But what are QR codes, how do you create them, and how can you use them to better market your own small business?

What are QR codes?

QR (short for “quick response”) codes are 2D barcodes that can be scanned and read by smart phones. Once read by your phone, they will redirect you to a website, send a text on your behalf, or provide directions via Google maps, among other tasks.

How do you scan a QR code?

If you see a QR code in the wild don’t be afraid. Just pull out your smart phone and use any free app for scanning QR codes just as you would use your camera phone; it’s just like snapping a picture. I use “QR App” on my iPhone, while some new phones have a QR scanner pre-installed. This will probably be standard on future smart phones.

Once you scan or snap a picture of the code you will be redirected to a web page, shown a video, or generate an SMS text or call to someone…depending on what the QR creator set up.

How can you create QR codes?

There are plenty of sites that will allow you to create QR codes for free. You just need to provide the URL you want to send people to, the message you want to share, or whatever other information you’d like to put into the QR code.

How do you use QR codes in marketing and communication?

Although I’ve seen QR codes used in email marketing, on websites and on Facebook business pages, QR codes are most useful in the physical world. This is because a QR code placed in a direct mail piece, on a pizza box, or on a street sign allows the viewer to quickly connect to a wealth of information by scanning the QR code.

Here are some examples of how businesses can use QR codes in their marketing:

• Real estate agents could include a QR code on a for sale sign that takes people to a video of a walkthrough of the property.
• Retail shops could post QR codes next to products for in-depth reviews that have appeared on their blog.
• Companies could place QR codes on employees’ business cards, making it easy for people to connect with them on multiple social networks.
• Vineyards could include QR codes on wine labels. Restaurant patrons who enjoy the wine could scan the QR code to learn more about the vintage, vineyard, or even be directed to the online store where they could buy a case for home consumption.

Will QR code marketing work for any business or non-profit?

Like any marketing campaign, some businesses are better positioned to take advantage of QR code marketing. Since you need a smart phone with a camera, QR scanner and an internet connection, you need to decide if this reflects your target audience or not.

And, as I mentioned above, QR codes are a great way of connecting the physical world to the internet. Personally, I don’t see the benefit of a QR code in an email newsletter. It would be easier and more user-friendly to just include a traditional text link as opposed to asking your reader to grab their phone, scan a QR code, and then view the resulting webpage on their tiny mobile browser.

Can you include branding in a QR code?

Surprisingly, yes. There’s a certain amount of error correction built into QR codes, so some companies have been adding a logo or other design elements into their QR codes. Just make sure that you test your “enhanced” QR codes before releasing them. A “broken” QR code will frustrate your audience and damage your brand.

In Conclusion

QR codes will continue to gain in popularity with the boom in smart phone usage. They are easy to create, and becoming easier for consumers to use. Depending on your business, you can use QR codes as another way to engage your audience, drive traffic to your website (or elsewhere), and build your business.

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However, it makes sense to regularly check the forms on your Web site. Why?

1. When someone completes a form on your site they’re often taken to what’s called a landing page. This page isn’t part of your regular navigation, nor is it a page you see every day. Often, it contains information that’s no longer relevant or even completely wrong. By filling out your own forms you’ll see what your prospects see.
2. Depending on the type of form you have set up on your site, visitors may also receive an autoresponder email. Again, you don’t see these emails, but they’re delivered to your prospects’ email inboxes with your name on it. Do you even remember what your autoresponder says?
3. Occasionally, for no good reason, a form can “go off the tracks.” Maybe there was a database error, maybe you ran out of room on the server, maybe it was a random bug. Unfortunately, these problems don’t always fix themselves. If you find that you’ve stopped getting contact form emails you should test the form immediately and let your Web developer know if you find a problem.

Also, if you are receiving a lot of junk through your contact form it’s probably time to upgrade to a form that does a better job filtering out that junk. If you have any questions on that please let us know.

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This post is kind of a how-to of getting Google Analytics setup on your Web site, whether you’re a DIYer or you want to provide the necessary snippet of code to your Web developer to keep your update costs down.

Step 1: Get a Google account.

Chances are, you may already have a Google account; if you have a gmail address, you already do. However, you may want to create a new Google account specifically for your Web site, separate from your personal Gmail.

If so, start by visiting http://www.google.com. In the top right corner you should see a Sign In link. Click it.

This will take you to a login page that will also allow you to Create an Account Now. Click it.

In order to create a new account you’ll need to enter your current email address and a password. If you already have a Google account you won’t be able to use the same email address here.

Google will then send a confirmation to the email you entered.

Click on the link (or copy and paste it into your Web browser’s address bar) to confirm your email and establish your Google account.

You now have a Google Account.

Step 2: Get a Google Analytics account.

Visit https://www.google.com/analytics/, click on Access Analytics (a big blue button at the time of this writing) and login using your Google account.

Once you’ve logged in you’ll be prompted to sign up for Google Analytics. Click the Sign Up button.

To start the account signup process you’ll be prompted to enter your Web site’s URL (domain name), your site’s country and time zone. Google will automatically create an account name for you based on the URL you entered, but you can override it if you have a preference. Click the Continue button.

On the next page enter your name, phone and country (if different than your Web site.) Click the Continue button.

On the next page you’ll need to agree to the Google Analytics Terms of Service which you’ll probably never read. What you do want to pay attention to is the Data Sharing Settings. By default, Google will use your analytics for benchmarking. If you want to be able to compare your Web site traffic to similar sized Web sites in your industry you’ll need to keep this as is.

The data is supposed to be shared only in aggregate to protect your privacy. However, if you’re not comfortable with this you can edit your sharing settings here. Keep in mind you won’t be able to compare your site to other sites if you don’t share your data.

