I own a small business and want to get one of those square, celphone-scannable barcodes you now see everywhere. You just scan em with your phone and bam, you're at a website. How do I get one, how much do they cost, and how do I link it to my site?
There are loads of ways to get your own barcodes. I have had my own for years. I can't remember what site I ordered mine through but I just did a google on custom barcodes and loads of options came up including this one. Just read lots and go for it.
I would warn that you may not want to do this, if the cost is anything significant significant is up to you). Those barcodes are extremely under utilized. I am a tech geek (I'm a software developer) and I have never ever scanned one. Mainly because they are no that easy. You need to run an app that can scan and interpret them. That is not something many people ever install.
Plus QR code malware is a real threat, and part of the reason I will never scan a single QR code in my life.
Instead, I would recommend building your brand so people remember your website with ease.
Thanks for the warnings Mike, will take it into consideration if the cost is exorbitant. Mostly, my brand has been built through referrals and the website - very few in my field have a website, they're more into advertising on free classifieds, small newspapers, randomly tacked-up business cards, and the ubiquitous badly-spelled-ad-on-a-piece-of-8x11.5-paper-with-ripoff-tags-at-the-bottom end of things.
Also as I have a background in Advertising, I try to keep apace of the best ways to advertise without going bust. Even been considering radio, which nobody else in my field does. But as the website brings in business, I figure a scannable barcode would help draw traffic to the site, esp as I am catering to a more affluent, tech-literate market.
Our company tried them and then dropped them. The qr codes were not getting very many hits. I can't use them but you'll laugh at the reason. My hands constantly shake so I can't hold my cell phone still enough to read the damn things!!! Go with Mike's suggestion.
I have used them, and currently have one on the back of my business cards. I have 2-3 versions - one for each of my genres, and the code sends the client to the right gallery. I don't know that I'd scan just any code out there, but I have scanned codes on other people's business cards. Neither the code or the scanner cost anything.
