From the editor...

The LetzGoOut.com Affiliate Banner Program

brian@letzgoout.com — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:00:17 GMT

We've been working hard to enhance our affiliate banner program here at LetzGoOut.com, and some new features are starting to deploy now! First off, we'd like to thank the early adopters of this program for their participation. We've gotten some really good feedback that has helped guide our development of this feature.

A Long Overdue Update

brian@letzgoout.com — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:06:37 GMT

A lot has been going on, and more is on the way! Ok, just because we haven't written here doesn't mean things aren't happening here. In fact, quite the contrary. The development here has just taken priority over talking about what we've been working on. So, here it is... Memberships on LetzGoOut.com have been pouring in at ever increasing rates, and we're thrilled to see this. Your bar profiles help make our site more useful for our visitors, and having a presence here means that our visitors - bar patrons who haven't yet decided which bar they want to go to - will be that much more likely to pick your place for their destination tonight!

Coming this Sunday! EVENTS!!!

brian@letzgoout.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:05:18 GMT

This Sunday, July 27th, the LetzGoOut.com event of the year takes place – the launch of the LetzGoOut.com event calendar! We’ve been mapping the system out, figuring out what features we wanted to implement, how we were going to implement them, and now we’re just working out the final kinks. Over the weekend, we will be finalizing and testing this system out.

Registered users will be able to start using the system immediately after launch, and, in fact, will be strongly encouraged to do so. We want our calendar filled, and will be manually seeking out and entering some repeating weekly events, just to fill some data in, but in the long run, it’s the bar owners who we would like to enter this, for two reasons. One, we can’t manage updating all of this for 50,000 bars. But more importantly, we want to know that the info in there is there the way that you want it.

Having your events in the system is great for you, because now people can not only know where you are, but why they should go there. Once this feature is launched, we expect it to very quickly surpass the standard location search, so if your events aren’t in there, you’re missing out.

But just to make sure we get you in there, we’re offering another incentive. We’ll be giving silver status to all bar owners that post their events. This means that if you’re in an area with a few bronze members already listed, this is your chance to top them out still. And it’s all free, and it’s all great promotion for you. There’s no reason not to do it.

Additionally, if you may have weekly events. Maybe it’s a Karaoke Wednesday, or Friday night drink specials… You only have to enter it once, though we will ask that every three months you stop back in and confirm that the events are still going on. We’ll keep a listing up until we’re told it isn’t happening anymore, but after three months without reconfirming (as simple as clicking edit, then save), the free Silver status will be dropped, and a notification next to the event stating when the entry was last updated and that they may want to call to confirm.

We’ll be open to suggestions once the system goes live, and would love to hear your feedback. So, be sure to keep an eye on us… It’s happening on Sunday, and it’s gonna be cool!

Thanks!
Brian Davey,
CEO of LGO

The Event Calendar is on the way!

brian@letzgoout.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:54:59 GMT

It's been a while since we've updated this section. A lot has been going on, but the most exciting thing is coming some time this month.

We've done some enhancements to our profile pages. We've been working on some more features in the affiliate advertising program. We've improved the search performance.

But the most exciting feature, one we've been anticipating since the day LetzGoOut.com was first conceived, is the event calendar.

Once it's ready to go live, you will not only be able to know where to find all of the bars, but what is going on at them on any given night.

Registered bar owners will be able to upload their events, and bar hoppers will be able to punch in a city, a date, and see all of their options.

Stay tuned.

It's coming.

It's coming soon.

It's gonna be great.

So, if you own a bar and haven't registered yet, get on it!

The Message Center is here!

brian@letzgoout.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:24:37 GMT

The LetzGoOut.com Message Center has launched!

Communicate with bar hoppers, bar owners, bands, entertainment providers, or the people in charge of LetzGoOut.com.

LetzGoOut.com is working towards a more interactive forum for the bar community. Use this feature to stay in touch with whoever you want to stay in touch with on LetzGoOut.com!

May is proving to be a very active month for LetzGoOut.com, and the launch of the Message Center is just one more feature we’re proud to announce.

Keep an eye out here for more great features in May. There’s a more in store. And as always, if you haven’t registered yet, now’s your chance to register!

Brian Davey
CEO of LGO

More in May from LetzGoOut.com!

brian@letzgoout.com — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:13:13 GMT

May is here already! Spring has sprung, and LetzGoOut.com has a bunch of new features out and a few more coming very soon!

Most exciting is, of course, the much anticipated launch of the affiliate banner program. Bar owners, bands and other entertainers or promoters with a web site are encouraged to team up with LetzGoOut.com for some free advertising. As you probably already know, LetzGoOut.com is here to help out people looking to go out who don't know what they want to do tonight. What better demographic to tap? How it works is simple. You chose one of our banners or button links to display on your site. Every time it's displayed, you earn credits for ad impressions on our site. And any clicks on our banner earn you even more points.

And, of course, for the people looking over our site, for all of the bar owners registered with us (it's free, so you should be) we encourage you to update your bar profile page. Perhaps the best way to get people interested in checking out your establishment is to have a profile page that stands out. When people do a search, they see a list of places close to them. When they click on one that they're considering, it goes to the profile page. The default view simply displays the bar name, address and phone number. But you have the opportunity to dress that up. You can add a nice writeup of the bar, update the list of features and music types you're likely to hear at the bar - this will be used in the upcoming "advanced search" feature.

