Beta 2 up, full version draws closer.

It's getting exciting at LGO headquarters. The site is starting to come together nicely. Everything is starting to fall into place, and the site is beginning to take shape. The foundation of the site is basically set, and the fun is now beginning. In the next couple of weeks, the schedule module will be built, and that's when the fun starts for you! For the bar owners, your free advertising will begin at this point, and for the bar hoppers, your hopping is about to get a whole lot better, as you will now be able to figure out exactly where you want to hop.

The feedback module is now fully functional, meaning when you post something, I get an email right away. Whether you're a bar owner wondering how to get listed here, or a bar hopper with an idea of something missing on this site (I may be working on it, but if I'm not, now's the time to tell me!), you are encouraged to use this feature.

Moving ahead faster than expected...

After seeing a slow start in development of this site, things are quite rapidly taking off. In my first blog post, I stated that the first live beta would be up by Labor Day weekend. The next day, http://beta.letzgoout.com was live - about 2 weeks ahead of schedule - with registration, message boards and blog functionality.

There is now a chance that there may even be bar entry and search functionality as soon as Labor Day weekend - functionality originally slated to be complete by mid-September.

So, you're reading this blog. I assume this means one of three things. It isn't mid-September yet, and you're wondering when this stuff's gonna be ready, you're a fan of the site and want to know more about what's going on here, you just got home from a bar and are almost ready to pass out and just need a little something to put you over the top, or you're bored.

If it's the second, you're in luck. That's what I'm about to talk about here.

This project began initially to serve two purposes. Believe it or not, one of its first intentions was to drive traffic to my other business, MG Apparel. The idea was that this site could probably generate a decent amount of traffic, and perhaps give MGA a bit of a boost.

The other intention was to fill a tremendous deficiency I saw in the internet – a lack of a decent site listing what was going on at the local bars. Basically, too many times, I’ve tried to figure out what was going on that night and either ended up settling for the usual local bar, bar hopping aimlessly looking for something cool, or just saying “f” it and staying home. There really wasn’t a decent site out there that you could go to and say, ok, what’s going on within a 20 mile radius of me?

I thought to myself, hey, I’m a programmer… My real 9-5 job is spent primarily developing content driven websites for a publishing company. I could totally build this. And why the heck hasn’t somebody else done this yet? Or, really, why hasn’t somebody done a decent job of this yet?

And so was the beginning of NJBarz.com. NJBarz.com? Wait… that isn’t what I’m looking at… That’s what you’re thinking, right? Yeah, well, I had plans to build this to list bars in New Jersey, where I am currently located. If that worked as well as I hoped it would, next was going to be CTClubz.com – another name I have registered, but not deployed.

It was quickly determined that this was stupid – I had plans to expand, and by design, I was limiting myself to a few locations. After a bit of brainstorming and research, LetzGoOut was decided upon as the new name for this portal. And here it is.

As I’m sure you’ll notice as it first starts off, the site appears to be just for North Jersey. Well, that’s where I am, and that’s where promotion is starting. As it grows, I am hoping this will be the premier bar listing site in every state from here to Alaska.

Ok, well, if you’re still reading, you should either be eager to see the calendar feature come to life, filled in on the history lesson you were looking for, totally ready to pass out, or now more bored than you thought a human possibly could be.

I guess my work is done here.

If you have anything you’d like to say, be sure to check out the feedback module on the home page, or drop an email to info@letzgoout.com. I’d love to hear it.

It's ALIVE!!!

http://beta.letzgoout.com is up and running!

This is a huge step here.

In the next couple of weeks, registration configurations will be set up allowing for either bars or bar patrons to sign up for this site. From there, bars will soon be able to start scheduling events, and patrons will be able to start searching them, and then the fun really begins!

This calls for a drink!

And so it begins...

So, here it goes... LetzGoOut.com is in production, and I'm hoping to see a live version of this site by the end of labor day weekend. Of course, if it doesn't hit by then, I can edit this entry and make it look like I hit my target perfectly.

This site is going to have a lot going on when it's up and running. I'm encouraging any and all bars to list - all for free - and list any and all events planned. The more I can get on here, the more the users will have to chose from, and the more the users have to chose from, the more they'll come back, meaning more potential customers for the bars.

Of course, there will likely be a premium listing membership in phase two, but when or if that happens, a free listing option will always exist. The more content listed, the better this site will be, and the best way to ensure that is to always keep listing free.

If you have any ideas to make it better, I'll always be interested to hear them. The feedback page will be up soon, so check back.