For those not familiar with QR codes, the QR code is a type of scanning code that can be read on mobile devices with a camera installed, and a QR code reader.

There are a number of great QR code readers available totally free on the iTunes store for the iPhone.

The way the QR code works is very simple:
You simply go to a website such as http://qrcode.kaywa.com
or search Google for ‘QR Code Generator”, and you will find sites that allow you to generate and download a QR code for free for your needs.

QR Codes can be set up to share your contact details, web address, physical business location or even links to your Twitter or Facebook pages.

But what many people are slowly learning is that QR codes can play a very important role in the marketing and promotion of your business, and there are ways many people may not have yet though of.

 Here is my top 7 ways QR Codes can be used:

Business Cards
Probably the most obvious way a QR code can be used is adding it to your business card, allowing people to simply scan your card to either add your contact detail to their contacts on their phone, or just to access your website.

Real Estate
Real Estates are the perfect market to use QR codes, yet not many have caught on to this yet.

Most real estates have their properties listed online on their own website, or even a larger real estate directory such as RealEstate.com.au but unless you are visiting the website you don’t really know which properties are available, and the larger directories you might need to scroll for pages until you find the right property.

QR codes can make this much easier. For instance, if the Agent created a QR code for each of his properties and added them to his press ads o or flyers people can simply scan it and their phone can show them where the property is on the website or even on a Google Map.
Or better still, the Agent could add the QR code to his property signage and as people drive past to view the property they can scan the QR code, providing them with information of the property, even the inspection times and the Agent’s contact details, or just set it up to instantly phone the Agent!

Restaurants,Cafes & Hotels
Restaurants and Cafe’s can print a QR code on their menus, Napkins or drink coasters, which can provide the customer with access to their menu online, or just their contact details.
You could also set it up to link directly to their Facebook page, making it easy to share and like the establishment.

Markets
Even the small local markets can benefit from QR codes! Say for instance you are selling a necklace at the markets and the person loves it but may not have the money on them. Rather than lose a sale, you could have a QR code set up for the product so the buyer can scan it, taking them to your online store or even just to send you an email of interest on that particular product, allowing them to purchase it at a later time.

Social Media
Just about everyone now has a Facebook or Twitter account, but the only problem with social media sites such as Twitter or Youtube is that they have a static background that cannot be clicked. If you are receiving heavy traffic then this background area is prime marketing space. Adding a QR code can turn your static page into an active
link to your website, latest specials, etc.

An example of how this can work can be viewed here:
http://www.twitter.com/innercityhotels

Add your QR code to your Facebook profile page can do the same for you.

Press Advertising

Traditional press advertising is dead in terms of tracing it’s effectiveness. You really don’t know how many people even look at your ad or make a call to action if they did read it.

But if you were to add a QR code to your advertisement, especially a special offer, you could send the viewer to a specific page on your website which you can easily track through your website statistics, and monitor the success of your campaign easily.
This is also a handy way to grow your mailing list of subscribers, as you could easily direct them to an online form from their mobile device, capturing their details for future marketing.

Affiliate Marketing
If you sell other people’s products online you can ramp up your sales using QR codes, by adding them to anything…whether it is any of the things mentioned above, or to brochures, thirst, websites etc.

for instance if you were an affiliate of iTunes or the App store, you can create the link to go directly to your affiliate link and then direct them automatically to the link in the iTunes store. You make a sale directly from the link! How easy is that!
This is just a few handy ways to use the QR code, but I am sure you can think of a bunch more once you start embracing them!

Author: Chris Bourke
Chris Bourke is a web developer at Devision Design, and also an online business and social media coach at WebSEOCoach
Follow Chris on Twitter:  twitter/webseocoach

While currently only available to a limited number of people for trial purposes, the Google+ experience is showing a lot of potential to take on Facebook, with a lot of features that Facebook users have been asking for a long time.

A more modern approach to social media, such as real-time video hangouts, and a much simpler, easy to use and way less clunky design, Google Plus allows users to navigate around the new network much easier than Facebook.

But will it be enough to attract the followers that Facebook currently has?

Only time will tell.

The advantage for Google though is it integrates well with all the current Google Apps and keeps the same feel throughout all their applications, which overall means it has a lot more functionality than Facebook as an entire business and social tool, rather than just a social network.

