8. Understand Your Target
Audience
Does he/she need instructions about the use of QR codes?
Does he/she need to use a specific type of code reader?
Will the codes be scanned indoors or outside?
Have Clear Objectives—Here are some possibilities:
Grow your email list
Increase Likes for your Facebook page
Increase your blog subscribers
Provide Useful and Valuable Incentives—Here are some options:
Enter a contest to win
Deliver a discount coupon
Download a free eBook
Talk to a live agent
Take a virtual tour
Demonstrate a product or service with video
Download a free mp3
Get VIP access
9. You Can Be Creative
A customized QR code by Patrick Donnelly of 2ergo for American Parkour
10. These best practices will
maximize your success with 2D
codes
Test your QR codes with multiple readers and devices.
Use link shorteners to create clean codes.
Avoid using colors that do not provide sufficient contrast—a
potential problem with both QR codes and customized MS
tags.
Make your codes at least 1″ x 1″—larger is better.
Provide a sufficient quiet zone around the code.
Avoid using 2D codes on highly reflective surfaces.
Consider where your codes will be scanned. One unfortunate
application was in the New York City subway where there is
not an Internet connection.
Use a quality QR code generator. My favorite is Kerem Erkan.
Use a quality scanner or reader. Two excellent choices are
Qrafter and i-nigma. Qrafter is unique in that it is both a code
generator and scanner in one app.
11. Link your codes to mobile-
friendly or mobile-optimized
sites
The most common mistake marketers make with QR codes is
having them resolve to a standard web page that is not
mobile-friendly. Worse yet is to have a code connect to a site
with Flash video, which is not supported by the iOS devices
(iPhones and iPads) that account for nearly 50% of the
code readers in the world.
At a minimum, the page your code connects to should
be mobile-friendly. For example, one of my codes resolves
to the speaking page on my WordPress blog. A couple of taps
on my iPhone enlarges it to fit nicely to my screen.
Mobile-optimized is better than mobile-friendly. Mobile
sites are websites optimized specifically for smartphones. Host
these mobile sites on a subdomain or subdirectory of your
main website, thereby giving you the SEO benefit of the
traffic they bring.
12. Here are additional
considerations when building a
mobile site
Build your site around the desired user
experience.
Smaller images and solid colors load more quickly.
Size your links and buttons to be touch-friendly.
Use concise copy—sentences rather than
paragraphs.
Use “fluid width” for horizontal and vertical
orientation.
Test, test and test again—on iPhone, Android and
Blackberry platforms.
14. Here’s a list of the most
requested features for mobile-
optimized sites
Tap to call links.
Tap to email links.
Tap to SMS (text).
Google maps integration.
Social sharing links.
Links to Yelp, Flickr and other mobile-
optimized sites.
Links to YouTube and Vimeo (both mobile-
optimized).
15. Still Not Sure About How
Important QR Codes Will Be For
Your Future?
