From these spotlights, we hope you can learn something useful that can be applied to your own business, as well as connect with another entrepreneur.

Rabbi Andrea, tell us about you.

Rabbi Andrea: Well, I’ve always loved weddings! As a teenager, I found myself having visions of becoming a rabbi. It truly is a calling to become a rabbi.

It wasn’t until later on in my life that it dawned on me I was to follow this path. The office setting wasn’t for me. I was always turning to Judaism, temples, the spiritual focus that contributed to this knowing that my great, great grandfather was a rabbi. Learning this was what validated me to move forward in the proper training to become one.

Blending the two, Judaism and weddings, was a perfect fit – my niche! Being ordained offered to make both passions become a reality for me. That is how Rabbi Andrea, The Jewish Wedding Rabbi came about, and I have not looked back since.

What are your hobbies?

Rabbi Andrea: Crafts, cooking, baking, traveling, and enjoying being the traveling Rabbi!

Tell us about Jewish-Wedding-Rabbi.com.

Rabbi Andrea: It started with finding out that there was more than one way to practice as an ordained Rabbi. The traditional route is to have a pulpit and with a congregation. However, those demands offer no balance between congregational responsibilities and personal life. Being unaffiliated and or independent, I knew it would offer challenges in making a living, but my beliefs and faith was stronger in assisting those seeking a Rabbi for their life cycle ceremonies for I knew the need was there with over 70% with no connection to a congregation.

Being a Rabbi is about helping others, so I knew I could not go wrong. The Internet is the search tool of today, and having a website and the right marketing is what is used worldwide. The definition of a rabbi is teacher, so the website was the best medium to teach all about the Jewish wedding. The Internet is not filled with 100% misinformation. I strongly believed that those couples and families reading the content on my website would have security of some sorts knowing they were reading proper information.

When I started with my website and saw the domain Jewish-Wedding-Rabbi.com was available, I knew it was meant to be. This is the most common search engine keyword relevant to my business! When the website started becoming more visible, that’s when I knew I could add more pages to include all the other things that rabbis do.

Now, after six years, I reached that point where I get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals for weddings, naming ceremonies, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and all life cycle ceremonies – including funerals, even pet funerals!

Tell us more about pet funerals.

Rabbi Andrea: Pets become a part of the family and those that are very much pet lovers will fulfill all needs in the care of their pet including end of life issues.

Looking at creation, God created the animals and then created people. For we are to take care of the animals. There are pet cemeteries in place, and since it is now illegal to bury the family pet in the back yard, pet cemeteries provide a proper resting place. A special ceremony is created to provide comfort to family when a beloved pet is laid to rest.

There is a very well-known pet cemetery in New York called Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. When you walk the grounds of the cemetery and you see all the graves, it is touching. There is even a war dog from World War 2 – an amazing monument for he served our country for us. The cemetery and I connected, and those requesting a rabbi will be referred.

What are your goals?

Rabbi Andrea: My goals are being met. I am able to continue reaching out and assisting as many people as I can.

I provide a warm and personal ceremony that becomes a blessed memory and a lifetime of memories. I want to stay connected so people always have a rabbi to turn to. Believe it or not, Facebook became another great tool to stay connected with the wedding couples and the families I have officiated life cycle ceremonies for.

I’ve had wonderful opportunities. I’ve been flown to France, Mexico, Germany, soon to California, all over the Tri-State area of course – never forgetting my local area. In fact, even though I grew up in New York and spent my whole life here, I still feel like a tourist! I am constantly being exposed to unique and special venues. It’s a constant discovery. I get to be part of a couple’s first moment when I pronounce them husband and wife. Such joy!

As it is said, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. I would add to it and say, “enhance it”. I am going to continue what I have been doing and work towards more exposure to inform the unaffiliated community that they can call upon a rabbi. Focusing on what is important with Jewish life, as those seeking a rabbi knowing it is important to them as well.

How did you find out about FreedomVoice?

Rabbi Andrea: I found FreedomVoice online. I knew I needed a toll free number. When you go through the regular channels with the regular telephone company, the costs are astronomical. You are still dealing with normal jack and copper lines to create their toll free system, and that makes it a big expense. So I did a search and found FreedomVoice!

