Free Online Greeting Cards
Most people love getting greeting cards, and with free online greeting cards now available, anyone can send or receive one. According to the Greeting Card Association, seven billion greeting cards are sent each year. Many of the greeting cards bought and sent out are purchased online in digital formats. Are online greeting cards a growing trend?
Online Greeting Cards
Much like the paper version, an online greeting card includes a photo and message. Many cards have a particular theme, like Birthday, Christmas or other special events.
With new technologies, free online greeting cards have become more sophisticated and even interactive. Animated greeting cards are one of the most popular forms of online cards. Blue Mountain Arts, one of the leaders in the online greeting card industry, claims that nearly 80% of their cards are animated and plan to increase that number to 90% in a year. In fact, Blue Mountain Arts pioneered free online greeting cards. The free offer was mostly for advertising purposes.
These days, people can choose to purchase a subscription for Blue Mountain Arts for high quality cards with no advertisements. Thanks to Blue Mountain though, many other greeting card companies followed the free greeting card trend. Now anyone with an Internet connection and an email address can send and receive greeting cards for free. Even Hallmark and American Greeting, two of the top greeting card companies, now offer free greeting cards as a method of promotion and generating advertising revenue.
Kinds of Greeting Cards
There is a multitude of paper greeting cards, some examples are as follows:
- Photographic greeting cards, which consist of a simple photograph and a message.
- Animated greeting cards. The image in the card may be animated, or the lettering may float about and flash different sayings. Some online greeting cards can even animate photographs or personal writings.
- Interactive greeting cards display games or require reader participation. These are fun and some are even addicting!
Finding Free Online Greeting Cards
Online greeting card websites now have a variety of options. You may find that most of the major companies have a section of greeting cards being offered at no charge. Be aware some companies choose to mix free cards and cards you must pay for. This is usually clearly noted. You can try looking at the major companies like Blue Mountain Arts or Hallmark. You can even try searching for "free online greeting cards" or "free e-cards" in your favorite search engine.
Do take note of the fine print. Some of the smaller greeting card companies make their money by collecting email addresses from senders and receivers. They sell your email to company lists and you and your receiver may find an email box full of advertisements. Just be aware of what you are signing up for. Your receiver may not appreciate the additional junk mail that comes with your greeting card.
Even though nine out of ten people like receiving greeting cards, there are those who prefer a friendly hand-made note or card. Still, free online greeting cards provide people with busy life styles a means by which to keep in touch.
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