1. The Internet is the top source for information about restaurants and other local businesses.

If you’re of the ilk that believes small business owners don’t need a website or a presence on social media, I’d really like you to read that again. Here, I’ll even write it again.

The Internet is the top source for information about restaurants and other local businesses.

Because of the Web’s ability to sort and collect data, more and more users are going online to seek out reviews and recommendations for where they should eat or which businesses they should check out. This represents a significant change in behavior, as it was once newspapers and news organizations that were sought out for this information. In case you’re thinking this just applies to the younger set, that’s not the case. This statistic is true among all age groups, not simply the under-40 demographic.

Interestingly, the survey mentioned that the Web has been a place where locally oriented content creators can share material with groups that have been largely ignored by mainstream media. You have to wonder if this is what’s driving them online – they’re hunting for information that hasn’t been available to them before. They’re seeking reviews and recommendations for products and restaurants of all types. If this isn’t a compelling reason to create a website, claim your social listings and begin building reviews, I’m not sure what is.

2. Adults under 40 list the Internet as their top source for 12 out of 16 information categories.

According to the survey, adults under 40 consult the Internet first when looking for information about:

1. Weather
2. Politics
3. Crime
4. Arts/Culture
5. Local Businesses
6. Schools
7. Community Events
8. Restaurants
9. Traffic
10. Taxes
11. Housing
12. Local Government
13. Jobs
14. Social Services
15. Zoning/Development

That’s quite a large segment of the local news space. If your business is related to any one of them, you had better make sure you’re putting out information that your consumers can find and that you’re engaging with them. And if you’re part of the traditional media that has lost audiences in these areas, that’s a pretty big wakeup call.

3. Among all adults online, the Internet is the top source of information for five local topics.

Because, yes, I know some of you were getting itchy to tell me below that it’s the only the younger users who go to the Web for local information, that’s not the case. According to the report, among all adults, the Internet is either the most popular source or tied with newspapers for five of the 16 topics:

• Restaurants
• Other Local Businesses
• Schools
• Housing
• Local Jobs

And as today’s younger users become the norm and the older users become more comfortable turning to the Web for local information, you can expect these numbers to only increase.

It’s also worth noting that when the study says consumers are going online to learn about housing or local jobs, they’re not going to the websites of local news publications. According to the report, rankings for these sites were way down.

4. Nearly half of adults get local news and information via mobile devices.

I found it interesting to hear that 47 percent of adults get at least some local news and information via their smartphones or tablet computers, whether it be to check weather, find local restaurants or businesses, check sport scores, get coupons or perform some other “out and about” activity. I wouldn’t have imagined the number to be quite so high, but it does show the power of the SoLoMo revolution and why it’s so important that businesses get involved in that space.

5. More than 40 percent of adults are considered “local news participators.”

Another reason SMBs give for why they’re not getting involved in social media is because they believe their audience isn’t there. And that could still be true – but you may want to give it another check to see if that’s really the case. According to the report, 41 percent of adults are considered “local news participators” because of their social media activity.

To be awarded that title, they must:

• Contribute their own information via social media and other sources
• Add to online conversations
• Directly contribute articles about the community.

That’s a large number of people now using the Web to share and contribute content. So before you assume your customers aren’t there, maybe give it just one quick shot.

Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., an Internet marketing company that specializes in providing clients with online reputation management, social media services, and other Internet services.

Registering your business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps. All you have to do is fill out the form and register, then get your business verified through their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or snail mail.

Yahoo! also has a big database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. It’s free, and is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up. Microsoft’s Bing has a similar service that’s easy to sign up for.

Embrace social media

Social media isn’t just a tool to gain exposure—it has now become a necessary time investment for every business to make. You can tie in ads and offers on your Facebook page and have a direct channel with your customers on Twitter. Networking on LinkedIn—both at the personal and company level—can be another way to help your startup.

Start a blog

A blog not only helps your company get its name out through followers, but is a way to connect with your consumers more directly. But remember that one of the major keys of blogging is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. A dormant, abandoned blog is worth nothing.

