The process continues

Well I just had my first addition to Sacramento, CA a restaurant called Esquire. I think it's about time, I've had 37 visitors to my site from my Sacramento adwords ad. Truthfully not a whole lot, but I've only had the ad running for about a week. Also, I don't spend very much on advertising because, I can't, I don't really have any money to be spending. All things considered I've been fairly happy with my progress. It's really an interesting thing trying to set up a website. Well I guess what I'm really trying to do is set up a corporation. From nothing to greatness hopefully. This is just step one in my plan for LOPICO, there's a long way to go.
Anyway, back to my adwords spending. I think it's a little odd the number of visitors I get compared to the amount of input. I know that especially in the beginning, and even now too, part of that is because of site design. But I only picked up my first web publishing and graphics design software 6 months ago. I'm not trained in this stuff, just trying to do my best. But I think probably a larger problem is fraud. I was recently reading a digital points forum message board where there was a web developer talking about designing his site to be about mesothelioma so that he could get the highest amount per click. So if people are out there creating these sights just to scam google, then there are probably some that are just clicking on my ads so that they themselves can make money, then once they're on my site they just close it. I don't if there's anything google can do about this, or even if they'd want to do anything. But I think they could change the system somewhat. For example I think that adwords advertisers that have ads on content sites should pay higher and lower levels based on what site their ad appears on. I think a simple three or four tier system could handle that. Obviously people will want to pay more for the top sites, it just seems to make sense. And then those of us who aren't as well off can buy up the advertising on low cost sites (or even bloggs) and have our ads featured more prominently. But I'm rambling and seriously off topic, well I guess this is all about the process of trying to create a successful website so I'm not too far off.
Anyway, if you feel like it please visit the site I always appreciate it.

Tucson, AZ

In this process of creating this site, I've had some success at getting people to add their favorite places but mainly only in restaurants and mainly only in two cities. I'll get an occasional vet in Dallas or hardware store in Sacramento, but mainly the focus has been restaurants in Akron, OH and Tucson, AZ. This is very curios, not Akron, but Tucson. I guess I understand that restaurants are probably the most easily comparable, because people have had more experience with multiple restaurants, whereas you may have only ever been to one auto body shop. But I would think that there would be other places that people would feel strongly about, especially if you owned the place or knew someone who was involved. Anyway, as far as the locations are concerned Akron is not puzzling. Lopico is based in Akron, so that makes sense, especially since there are alot more choices up already. I'm hoping that when I get more input across the country I'll get more participation from the sites visitors, it's just the initial hurdle that's set me back so far. Tucson, however, has just been an unexplained. Maybe people in Tucson are just really supportive of local restaurants. I'm not real sure, but I'm certainly not complaining.
Why Not Make a Suggestion in your city?

Is Lopico any good?

This is sort of a self-interested question, or at least answer, the answer is yes, or at least if I'm right it will be. LOPICO has had two main problems in its short four month history. First is traffic. While we've had a few thousand visitors, that's still not enough to really be anything, or to really matter yet. The second problem comes from those visitors that have visited the site, they haven't contributed much. I don't think in general people care as much as I do that there's really not a great local business site on the web. That's why I created LOPICO, but it's been slow going. I could easily go out and get a bunch of information for my site, list a bunch of restaurants and other business I find, but that's not the point. The point is LOPICO is supposed to be user driven. This prevents two things from getting in the way of having a site that is a true reflection of the communities that LOPICO serves. First, critics. Critics are fine, but who the hell are they? Why is their opinion worth so much. What's good to one critic may not be good to the massess. LOPICO is the voice of the masses. Who knows the community better than its citizens? No one. That's why I leave the content up to the sites visitors. The second problem I avoid is bias. One specific site (and I won't say which one, because it does have some good qualities, that I wish I had) even tells its visitors that their vote is taken into consideration, but that other factors (advertising dollars) determine hte rank. Isn't the web supposed to be a democracy? Another problem that I have with the way that some of these sites rank the businesses is that they do it by stars. Fine, I guess, but does that tell us who's the best? No. Maybe, it's just me but I want to know who's the best, and if I am a business owner I want to be the best, not tied.
Thanks to all who have added their favorites, keep it up.

LOPICO Design Update

LOPICO is continuing our update, that about half of our 135 cities have already received. We're addressing some of the design issues and trying to make LOPICO easier to use. We had a slight set back but we're not back to 100% so the updates should be complete in the next few weeks.

LOPICO BLOG 1

Welcome to the LOPICO blog. The Official blog of LOPICO.COM. What is LOPICO? See For Yourself.