I had a previous provider and the customer service was unprofessional. I never received calls back from customer service. I needed a new provider and the FreedomVoice website came up. I could not believe as soon as I had a question as a new customer, I received a return call immediately. WebLink, the online control panel, is just awesome! I am mediocre with technology, and I’m impressed that it’s so easy to use.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Rabbi Andrea: With the economy being what it is, the first thing to go is religious memberships. Temples and synagogues can be the first thing out the door when finances are tight as there are dues. But the need for a rabbi for life cycle ceremonies still exists, so people reach out on the Internet. Technology will always stay in the household budget. We are a technological society. Being unaffiliated and accessible on the web helps me to help others anywhere, especially now. People are so happy to find me online, and to learn that I can travel to fulfill their needs for their important life cycles.

Would you recommend us?

Rabbi Andrea: In a heartbeat, absolutely!

Make sure you visit Rabbi Andrea on her website at www.jewish-wedding-rabbi.com and introducing www.www.jewish-wedding-judaica.com.com, an easy to navigate online shop for ceremonial ritual items. Mazel Tov!

We are featuring Albert Ciuksza Jr. of Portabeer.com.

Tell us about yourself.

Albert: I’m a beer-lover who happens to have entrepreneurial experience.  I was raised in El Paso, Texas, went to the University of North Texas for two years, then completed my degree at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Much of my extended family is in western Pennsylvania, so it was a natural fit for me to move here.

I found a job in Pittsburgh after graduation and have worked for a few different companies in wildly different industries. I really love this city — we have been voted “Most Livable” by Forbes magazine and a few others and I couldn’t agree more. Today, I’m happy to be directing a business growth initiative full-time for a well-recognized economic development organization as well as pursuing my MBA at the Katz Business School at the University of Pittsburgh.

What are your hobbies?

Albert: I haven’t had time for hobbies for the last couple of years between my career, outside projects, school, and other obligations. However, I really enjoy golfing, homebrewing, graphic design, tailgating (with a fanatical devotion to Pittsburgh sports teams), and camping. Plus, I love my job, I love school, and I love the start-up projects – they all feel like hobbies.

Tell us about PortaBeer.com?

Albert: The company grew out of a “man-weekend” camping trip in the summer of 2009. Four of us decided that we needed to get away, which happened to include taking a quarter-barrel of beer and a rigged CO2 pouring system. Our homemade solution failed, which inspired us to search for something more suitable. After coming up empty, we decided to attempt to build something on our own. While it started as sort of a joke, we realized that we were onto something when friends and industry veterans encouraged us to pursue it, further reinforced by a few successes in business plan competitions.

While developing the CO2 pouring system and building relationships in the industry, we saw an opportunity in high-quality, innovative beer accessories. Deciding that we could leverage our collective graphic design, photography, writing, operations, and fulfillment backgrounds, we decided to seek out specific products that we loved to use ourselves and sell them to others just like us. In November 2010, we launched PortaBeer.com as a retail site. Knowing the importance of customer service, especially with a new e-commerce site, we wanted to make it simple for customers to contact us. This led us to FreedomVoice and the perfect vanity toll-free number (855.PortaBeer [767-8223]). After more than a year of operation, our Sentol Bottle Opener, which makes you want to open an entire 12-pack because of how much fun it is to use, is our top-seller.

As for the CO2 pouring system (now named the PortaKeg), we’re in the final stages of development and are shooting to launch it in late spring/early summer of this year. We’re very excited by the feedback, both from potential consumers and commercial users, and can’t wait to see how the product does in the market.

How is your business structured? Family, friends involved?

Albert: Currently, we have four partners in PortaBeer LLC – a few of the original “campers” and a mechanical engineer, without whom we would have been sunk long ago. Todd Barnett is a friend from college with skills in photography, operations, and market research. Another partner, Mark Setto, is involved with another company that I had a chance to help get off the ground and has been critical in operations, product development, and fulfillment. Ray Robbins, who founded his own engineering company (Inertia Machinery), has become a friend through the challenges of building a new product from nothing.

How did you find out about FreedomVoice?

Albert: We found you via Google. After doing some research, it seemed that FreedomVoice gave us the simplest and least expensive way of implementing a toll-free number for our company.

What are your goals?

Albert:  “Your Beer. Anywhere.” We came up with this after scanning the landscape and realizing that enjoying one’s favorite beer isn’t all that easy to do outside of home or at a bar (for instance, most tailgating venues limit people to cans or kegs, making it difficult to enjoy craft beers since they’re usually only available in glass bottles). Long-term, we aim to be the leader in developing and marketing beer-related innovations to the individuals and companies who enjoy beer as a part of their lives.