Put up multimedia on YouTube and Flickr

YouTube provides a free way to distribute creative promotional videos, but in order to succeed you must put up content that people want to view and are relevant to your business—a simple ad will not work.

A Flickr profile can also help by giving you one place to compile all the photos for your business, and allows you to link back to your website.

SEO your company website

Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in the world of constant Googling. Pick up a book or head over to an online how-to-guide on SEO and make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines.

Press releases

Every time your business does something newsworthy, don’t hesitate to shoot off a press release—maybe folks will pick up on it. They’re a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity, and having free distribution of them is a bonus.

There are dozens of websites out there that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release.

Join a relevant online community and contribute

Every niche has communities online that you can get involved in. But just signing up for a forum and posting every once in a while about your business isn’t beneficial for anyone, and will likely just annoy people.

Actively contribute and build a rapport with the community, while keeping your business out of it. Passively promote your business by putting a link in your signature or mentioning it only when the context is appropriate.

This post originally appeared at OpenForum

 

Analytics software is essential for any online business: it helps you understand ways to reach your audience and drive traffic to your site. Google Analytics is one of the easiest ways to do this, and is especially helpful for the eternally busy small business owner or the on-the-go blogger.

It allows you to access both general statistics and minutiae in detailed, comprehensive reports. And of course, it includes all the basic specs, like how many visitors you’re getting, and lets you refine your information based on date range.

Here are 7 things Google Analytics will tell you about your website:

1. The Browsers and Operating Systems Your Visitors Use

Whether they’re coming from Internet Explorer or Chrome, Analytics will tell you. Your website’s report will show a breakdown of which browsers are used and how frequently, This feature is useful because sometimes web features are incompatible with certain browsers and operating systems. If a significant chunk of your visitors are using a system that doesn’t suit your website, it might be time for you to troubleshoot. Second, browser choice says a lot about your visitor base. If most of them are using a boilerplate program, like Internet Explorer or Safari, your site should be extra user-friendly and easy to navigate. Newer browsers with more bells and whistles, like Chrome, signal net-savviness.

2. What, Specifically, Isn’t Keeping People Interested

It’s good to know where your visitors are flocking, but it’s perhaps more important to know which page of your website they’re viewing when they click away to another site. Funneling resources to features that aren’t captivating users is clearly not a smart business move, and Google Analytics can help you avoid making that mistake. By showing you the Top Exit Pages of your website, the program shows you the frequency at which web visitors jump ship navigate elsewhere, all broken down by the individual pages of your site. Based on that report, you can decide whether those ill-trafficked parts of your website should be scrapped or just retooled.

3. What Exactly Draws People To Your Site

Very likely, your Google Analytics Keywords report will list a collection of words and phrases familiar to your organization as the main drivers to your site. But the rate for each of those terms, especially when cross-referenced with the feature that shows how many new visitors are logging on versus returning ones, can be substantially useful in developing a marketing strategy. If you know what’s pointing people to your site, you can work backward — explore advertising opportunities with sites that focus on related topics or, if it makes sense, gear your homepage toward the subject matter that’s drawing people in. If the point is to captivate visitors and keep them clicking around your site, this tool is a most valuable one.

4. How Many People Just Aren’t Interested At All

Your site can have all the hits in the world, but if people aren’t finding their way to your site and staying there to explore, it’s tough to foster growth online. To help you better understand how many people are coming to your site to stay, Google Analytics offers you a Bounce Rate breakdown. So what’s Bounce Rate? It’s the proportion of your website’s visitors that navigate away without clicking through to a second (or third, or fourth) page. True, you can tally that person’s visit as a hit to your site. But there’s no lasting power there, and a high Bounce Rate indicates your site isn’t making a very strong impression. Check out the ultra-useful Bounce Rate among first-time visitors, perhaps the purest form of the metric because it deals with visitors who are ostensibly entirely unfamiliar with your website.

