QR Codes: The Next Big Thing In Web Marketing?

Jonathan Blum of the website Blumsday rounds up tools that help small businesses deploy QR codes to promote their companies. Customers can use their smartphone camera to read QR codes printed on signs or in publications. The code automatically directs them to a website or places a call to your business.

"We all use bar codes to buy things. Now small businesses may be able to use them to sell things.

For pure techno hip factor, it’s tough to beat quick response codes. Known as QR codes, these bizarre-looking, black-and-white gridded squares are actually straightforward: They render information in a way that digital devices can easily understand. I like to think of QR codes as physical hyperlinks -- like barcodes on the side of most products -- that connect names, numbers, and other data to physical objects using the camera on a smart phone or other portable device."