Over the last month or so, I’ve written about the emergence and use of QR codes more than once or twice and today’s post is another about their uses as a marketing tool.

Reading my local newspaper last week I inevitably reached the first page of the job section and the point where I normally close the paper and put it away, but not this time. The page I was looking at contained a list of web design vacancies but only the job titles not the job descriptions because they had all been replaced with QR codes.

Smartphone-owning job seekers only had to scan them to be taken to the various websites of those advertising the vacancies where they could learn about the jobs themselves and apply immediately for whatever positions interested them.   

It looked quite strange seeing so many QR codes together on one page but nevertheless, here was yet another way of utilising them, this time for recruitment purposes.

It’s worth mentioning that as not everyone owns a smartphone, it renders QR codes useless to a percentage of mobile users. However, with indications being that many are naturally upgrading to smartphones when their contracts are up for renewal and those who can’t wait are simply buying them, this should quickly become less of an issue.

Whatever other uses are yet to be devised for QR codes, they appear to be rapidly gaining in popularity and becoming a very efficient method of quickly and easily getting visitors to websites, although there are some that believe they are simply a passing fad and will disappear sooner rather than later. They may be right but without the power to see into the future we won’t know for certain until it happens.

Until next time.

Last year, I wrote a couple of web design posts on the growing number of QR codes and said that creative marketers would probably come up with interesting and innovative ideas for their use other than just being a quick link to websites, and since then one such idea to emerge is as an aid for tourists and tourism.

The town of Monmouth has been chosen by Wikipedia to take part in their first QR code project by inviting residents to provide the content regarding the town itself, for example, famous residents, notable locations, town history, attractions, personal memories and trivia. In fact anything tourists may be interested to know.

As a community effort, any Monmouth resident, school, college or business can contribute information to the project and on any particular subject. The QR codes will then be placed on plaques at over 1000 locations throughout the town where visitors will be able to scan them with their smartphones from the start of the project which is expected to be sometime during April this year.

Interestingly, the content in the QR codes won’t be confined to English or Welsh speakers only as Wikipedia will be giving visitors the option of reading the information in multiple languages; over 270 other languages in fact. If the project is successful, it would be no surprise to see it extended to other towns and cities in the UK and almost certainly in other countries as well.

An interesting use for QR codes which should hopefully prove effective and successful for both Wikipedia and visitors to Monmouth alike whilst at the same time offering more exposure for QR codes and their possibilities for the future.

Until next time.

It’s the end of another year and typically a time when we look back at what has happened during the past twelve months. This blog like many others has looked at various areas of general web design and has endeavoured to keep abreast of both developing and outgoing trends.

As trends go, perhaps the most talked about and more important one is the need for businesses to have mobile optimised websites. Mobile, or to be more precise, smartphones have had a massive impact on web design and this looks set to continue well into 2012 and beyond.

The phenomenal and continuing rise in the number of smartphone users has freed website visitors, consumers and social network addicts from the restrictions of traditional PCs and put the internet firmly in their pockets and a staggering choice of apps ensure that accessing websites, communication and online purchasing is as easy on mobile as it is on a standard computer.

Web designers have managed to compact websites into the much smaller screen spaces of mobile devices and even smartphone cameras are now being further utilised as scanners for reading the growing number of QR codes to be found in magazines, websites and newspapers.

There were of course other web design developments of note during 2011, but there’s little doubt that mobile has made the biggest impression and impact of all and probably has a lot more to give in 2012 – we’ll see.

In the meantime, I would like to thank all our readers for being with us over the past twelve months and wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year and hope you continue reading in 2012.

Until next time.

In the first post of this three-parter, I started out by saying that even though more and more websites are now being accessed via mobile devices and businesses should have a mobile-optimised version of their website, they shouldn’t make the mistake of overlooking the continued importance of their main website and offered what I hope were some simple but helpful tips and pointers on SEO and website copy.

Even websites can become old and jaded so this last post offers a couple of suggestions for refreshing the visual aspect of your website with a makeover which may not be as costly as you might think but could give your site a whole new lease of life.

Think about changing the layout – just moving the images to another position would make a difference or perhaps consider displaying them as a slideshow as a change to being static.

Take a look at your images – do they still reflect your line of business or have you diversified and could do with updating to something more fitting?

If feasible, try and steer clear of generic and stock images by getting a competent photographer to take some original photos for you – failing that - have a go yourself.

How about your colour scheme? Would your site benefit from different shades or a total change of colours?

Is your site too busy? Think about reducing some of the content and creating more white space for a cleaner look.

Just a few simple suggestions of ways to refresh the look of your website and your web design company can make it happen. I go back to what I said in the first post of the series regarding the rise of smartphones and the need for mobile-optimised sites.

They are now a must-have if businesses want to capture mobile users but are extremely unlikely to ever replace standard sites due to their diminutive size which is why your main website shouldn’t be neglected because there will always be room for both.

Until next time.

In this second of three posts regarding maintaining your main website, we look at copy. Your website copy is one of the most important elements of your site and arguably the most powerful because it’s what tells visitors what they want to know.

Like any other part of your site the copy must be kept in good order and benefits from being regularly refreshed or occasionally rewritten. However, there are some basic checks you can carry out to ensure that at least your current copy is up to scratch.

Read through the copy to identify errors such as spelling mistakes or poor grammar – invite someone else to do the same – they might spot something you’ve missed.

Check the facts! Is your copy imparting up to date information to visitors? If your business has changed or diversified your copy needs to reflect that.

