New Feature Added: Online Rating and Reviews

We have a new feature in our business directory that allows you to rate and review the businesses listed in our online directory.

You will be able to read the reviews of others that have experience doing business with the businesses listed on our site, as well as post your own unique experiences.

This new feature adds credibilty to our site as as a powerful and useful resource to help you decide where to shop and do business in our community.

To use this feature, simply visit the directory listing of any business to see their current rating and any reviews. You can also rate and review any business you have done business with.

We love comments and feedback on what you enjoy about our site as well as any areas you think we can improve...this always helps us deliver the best local online experience to you...so please send us your comments and suggestions.

Why McHenryCountyShops.com?

I am frequently asked how and why I decided to create McHenryCountyShops.com...so I figure that I will post it in this blog for the wide world of McHenry County to see.

My name is Laura Mesia, and I am the president and creator of this site. I have been a Marengo resident for almost 6 years. I was a software technician at Motorola Inc., Arlington Heights Campus (where they do the software development for the cellular base stations). As a casualty of corporate downsizing, not making it through the 20th round of layoffs since my start date back in 1997, I decided I had had enough of corporate life. I wasn't sure at the time what I was going to do...but I knew I was not going back to a regular 9-5 grind (more like a 9-9 grind in reality).

My mother was up visiting us from Texas. Since she lived near South Padre Island...I knew she enjoyed dining by the Gulf of Mexico...so I thought I would find a nice restaurant in McHenry on the river...(nevermind that there would be Mallard Ducks floating in the water instead of Pelicans...) an easy enough task...

I went to the phone book...I went to the internet....nothing...I could not believe that I could not locate a fast and easy way to find what I was looking for....so an idea sprouted...one central online location to find businesses, restaurants, community events, local area coupons...you name it...if it has anything to do with McHenry County, our goal is to have it on this site.

We launched our site live to the world on January 1, 2006, and so far we have over 70 businesses and not-for-profit organizations in our directory. We are working hard to bring the best of McHenry County to our site, and to give our site visitors an easy to navigate online experience.

We welcome comments, questions, and feedback from you, to help us make this site a truly useful resource for our area residents. You can post a comment to this blog, or email us at suggestions@mchenrycountyshops.com.

We have had suggestions from our visitors, and we have made changes based on their comments...so your ideas do matter to us...after all...this site is for you! Help us to make it the best it can be!

Til next time...

Our New Blog

Hello and Welcome to our new Blog. McHenryCountyShops.com is a new website for McHenry County residents. Inside our site you can:

• Print Local Coupons
• Search Our Business Directory
• Place FREE Photo Classified Ads
• Search Local and World News
• Check Out Our Community Events Calendar
• Read Articles
• Find FREE Recipes
• Use our McHenry County Message Board
• Online Chat Rooms
• Post To This Blog
• Play FREE Online Games
• Read Cartoons (You can send us your cartoons too)

Our goal is to create an online community and become the "Town Square" for McHenry County area residents, where you will find useful resources, save you time and money, and allow you to connect online with your McHenry County neigborhood.

Let us know what you think of our site, and post your comments and suggestions to help us make this site the best McHenry County online experience.

This blog will evolve to serve you and will be updated with opinions, ideas and topics of conversational interest.

What do you think of McHenryCountyShops.com? What would you like to see here? Let us know what you'd like to talk about!