Learn more about Google +
https://plus.google.com/

Web developers have usually had to substitute the nice animation work for a javascript transition animation instead, which while still visually nice, lacks the functionality that Flash does.

But there is now finally a solution!

Google have now launched Swiffy…an online app which allows you to convert your Flash SWF files into HTML5 and then load into your website, which will then finally run perfectly on iPads and iPhones.

Simply go to the Google Swiffy page and upload your Flash SWF file, and it will convert the file for you in just a few seconds!

Swiffy currently supports SWF 8 and ActionScript 2.0, and the output will work in all Webkit browsers, including Chrome and Mobile Safari.

Web developers rejoice!

Author: Chris Bourke of WebSEOCoach.com

Keeping the domain name short:

Make sure you keep your domain name short and significant. Try to keep it under 10-13 characters, and make it very easy for a user to remember and associate with your website. The more creative and different you are, the easier it will be for people to remember it. Make sure it is unique, so that it is not confused with another website.

Domain name already taken?

If you find that your domain name is taken, you can always try to switch the “.com” to “.net” or “.co”. This usually works while you want to get the desired name. If you are still unable to get the required name, use your imagination and get creative. For example: www.the(website name).com or www.my(website name).com, etc.

You can even give it an acronym if needed. If your domain name has already been taken, there are several ways of finding out when the registration will expire. You can always contact the person through the contact i.d provided and ask them if they would be willing to sell. If you find the ideal domain name in “.com”, and “.in”, do not hesitate to purchase both. You do not want anyone else using your website’s name in the future.

Domain Name Registration:

Before you start to register, do a search on the web for “Domain Name Registration”. You can see several deals online, this will help you narrow down your choices. After that just click on the link and proceed.

Your Registrar:

Find a company who can act as your registrar.

You can find several on the web, after that all you need to do is check for availability. With a little bit of research you can easily find out more about which companies will help you Register Domain Names. You no longer need to shell out a huge amount of money for domain registration; there are so many companies in the market offering these services, and you can easily end up with a good bargain. Make sure that you purchase as soon as you find an availability. If you wait too long for the perfect deal, your domain name will slip right through your fingers.

No matter how great the dining experience you serve up, the perfection of the meals, or the decor to compliment it all, if diners can’t find your restaurant to start with, you literally have no business.

With more people turning to the web and their mobile devices to find suitable dining online, it is now critical to every restaurant business to have a professional looking website which not only can be found easily, but also looks professional and provides plenty of information to your potential diners. And more importantly it needs to be easily updatable, and mobile compatible.

Well thankfully there is a solution for every restaurant or cafe which solves this issue, providing a cost effective, professional solution, and it’s designed especially for the restaurant and dining industry.

It’s called Bistro Square.

Bistro Square is a professional content management system allowing restaurant owners the ability to easily set up a professional looking website with all the bells and whistles to get you ahead of your competition.

Not only can you edit the content yourself, saving you possibly thousands of dollars a year on webmaster fees, but it has a lot of special features most restaurant sites don’t have.

These include:

Menu Tools

Easily create your menu online

Mobile Friendly

People can access you straight from their mobile devices such as iPhones.

Coupon Builder

Everyone loves a bargain…the build in Coupon Builder

Social Network Integration

Keep your customers up to date with daily deals and specials through social media such as Facebook and Twitter

Google Maps Integration

Easily add Google Maps to your website so your customers can easily find you.

Online Reservations

Take reservations and bookings right on your site with OpenTable integration.

CLICK HERE TO BUILD YOUR RESTAURANT FREE WITH BISTRO SQUARE

Many busy people now like having the versatility to have all their email accounts accessible on their iPhone as well.
While setting up a Microsoft exchange, Gmail,Yahoo or AOL account is very simple, Apple don’t provide details telling you how to set up a hosted email account for your own domain name.

So here are the 7 very easy steps to set your email account up on your iPhone in a matter of just a few minutes:

Step 1.
Click on the Settings App and scroll down to Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

Step 2.
Click on Add Account.
Yes, it’s very easy so far…!

Step 3.
Now, if you are setting up your own hosted email account (eg, name@yourwebaddress.com), click on Other.