5. How Much People Are Poking Around

The Depth of Visit function sounds a little Big Brother-esque, but it’s important for you to know how many pages people are viewing each time they head to your site. This feature shows the proportion of visitors that view one page, two pages, three pages, and so on. If typically people aren’t looking at more than one or two pages per visit, it might be time for a redesign or at least a reorganization of content.

6. Whether People are Viewing On The Go

The ubiquitousness of smartphones and tablets means you need to keep up with that technology. If a significant portion of your website’s visitors are finding you on their mobile devices, as Google Analytics can show you, you need to be sure your website is mobile-friendly and accessible. In cases where this feature shows you a sizable enough crop of visitors are seeking you out on such devices, it could be worth it for you to explore building a site specifically designed for use on them.

7. When You’ve Hit A Million Clicks

…or any other myriad benchmarks you’ve decided are important. From number of clicks and visitors to increases and decreases in traffic, the Alerts feature of Google Analytics provides you instant updates (which can be sent to your phone) to let you know when you’ve achieved them. This function could help you mark milestones, like when you finally reach that million-visitor mark, or realize you’re in the danger zone, like when the number of unique visitors drops by half.

Very few businesses will launch without any sort of marketing or sales plan. Yet, the vast majority of Australian SMEs have no kind of strategy when it comes to the fastest growing business channel there is – online.

A report by Sensis this week shows that just 13% of rural small businesses have an online strategy. Despite the steady increase of companies with websites, it seems that not much thinking is going into what impact they should have.

With this in mind, we’ve put together the 10 steps you need to take to put together a web strategy from scratch.

1. Set goals

Before you embark upon your foray into the digital world, you need to work out what your goals are for having a website.

Do you want customers to buy directly from your site? Do you just want to provide highly-visible branding? Or is it primarily a tool to interact with customers, get their feedback and deal with their complaints?

These insights should be driven by core marketing values – who are your customers? How do you want to reach them? What would your customers expect from your site – opening times, prices, photography and contact details? Or more than those basics?

2. Think about your brand

Your web strategy shouldn’t be a standalone process you follow independently of the rest of your business.

It should work harmoniously with your overall marketing strategy (if you don’t have one of those, you need to stop reading this and craft one as soon as possible).

Therefore, you need to ensure that your branding is consistent in the online and offline parts of your business, as well as a similar “look and feel” to the services or products you provide.

Choose a URL that is short, memorable and analogous with your business name. Make sure you secure it early – it can often be worth paying over the odds for a good URL, as leading tech start-up Posse found.

A website for a day care centre is going to be a little different in style than a high-end restaurant. You only have a short time to grab a customer’s attention – if they are familiar with your brand from elsewhere and feel your website fits your business’ proposition, you will stand a better chance.

3. Keep your competitors in mind

The advance of online retail (11% growth last year and rising) has opened up great new opportunities for Australian start-ups. You can now start a business with little more than an ABN, website and a decent idea.

However, your competitors are no longer confined to your immediate area. The internet puts you in competition with businesses from around the world. Therefore, you can’t be complacent that customers will immediately flock to your website.

Study the competition and work out what you will offer that sets you apart from them. Around half of all Australian SMEs don’t have a website and the ones that do often do a fairly average job.

So you have a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd, in Australia at least. Think about your design, your service levels and product bundling. Reward customer loyalty and capitalise upon your start-up status by offering a warm, personal touch to your site.

4. Work out your social media presence

While many start-ups lack a web strategy, social media is also an area that small businesses regularly fall down on.

Just 15% of rural SMEs use social media to market themselves, according to Sensis, despite it being a crucial way to extend your reach and connect with consumers in an engaging way.

Work out where your customers spend their time – are they avid Twitter users, for example? – and work out how much time you can spend on social media. Secure your domains early on.

“LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter allow you to secure your own URL without needing a minimum amount of followers, whereas Facebook requires you to have 25 fans before it will let you secure what they call a vanity URL,” explains web strategy expert Adam Franklin.

“Even if you don’t anticipate using them yet, please reserve your company name because for all we know there could be an organisation overseas with your exact name who gets in first, meaning you’ll have to settle for a less than ideal URL!”

