Sunday, July 15, 2012

Catfish Campaign Day 15, QR Codes

QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any kind of data.
From Wikipedia

How to make a QR code:

The process for obtaining a QR code online is easy and it’s free if 
you are linking simple information like a website URL. Goggle a free 
QR code-making site. http://qrcode. kaywa.com/ or http://www.qrstuff. com/ 
You insert your website address (or any other site that gets the 
buyer to your buy-page) and the QR codemaker interprets it into a QR 
code that links to the URL. Wait! You want something in color or 
with a different shape than the drab black and white code? Check out http://www.custom- qr-codes. net/ 
and you’ll have more options. Once you’ve got the color, shape and 
size you want, download the image. Pretty isn’t always best, 
however. Make sure you have a distinct color contrast between the 
dots/squares and the background for the quick scanning. A unique QR 
code like the one I show below (which came from http://blog. kissmetrics. com/genius- qr-codes/
, will probably cost you money.

Now it’s time to get the QR reader as a free APP on your smart phone. 
Check the reviews/ratings on different APP’s before you download one. 
You’ll want to test all QR images beforehand, with your scanner, to 
make sure they work. For instance, I applied my APP to my code to 
make sure the code led to my website, then I played around with 
different-sized codes as small as might go on a business card.
(I "borrowed" this info from a marvelous class taught by the fabulous Rolynn Anderson hosted by the fantastic Marketing for Romance Writers online writer's group.)

How can we use QR codes to market our books? Here's a list of places to stick a QR code that will take people to a pay page of your books:
Business cards
Posters
Banners
Flyers
T-shirts
Any more ideas?

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info, Kristy. Getting a QR code sounds easy, and I'll give it a shot. FYI: I don't see the QR code on your blog that you referred to in your post.

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  2. Hi Kristy, yes, thank you very much for the info. I just got mine hooked up yesterday but wanted to say hi anyway. And like Sandy says, there is no colorful code on your post. Have a great day!

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  3. Thanks for the info and explanation, Kristy--that helped a lot!

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