How is your virtual phone system helping you accomplish those goals?

Albert: We don’t have a standard office and we all are working full-time, making the responsibility of assisting customers more challenging than most companies. We’ve been able to use FreedomVoice to split the responsibility between us so that we can make sure to answer the phone when someone gives us a call. That has made a difference in several instances where a customer might be confused as to what product would make the most sense for them, which has sometimes meant making a referral to another company.

How is your virtual phone system set up? Which features do you use?

Albert: We use mailboxes and call-forwarding so that any one of us can answer the phone while on the run. Between FreedomVoice, our email system and video conferencing, we rarely need to meet face-to-face to get things done.

Do you have remote employees?

Albert: We don’t have remote employees, but one of the principals, Ray, lives about 2,100 miles away in northern Nevada. Having an ability to communicate remotely has been the only way we’ve been able to move forward with the project. And, apparently like 20% of the couples getting married, we met him online.

How are you reaching out to your customers?

Albert: We employ some standard marketing techniques, such as a rather robust social media campaign (twitter.com/PortaBeer, facebook.com/PortaBeer). We also use email newsletters on a non-spammy basis to let our past customers and friends know about promotions, new products and new developments within the company. We’ve also made a very strong commitment to a non-profit organization called Operation Once in a Lifetime, which offers support to U.S Service members, their families and veterans regardless of rank, deployment, physical condition or branch or service.

What were your challenges getting started?

Albert: In many ways, we’re still getting started. However, once you have a great team, I think it comes down to having adequate resources (time, energy, and money) to make everything happen. A close second would be the challenges associated with establishing intellectual property rights – for most small companies just getting off the ground, it can be prohibitively expensive.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own business?

Albert: Don’t be a jerk. Don’t be greedy. Don’t be paranoid. Unselfishly share contacts and make introductions when you recognize an opportunity for two people help each other personally or professionally. Be audacious and ask prominent people in your industry for advice. Always look for an opportunity to get someone interested in talking about your company or product. Say “I’m sorry” when you make a mistake and back that up with action. Give back the time and energy others have given to you. Finally, find talented people who can help you since there’s no way any one person has the time, energy, and smarts to do it on their own forever.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

Albert: Sure! Keep track of what we’re doing at our blog: Have Another Round. And don’t be afraid to email me at albert@portabeer.com.

Visit Portabeer.com, and connect on their Facebook and Twitter pages!

It might seem unlikely to you now, but we’re professionals, we know what we’re talking about. 800 numbers and toll free numbers will end up being this year’s Tickle Me Elmo. Think about it, a vanity toll free number makes a great gift for any occassion.

At the time of writing this, there were countless toll free phone numbers available that ended in “funk”. Who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, a toll free 867-5309 was not available (I would have taken it).

Birthdays:

What does a loved one get the entrepreneur who seems to have it all figured out? The answer isn’t new slippers. Don’t be disappointed with your birthday present. Make sure when you blow out the candles, you’re getting ready to blow away your customers with a toll free number and professional auto attendant greeting.

Weddings and Anniversaries:

Time to party? An evermore popular way to accept RSVPs for your big day is to set up a lovely greeting on a toll free number (especially good if inviting guests from out of town) with two designated extensions for attending and not attending. You could get really fancy and set up extensions for dinner choices, but you probably don’t want to show off. Add voicemail transcription and you don’t even need to listen to the messages; have them sent to you as text on your mobile phone. Update your guest list without ever listening to a message!

Babies:

9 months have passed since the wedding (what a wedding!), and it’s time to welcome the newest member of the family. To go along with your baby book, create a virtual phone system for friends and family to call and leave messages welcoming your newborn to the world. All of your recordings are saved as audio files that can easily be saved to your computer and put on audio CDs to cherish forever.

Upgrade Your Business:

Does your home phone line double as your business line? Many small businesses and entrepreneurs work from home and don’t feel the need to invest a lot of money in another hard line just for their business, and why should they? A FreedomVoice virtual phone system will forward your new business line calls to any phone you desire, give you the option to take the call or send directly to voicemail, and even let you know what “department” the caller is looking for (e.g. sales, technical support, billing). All this while ensuring that you keep your professional and personal calls separate.