5. Get blogging

A blog is one the easiest and cheapest way to give your business a fresh, approachable face. As a start-up, you need to get as close to your customers as possible and a blog will help them get a sense of what your business is about.

Start blogging as soon as you can – why not chart your own start-up journey? Include content that you think is of interest to your customers rather than just spout off, however.

“Getting a blog set up, is something you can do yourself (if you host with WordPress for example) but I recommend hosting your own blog and attaching it to your website,” says Franklin.

“The reason for this is that all the backlinks you will acquire over time will point to your domain and not WordPress’ – and this is much better for your Google search rankings (a major component of your web strategy).”

“It’s well worth the effort of doing this, but you may need to pay a web designer a small sum to provide some technical know-how here as it can be a little tricky.”

E-Commerce

The site needs to be designed so that when the customers visit it is user-friendly and it is one that is interesting enough to make them want to stay, rather than go to someone else’s site. It should also ensure that when they are online it’s easy for them to get the information they want and they don’t have to scroll around the site to get it. Menus should be clear, and all text written in plain English, and there should always be a call to action somewhere on the site, like “Buy now”, or “get a 10% discount coupon here”.

Mobile Web Design

We have seen that when it comes to the mobile world, the use of mobile phones over the traditional PC has been growing and this trend will continue. So you need to ensure that your website can be viewed on a mobile device. This means that more prospective customers can reach your business and therefore that should lead to increased revenue. So what you need to do is to ensure that you have a great mobile site design.

Flash Animation

There are times that you will go to a site and all you notice is how slow it is to load. Well to speed things up you need to ensure that your site is not filled with things that aren’t necessary like flash animations, videos and images. Sites designed to be viewed on a mobile phone need to be predominantly text based’

Logo Design

Redesigning your brand is also something that would surely prove to be useful for the business. If you don’t have a logo, then my advice is to get one right away. It doesn’t have to be artistic, just memorable.

Every time that we look at the television or when we are browsing the internet, we are bombarded with an advertisement promoting the best deals when it comes onto the mobile phones. Mobile devices have taken over the technological age and what we need to do is that we need to be a part of it. Ensuring that we have a mobile site design that will cater to all the mobile needs of the people will give us an edge over the competition resulting in extra sales and profit for us.

Recent research has shown that searches for information on a mobile phone are fast catching up to regular searches from a desktop PC, and they will soon overtake them. This is positive proof that you cannot afford to overlook this trend.

There are some essential things that we need to think about when we are thinking about having a site that can be viewed on a mobile device. The first question is obvious: can your site be viewed from a mobile device? Let’s say that someone is trying to access your site from their mobile and they can’t see what they are looking for on the first screen, what will happen is that they will leave your site and then move on to one that can be viewed from their handset. That means lost revenue to you: that person could have been a potential client.

So what you need to do is to ensure that when they are on the go, customers are able to quickly access the information they are looking for on your site on their device. Mobile phone users are impatient people. They need to see what they want in the first twenty seconds, including load time. If that’s not happening then they will turn away in droves and find someone else’s site which they can view on their mobile and you’ve just lost a customer who was probably looking for something to buy.

Flexibility in mobile web design is something else that you would need to consider where that is concerned. Pretty pictures, videos and animations are fine on a regular website, even though I personally find them a little distracting, but viewed on a mobile phone they are a disaster. The site will take so long to load that the customer will be long gone and won’t even see them anyway. Once potential clients are able to view your information quickly, and on one screen, it will get you more revenue and therefore more business. So ensure that your site can be viewed on a mobile phone as and keep up with ever changing technology or you will surely get left behind.

Canberra mobile website design can help take you to the next levem.

Canberra mobile web design
Canberra mobile site sesign

Getting started: target your audience and message

Before you start producing your video, write a really clear profile of who you’re targeting:

What age group are they?
Where do they live?
What tone and content would be relevant and compelling to them?
And most importantly, where do they go when they’re looking for your product?

Not everyone will like or need your product; target the people who will by having a clear identity and direction. Don’t try to reach a wide audience by being generic; being generic makes you very forgettable.