Coming this week, we've been tracking every view of a bar profile, and will be adding a module that will show the top 10 most viewed bars. Look for it on the home page and/or the bar search page.

Just added last week, in response to the growing popularity of our bar photo gallery, we've added a top 20 photos of the past month. April's are up, and there seems to be a common theme here... ;^) Apparently, people who view this site like pictures of women in underwear. Who knew? So, if there are any other bar owners or bar patrons out there with some photos like that to upload, your shots will have a great chance of being featured in the May Top 20! :^D

The nightlife event calendar is in development now as well. This will enable visitors to this site to see what exactly is going on at any given bar that's listed here. It will be searchable by event type, date and location. This will make it easier than ever to know what's going on tonight.

If you've got any questions, comments or suggestions, as always, you're encouraged to do so! Use the feedback form on the homepage, or just drop a note to info@letzgoout.com.

Thanks!
Brian Davey
CEO of LGO

New toys to play with...

brian@letzgoout.com — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:16:38 GMT

LetzGoOut.com has been working steadily to deploy new toys for the site weekly. This month, we're proud to announce several of these toys.

The Bar Photo Gallery: Registered users are encouraged to upload any pictures they have of themselves having fun, or their friends making a asses of themselves (with their reluctant consent, of course). ;^D
The Bathroom Wall: Our message board forums are starting to take off with the inclusion of our “Bar Jokes” section. Of course, there are other forums for more serious things, like talking about your favorite bar, band or telling everybody where they should go tonight. (And we mean that in a nice way!)
The LetzGoOut Links Page: Yup, just what it sounds like… a page with links. If you’ve got a bar, a band or some other business that pertains to nightlife and you have a website, I’d love to add you. And all that I ask in return is that you do the same for me somewhere on your site. Visit our links page and check it out. And also, if you do have a bar, a band or another entertainment based business, you really should register. Doing so lets you post pictures to our gallery, it lets you post on our message board, if you’re a bar owner, it lets you enhance your bar profile page, and in a few days, it will let you enroll in our affiliate links program. It’s free, so just do it!
The LetzGoOut Affiliate Program: Just puttin’ the finishing touches on this one. Kinda like the links page, only better. We give you a link and an image to put on your page. Every time it displays, you get credit. If somebody clicks the link, you get even more credits. And with these credits, we will display a banner ad on our site, driving thirsty people who haven’t decided what they want to do yet on to your website. Sound like a good deal? We think so!

So, if you own a bar or entertain at one, you can see that there’s a bunch of reasons you should be spending some time on this site. And the more you put into it, the more everybody else is going to get out of it, and they’ll think you’re cool. Really. They will. I know I will.

So, sign up, post some pictures, post some jokes, tell us what’s going on at your place, make your profile page nice and informative so that our thirsty, undecided visitors will wanna check you out, and see what happens. It’s all free, so get to it!

Getting back on track...

brian@letzgoout.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:39:48 GMT

Though it may not be visible on the surface, a number of enhancements have been made to LetzGoOut.com which will be deployed next week.

We've made some tweaks to site performance which should speed up the site quite a bit.

We've started playing with a photo gallery section, and should have it in place within two weeks, and will allow all registered users the ability to upload their best bar photos.

The enhanced user profile system is up and running now, which, coupled with the affiliate program, slated to be launched within two weeks, we are finally ready to make the big push to get bars actively involved with this site.

The event calendar is about to begin development, following deployment of the affiliate program and photo gallery module.

We're open to suggestions on anything else you think this site may need. Please feel free to comment here, or use the feedback box on the home page to let us know what you'd like to see here. This site's for you, not me. If I ain't doin something you'd like done, you gotta tell me!

Happy bar hopping as always!

-- Brian, CEO of LGO

The LGO Referral Program!

brian@letzgoout.com — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:49:53 GMT

We're putting the finishing touches on an exciting new feature here at LGO - The LetzGoOut.com referral program!

How it works is simple. As a bar owner, you register for LetzGoOut.com. It's free. No reason not to. In addition to being able to participate in this new program next week, you'll be able to update and enhance your bar profile right now!

Next, you your site up for the referral program. There will be links the second it's ready for use. If you're signed up, you won't be able to miss 'em.

On that page, it will show you how to post a link to LetzGoOut.com on your site.

That's it.

LetzGoOut will then credit you every time our link is displayed on your site, and credit you even more when somebody clicks the link to our site.

These credits will then give you ad displays on our site. You'll be able to choose from different sizes depending on how quickly you wanna burn your credits versus how prominently you want to display your ad.

So, if you own a bar, don't wait... register, and get ready for our free advertising program, ready to send thirsty patrons to your site.

New host up and running...

brian@letzgoout.com — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:25:57 GMT

Well, as promised, the contract with our old hosting provider, who will not be named again, or mentioned again after this paragraph, has been terminated. The site is now up and running on new servers, and everything is working great.

We've got some new features that will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Our bar search will now provide a more accurate distance on search results.
The Blog has been given a facelift
The Bar Search page will be getting a facelift
Bar owner pages will begin to be promoted in January
Location based ad serving should become available by the end of January
The Event Calendar should be in beta testing by February.

Look for all this and more as we get ready to usher in 2008!