. By now you should have an idea of what you want the flyer to say and images you want to use. Don't crowd your sheet with too much copy. Stick to a dynamite headline, an intriguingsub head, a call to action copy and bullet sales points for your product or service features. And don't forget to include all your contact information. It's not funny when it happens to you. Think of your flyer as a mini-billboard and remember a flyer is not a brochure. Don't go into too much detail. The point is to create a compelling interest of the reader to take advantage of the offer.