Merchants Can Have Access to Tools to Better Control on How Their Information is Presented Online

                                          www.locationtraffic.com

How can a merchant be sure that the locations of their business is correct on search engines, websites and mobile apps? There are some great tools that they can use to clean up location data.



1. Placeable: Control location data through a unified dashboard.
Agencies and brands with multiple locations can use Placeable’s new Placeable Plot feature to ensure the accuracy of their business data across hundreds of websites, mobile apps, and third-party sites like maps, networks, and directories. Businesses can import their location data from spreadsheets, and then clean up that data using Placeable’s tools. Once the local data has been “normalized,” Placeable puts it into a standardized format and sends it to location-based platforms like Facebook and Google Places. Placeable charges clients a $299 “monthly platform fee,” and $2 per location, per month.

2. Locu: A data-cleansing solution for small and medium-sized businesses.
Locu works with small and medium-size businesses to ensure their contact and product information is accurate. Restaurants, home service providers, and personal care services can manage their business listings, menus, product lists, and company photos from within Locu’s digital platform. This information is then shared across the web—to publishing partners like Yelp, Facebook, Foursquare, TripAdvisor, YP, OpenTable, and CitySearch—each time an update is made. Locu offers its basic plan for free. Users can upgrade to Premium accounts for $25 per month.

3. Yext: Instantly updating local information on 50+ websites, maps, and apps.
Yext offers a location data cleansing solution that’s scalable for businesses of all sizes. Businesses can run a scan to see how their listings look when customers search online, and Yext will pinpoint how many “location data errors” it finds. Businesses can fix those errors by entering the correct information into Yext’s PowerListings system, and the company will automatically push those updates across a network of 50+ websites, maps, and apps.Pricing for Yext’s PowerListings packages ranges from $17 to $67 per month.

4. MomentFeed: Merging and deleting duplicate entries for multi-location brands.
Large brands with multiple locations can use MomentFeed’s PinSync tool to improve engagement and discoverability at the local level. By utilizing the correct latitude/longitude coordinates (also known as “geocodes”) for each of a client’s physical locations, MomentFeed is able to pinpoint outdated listings, adjust inaccurate geocodes, merge duplicate listings, update listings with correct address information, and upgrade local pages on platforms like Facebook, Google, and Foursquare. Pricing for MomentFeed varies depending on the number of locations being monitored.

5. SweetiQ: Identify inconsistencies in local listings.
SweetiQ is an all-in-one location-based marketing platform for agencies, brands, and franchises. One of the vendor’s key features is its local business listings management tool, which clients can use to find out how their business listings are presented across the web and make unified corrections to any inaccuracies. Businesses can also see how their listings are ranked in search engine results, and which keywords are most likely to bring those listings up. SweetiQ offers a free 14-day trial. Paid plans start at under $100 per month.

6. Universal Business Listing: Take ownership of your online profiles.
Businesses can use UBL to unify the information that shows up about their companies on local directories and search engines. Inaccurate phone numbers, addresses, and website links are updated within UBL’s platform and then pushed out to 150 “points of distribution.” These updated listings will appear as “verified” or “claimed,” depending on the site. By partnering with anchor databases like Infogroup, Factual, and Dun & Bradstreet, UBL is able to expedite the process of having its clients’ old listings removed or changed. UBL’s listings packages range in price from $79 to $799 per year.
http://streetfightmag.com/2013/10/08/6-tools-merchants-can-use-to-clean-up-location-data/

Amazing Website Testing Tools for Web Developers

As a web developer you would like to be assured that all the problems have been solved in the functionality of the great site before you launch the final product for your customer.  The following top 10 tools for web developers will help in testing for Cross Browser Compatibility, Website Speed Test, Security Test, Responsive Design Test, Accessibility Test, and so on.

Safari Web Inspector

Web Inspector feature is one of the remarkable Apple’s Safari web browser gems. Users can be able to see Safari Web Inspector after turning development tabs. It shows images, stylesheets and scripts on any webpage.

But, the most useful portion of Web Inspector is its Network feature that displays in real-time the order and speed in which documents and scripts transfer to the browser from the server. This tool allows you to find which files, scripts, or images are putting the most strain on browsers. After knowing the strain, you can simply fix it.

Firebug Firefox Extension

Firebug is the most favorite extension of programmers that solves debugging issues with front-end code and CSS. Checking out through Firebug is the best response, if any image or style that’s out of line. Moreover, users can also be able to change styles within the extension to see how a website will truly show in the browser.

