Chromand - Desiging, Developing, and Marketing for the Interwebs

I have been hard at work on the new AthensBarhopper.com, and I haven’t really said too much about it. I figure that since it is nearing completion, I figure that I would talk about how the new functionality is going to work, and show you all what the new layout is going to look like. here is a preliminary pic of the profile page for a local bar:

I know it’s kind of small, but let’s take a loot at some of the features seen here:

• The Navbar: You’ll notice links to see directories of all the current information: Events, Drink Specials, Artists, and Venues. you can also see the “feedback” option, which will be kind of a commenting feature for the entire site. Here people will be able to let me know what they think, and see what other people think. I figure good communication with my user base will be essential to building a successful site. There is also the “submit” option, which will let users add new artists, drink specials, and events to the database.
• The Venue Profile: here you will see a picture of the place (if available), and a list of all the events going on there, as well as weekly specials.  I’ll be working hard to make sure that these are as up to date as possible. It will be a quick and easy way to see what is going on at any particular place or with any particular artist. By the way, artist profiles look almost identical, just with the “specials” div removed, and an extended Events feed.
• The Fan System: Personally, I think this is the coolest feature of the site. If you a registered member, you can become a fan of any artist or location. Becoming a fan is sort of like subscribing to the RSS feed of that artist or venue. You’ll have a personal feed on your homepage that will let you know what is going on with everything you are a fan of.
• The Front Page: This part is still under development, but one of my biggest problems with the current layout is that people come to the site to see what’s going on, but you have to navigate to other pages to find this information.  Instead, the front page will be a Digg-style system, based on who are fans of what. The front page will feature some select events, based on who/where have the most fans. I may also be implementing a feature where the front page will be customized for each user, so that when you log in, you will see your feed instead of the main one. That one is still up for debate.
• Advertising: The Google Adsense is just a placeholder. All of the adblocks will be up for sale to local businesses. I am also working on a system to allow local bands to advertise and get more exposure, that will be more reasonably priced, so that it is easily accessable and affordable to them.

I am hoping to have the site up and ready to go by early to mid August. But while the site is still in development, I’d like to ask a couple questions to any fellow bulldogs who read this:

• On the aforementioned front page issue, which would you prefer?
• Another issue I’m really on the fence about is adding some social-networking style features for users, however I am worried that it would be kind of unessecary and detract from the overall intent of the site. What do you think?
• If you have any other suggestions, comments, or critism, feel free to leave it below. I’m really eager to hear what you have to say.