Agree to the terms and conditions and click the Create New Account button.

Finally! You’ve arrived at the tracking code. Google offers both the “new” and “legacy” tracking code. I can’t imagine why you’d want to go with the legacy tracking code, so select and copy the New Tracking Code.

This code goes on the bottom of every Web page you want to track just before the </body> tag. You’ll either want to add it yourself or share it with your Web developer.

If you have multiple domains you want to track then you’ll want to generate unique tracking codes for each site. Each domain will need it’s own “profile.” You can create additional Web site profiles by clicking Add New Profile on your Google Analytics landing page.

Twenty-four hours (or so) after you install the code you should start seeing activity on your account. Read it and make the appropriate changes to your Web site or Internet marketing campaigns to increase your search engine visibility, Web site traffic and conversions!

Step 3: Add Users

If you’re working with a Web design or Internet marketing company and they need access to your account you can provide it without giving access to your Google account. On your analytics overview page near the bottom you’ll see a User Manager link. Click on it.

On the next page click on Add User.

You can then add the email address of your Web designer or search engine marketer so they can access your reports and continue to help you out. They should be able to provide you with their email (which must be associated with their own Google Account.)

Then choose View Reports Only if you just want to share the reports with them (so they can view them) or Account Administrator (if you want to provide full access to your account.)

Whether you have one or multiple domains you’re running reports on, you’ll need to select them under Available Website Profiles and Add>> them to the Selected Website Profiles. Select all the domains you wish to share and click the Save Changes button.

If you’d like to learn more about Google Analytics and how to make the most of it, here are a few articles to get you started:

• Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics – Just as Advertised
• Does Your Web Site Beat the Competition? – About Google Analytics Benchmarking
• How Google Analytics Can Make You the Life of the Party – How to Improve Your Site Based on Your Analytics Reports
• Tracking Conversions: Does Your Web Site Turn Suspects into Prospects? – How to Setup Google Analytic Goals

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He said, “I had this idea, see, where we would put all the keywords we wanted to use over and over again in white text on a white background. Then, the search engines would rank us near the top but it wouldn’t clutter up our page.”

I explained that this was a great idea, presuming he had a time machine and could return to early 1997-the last time this technique actually worked.

Search engines are getting smarter all the time. If you’re looking for a long-term success strategy that will allow you to concentrate on building your business rather than chasing the next search engine bait-and-switch, you need to know where to place your keywords for maximum results.

Before You Begin

Placing the wrong keywords in the right places won’t help your search engine visibility. Start with a keyword analysis to determine which keyword phrases will be most effective on your site.

Tools like Keyword Discovery and WordTracker will help you determine how much competition you have for specific keywords, and how often people are searching for phrases. It will also prepare alternatives and variations of your keywords so that you can cast a wider net. Once you have your list of effective keywords it’s time to put them in their place.

Titles

Titles are one of the few things search engine experts agree on. They’re probably the most important variable for search engine optimization (SEO). And yet, you may never have noticed them before.

That’s because titles appear not on the Web page itself, but rather in the aptly named title bar. If you’re on a Windows machine, this is where you see the minimize, maximize and close buttons. If you’re on a Mac, it’s where the red, yellow and green buttons reside.

You should front load your titles with your best keywords. In other words, “Recycled Paper Goods from XYZ Corp” beats “XYZ Corp: Recycled Paper Goods” for a search on “recycled paper goods,” all other things being equal.

Additionally, you should make sure that each page of your Web site has a unique title. Not only is a duplicate title a missed opportunity, it can be a red flag to the search engines that want to avoid indexing duplicate content.

Finally, make sure your titles read well. Titles appear as the big, blue link on most search engine results pages, and if they’re an unintelligible glom of keywords, people are less likely to click on them.

Headers

Headers and sub-headers are the “titles” that appear in the Web page. They are usually bigger and bolder than the rest of the text, and summarize the themes of the paragraphs that follow. Most experts agree that they carry more weight than the rest of the body copy.

Headers should reflect the title of the page, but shouldn’t be identical. This is because a variation of the title can help you cast a wider net, and also because duplication of title and header can appear “spammy” or “over-optimized” to the search engines.

Body Copy

Your page-specific, keyword-rich body copy is also important. You should be using your keyword-rich phrases and variations, too. Your copy also needs to read well. Bold and italics can help the reader scan the material for the most important ideas, and some experts believe this can also affect the search engine ranking of the page.

Intra-Site Links

Search engines give extra-weight to the words used in an intra-site link (from one page to another within your site) and–to a lesser degree–the words around the link. So, instead of “learn more” or “click here”, use keyword-rich links such as, “Southern Maine Landscaping,” or “Pesticide-Free Gardening.”

Meta-Descriptions

Meta-descriptions don’t appear on the page, but rather in the source code. The only time people will see them is on the search engine results page under the big, blue title tag link.

There’s some debate on whether meta-descriptions help with your rankings, (I think they have little to no value,) but a well-crafted meta-description on a search results page may get a person to click on your link rather than a competitor’s. Think of this as a short ad; what will compel a Google-user to click on your link?

Like title tags, meta-descriptions should be unique and reflect the content on the page.

Meta-Keywords

Got that time machine ready? Search engines give no weight to meta-keywords anymore. We generally recommend creating a list of keywords and using the same list throughout the site because they’re a giant waste of time!

In Conclusion

Of course, there’s a lot more nitty-gritty work that needs to be done in a competitive niche, but by placing your best keywords in the right places you can greatly increase your search engine visibility.

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