Show what you do No-one except your mum will watch a video of you telling everyone how great you are. So unless your mum is also your main client, it’s good business sense to create content that has a direct benefit to your target audience.

Be consistent One video may get you some attention from your target group, but good marketing requires repeated contact. Video is no exception; a great one off video won’t get you a good return for investment. Your video marketing campaign is something you need to embrace for the long haul.

Measuring results Use analytics tools to figure out which videos are being watched, how long they’re being watched for, and who is viewing them. Free options include Google Analytics and the Youtube Video Analytics tool.

Adapt your content Now that you know how people are reacting to your videos, make sure you have ways to adapt your content. You’ll want to reserve a portion of your budget so you can evaluate your results and make any appropriate changes after 3 or 6 months.
Make it easy for others to use your video

It can be very beneficial to get your video embedded into other people’s websites or blogs. Make sure any viewers can find you by including your branding, web address and title in the video content.

The bottom line is to know your audience, keep engaging with them, measure your results, and adapt as needed.

Canberra video

With cafes on nearly every corner, thr Ethical Bean Coffee Co. needed a way to stand out from the rest of the herd. The answer was an odd bar code with a maze of black boxes instead of the usual straight lines.

About eight months ago, the three-store chain started putting these “quick response” codes in its train ads. When customers scan the little squares with their smartphone cameras, a coffee menu pops up on their screens. Then they can order a cup of coffee on the train—and have it waiting when they arrive at one of Ethical Bean’s shops.

Business has doubled since then, says Chief Executive Lloyd Bernhardt. “We catch people who are on the go and don’t have a lot of time,” he says.

With smartphone use soaring, many small companies are turning to these quick-response, or QR, codes to connect with customers on the go. They’re placing the codes in ads, direct mail, in-store displays and product packaging, and using them to link to a host of features—discounts, websites and videos. And, like Ethical Bean, many companies say they’ve seen a big sales boost.

But the codes present some challenges. Businesses often have to educate customers about how to use the codes. What’s more, even though businesses can download and use the codes free of charge, it can cost a lot to develop the promotional material that pops up on customers’ phones. There’s also the question of format. QR is the dominant technical standard, but there are more out there—which may confuse businesses and customers.

Think Outside the Box

QR codes have been around for a while, but in the past six months, small companies have flocked to the technology, thanks to services that let them easily create codes free of charge. Meanwhile, numerous phones, including many Androids and BlackBerries, come already loaded with an app that reads QR codes. (Others, like the iPhone, must download the software.) Scanbuy Inc., a New York company that develops and manages QR codes, estimates that 30 million people in the U.S. have a code-reader app on their phone.

Businesses can also generate QR codes by adding “.qr” to shortened links from Google Inc. or bitly Inc. When customers scan a code that was created this way, their phones call up whatever is at the shortened address.

Other companies are getting a lot more complex. For instance, there’s the direct-mail postcard -  next to the QR code on the card is an arrow pointing to the code, saying, “Scan me, I talk!” Upon scanning, customers are linked to the firm’s mobile site.

The cards went out in February. In the four weeks after that, this business got double the usual number of calls and later hired two new employees to help handle the work.

Get your mobile site at www.iphonesites.mobi

by: Angie Schottmuller

Here’s a crash course on tools, tactics, and best practices to confidently help you jumpstart a 2D QR code marketing campaign.

1. A QR Code is a 2D Barcode

QR codes are an encoded barcode image resembling a square-like maze. Unlike a 1-dimensional UPC code, a 2-dimensional barcode stores data in both directions and can be scanned vertically or horizontally to be decoded.

2. 2D Barcodes Can Store a Variety of Data

A traditional 1D barcode (UPC/EAN) stores up to 30 numbers, while a 2D barcode (QR) can store up to 7,089 numbers. The additional storage capacity accommodates a variety of data beyond numbers:

• Text
• Hyperlink to a url
• Telephone number (Phone call)
• SMS/MMS message
• Email (Send message)
• Contact entry (vCard or meCard)
• Calendar entry (vCalendar)

Storing a hyperlink presents a myriad of possibilities beyond just loading a web page — it can play a video, download a mobile app, update a Twitter status, “Like” a Facebook page, display map directions, and much more.

