What does Blipstar do?

Background
A store locator/store finder provides a convenient way for potential customers to find which of your stores/shops/dealers etc. is nearest to where they live (and how they can get there). They simply enter an address or postal code and the store locator software finds the nearest store locations and plots them on a map. Store locators are a popular feature of many websites but setting up an effective store locator from scratch takes time and effort.

Blipstar is born
So in August 2006, Blipstar was born, an online service designed to greatly simplify this process - it does the hard work for you! You create a blipstar account, upload a spreadsheet of store information (name, address etc.) and set up some design options. Blipstar then creates your store locator tool and and you simply need to link to it from any web page. No programming experience is required and you don't have to install anything on your website. Blipstar makes use of the excellent Google Maps to provide attractive background mapping and driving directions.

Blipstar moving forward
Blipstar proved popular and many businesses and organisations (of all sizes) have set up store locators using Blipstar. Two things people asked for was the ability to 1) save more stores and 2) make the store locator look more like their own website. Blipstar Plus was created in response to this, allowing 1000s of store locations and providing a wide range of options for customization, including the ability to integrate the store locator directly into the customer's website. Some expert users also wanted total control over their store locator and not have to rely on third party software or servers. Blipstar Server was created, effectively allowing a customer to set up Blipstar on their site.