QR Codes are similar to normal bar codes that are used by retailers to track inventory and product prices at the point of sale. The difference between the two is that bar codes are limited to 20 numerical digits. QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can hold thousands of numeric characters of information.

QR codes can be used to create links to Web pages, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, text or text messages (SMS) and placed on your printed material for easy mobile access.

Munley, Munley & Cartwright, a Pennsylvania personal injury and national truck accident law firm, is among our clients who are adding QR codes to their business cards, literature and other printed materials.  The firm feels that QR codes are an efficient way to route individuals to an applicable website page that will provide helpful information. We (Consultwebs) are adding QR codes to our printed materials, including our lawyer marketing newsletters.

To read a QR code, you will need to download a QR code reader from iTunes (for iPhones), Android Market (for Android phones), Ovi Store (for Nokia/Symbian phones) or Windows Marketplace (for Windows Mobile phones). Once you have a QR code reader installed, your Smartphone will utilize the phone’s camera to scan in the codes.

How Can My Law Firm Use QR Codes?

Your law firm can benefit from using bar codes in several different ways. For example:

• At the back of your business card to link to:
  • Your e-mail address;
  • Your phone number;
  • Your social media sites (Facebook page, LinkedIn etc);
  • Your attorney profile;
  • Your YouTube account.
• Your newsletter can include a QR Code that links to an article that further discusses what your newsletter is covering;
• A QR code can be included in printed material that you send out and link to your online vCard;
• Your conference name tag can include a QR Code that allows you to quickly and easily exchange contact information with other attendees;
• Your advertisements.

How to Generate QR Codes

You can choose from several different options to generate Quick Response Codes. Two popular ones are http://www.qrstuff.com/and http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. To generate the code, simply type in the URL, phone number, text message etc that you need and the QR generator gives you back the code or image that you need for your website or print material.

It is a good practice to use services similar to http://goo.gl/ to track your QR Code usage so you can see which QR code placement generates the most value for you. This is also a good way to measure how effective your print material is. You can use services such as http://qrcode.good-survey.com/ or http://www.sparqcode.com to track your analytics and generate your QR codes. You can also create a special landing page on your website to track your QR code usage. The landing page should be optimized for mobile phone access.

Other QR Code Usage

There are several different services available for different QR code usage. One service, http://www.likify.net/, allows you to generate Facebook likes. Likify.net can be used by your law firm to generate Facebook likes on different print material the firm sends out, such as newsletters.

While we don’t expect to see people sporting QR code tattoos, they are growing in prominence.  If the online legal marketing experts at Consultwebs.com can provide additional information on QR codes and QR code usage, please contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or (800) 872-6590.

How Can My Law Firm Use Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) and How Can They Benefit My Law Firm? | Law Firm Web Marketing

If you are selecting your Web server on your own, you should consider the following:

• Stability Of The Vendor – Web hosting companies come and go.  Some fail, and some are sold.  Make sure that your vendor is established, has a successful track record and is strong financially.  It takes significant capital to provide adequate facilities, software and security systems.  Call several of the vendor’s clients to ensure that the company is responsive and reliable;
• Web Servers / Server Software – Many hosting businesses offer both Windows and Linux hosting. You should consider which operating system is right for your business. If your website is built on WordPress, for example, you should consider a Linux server over a Windows web server;
• Support – Does the hosting company offer support 24/7? Does the company offer both e-mail and phone support?;
• Backups – A good backup program is one of the most critical elements when it comes to your hosting company evaluation. If your hosting company does not offer an “off server” backup plan, you should move on to another company or make sure to keep your own backups in the event of a server hardware failure;
• Disk space – If your site includes a lot of video or audio files, you should make sure you can store them on the Web server. Most hosting businesses allow you to go over your disk space limit for an additional fee;
• Bandwidth – Although you probably do not have to worry about bandwidth limits, it is a good idea to factor that into your evaluation if you plan on streaming video or audio files;
• Control Panel – A typical control panel allows you to organize your account. For example, it allows you to manage your e-mail accounts and set up auto responders for your e-mail. A more advanced Control Panel allows you to make DNS changes, set up backup options and create databases;
• E-Mail Accounts – If you plan on hosting your e-mail accounts with the hosting company you are evaluating, you should look into what e-mail options they offer, what kind of e-mail servers they are using and whether they offer some kind of anti spam filters and anti spam options. An alternative solution is to register with Google Apps for your e-mail needs.

For a related hosting article, please see “Should Your Law Firm Website Use A Shared Or Unique IP Address To Resolve Search Engine Rankings Concerns?”.

If you would like additional information on law web hosting, please feel free to contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or call us at 800-872-6590.

How To Evaluate Law Firm Web Hosting Companies | Law Firm Web Marketing

What is the difference between a shared and a dedicated IP address?

If your website is hosted on a shared IP address, hundreds or thousands of websites can be using the same IP address as your website. If your website is hosted on a dedicated IP address, your website is the only site that uses that particular IP address.  A dedicated IP address typically costs an average of $1-5 dollars per month more than a shared address.

Should I be concerned about my website using shared IP address?

Yes and no. The IP address you are sharing with other websites could get flagged for adult or spam content or suffer other penalties that extend to the IP address. It’s always a good idea to perform a reverse IP lookup on the IP address you are given, to see what other websites are shared within your IP address and IP range.

Even if you have a dedicated IP address, you could still be flagged if an IP within your IP range is flagged. Therefore a reverse IP lookup is a still a good idea if you are hosting your site on a dedicated IP address. You can run a reverse IP lookup with a tool such as http://www.reverseipcheck.com/.

Can it affect my ranking? Will my website rank higher if I use a dedicated IP address?

Google Director of Technology Craig Silverstein said in a Slashdot interview: “Actually, Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on dedicated IP addresses. If your ISP does virtual hosting correctly, you’ll never see a difference between the two cases. We do see a small percentage of ISPs every month that misconfigure their virtual hosting, which might account for this persistent misperception – thank you for giving me the chance to dispel a myth!”

Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team also said: “Links to virtually hosted domains are treated the same as links to domains on dedicated IP addresses.”

In summary, for both questions – “Can a shared IP address affect my rankings?” and “Can my website rank higher if I use a dedicated IP address?” – the answer is, “No.”

However, it is still a good practice to use a dedicated IP address to prevent you from being blacklisted in the search engines in the event that a shady website uses your shared address.

If you would like additional information on law web hosting, please feel free to contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or call us at 800-872-6590.

Should Your Law Firm Website Use A Shared Or Dedicated IP Address To Resolve Search Engine Rankings Concerns? | Law Firm Web Marketing