Wicked Cool Studios

What the heck is a QR Code?

A QR (Quick Response) code is a two-dimensional image that can be scanned by a smartphone or other camera equipped digital devices, and will automatically direct you to a multitude of information.

You may have seen them on catalogs, food packaging, and ads in the past and never given them a notice.

QR codes have been around since 1994 in Japan and they are being used more broadly in advertising with the smartphone boom. More consumers are accessing the web thru their mobile devices and QR codes are a great way to quickly get your content to the viewer.

Why the heck do I need a QR Code?

From linking to your homepage or a specific page on your website to giving someone turn by turn directions to your stores location thru Google maps. The limits to your usage are pretty limitless.

But isn’t that what URL’s are for? Yes, but URL’s can be long and easily forgettable.

Picture your ad in a magazine and someone sitting in a waiting room is passing the time by flipping thru it and sees your awesome ad, designed by WCS of course. At the bottom of the ad they see your long URL directing them to your site. They may love the ad, of course, and love the product you are selling but they don’t want to write it down and maybe the want to quickly share it with others. How can they do that? A QR code.

The pull out their smartphone, open the QR Code reader app and scan the code. From there they can facebook it, email it, text message it, to others in a matter of minutes. In that short time your little ad with its nifty QR code has spread the word of your awesome product to millions of other potential clients.

Aren’t QR code generators free and easy to use? Why the heck do I need you?

Good question. Yes, there are many QR code generator websites and they are very easy to use. What we offer is our abilities to customize your QR code for use on web and print.

By customizing your QR code you are branding it in a unique way that makes it stand out and aids the viewer in explaining what the code does.

A QR Code can handle a degradation of up to 30% of its data, depending on the rate of compression, and still works. What the heck does that mean? Basically we can add all kinds of stuff to it and it still scans okay.

WCS QR Code Services

Now that you have decided to have a QR Code created for your website, social media presence, or any web based content, we can help you create a code that will stand out from the rest. From creatively placing your logo in the middle of the code with matching colors to your branding to making a full illustrated mascot with a QR Code built into the design, we do it all.

WCS QR Code Pricing

Custom QR Code pricing starts @ $35.00 for placing logo in the center, and starts @ $135.00 for QR code Mascots

Some custom QR Codes we have done in the past.

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What is RSS and why should I care?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a fast easy way to share/receive news and updates. How many times have you been browsing the net and seen this? Probably more times than you can count. Say you have a few websites you visit regularly to keep updated on topics of your interest. This can become a pain if you have quite a few you visit, we don’t always have the time to check out our fav sites everyday and see if they have new content.

Newsletters are a great way to keep updated on a sites big news announcements, but the problem with newsletters are that you aren’t updated each time content changes unless the webmaster is extremely diligent with sending out newsletters, and a lot of time they arrive in your spam box. With RSS you can subscribe to a feed and use a feed reader such as Google reader to keep track of all the news you can handle. Some RSS feeds even have the option to have the feed sent directly to your inbox if you prefer. Though seriously, why clutter your inbox? Take advantage of the feed reader, you will thank me later!

So how do I get one of these fancy readers? If you have a gmail/google account you can easily use Google’s reader, just sign into your account and go for it. I personally use the Google reader and love it! Don’t have a Google account, GET ONE! It takes five minutes and they provide so many great services, you really shouldn’t be missing out. There are many popular readers to choose from though, just do a search for “RSS feed reader” and check it out!

So how do I subscribe to a feed? EASY! Just click on the RSS icon and follow the on screen steps, you can’t go wrong as there are only a few choices to make. But first be sure to get yourself a reader.

So how do I offer a feed on my blog? Again EASY! There are several feed services that can manage your feeds for you. Feedburner.com is the service I use and its very simple and has a step by step setup. With feedburner you can have your customers subscribe through a reader or email and you also can keep track of your stats straight through your feedburner.com account. :) For more info on feeds and feedburner.com go HERE.