Step 4.
Click on the first tab under Mail > Add Mail Account

Step 5.
Now you create a new account, by entering your own name or the business name, your Address (email address), your Password provided by your hosting provider and a Description for your own reference. When you have a bunch of accounts running on your iPhone, the Description is very useful.

Step 6.
Now you will need to enter the technical details.
First up click whether it is an IMAP account or a POP account.
Most web hosting providers run a POP server, so click on POP so that the POP tab is blue
Your name, address etc should already be on the screen, but if not, add it again.

Step 7.
Now, add your Incoming Server details. This is the mail server for your hosted domain, so if your domain is called www.something.com then your mailserver will be either mail.something.com or smtp.something.com
Add your username and password. Most times your username is your full email address and the password is the one assigned by your web hosting company for that email account.
If you’re not sure give them a call.

Your Outgoing Mailserver is usually the same as your incoming mailserver, or it might be allocated by your phone company. Try adding your incoming server details first and if that fails, contact your phone/internet provider.

If you have followed each of those steps your email account should now be running fine on your iPhone!

Author: Chris Bourke of WebSEOCoach.com and Devision Design

These days, if you’re not on the first couple of pages of Google your business is probably missing out on a lot of potential customers and new business.

If you’ve got great search engine optimisation you might be lucky enough to be on the first page of Google’s organic searches, otherwise you might be spending hundreds of dollars a week in pay-per-click to achieve good results.

But there is another option, which Google provide free of charge, called Google Places.

Google Places is the search results you often see at the top of the listings next to the Google Map, which provides a basic overview of the business listing and often a star review of the business.

There are limited spots available for Google Places listings, but there are a few simple tricks to getting your business into these top spots and generating a huge amount of free traffic to your website.

Here are out tips for creating a great listing on Google Places for Business:

The easiest way to get started is to type in ‘Google Places’ into Google or follow the link to the Google Local Business Center – http://www.google.com/local/add

You may need to create a Google account if you haven’t already.

Now you need to create your Google Business profile. Creating this correctly is the key to your success on Google..
Make sure you include a physical postal address and a real phone number as Google will verify you are a real business by either calling you or posting you a code to enter into your account.

Make sure your description contains [a good amount of keywords that reflect your business and that you want to be found under. For instance if you have a car parts business your description should be something like: ‘Todd’s Used Car Parts Calgary stocks genuine vehicle parts for all european makes and model cars.’

The description now includes a good variety of specific keywords including the location to help Google recognise exactly what the business does.

Makes rue the categories you choose reflect the business and your description.

You can also add your trading hours, payment types etc. The more you add the more Google loves you.

Now, you can also include photos and a logo. Preparing these correctly can help your listing.
Name each image with relevance to your business, for example: rather than an image name like ‘img123.jpg’ name it ‘calgary_car_parts.jpg’

This also goes for your logo as well.

for the images, don’t make them too large or they will load slow. A good size is about 600 x 450 pixels at 72dpi.

Google Place Reviews
Often you will see reviews on the Google Places listings. These reviews can also help drive the listing to the top spots.
If you run your website or blog on WordPress you can also get reviews directly from your website listed on Google Places by simple adding a Google Reviews plugin into your website. The plugin is free, and it places a Review button on each page of your website allowing people to comment, which you verify before it goes live. These reviews then show up on Google Places.
This is particularly helpful if you have an online shopping cart, real estate site or a business directory.

Author: Chris Bourke of WebSEOCoach.com and Devision Design Australia
Chris is a web developer and social media marketer from Australia who also specializes in getting business on Google

We are seeing the alarming trend of major retailers, such as book stores, closing their doors, but yet the popularity in books has not changed, people are simply choosing to shop differently.

So what if you could quit your day job and become an online retailer, earning a healthy income, with a total set up cost of under $100?

In fact, what if you could set up your own online empire with multiple websites with the earning potential for an easy six-figure or more income in less than a week?

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it!

Well it’s not. It’s actually very simple and ANYONE can do it.

3 SIMPLE STEPS TO CREATING AN ONLINE STORE FOR UNDER $100

I am going to share with you three simple steps to creating your own fully stocked online store in less than a day for under $100.

