TECHNOLOGICALLY speaking, this is a sign of the times.

New web company Land in Cairns has employed the QR code technology - two-dimensional barcodes embedded in For Sale placards - to market properties for real estate agencies, developers and private sellers.

Potential buyers who use Next G phones to take photographs of the codes will be diverted to a web page with relevant information about the advertised property such as price, land size and nearby services.

QR - short for quick response - technology has been widely used by marketing agents in Japan, Europe and the US.
Telstra has developed the concept and most new mobile phones will be equipped with the facility to recognise the codes.

Land in Cairns directors Michael Nelson, also managing director of Etch Tourism Marketing, and Darryl Posgate, a former police and Customs and Border Patrol officer, launched their company in August.

Mr Nelson said the QR code was catching on with clients and purchasers.

"It's definitely a first for Cairns," he said.

"It's probably the only sign around that doesn't have a phone number on it.

"There are gimmicks and all sorts of things around but this is a really useful tool."

He said Land in Cairns was not a real estate agency but a web-based firm that marketed properties.

"We're an information portal," Mr Nelson said.

"The web is getting so big and cumbersome that people are now wanting real-time information."

Major developers, including the Hedley Group, CEC and Thakral Holdings, have recruited the company to promote their properties.

Land in Cairns also has developed a Facebook site as part of its campaign.

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