3. Read/Decode a 2D Barcode by Scanning it With a Smartphone

(A 2D barcode reader app is required to decode the encoded data.)

4. 2D Barcodes Can be Placed in and on Nearly Any Location

Once the barcode image is created, it can be printed on nearly any surface and location — newspapers, TV ads, billboards, product packaging, clothing labels, and more. This enables you to drive traffic, interaction, and conversion from anywhere. 2D barcodes excel at bringing non-digital media to life.

Note: Use caution placing barcodes online. They should always enhance the user experience. If a user could click a hyperlink, don’t make them scan a code to complete the same task.

Bear in mind the location must be easily scannable. Plastic frames and packaging can reflect light. Lighting can cast shadows, and hillsides and subways can kill Wi-Fi access. Consider all contextual factors that could impact the scanning experience.

5. Mobile Barcode Scanning is on the Rise

• 2D barcode scanning outnumbered 1D (UPC) scans in Q1 2011.
  
• Mobile barcode scanning grew 1,600 percent in the year 2010.
  
• QR barcode scanning was up 1,200 percent in the second half of 2010.
  
• 22 percent of the Fortune 50 have already used mobile barcodes.

QR codes can be used for nearly any function (logistics, advertising, customer service, etc.) for B2B and B2C across a variety of industries:

• Best Buy uses QR codes on in-store price tags for quick access to online reviews.
• Golf Digest uses Microsoft Tag in their magazine to accompany tips with interactive video.
• Real estate agents use 2D barcodes on “for sale” signs providing prospective buyers access to virtual tours.

6. QR Isn’t the Only Type of 2D Barcode

The most popular 2D barcode formats are QR code, DataMatrix, ScanLife EZcode, and Microsoft Tag (Tag).

There are several key differences in these code formats. ScanLife EZcode and Microsoft Tag are proprietary formats only decodable by their tools, while QR and DataMatrix formats are open standard. (Additional format differences can be addressed in another blog post.)

A Google Trends analysis of these 2D barcodes shows “QR code” dominates from a search popularity perspective. QR has become a common term used to reference a 2D barcode (2D code, mobile tag, mobile barcode, etc.) even when codes are technically a different format.

7. Tools to Generate and Read 2D Barcodes are Free

Tools are available for all major mobile phone handsets. To run a 2D barcode campaign you’ll need to following:

1. 2D barcode generator (Website service)
2. 2D barcode reader (Mobile app)
3. [Optional] 2D barcode management/tracking tool (Website service)

Microsoft Tag and ScanLife EZcode can only be decoded by their respective reader apps. Because of the open standard for QR codes, dozens of reader apps are available. (DataMatrix is usually supported on most QR readers.) Some mobile handsets come with a reader app pre-installed.

The following 2D barcode reader apps work on the majority of phones/handsets.

RedLaser and AT&T Code Scanner also have geolocation features for local price comparison shopping.

8. Management Tools are Available to Track Scanning Analytics

URL-shortener and web analytics for 2D barcodes storing URL hyperlinks are a great start. For comprehensive scan tracking, you’ll need to use a barcode generator tool that includes tracking analytics. (These tools are not independent.) Some management tools will merely track the number of scans while others provide detailed metrics like demographics, repeat scans, geolocation, and more. Collected analytics depends on the reader app used for scanning, so data results may vary.

Management tools are relatively inexpensive and sometimes free. Paid plans typically have a free trial with fees based on the number of scans.

2D Barcode Management & Tracking Tools:

• Microsoft Tag (Tag)
• ScanLife (EZcode, QR, DataMatrix, UPC)
• Tappinn (QR, UPC)
• Paperlinks (QR)
• QReateBUZZ (QR)
• BeQRious (QR)
• SPARQCode (QR)
• QReate and Track (QR)

9. 2D Barcode Content Should Provide Special Value for the Customer

It’s work to scan a barcode, so users have higher expectations as to what content they will find. Reward the user with discounts, exclusive content, or useful tips relevant to the code’s context. Consider scenarios that leverage smartphone features (email, SMS, phone call, video, map, apps, etc.) to save the user time.