Is your copy consistent? Check that it doesn’t contain different spellings or variations of the same word – for example, ‘website’ and ‘web site’.

Does your site contain more copy than it needs? If your copy is padded out but not saying actually anything, consider removing anything that’s not relevant.

If you don’t do so already, break up blocks of copy with the use of headings and bullet points – this makes it much easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.

Good copy is as vital to the success of a website as the web design itself and the two can’t be divorced from each other without affecting that success. If you can afford to hire a copywriter for your written content it would be money well spent, but if not, then the tips and points I’ve listed should at least help to improve what’s already there.

In the third and final part of ‘Don’t Overlook Your Website!’, the subject will centre on refreshing the look of your website.

Until next time.

With the insatiable appetite for smartphones and the need for businesses to have a mobile-optimised website, it would be easy to forget that in the clamour to capture mobile visitors your main website still needs to be properly maintained.

It’s true that more and more visitors are using mobile devices for online activities like shopping, email and social networking but regardless of how high or quickly those numbers grow it doesn’t mean that your main website will become redundant.

It’s a fairly safe assumption that PCs won’t be consigned to the scrapheap anytime soon just because smartphone usage appears to be going through the roof and beyond, so whilst a mobile-optimised website is now a must, a standard (for want of a better word) website still holds the same importance as it ever did.

Checking that every element of your website is working correctly is time well spent and is something your web design company will be happy to assist you with. In this the first of three posts, I’m going to touch on a few things you can do to keep your website healthy, starting with a few simple tips for SEO.

Test your website’s internal and external links to ensure they are working correctly.

Look at the sites you’ve linked to – are they similar businesses to yours or totally unconnected?

Check through your website copy – are your main keywords and search phrases present and in the right density?

Consider adding a site map to your website – great for easier navigation and helpful when search engines are indexing your site.

What I’ve mentioned are very basic points and only a tiny part of the SEO process but they are also things that website owners can check for themselves and not a bad thing for them to experience their own websites from a visitor’s point of view.

In the second part of this three-part post on looking after your website, I’ll be covering the subject of copy.

Until next time.

A couple of days ago I happened across a website that left me quite amazed. It wasn’t because it had an outstanding design or stunning graphics. It wasn’t interactive and nor did it have any fancy Flash animation. What amazed me was the fact that the only way of contacting the owner was through a mobile phone number.

The majority of website visitors don’t even think about phoning a company when they decide to contact them, at least not on their first visit. They often prefer the relative anonymity of email to begin with so they can assess the professionalism and competence of a business based on their email conversations.

Now technically there is nothing to say that it’s wrong to offer only a phone contact option because even in this email age some businesses might prefer to be contacted in this way and that’s their prerogative. However, looking through the website it was obvious that this business invited contact through email as well, though how they thought that would happen is a mystery to me.

Yes, there were ‘click here’ invitations to contact them on every page and all were underlined so they stood out but that’s all they were: underlined words, not clickable links and nowhere on the site is there a visible email address clickable or otherwise.

The website in question is homemade and not the work of a web design expert and so understandably not without its rough edges but of all the errors it could contain, having no way of contacting them by email could be amongst the worst.

Since looking at this site I have come across others where email links are present but inoperative and there are more out there than you’d imagine. Broken email links will not only be an annoyance for visitors, they also do nothing to enhance a company’s online image. In fact that goes for any broken website links not just email.

Website owners should be making periodic checks on their website links especially their email because although some visitors will take the time to type in an email address, many others are likely not to bother and instead just leave the website in favour of another one.

Until next time.

Before writing this, the last post before Christmas, I went to my local supermarket to get some last minute bits and pieces, and you’d expect, the place was extremely busy despite the early hour but I quickly got what I needed anyway and headed for the checkout.

I didn’t actually reach the checkout for another twenty minutes or so because of a shopper’s comment to her husband/boyfriend or whoever caused me to stop and eavesdrop on their conversation which to me got more interesting by the minute.

The shopper in question was looking at her Blackberry and had commented to her companion that a particular item (I don’t know what it was) was being sold cheaper by a rival chain. It was hearing this that caused me to stop and listen because although they were already in the store she was still searching product prices via her smartphone.

Her partner suggested she try yet another website to check the price only for her to reply that she’d already looked at that one but…‘The website was too big for the screen…I couldn’t find it (I assume she meant the product itself) and I couldn’t be arsed with all the messing about’. Obviously, the website she’d looked at wasn’t optimised for mobile and consequently had missed out on a potential sale.

Web design blogs including this one have long been preaching the need for businesses to have a mobile-friendly website, and I saw firsthand what happens when they don’t. Smartphones numbers are growing daily and the conversation I witnessed this morning is likely being repeated by countless other smartphone owners all over the country. Optimising for mobile is no longer a matter of choice but an absolute must.

As a secondary observation, what really surprised me was when I heard her say they would drive to this other store where the item was cheaper and buy it there because up to then it appeared to be just a price comparison exercise but actually went much further to the point that despite the busiest time of year for shoppers and traffic they were prepared to travel somewhere else for a better deal.

What I’m saying is that once consumers are on your premises with everything they need under one roof, it’s no guarantee they will take advantage of that convenience if they can find something cheaper elsewhere. In other words, it’s not a done deal because smartphones have given money-conscious shoppers the power and ability to browse other outlets even whilst they are shopping in yours.

That’s about it for now except to thank all our readers for being with us this year and to wish each and every one of you a very merry and happy Christmas from everyone at the in.house.media web design blog.

Until next time.