A great way for your company to enhance its image is to enhance its written communications. By binding your business proposals, training materials, and marketing plans, you communicate a strong sense of professionalism and organization to your prospective clients and employees.

If you are looking for a way to showcase your documents and improve your image you are going to need to find a way to bind your documents. This article will outline ten popular ways to showcase your presentations.

* Plastic Combs: GBC binding or Combbind is one of the most types of binding, and, not surprisingly, it is also one of the least expensive. Comb spines use 19 rings to bind a typical 11” document. This binding is popular for cookbooks, reference guides, engineering documents and training materials.

* Twin Loop Wire: Wire binding is also known as double-o wire, double loop wire or wire-o binding. The spines for this style start out as a “C” shape which is closed with a special tool called a wire-closer. Wire bindings use either 21 or 32 holes for a typical 11” document.

* Spiral Coil: This type of document finishing is also called ez-coil binding, colorcoil binding, or coilbind. The plastic spirals are spun through the holes on the edge of the paper; the ends of the spines are bent over to keep the coil in place.

* Velobind: Velobinding is a strip-based system using a pair of plastic strips, one on the front and one on the back of the document. A hot knife system rivets the strips together in order to bind the document. This type of system is frequently chosen by those requiring a higher level of document security, such as law offices and governmental agencies.

* Therm-A-Bind: Originally developed by GBC, thermal binding involves using a a preformed cover with a hot melt glue in the spine to bind your documents. Thermal systems are simple to operate. You place the document in the cover, and then place it in the machine. The machine heats up the spine to melt the glue and adhere the pages.

8Unibind: This type of system uses glue and heat like thermal systems do; however, the spines are constructed of steel. Obviously, this provides a very durable bind. Pre-made covers are available, as are the separate steel spines. Unibind makes it easy to bind documents and is very popular for photo albums and scrapbooks. It is also a popular choice for real estate agents and developers who are looking for a high end look for their documents and proposals.

* Proclick: GBC Pro-Click uses the same hole pattern as double loop wire, but provides a different look and feel and allows for easy editing. This style relies on snap shut spines that you open using a zipper tool that is provided with the binding system. This style is an excellent choice for high-use documents and for sales materials requiring frequent updates.

* Zipbind: Similar to Proclick, documents finished with this type of spine are easy to edit. This system works with 19 hole comb bind punched documents (Proclick spines use 32 hole wire bind punched paper). You open and close zip-bind documents using a specialized tool that is included with each pack of supplies. This product provides an ideal complement to a plastic comb system.

* Clear View Ring Binders: Clear view ring binders are a big favorite for correspondence records and training manuals. Clear view binders include clear pockets on the front and spine into which users can insert their own customized cover and spine text and designs. While 3-ring binders lack the professional edge of other document finishing systems, they are quite practical for high-use documents requiring frequent updates.

* Staples: It may seem silly to mention, but staples are, by far, the most common way people bind documents. Staples are functional and work well for simple binding needs; however, staples are probably not the best choice when you’re soliciting new clients and need to make a great impression.