UI Parade

UI Parade (Live Tools) is a collection of free online designer applications, allowing easy developing UI elements with some experience of coding. Apart from creating custom elements, users can easily download creations in their applications and websites.

AccessColor

Professionals, who want to test the color brightness and contrast of the background and forefront of all components available in the Document Object Model (DOM), can have AccessColor.

This marvelous tool is best for searching an appropriate combination of color mixtures within HTML & CSS documents instead of developing each value to input.

W3C Validation Services

W3C is one of the best standards in all of web validation. W3C Validator displays errors based on industry standards by looking into the markup of any website.

Users can find more than a dozen languages and a dozen varieties to choose from. One can find numerous assistance related with W3C validation like amplified load speed of web pages, future-proof feature check, cross browser compatibility, easy repairs & fixing, better search engine ranking, etc.

  Selenium

One of the leading open source testing frameworks for web applications, Selenium is based on Java scripting, offering a collection of choices that used for creating a comprehensive automation test suite.

Some of the effective components of Selenium are Selenium Client API, Selenium Grid, Selenium IDE, Selenium Remote Control, Selenium Web Driver and Marionette.

Browsershots

Browsershots User Interface testing tool is used for checking cross browser compatibility of your website. It is one of the best open source online web applications that make screenshots of your website in diverse OS and browsers.

Solex

Solex is another efficient open source web testing tool that acts as a HTTP proxy. This testing tool used as a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE. The best things about Solex are users can simply record, adjust and replay a client session.

All HTTP requests and responses between client and server are recorded by this testing tool. With Solex, user can also get the result through XML format and an optional XSL format.

Fluidui

If you are searching for a mobile app prototyping tool, then you have Fluid UI that design and test low and high-fidelity app mockups on a mobile device with simplicity. With the help of this tool, you can easily unlock creativity through its simple and UX oriented.

Watcher-mainly, is a Fiddler add-on that used by diffusion testers to determine web safety concerns. Watcher is one type of reflexive susceptibility scanning tool that especially designed for HTTP based web applications. Moreover, it doesn’t dangerous for cloud, hosting & construction locations.

http://www.whatech.com/members-news/web-design/16291-10-useful-website-testing-tools-for-web-developers-and-designers

Student Web Developers Nationwide Are Being Challenged by CapitolBlue Cross to Create Applications for Healthcare or New Web Tools for One of 3 Great Prizes

                                       




Sharing this challenge is important to us that are in web design and development. New applications and tools that help produce informative websites or applications in order keep up with the current technology is always welcomed.

Below is the information needed in order to enter the contest.




Capital BlueCross is challenging student developers nationwide to create web-based tools or mobile applications that enrich the health care consumer experience. All entries must be submitted by Nov. 22, 2013, and winning entries can earn one of three prizes totaling $30,000.

Titled Blue Innovates, the challenge is an opportunity for students 18 years of age or older to bring their innovative ideas to life in one of three categories:

Financial: Applications that assist health care consumers in finding, accessing, organizing, simplifying, understanding or minimizing health care expenditures.

Telemedical: Technology that provides consumers with affordable and high quality health care while saving time and money.

Experiential: Tools that help consumers have a more personalized and satisfying health care experience and that enhance their well-being.

Students may use their preferred tools, programming languages and technologies to develop a unique solution.

To get started, students can visit Blue Innovates to review contest rules and register. Developers can also use the online forum on the Blue Innovates web site for support and advice throughout the process.

The developer of the first-place winning application will receive $15,000, while the second and third place winners will receive$10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Winners will be announced by Dec. 20, 2013. Entries must be original work created by the developer who is submitting the application for consideration.

About Capital BlueCross

In 2013, Capital BlueCross is celebrating 75 years of serving central Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley residents and businesses as the region's leading health insurer. Through its family of companies, Capital BlueCross brings innovative services and clinical solutions to the marketplace. Committed to delivering medical value to its communities, Capital BlueCross focuses on improving patient satisfaction, enhancing quality of care and reducing costs. The company continues to lead the change in the industry by meeting the evolving health needs of its customers, most recently by entering the retail market and building a first-of-its-kind health and wellness store called Capital Blue. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, employing more than 1,800 people. More information about Capital BlueCross can be found at capbluecross.com.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deadline-nears-for-new-web-tools-or-mobile-health-care-applications-as-capital-bluecross-challenges-student-developers-nationwide-223120191.html