February 10, 2012

Ways to integrate QR Codes into your life

Website link to QRCreate.com

Website link to our QRCreate.com code generator

Look around you when you read magazines, order pizza from Papa Johns and surf the web. Chances are, you’ll spot a QR Code.

QR Code use has taken off with the advent of smartphones, especially those running Android. Most Android phones come with a barcode reader capable of decoding QR Codes as well as standard consumer UPC codes and others.

QR Codes are much more versatile than normal barcodes and can contain much more information. There are many ways to utilize them for personal or business use.

  1. Labelling
    For example, you can label boxes while moving and more easily put much more information like: Contains PC accessories, cables, power plugs, software X, software Y, software Z, etc… Sometimes the unpacking process is slow and by having QRCodes on all your boxes, you can simply scan them to find the contents.
  2. Business Cards
    There are many sites out there that’ll help you create codes for use on cards, some have direct integration with product creation and purchasing sites like Zazzle.
  3. Real Estate
    Real estate agents can generate codes they can put on signs that will allow more savvy home seekers as they look around neighborhoods for homes. Most people who use QR Codes are pretty much guaranteed to scan them to see what they say. Those who aren’t as knowledgeable about them may become curious and can be directed to a website printed under the code to give further explanation. You can easily put a lot of information about the house such as the MLS number, square footage, # of bedrooms and baths, agent name, contact information and more.
  4. Inventory Management
    Specialized apps can be utilized to allow businesses to manage inventory and assets.
  5. Product Discounts
    Put a code on your flyers, emails, billboards and other advertising mediums to offer discounts and draw new customer in. Again, people who know about QR Codes are very likely to scan them and tell others about them.

There are many other uses, these are just a few. People are doing lots of things with them… T-Shirts, hats, sweaters, bumper stickers, scavenger hunts and much more. Please leave a message in the comments with unique uses you have seen.

We, of course, prefer to use our own QR Creator site (http://QRcreate.com). It contains a few form input styles for different uses and makes it fast and simple to generate downloadable and embeddable QR Code images.

We can help you integrate QR Codes into your business. Let us know how we can help you embrace this relatively new technology.

Revolution2 – Premium WordPress Theme Collection

I love WordPress, but one thing that it’s not known for is having a really nice default theme.  It is exceptionally plain.  I’ve spent HOURS looking for nice functional themes only to download ones that “seem” nice then suck once you install them and have problems in the code that weren’t present on the screen cap.

Over the course of my journeys through many, many theme sites, I kept running across a developer whose free themes I have used before.

Brian Gardner

Revolution2His free themes are nice, clean and customizable.  The first one I used was the “Revolution Blue” (comes in red and gray too).

I ran across his site again the other day and saw that the “Revolution2″ series is available and he seems to be getting together a nice group of developers and focusing in many different genres of WordPress themes, from general blogs to Real Estate, TV, Office, Photography, etc.  These new themes make WordPress act more like a true CMS system than “just another WordPress blog”.

With a few free plugins and a little effort, these themes can give any WordPress installation a nice facelift.

For the good stuff, there is a cost involved, but the cost is minimal compared to the time I have wasted trying to find a decent design for my site.  Brian also supports the themes on his website forums and if WordPress updates come out that break any of them or has new functionality, he puts out updates.  Also, his response to email is very quick (even last night, while on vacation, he responded to my email :-) ).  So the cost is WELL worth it.

I plan on implementing one of the Revolution2 themes here on iDude over the next few weeks (as time permits).