Sweepstakes Fanaticism:

Do you have a second email address just for entering contests online? Many people do, and they expect to get nothing but spam and junk mail and maybe an occasional prize. They don’t want their personal or business email assaulted with spam. A virtual phone system could serve the same purpose for contests that require a phone number. The problem with this is you can get just as much spam in the form of  telemarketing calls. Unfortunately, spam filters haven’t made it to voicemail yet, but a virtual phone system can effectively screen calls and keep your sweepstake obsession from overwhelming your personal and business lives.

(Legal) Pranks:

If you haven’t dialed 719-266-2837 yet, do it. Now. If you pull off something similar, please let us know!

Grab an 800 number while they’re hot, and check out our available toll free numbers, vanity numbers and local numbers while you’re there.

What are some other creative (family friendly) ways to use toll free numbers?

I’m talking about taking risks while you still can.

After all, the zombie apocalypse is penciled in for the end of the year. If your staff is already acting like a pack of walking corpses, it’s time to infuse some life. Much like surviving in a world of brain-hungry psuedo-humans, you must be courageous enough to take the leaps that will lead your business to the next level.

You know, just in case the world doesn’t end.

Whether you’re on the fence about introducing a new product or service, new feature, new location, or new strategy, do your research and go for it! If you die in the apocalypse, you don’t want the last thing you think about to be what could have happened if you increased your marketing budget. That’s a sad way to go.

If a race against the Doomsday Clock isn’t enough to inspire you, perhaps these famous quotes on risk-taking will:

• “Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” ~ Frederick B. Wilcox
• “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ~ T.S. Eliot
• “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” ~ Pablo Picasso
• “Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?” ~ Frank Scully
• “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” ~ Wayne Gretzky
• “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy

Hopefully these guys won’t be in the same room when the zombie apocalypse hits, The Great One would be really outnumbered by well-respected zombies.

We have a feeling all the apocalypse prophets forgot to “carry the one” again. And although it might not be the end of the world, it’s certainly not the end of the end of the world predictions.

Are you predicting big things for your business in 2012? Do you sell chainsaws and ammunition?

Looking at Time’s very unscientific top ten list of the most commonly broken New Year’s resolutions from last year, we realized a virtual phone system could really contribute to sticking to most of the goals (at least for a little while longer).

1. Lose Weight and Get Fit

• Who hasn’t had this New Year’s resolution at least once? But you are a busy person. Between your business and your family and friends, there’s very little time for you to focus on you. There just isn’t enough time to fit a workout in. A virtual phone system could help in a couple of ways. (1) As an affordable solution, you’ll have extra cash to spend on a gym membership or get started with creating your own home gym. (2) A virtual phone system means you don’t have to be in your office. You could work from home a couple of days every week and spend the time you’d normally spend on commuting, working out. The calls can be forwarded to any phone you want.

2. Quit Smoking

• We don’t have any features planned to help you quit smoking, but we’re in favor of this resolution anyway.

3. Learn Something New

• More time and money means more opportunity to do whatever you want. Don’t forget if your business is ready to upgrade from a virtual phone system, our hosted VoIP solution offers fantastic rates for international calls in case your goal is to learn a new language.

4. Eat Healthier Diet

• Busy people don’t always have time to prepare a healthy meal. After a long day, you’re tired and you know fast food is bad but it’s there, and it’s easy. A poor diet will keep you tired and negatively affect your health and motivation. Working from home would allow for more time to prepare something healthy and skip the triple bacon cheeseburger… mmm, bacon.

5. Get Out of Debt and Save Money

• You get the idea. Save money with a virtual phone system. These write themselves!

6. Spend More Time with Family

• You have options. Hire your family and spend more time with them at the office. Though comparing a sloppy report to a sloppy bathroom is probably not something your other employees will want to hear about. With a virtual phone system, work from home. Taking a break from work with your family is better than taking it with the new guy who smells kind of weird.

7. Travel to New Places

• Have you heard of coworking locations? As we already stated, a virtual phone system liberates you from the office. If your cell phone gets a signal, your calls can be forwarded to it. I hear Puerto Rico is very nice this time of year.

8. Be Less Stressed

• Go to Puerto Rico and try to feel stressed.

9. Volunteer

• This is a great resolution. There are so many worthwhile nonprofits that could use some help. Whether or not you decide a virtual phone system is right for you, hopefully you’ll be able to find time to help others.

10. Drink Less

• You’ll have more time and money. If that’s a problem for your drinking, we’re not going to be of much help. If, however, that helps your drinking, cheers!

