Gift Certificate Software: You Don’t Need It

Posted on May 25, 2011 by

Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.

While researching how to make your own gift certificate, you might think you need some sort of gift certificate software or gift voucher software. Truth is, you just don’t need it: you can find gift certificate templates available on the web. Even better, you can find free templates on this very site! So you can say this website acts as an online gift certificate software: you don’t need to download or install a software. Just browse through our selection of templates, edit them and print them right away: no gift certificate software or gift certificate maker needed at all.

Why Should I Not Use Software?

By using instant gift certificates on the web, you will benefit in many aspects: it’s cheaper (or free), it’s available anytime, you don’t have to install or upgrade anything, and whenever it updates, you benefit from it instantly. The same way Gmail and Hotmail are now privileged over desktop software such as Outlook, considering using a website instead of a software program for gift certificates or gift vouchers is a no-brainer. Not to mention that gift certificates being quite a specialized niche, there are very few software programs out there to make gift certificates. When it comes to quality software, this number rapidly equals zero.

How To Get Started With Gift Certificate Templates

Maybe you want first to know why you should bother about gift certificate templates in the first place. In that case, make sure to read 6 Top Reasons To Use Gift Certificate Templates. You can review our guide titled Custom Gift Certificates in 3 Steps. You might also be interested in reading How To Make Your Own Printable Gift Certificate. If you don’t know which templates we offer, have a look at our 8 Sample Gift Certificates article. If you’re looking for alternative templates, check out 3 ways to find gift certificate templates. And finally, if you are looking for words on your templates, our popular guide to gift certificate wording might be of interest to you.

But I Really Want Software!

If you really really want a gift certificate software, then we cannot help you here. You can find a few resources if you google “gift certificate software” or “gift certificate maker” but we found the tools rather expensive and of poor quality. Of course, you can judge by yourself, but… you can’t say we hadn’t warned you!

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Creating Gift Certificates: a Beginner’s Guide

Posted on May 10, 2011 by

You’re new to gift certificate templates and you don’t know where to start? This little guide will help you to get up to speed.

Making Custom Gift Certificates

Maybe you want first to know why you should bother about gift certificate templates in the first place. In that case, make sure to read 6 Top Reasons To Use Gift Certificate Templates. You can review our guide titled Custom Gift Certificates in 3 Steps. You might also be interested in reading How To Make Your Own Printable Gift Certificate. If you don’t know which templates we offer, have a look at our 8 Sample Gift Certificates article. If you’re looking for alternative templates, check out 3 ways to find gift certificate templates. And finally, if you are looking for words on your templates, our popular guide to gift certificate wording might be of interest to you.

Gift Certificates For Small Businesses

If you’re a small business owner, you should make sure to read 6 Reasons Your Small Business Should Sell Gift Certificates and How To Sell More Gift Certificates. Marketing your gift certificates in an efficient and lucrative manner should be one of your primary focus, so read also Marketing Gift Certificates For a Small Business. It’s important to know that fraud exists and how you can fight it by Tracking Gift Certificates For Your Small Business.

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Gift Certificate Template For Free: Now Available Here

Posted on May 2, 2011 by

Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.

Since recently, you can find on our website a growing selection of free printable gift certificates here at Gift Certificate Factory. You can find gift certificate templates for a range of businesses like spas, beauty salons, massage therapists, tattoo shops, restaurants, hotels, and the list is growing. You can also tailor a gift certificate for a special occasion such as a birthday.

You don’t know where to start? You can read our guide titled Custom Gift Certificates in 3 Steps. You might also be interested in reading How To Make Your Own Printable Gift Certificate. If you don’t know which templates we offer, have a look at our 8 Sample Gift Certificates article. And finally don’t forget to check out our guide to gift certificate wording.

