QR codes. What are they? How can they work for you?

You've probably seen the funny little blocky, graphics, such as the one to the right, in adverts, through magazines and wondered "what are they?". Well I'll attempt to explain in laymen's terms what they are and what you can use them for.

Firstly, what does QR code mean? The answer is; "Quick Response Code", it's as simple as that. What it is, is a 2D barcode that can be scanned and decoded. With the advent of smartphones, QR readers have become easily accessible and utilised. Many QR apps are free and readily available via different app stores. I use QRReader on my iPhone.

Once you have your QR reader app, fire it up, hold the camera on your phone over the QR code and hey presto, your phone should decode it and present you with the relevant information. Have a go, scan the one above right.

You've seen that web pages can be embedded into QR codes, now you want to know how YOU can do that. There are numerous free sites to help you on the internet, simply Google "QR code generators" and pop off. You should be presented with a page containing something similar to the image below.

Choose your content type and enter your content, whether that be a URL, text or a phone number. Click generate and your code will appear on the left (as shown). This image can then be saved and used wherever.

So now you have the ability to generate codes and direct people to your site, where would be good landing pages? Competition pages work well, add a product straight into your shopping cart, more information on products, directions to somewhere, the options are endless and limited only by your imagination.

Happy QR-ing

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