STEP 1 : DOMAIN NAME AND WEB HOSTING = $7.95
Firstly you need to set up your website hosting.
I recommend Hostgator because they not only offer you a FREE .com domain name when you sign up, but their plans start at just $3.96 per month! The plan I recommend is the Hostgator Baby Plan because it allows you to add on multiple domains at no additional cost any time you want. So for less that $7.95 a month you could be hosting 10 websites or more. So your hosting bill would be less than 80 cents a month to run your online business!
Click here to view the Hostgator plans for full details.

STEP 2: THE SHOPPING CART SETUP = $79
The next thing you need to do is install the shopping cart. Now usually when someone mentions they want an ecommerce website set up to a web developer they are likely to be hit with a $1000+ bill.
Well, there is a solution much, much cheaper, which is extremely professional, and at just $79 it is way cheaper!

Shopperpress runs on the popular WordPress software. WordPress is totally free, and with Hostgator it is literally a click of a button and they install it for you. Shopperpress is a Theme designed to run in WordPress, which transforms the WordPress blog into a powerful professional shopping cart for a total price of $79. Thats a one off fee, so there is no monthly cost, and the great thing is once you have purchased Shopperpress you can use it over and over again, so your future e-commerce sites will cost you absolutely nothing!

Shopperpress comes with lots of different themes in all sorts of niches, so whether you want to sell golf gear, babywear, wedding apparel or downloadable books, etc there is a theme perfectly suited and ready to use. No having to hire a web developer!
Click here to find out more about Shopperpress and see the free demo live online.

But the best part about Shopperpress is next….

STEP 3: ACCESSING PRODUCTS TO SELL = $0
Usually setting up an online store requires you to have lots of stock, which costs a lot of money for a new business venture.
But what if you could fill your e-commerce store with products to sell for absolutely nothing!
The beauty of Shopperpress is it has the built in tools to automatically connect to affiliate marketing sites such as clickbank, Amazon, Commission Junction and many more of the leading affiliate sites. So you simply create an free account with Amazon, and then in Shopperpress you enter the keywords of the products you want to add to your site, and it grabs a selection for you to choose from.
You literally don’t have to do anything. Now when someone buys a product on your website you make 15% off that sale price through the Amazon affiliate program! Easy money!

If you want to add a lot more affiliate products I recommend you sign up with Datafeedr. Datafeedr is exactly as the name says, an automatic datafeedr which connects to 16 of the major affiliate networks, accessing thousands of major brand name stores and tens of thousands of products to add to your cart, all done at the press of a button!
Datafeedr takes all the hard work out of running an online affiliate business.

Of course, Shopperpress also allows you to add your own products and sell direct too.

So there you have it, your own online store, or even empire set up in a matter of days for under $100

Lets go shopping!

Author:
Chris Bourke of WebSEoCoach.com and Devision Design Australia
Chris Bourke runs a number of online affiliate businesses and is also creator of the UltimateCashBlog.com

Kajabi, ‘the powerful marketing software with the funny name’, is taking the world of internet marketing by storm with it’s incredibly simple software that turns the choir of turning an internet marketer’s nightmare job of setting up new sales funnels into a dream job.
Simple, quick, and super effective.

If you have the opportunity to take Kajabi for a test drive, DON”T – unless you plan on purchasing it!

Once you have seen Kajabi in action you will really hate going back to the old school method of setting up your online marketing.

But don’t take my word for it, watch the video below and see for yourself.

Kajabi truly is the coolest internet marketing tool to be launched since internet marketing was invented.

Smart business owners who know the importance of a good website usually think I am too cheap, the rest usually choke on the price.

See, most people don’t see past that dollar sign on the quote and understand the real potential and power of the internet, and the fact that there are ‘websites’ and then there are online marketing websites.

Every time I build a website I try to encourage the client to think past using their website as an online poster, but create a website that works as a powerful marketing tool.

Sure adding in value might mean paying a little more, but in the long term, or even as little as a week, you will see the returns pay for themselves.

I’d like to share a recent example…I had a potential client who owns a motorcycle shop ask me for a quote on the rebuild of an existing website. The website looked ‘okay’ at first glance, but it wasn’t working as a marketing tool, it was more like a roadside hoarding online, and probably not directly making him any money.
After a quick review I found at least 20 things that could be improved on the website to most likely double his profits, yet when I presented the quote, (which was less than one of his average motorcycles!) he balked at it.

Now, I’m not giving this chap a hard time…I get this reaction a lot from people that don’t understand the power of the internet.