Of course, there are other templates available on the web, for which you might want to check out 3 ways to find gift certificate templates. In case you want a curated list of websites providing free gift certificate templates, check out:

  • Apollo’s templates – http://www.apollostemplates.com/templates-gift-certificates/ – For basic free gift certificate templates. The downside is that the templates are pretty basic: you download them as PDF files and you have to fill all information by hand. Moreover, you have no way of integrating with a theme relevant to your business.
  • Vertex42 – http://www.vertex42.com/WordTemplates/gift-certificate-template.html – They offer free (but ugly) gift certificate templates, to download in Word format. They also offer a tracking log in excel format that you can use to track gift certificate templates.
  • gifttango – Gifttango is more specialized in complete gift card solutions but they also offer a few basic free gift certificate templates. Your shop will not win design awards with these certificates though.
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Instant Gift Certificate Templates VS Downloadable Gift Certificate Templates

Posted on April 8, 2011 by

Gift Certificate Factory provides instant gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.

When it comes to find gift voucher templates on the web, we can split templates in two categories:

  • Instant gift certificate templates
  • Downloadable gift certificate templates

Instant gift certificate templates

These templates are instant in the fact that you can go to the website which provides them, edit them and print them instantly. There’s no downloading files, firing up Microsoft Word or Publisher to then manually edit and finally print the certificates. All is done in the convenience of the web browser. These templates make it easier for you to be done quickly. You don’t spend time aligning labels, selecting a matching font and other details. The other advantage is that the instant certificate being hosted by the certificate website, you can access it later from another computer (for example, if you want to print it from a different computer, you can access it directly from there, and you don’t have to copy the file on a USB stick to plug in the second computer).

Downloadable gift certificate templates

On the other end of the spectrum, there are downloadable gift certificate templates. Most of the time, they will be made available in the Microsoft Word format, so you download it and edit it using Word or any other compatible software like Open Office for example. Sometimes the files are of a different format, for example Publisher. So you need the compatible software to use these templates. However, some people may be more at ease using software they’re used to (like Microsoft Word) rather than editing the templates right in their browser. It’s a matter of preference, even though most people find it easier and more convenient to use an instant gift certificate template.

Who wins?

In the end, it all comes down to your preferences. Would you rather have the convenience and ease of using your browser to edit directly the gift certificate, or would you prefer to use your favorite text editor to do the same task? You decide.

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3 Ways to Find Gift Certificate Templates

Posted on April 4, 2011 by

Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.

Google Images

Google’s “advanced image search” allows you to limit by size, color, and other parameters. A little-known feature is the power to search only for certain content types: for example “photo content”. So you might want to use the “ advanced image search – http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en ” to restrict parameters. For example:

  • Find results related to all of the words: spa gift certificate template
  • Return images that contain: photo content
  • Return images that are: Larger than 2 MP (to filter out low quality pictures, especially important if you want to print gift certificates).
  • Return images with an aspect ratio that is: Wide (usual format for gift certificates)
  • Return only images in: full colors (no black and white certificates)
  • Return images that are: labeled for commercial reuse with modifications

The problem is, there are actually few certificates (if any) that match all these criteria. The license criteria is the most restrictive: you might want to search without this criteria enabled and talk with the owner of these images if it’s okay to use his gift certificate.

Flickr search

Flickr is another very popular image database. There are literally millions of pictures, and a handful of good certificate designs. Here again you would gain by using Flickr advanced search – http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ to restrict a few criteria. Most importantly, specify “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content” at the bottom of the page. The Creative Commons license – http://creativecommons.org/ is a very liberal license that gives you rights to use the gift certificate template in most usages. You can play with other parameters and different keywords such as “gift certificate template”, “printable gift certificate” or “custom gift certificate” for example. You can also look into our post Gift Certificate Forms or Gift Certificate Templates, to give you an idea of other vocabulary to use.

Gift certificate templates on the web

You can also search on Google for website providing gift certificate templates. Typing “gift certificate templates” in google – http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=gift+certificate+templates would give you a list of such websites. Gift Certificate Factory is one of these and provides quality gift certificates for your business that you can easily customize and print. Check out our gift certificate template gallery and see for yourself. These templates are not for free but provide a good return for investment. However, if you want to find free gift certificate templates, you can also find that easily on Google. Just be warned that the quality of these templates might be subpar. In other terms, you could send a negative signal to your customers by displaying low-quality gift certificates in your store.

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