ME-QR

Ivan Melnychuk, Founder

London, UK

2024

ME-QR makes it easy for anyone to get up and running with QR codes

When a restaurant Ivan Melnychuk frequented needed to make their menu accessible through QR codes, he jumped at the chance to help — and started a business in the process. Now ME-QR helps businesses and individuals harness the power of QR codes — and ads help them do it for free.

QR codes are on the menu

Getting dinner on the table each night is never easy, especially when both partners have demanding jobs. So given their long hours as IT professionals, Ivan Melnychuk and his wife often ate at a restaurant nearby because it was quicker than cooking.

But again: Ivan and his wife were busy. They didn’t have time to waste — so they wanted the ability to read the restaurant menu before arriving, then order ahead so that their meals were waiting for them when they stepped into the restaurant.

They started developing me-menu.com after consulting with some pros in the restaurant industry — but then the pandemic hit and priorities changed. Restaurant owners didn’t just need technology that made it easier to order ahead — they also needed a way to put their menus under a QR code.

With that, Ivan and his wife rerouted — and ME-QR was born. A simple QR code generator, ME-QR makes it easy for businesses and individuals to create QR codes in no time, offering an easy alternative to clunky URLs.

“We want our software to always be free to users,” says Ivan. “We know that some of the businesses using our product have tight margins and can’t afford to pay a subscription fee or make regular donations — instead, we want to allow them to resolve their business needs without having to spend money.”

Ivan and his wife realized they needed to monetize their site with a reliable ad-supported model — so they turned to Google AdSense to help their product generate revenue while remaining free to use.

Embracing the ad-supported model

Their first big step was setting up AdSense on the ME-QR website. Quickly they earned $5 and though that wasn’t much, it was important proof that they were up and running — and ready to earn more. But before they could think about generating more revenue, they had to figure out a way to increase site traffic.

“We made a strategic decision to invest $1,500 into promoting our business with Google Ads,” says Ivan. “The main source of traffic in the early and middle stages was purchased search traffic from Google. We really do owe our current readership to Google Ads.”

After all, ME-QR exists in a crowded space, with plenty of competition among other QR code generators. Ensuring their site was highly ranked in search results helped them connect with their prime audience: folks looking for a free, easy way to generate QR codes.

“We quickly realized this investment was worth it,” says Ivan. “Because after that, the business started providing for itself. Within the first month we were able to get our initial investment back via revenue earned from AdSense.”

“Another model would not have worked,” says Ivan. “This was the only marketing format that suited our client profile. We know our clients are looking for a free tool to generate QR codes, but we need to also earn money to develop the product, create better interfaces and UX, and ultimately stand out from competition. So ads were always the perfect solution to our needs.”

“Google helps us keep our site free so that anyone — regardless of income — can make the most of our product”

Accessibility comes first

With Ads driving traffic and AdSense driving revenue, the ME-QR team has grown.

“Our company has 31 employees overall now, with 8 employees working on ME-QR specifically,” says Ivan. “Apart from supporting our main QR code generator product, we’re also working to provide solutions for ticketing or accounting systems (me-ticket.com, me-pos.com). The business model for those products is very similar and have also been monetized via ads.”

Ivan and his team didn’t stop at Google Ads. They’ve embraced Google Analytics to track site activity, as well as Google Places to find potential clients. It’s been particularly useful for finding businesses in the entertainment sphere, like concert venues and clubs, who might need their services for ticketing and booking.

Ivan and the team love receiving feedback about their product from these satisfied clients. And the best feedback is constructive, offering simple ways they can improve the product or add useful features. Having a dedicated in-house team makes responding to feedback and launching new features even easier.

Ivan and his team take pride in the fact that their product has wide appeal. All ages, all countries, all people can benefit from a free, easy-to-use QR code generator. They want to improve that accessibility going forward by adding new language versions to their site. After all, some major clients rely on their content — so an inability to understand the site shouldn’t hold anyone back.

Of course, price shouldn’t hold anyone back either. “That’s why we couldn’t be more grateful for Google,” says Ivan. “They help us keep our site free so that anyone — regardless of income — can make the most of our product.”

About the Publisher

Ivan Melnychuk is the founder and CEO of Me Team. During the COVID pandemic he realised how crucial online representation has become for businesses, and was eager to be the one to make it easy for them. Having over 10 years of programming and management experience he started MeQR service as a pdf-to-qr code connection service which is now a multifunctional platform offering solutions for various scenarios. Ivan managed to gather a team of passionate individuals seeking to amaze customers and develop the company. Together with his wife who is a part of the team Ivan spends his free time travelling, cooking, doing active sports, and generating new business ideas.