What is your New Year’s resolution? Have you had any from this list before?

To get early access to the #NewNewTwitter, you have to simply download the official Twitter app from either the Apple Appstore or Android Market and log in with your account. When we tried, the website only needed a few hours to update our experience to #NewNewTwitter. The rollout of brand pages is starting slowly with only about 20 companies getting the treatment to start. Not surprisingly, these are hugely recognizable brands that have already put a lot of money into advertising on Twitter.

From their pages, we can see the layout that will be coming to the rest of us soon. The most intriguing is the use of the “promoted tweet” on each page. In the past promoted Tweets were paid advertisements. Now, each branded page will have its own promoted tweet that will be the first tweet a user sees when looking at your profile.

Why is this good?

Twitter is a great way for you to communicate with your customers and reach out to make new connections. Sometimes, however, a new user might discover your profile while you are in the middle of a conversation. It’s difficult to understand the protagonist when you start reading the book halfway through. The promoted tweets can be used as either an introduction to your brand or a call to action.

Other updates:

Multimedia is finding its home on Twitter. It’s no secret that photos and videos are shared more often than text and links, so now Twitter has made watching many video formats and photos hosted from more sites than ever viewable from within the Twitter interface, without being redirected to another website.

A new feature in the “Discover” tab is a section called “Stories.” Here, users will find stories based on their interests, location and connections. This means even if someone is not following your business, they may still see your tweets if you are talking about something they may find interesting. Stories will make using hashtags even more important.

Tip:

The redesign should help your business get your main message across to your audience more efficiently, but we still recommend using an application to manage your account. Applications like Tweetdeck, Seesmic, and Hootsuite (our favorite) have both free and premium services which enable you to more efficiently manage and monitor multiple social networks at once.

How do you monitor your brand online?

While Carrier IQ isn’t likely to go Skynet on us, this video is fairly alarming. It’s yet another log on the anti-privacy bonfire that has been ablaze in recent months with the antics of Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and many others. Who is going to be the John Connor that will end all of this?

First of all, I call dibs. But I’m going to wait until I see a T-1000 in real life. Second, let’s not freak out… yet.

A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking for any “manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ,” from the FBI by a blogger at MuckRock.com was denied on the grounds that revealing that information would interfere with a law enforcement case.

The YouTube video that started it all:

This doesn’t necessarily mean the FBI is using Carrier IQ data to track your every move. The FBI could actually have denied the FOIA request because they are building a case against Carrier IQ. We’ll all just have to wait and see where this goes. We do know the truth will eventually become clear as there have already been class-action lawsuits filed against Carrier IQ and the providers who use the app to collect user data (Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T).

The Carrier IQ discovery is certainly disturbing. The developer says that the data is only being used as a diagnostic tool to tweak performance and give to carriers; the content is not being stored. Two examples would be: 1) the software would record the date and phone number of a person you are texting, but will not record the message you send and 2) it will record what website you visit, but it will not record the actual content of the page. This is enough to make many people squeamish about the privacy of their data and usage.

The problem with Carrier IQ saying it’s not recording content is that the video above clearly shows every keystroke being recorded into a simple text file. Carrier IQ says that the output in that video is from pre-release debugging software that should have never made it onto a consumer device.

Carrier IQ’s response:

Now it’s time to pick your poison, either this company is secretly recording everything you do and giving it to your phone provider or they can’t keep track of what software is being pre-installed on phones without user consent.

Carrier IQ believes this is all a mistake and a misunderstanding. They say their software is beneficial to users because it lets phone carriers know if there are performance problems that need to be fixed. In an effort to be more transparent, they have released a 19 page document explaining what the IQ Agent is, how it works, and what it is used for.

Is Carrier IQ on your mobile phone? Are you going to try to remove it?

More: How to Find and Delete Carrier IQ

We are happy to announce that you will soon be able to purchase the SonicWALL TZ 210 and NSA 240 routers directly from FreedomVoice. Through our testing, we have found these routers to have robust firewalls, be capable of extremely effective Quality of Service (QoS), and we believe they will be great additions to any FreedomIQ service. And remember, when you order any hardware from FreedomVoice, we will preconfigure it for your unique system before shipment.

What is QoS?

