A yard sign QR code that never goes stale

A yard sign is built to last for years. The listing it advertises lasts a few weeks. If the QR code on the sign points straight at one listing, the sign is out of date the day the house sells, and every scan after that lands on a "no longer available" page.

With a code you can edit, the sign stays useful for as long as it stands.

Start with the listing

Create a code and set its base URL to the listing page. That's where every scan goes when no rule says otherwise. Print the code on the sign rider or the flyer box and you're done.

When the house goes under contract, change the base URL to your next listing, your other active listings, or your own page. The printed code doesn't change, only where it leads.

Point the open house at the sign-in sheet

On open house day, people scanning the sign are probably standing in front of the house. A date and time rule covers that:

• Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: your open house sign-in form or the visitor info page

After 2 p.m. the rule stops matching and scans go back to the listing on their own. No one has to remember to switch anything back.

If you want to be stricter, a location rule can send only people within, say, 100 feet of the house to the sign-in form. Location rules ask the phone for its location first, so anyone who says no simply gets the next rule or the listing.

Show Spanish speakers the Spanish listing

If you have the listing in Spanish, add a language rule: phones set to Spanish get the Spanish page, everyone else gets the English one. It works for any language, so a neighborhood with a lot of Vietnamese or Chinese speakers can get its own version too.

Know whether the sign is working

Every scan is counted. On the free plan you see the total for each code, which already tells you whether people notice the sign. With the paid plan you get the full picture: scans by day and hour, which rule each scan matched, and which phones people used. That's handy when a seller asks how much attention the property is getting.

Before you print

• Test it. Scan the code with your own phone before it goes to the printer.
• Size. For a sign read from the sidewalk, bigger is better. A code about a tenth as wide as the scanning distance is a good rule of thumb: 1 foot across for 10 feet away.
• Keep the edges clear. Leave a blank margin around the code so phones can find it.

What it costs

You can make codes, change their links, and build and test rules for free, and free codes never expire. On the free plan, scans show a short hold page with the destination before they go to the base URL. The $60/year plan runs your rules on real scans, sends people straight to the page with no hold page, and adds your own logo to your codes. If you ever stop paying, your codes keep working.

Make your first sign code, or see more ideas by business.