For example, including a QR code on a business card that links to a meCard would be a lot easier than the user manually entering the contact record. In contrast, a QR code that links to a website homepage adds limited value.

Note: If you link to a web page, make sure that it’s mobile-friendly.

10. Small or Complex QR Codes Can’t be Scanned by Smartphones With Lesser Quality Cameras

Complex 2D barcodes (a lot going on, not very dense) are more challenging and time consuming to scan. In the case of QR codes, more stored content forces a larger code size. In general, it’s best to minimize data stored in 2D barcodes. Always use a URL-shortener to shrink hyperlinks. (Add analytics tracking parameters before shortening the link.)

Warning: Small, complex QR codes are the biggest mistake currently being made by marketers. Smartphone cameras with resolution less than 4-megapixels can’t scan a QR code smaller than about 1″x1″. Moreover, without the auto-focus (AF) camera feature, a complex QR code will have the same scanning issue, even if the code is larger. The iPhone 3GS and Blackberry are popular handset examples that lack both of these camera features. Unscannable codes kill and delay the adoption rate for 2D barcode campaigns.

Tip: Always provide a back-up (i.e. hyperlink, SMS text message, etc.) option for users to retrieve info within the code. A back-up enables non-smartphone users to also participate.

11. Consumers Need Guidance to Scan 2D Barcodes

The variety of code types, readers, and different terminology is confusing to consumers. Nielsen Company estimates that only 40 percent of U.S. mobile devices are smartphones as of Q1 2011, growing to almost 50 percent by Q3 2011. That means there are a lot of smartphone rookies that barely know how to use their phone, much less distinguish differences in mobile barcode formats and reader apps. As long as 2D barcodes are a novelty concept, always include a brief step-by-step guide with the context of your code.

Logical steps:

1. Get the reader app
2. Scan the code with your mobile device
3. (Action that happens upon scanning)

Tip: For the reader app download, include a URL link or SMS shortcut to expedite the process. This step is imperative when using proprietary Microsoft Tag or ScanLife EZcode formats since only one reader is capable of scanning their codes.

Steps two and three can be combined as a call-to-action. Example: “Scan to ____.” (… watch a video, download our app, call customer support, etc.)

12. 2D Barcodes can be Customized Artistically

QR codes include an Error Correction Level (ECL) that enables “damaged” codes to still be scanned. The error level tolerance (set by the code generator) can be as high as 30%. As a result, creative license can be used to create designer QR codes from a variety of colors or materials (i.e. jelly beans, sand castles, product packaging, etc.) as long as there is adequate contrast to read the code.

When it comes to advanced QR code graphic design, it’s harder than it looks. If you want to get fancy, I recommend connecting with QR art experts at QRarts.com or Delivr.com.

Microsoft Tag also allows for artistic codes. Their custom tag tool allows users to generate art from codes or even overlay codes on top of photographs.

Tip: Some artistic design is fun and good to see; however, don’t go overboard. As long as 2D barcodes are novelty, it’s important that users easily recognize a scannable code from a distance.

13. Testing Scannability is Imperative.

Before you mass print or distribute barcodes be sure to test for scannability. Testing factors:

• Smartphone cameras (resolution/auto-focus)
• Reader apps
• Scan context (i.e. lighting, shadows, surfaces)
• Scan distance
• Scan timing

14. Seek Expertise to Ensure Successful Campaigns

To ensure campaign success, consider consulting with a mobile barcode marketing expert, especially if it’s your first time running a mobile barcode campaign. Technology, trends, and tools in this arena are rapidly changing. A few hours of expert consulting can bring your team up to speed, help optimize campaigns for success, and avoid unnecessary embarrassment for poor implementation.

SEO and QR Codes

By: Crispin Sheridan