How to make your own QR Code (and why you’d want to)

by peggyd • October 13th • 7 comments

Provient Marketing Facebook Page QR code

Have you  started to see these funny squares in newspaper and magazine ads?  They are known as QR Codes. QR stands for quick response.  If you have a smart phone it probably has a free QR Code decoder app available.  (For the old folks in the audience, didn’t that last sentence sound like something out of a Dick Tracy comic strip?)  To use the QR code, simply take a photo of the code with your phone and use the app to follow the link with your mobile web browser to the url that’s specifically related to the print material or item you are looking at in real life.

Why is this exciting?  Because now you can publish “clickable” links anywhere off the web.  Just a few ideas off the top of my head about how a QR Code might come in handy:

  • Realtors could add QR codes to their fliers and give people a virtual tour of a home that isn’t open until the weekend.
  • I can paste my QR code on a business card when I want to send someone to a complex url address like a YouTube video clip.
  • You could eliminate the need to process a pile of paper contest entry forms when handing out fliers at a large, public event by directing people to enter via a QR code.
  • A vendor could put rich product information into potential customer’s hands using QR codes on tradeshow giveaways.

Make your own QR Code

Creating a QR code of your own is amazingly simple.  So simple even I can do it and so can you!

My favorite way to make one is using the link shortening service http://bit.ly.  Bit.ly is commonly used on Twitter to shorten long links into fewer characters.

  • If you don’t already have a bit.ly account, go open one and shorten a link.
  • To create the QR code just add “.qr” to the end of the shortened link (ex  http://on.fb.me/ProvientFB becomes http://on.fb.me/ProvientFB.qr). Voila, I have my very own QR code in less time than it takes to say Bob’s your uncle.
  • Note, if you already have a bit.ly account, you can convert any link you’ve already shortened into a QR code. What’s easier than that!

So how are you going to use your first QR code?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=560510833 Anita Chapman-Hovey

    Holy SCHMOLY…how easy is that! Thanks!

    • http://www.freerangemom.com Freerangemom

      I saw the best application for a QR code yesterday on the front my new yellow pages.  You could scan it to download a Yellow Pages smart phone app.  How cool is that?

      – Sent from my all-in-one mobile device that some still refer to as a phone

  • Jan Sheeley

    Thanks for that brief but informative explaination! I love it!!!!

    • http://www.freerangemom.com Freerangemom

      You are welcome, Jan! Would love to hear if you do something clever with them.

      Peggy

  • Pingback: QR Codes – this could come in handy! « kelise72

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=835678554 Mathias Seyfert

    doesnt work any more…
    any ideas?

    • http://www.freerangemom.com Freerangemom

      Something is wrong with the link you are trying to add QR to.  At first I thought it was your Facebook link, but then I tried it with my FB page and was able to be successful. 
      http://on.fb.me/ABPij0.qr When I remove QR the link you sent is still broken.  Try proofing it closely, I bet you’ll find the problem.