If I were to put it into simple terms for him it would be easier to compare a website to a motorcycle..
Firstly, the difference between a motorcycle and a website would most likely be that you pay a big price for a motorcycle with maybe around 35% of the total price probably going to the dealer, another 20% going to shipping/export costs, another 5% going to the manufacturers big marketing campaigns, which leaves you with a 40% value, which then depreciates each time you ride it. Then of course you have registration, insurance, fashion accessories, etc. Unless you run a postal or courier service, that motorcycle probably isn’t going to provide a return worth way more than what you purchased it for.
(These figures may be incorrect – I build profitable websites, not sell motorcycles, so I am approximating the breakdown of costs.)

On the other hand, a website designed as a marketing tool will most likely pay for itself within months and then continue to make money for you, in some cases while you sleep, depending on what type of business you have. Keep the website for a few years and I usually see a 800% or more return on investment.

So while a motorcycle is fun to ride, I’d love to have someone get me an 800% return on my purchase after a few years.
I’d jump at the chance to purchase one if that were the case!

Yet, explained so simply, people still don’t get it.

So how do you add value to a website to get an 800% return?

Let’s look at just a few of the basics…

Always make sure your website is well branded.
If you have a logo you use for your business/business cards/stationery/press ads, use the same logo and colour scheme on your website so your brand is strong and consistent. Branding is everything!

Make contact simple.
I see so many websites (including the motorcycle site mentioned) that don’t have a phone number visible, or they have it way down in the footer of a long scrolling page. Thats perfect, if you DON’T want people to call you!
always try and keep the phone number near the top of the website, and reinforce it on every page of your site, in the same location, and even throughout your web content.
Add a contact form on your website so people can contact you outside of business hours, and add clearly defined links in your main text that link to the contact form (eg CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US).
And make sure the links actually click through to the page! It’s amazing how many people forget to add a live click through link or forget to test it.

Create a marketing list of potential clients
It doesn’t take much to set up an automated email marketing system with a simple form on your homepage to entice people to join your mailing list. Adding a mailing list to your website is one of the most important marketing tools a website can have, and you will find on average your potential client database will grow around 400% every week!
Using an email marketing system such as Aweber allows you to easily add a contact form into your website, and the contact details of each person that signs up is saved to a database for future email marketing, which is fully trackable for each campaign.

Online Brochure
When people are visiting your website looking for a particular product, odds are they are also going to look at your competitors websites as well. If they visit a bunch of competitors sites there is always a good chance they will forget your web address. Add a downloadable PDF flyer of your latest products to your website, so they have something to keep after they leave your website. Ideally kill two birds with one stone and add the downloadable brochure into the Mailing List subscribe form, so you collect their data each time someone wants a copy of your PDF brochure. Your marketing database will grow fast!

If you are marketing a product (such as motorcycles), they look much better when they are moving rather than a static photo. Adding a Youtube clip into your website is quick and easy and adds another dimension to your website, plus it creates additional online marketing for you through Youtube. Youtube videos allow you to create a live link from the videoclip to your website, producing much more potential traffic for your website.

Online Social Networking
‘Tweeting’ new products through Twitter, and adding the Facebook ‘Like’ button to your website allow visitors to share your product marketing with their friends, who usually share similar interests. This creates a great deal of website traffic for you and potentially a lot more new business. Social Network marketing is a must of the modern age of online marketing.

Search Engine Optimisation
We all know the importance of being on the first page of Google, yet a lot of people struggle to get their website up there.
google is not as complex as many people make out, and a few simple steps can see you reach a page one spot on Google, and retain it. Always ask your web developer to include search engine optimisation when they build your website, and ask them to integrate Google Analytics into your website so you can monitor the results of where your visitors are coming from and how they found you online.

Ask for feedback
Unless you ask your website visitors for feedback you won’t really know how you are performing online. Website visitors’ feedback can really help you create a successful online marketing tool and most people are happy to give feedback if you ask. Add a Feedback form on your website in the footer, or simply ask through Twitter occasionally and review the responses. It’s always good to look at your business from the other side of the window!

Author: Chris Bourke of Devision Design and Web SEO Coach.

Chris is a graphic designer, web developer, internet marketing and SEO expert based in Australia

Follow Chris on Twitter @webseocoach