QoS prioritizes web traffic going through the router. With good QoS, which SonicWALL routers provide, VoIP traffic can be given top priority over other network traffic, maximizing call quality. Without QoS, HD videos, streaming online radio, other web traffic and your VoIP call all fight over the same amount of bandwidth which can lead to calls with poor call quality. These SonicWALL routers, when programmed properly, will give your VoIP calls the VIP treatment and leave the rest of the traffic to share the remaining bandwidth. Check out our SonicWALL QoS demo below:

The SonicWALL TZ 210 is capable of handling up to 20 phones on the FreedomIQ service. It has a gigabit Ethernet interface, allowing you to connect it to an internal network gigabit switch for faster internal access. The TZ 210 also features application traffic analytics to determine how much bandwidth an application is using, optional wireless b/g/n for secure high-speed connectivity, along with WAN, analog modem and 3G cellular modem failovers to keep your network online all the time. Complete specs.

SonicWALL NSA 420

The SonicWALL NSA 240 is a step up from the TZ210 featuring dual-core processor architecture which allows FreedomIQ service to work for up to 60 locally connected phones. Complete specs.

With the addition of these two new routers to our existing supported list, we are able to give you more options to find the product that works best for your business.

From my own experience, when I scan a QR code I expect some sort of immediate reward or Easter egg for taking the time to engage with the advertisement. There’s nothing more disappointing than scanning a code only to be taken to the regular home page of whatever company caught my eye. This is where marketers are failing. If you see a web address printed somewhere, you can remember it and visit it later. A QR code has to be scanned on location or taken home  for later review. That’s a lot more work, so there better be a payoff for the user’s time and energy.

From a customer’s perspective, that’s the gamble behind QR codes. You don’t know where it will take you, but you hope it will be worth your time and show you something useful. And when it doesn’t, the letdown can harm the brand’s reputation and the customer’s willingness to engage in the future.

If you haven’t had much luck with QR codes, or are yet to try them out, there are a few simple things you can do to give yourself a better shot of making them work for you.

Thumbs Up:

The Red Cross proved great design is possible with QR codes.

Customize your QR codes. You can alter about 30% of the image and maintain its readability. Try incorporating your logo or product in some way. Also, don’t be afraid to change the colors to make it really stand out. The QR Code is your call to action. Make it enticing. Test the code with multiple QR scanning apps before publishing to make sure your customization didn’t render the code unreadable.

Location, location, location. The most creative QR code in the world won’t mean a thing if it is in an irrelevant location. QR Code billboards on the highway? Bad idea and just plain unsafe. QR codes on a disposable coffee cup? Genius.

Thumbs Down:

Destination. Just as important as the physical location of the QR code is the destination of where the code will take the user. Making a QR code just to have one is tempting, but it needs to make sense. It seems obvious that users will be visiting your QR code destination from a mobile device, but many QR codes lead to non-mobile websites resulting in a frustrating user experience.

Content. Congratulations, your QR code has broken through the clutter and convinced someone to take the time to scan it. Will it be worth it? If you’re thinking, “Yes, take a picture and it takes you to our website. How cool is that!” then the user probably won’t think too highly of your brand. A good idea would be to create a special mobile landing page for the QR code. Offer an exclusive discount, an enticing contest, or at least a thank you for their taking the time to scan it. A little extra effort can go a long way.

Cool Tools:

• Kaywa has a free tool for creating QR codes for URLs, SMS, phone numbers and plain text.
• Goo.gl is a great URL shortener that automatically creates a QR code and tracks your clicks.

Also check out How to Use QR Codes for Small Business Marketing.

Quiz: Now that you have a better idea on how to use QR Codes, what did we do right and wrong with ours at the top of this post?

That’s an idea that most people can get behind. Artists should be compensated for their work, even the modern day Picasso’s who came up with Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, and websites selling bad counterfeit medications shouldn’t be allowed to operate. The problem is that there are a lot of unintended consequences in the language of the bills that would change the way we use the Internet.

Currently, online copyright infringement is enforced by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) of 1998. It protects online service providers (OSPs) from copyright infringement if a user posts protected content on their site as long as the OSP removes it when asked by the copyright holder. For example, someone posts a copyright protected item in a comment on your blog, if you get a letter telling you to remove it, you do so, end of story. SOPA on the otherhand, could automatically remove offending websites from search results as well as have the sites blocked by ISP DNS servers, making them virtually inaccessible to the common Internet user. A major concern is that Americans will start using foreign DNS servers to access the Internet at a potentially high security risk.

If the Baby Geniuses were in Congress, we wouldn’t have this problem…