Got a Smartphone, Get a QR Code Reader

Further to my popular post about QR Codes, I figured it was time to talk about reading these codes.

QR Codes are starting to gain a little ground in advertising, who am I kidding, they are popping up everywhere. One of the early adopters of this technology was Real Estate agents and like most implementations you have a broad mix of excellent use to useless. I’ve seen lawn sign with QR Codes in front of a home for sale that link me directly to the house details (photos, price, agent contact info) and location-aware functionality that shows me other homes the agent lists in the area. I’ve also seen the same kind of placement that send me to the agent’s website with no easy way to find details about the house I’m standing in front of. I have clients using them for newsletter signups at their retail counter, others with them on their front door to send after hours visitors to their website and some using them on all their print marketing to engage that “younger audience”. No matter what they are doing with them, it’s up to the viewer to have some way of using the QR Code.
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iPhone, 1 Pixel Out Audio Player and HTML5 – The Prequel

Lots of response to my original article about HTML5 and the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player. Unfortunately, most of it was because the original code and links died. I was able to get in touch with the author and he was kind enough to send all his files for me to repost and host here. Below is Ryan’s original article (with a couple minor edits requested):
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Solution to WordPress “File param is missing” no CSS

If you’ve loaded up your WordPress site and found the CSS gone, you’re not alone.

Turns out there is a new bug in the W3 Total Cache plugin of WordPress where the minified CSS and JS files aren’t accessible. Your site will throw a 400 Bad Request error and if you try to access the referenced file directly you’ll get a “File param is missing” message.

The quick fix until it is addressed by the folks at W3 Total Cache is to disable the “Rewrite URL structure” option on the Minify tab in the W3 Total Cache options panel. Hopefully it’s just temporary and the next update will resolve the issue and you can turn the rewrite back on.

Link Building

Getting your website noticed is one of the most challenging things involved in launching and maintaining an online presence. I often have clients contacting me to say they have received an email offering them the opportunity to get great exposure for their website by adding them to directories or lists for a small, one-time fee. It is very tempting to think that it’s a good deal but they are running the risk of actually having a negative impact on their website.

Don’t get me wrong, links are good, they always have been and (I expect) they always will be. What creates a problem is the type of links and how they are perceived by the various search engines. For the sake of discussion and practicality, we can just focus on Google as the search engine of choice for most internet users.

Let’s step back for a moment and consider why you would want links to your website. It seems pretty obvious that the more links pointing to your website the more potential visitors you will have. This is what’s called “referred traffic”. Links will also help search engines find your website and improve how the search engine “sees” it.
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Loads.in Web Page Loading Time

Test how fast your web page is loading by visiting Loads.in This can be a good first step in determining if your site is performing well. Of course, there are many other tools and techniques for determining when and where your slowdowns are occurring…or you can just give me a shout to have a look.

Launch: Sizzle with Decor

Following the launch of their brand new site, the site owners ran into problems. Clients were unable to use the site, search engines were not finding it, associates complaining about trying to select products for event planning, and even a call from a client who was upset she had referred a friend and they got a bad first impression visiting the site. On top of all of that, the brand new site showed up as a blank page on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Normally this would result in contacting the current designer but they were unresponsive.

On our initial call I was able to identify critical problems with her site, not the least of which it was written entirely in Flash, and helped her plan a quick solution. Given a very short timeline, I migrated the content to my hosting and redesigned the entire site. The new site has been met with great responses from clients, associates and suppliers and can be easily updated by the team at Sizzle with Decor. Plus, it’s iDevice friendly.

This project has included:

• Search Engine Optimization SEO
• Site redesign and development
• Content Migration
• Web Hosting

If you have an upcoming Wedding or Corporate Event, you really should check out their site and contact Sizzle with Decor.

A Million Thanks for all your help, support and very insightful advice and ideas.
Estrelita Aboukassam
Sizzle with Decor

Launch: Dixon Jewellers

This project started out as an update to the search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing of the existing site to improve local exposure for the business owner Matt Dixon. It quickly became apparent that the previous designers approach and coding limited our options. To keep within the original budget and scope several coding errors were fixed, basic seo updates were done and tracking codes added to establish baselines and monitor efforts.

After a while Matt approved the complete overhaul of the Dixon Jewellers site to make it easier for their staff to manage and update as well as provide mobile browser support and increased SEO and SEM functionality.

This project has included:

• Search Engine Optimization SEO
• Search Engine Marketing SEM
• Site redesign and development
• Content Migration
• Link placement
• Social Media
• Web Hosting
• Email Hosting
• Ongoing Administration
• Ongoing Marketing

As the premiere full-service manufacturing jeweller in the Ottawa area, Dixon Jewellers is an excellent source for engagement rings, custom jewellery, diamonds, precious gems and now some unique estate pieces. Check out their new site at DixonJewellers.com

QR Codes

You’ve probably seen the funky squares with scribbles somewhere in your travels and may or may not know what they are. They’ve been around for awhile and are very popular in Japan but now they are making an appearance in North America. Read more >>

iPhone, 1 Pixel Out Audio Player and HTML5

Update September 2011: Looks like blueprint is offline so I contacted Ryan and he was gracious enough to provide his source files. See his original article and code now on my site.

Ryan over at intereactive.net posted an excellent fix way back in late 2009 for the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player (ETA: now on my blog since intereactive is gone). The player is widely used as a standalone item and as a WordPress plugin. The problem is that being Flash-based it isn’t supported on iDevices — iPhone, iPad, iPod — so Ryan came up with the fix. His solution detects if an iDevice is accessing the page then replaces the Flash player with an icon linking to the audio file.
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Google.com or Google.ca?

There is an important distinction between Google.com and Google.ca when trying to plan your online search engine efforts. Of course, ideally it would be great to get high placement for your site and keywords on Google.com but realistically why would you put a lot of money and effort into it?

As it turns out, Google.ca was used for around 65% of Canadian searches followed by Google.com at 13%. This is partly due to Canadian visitors to Google.com automatically being sent to Google.ca for their search and also due to people trying to get more relevant local results. Google Places, among other tools, have been moving us to more local search results and when you add in review sites like Yelp.ca it is getting a lot easier for people to find things where they can use them.

So if you are a local business, what does this mean to you and your marketing efforts? Well, it means you should make sure that you are set up properly on Google Places, that your web site clearly indicates where you are located and that you should be putting some of your seo resources into localized online advertising and local link building. Also, if you have a loyal client base, you should ask them to rate you on local review sites.