On March 5, 2006, I looked at a flashing cursor on Blogspot, took a breath and dove in.Yes, I've now officially been on a three year journey writing about local businesses in central Illinois.
It has truly changed my way of thinking, shopping and dining.
In anticipation of my blogiversary, I checked out some of the search terms my visitors, from 10 different countries, have used to arrive at this site.
The ones that stand out can be compartmentalized into three topics.
First category, I'll call...
Strange bedfellows:
chocolate brie panini sandwiches peoria il
vonachen's naked
whip gils
Next, Not sure how this routed them here:
brimfield's dark chocolate graham crackers (might have to search on this one myself!)
buy a keg in peoria il
when was the bbq express in oswego il torn down
And finally, Terms I suspect my husband typed in:
extreme toffee coffee
leather clothing repair in pekin, il (for his Lederhosen, people!!)
As regular visitors probably know, there haven't been a lot of changes to the blog in the last couple of years.
Towards the end of last year I did toss around the idea of adding a star rating, to change things up a bit. It would also give a sort of yardstick to measure things by.
My thought was to start each place out with a number of stars, say five, the minute I walked in the door, and for each thing that didn't meet my expectations I would knock off half a star. There would also be the potential to add stars for bonus things.
I bounced the idea off my husband and we decided it had the potential to be like a local newspaper we know, who will say nothing negative about a place at all when reviewing it, however will only give them three out of five stars.
So for now, the jury is out on that.
In the interest of shining a light on great local businesses, I've encountered many, many hits, and not too many misses. Of those who were not really blogworthy (heck, me bashing a local biz on a support local businesses blog kind of defeats the purpose), I always give them a second try.
I still have so many places to check out. If you have some favorites, let me know! I'm always on the lookout for the local...
4 comments:
Wow, three years! Congratulations! That shows a lot of dedication.
Thanks so much for all your reviews. Especially the restaurant ones. We are on a limited budget, so it's always nice to read a review before I spend the money on someplace new.
Thanks! I don't comment much, but I read every post through my google reader!
You know what you could do for a star rating is what Netflix does:
1 star - hated it
2 stars - didn't like it
3 stars - liked it
4 stars - really liked it
5 stars - loved it
My husband and I use the Netflix ratings for everything now! It's easier for me because putting a name to each category saved me from giving everything 4 or 5 stars. If I didn't like a movie, that's fine, it's a 2!
But. Back to my original thought. Thanks - I have checked out a number of local businesses that I never would have if it weren't for you!!
You do a great service for us readers!! It knocks the socks off my old blog, but every time I read an entry, I want to go back and start my blog all over again. Thanks a lot!!
Thanks for the comments and suggestions!
And Floyd, if you did resurrect your blog, I would be a faithful reader.
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