Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

The Kindle Review blog has grown 8.5 times in 2009 – that’s pretty impressive if you discount the fact that eReaders have probably grown as much .

 For 2010 there are four main resolutions for me and the blog -

1. Increase the value each reader gets 10 times.  
2. Consistently write high quality posts – at least 5 very good posts a week plus multiple good posts every day.  
3. Grow the Blog 100 times, including growing traffic of good intent at least 100 times.
4. Stay focused on you (the blog reader) and what’s best for you.

Here’s a little more on each and the intial strategy. Please do add your thoughts if you have suggestions or ideas.

Increase the value each reader gets 10 times

This is the toughest one. It’s also the most interesting because it’s going to take some really good strategy and creative use of the blog.

There are a few straightforward ways to increase value -

1. Currently 10% posts are very good, 40-50% are good, and the rest are filler. By eliminating most of the filler posts and having 20% very good posts and the rest good, solid posts the value readers get probably doubles.  
2. Better videos and photos – have a tripod now, will start thinking more and reading up more and figure out how to create videos that are more helpful and accurate.
3. Better writing – Perhaps most posts could be half the size and still convey 90% of the value. More value for the time spent.

That’s still just a doubling or tripling of value. So do write in your ideas for what would make the blog more valuable to you, or for non-blog ways to increase value.

Consistently write high quality posts – 5 very good posts a week plus multiple good posts a day

2009 has been good and still there haven’t been enough very good posts on the blog.

There’s a pretty clear difference between good and very good posts –  

1. Time – Very good posts take 3 to 10 (or more) hours to write.  
2. Timelessness – Very good posts apply for a year or more.  
3. Very good posts add a lot more value. The free books list post or the kindle tips post are worth much more than a ’2 books are free for 2 days’ post.
4. Very good posts usually have an hour or more of thinking before writing. This is by far the toughest part to get right.

The committment is to 5 very good posts a week. That goes hand in hand with reducing the number of filler posts to less than 10%.

In terms of good posts still want to be adding multiple good posts every day – free books, interesting news, some analysis, perhaps even a story or two. Don’t know what multiple will end up being - perhaps 2, perhaps more.

Grow the Blog 100 times

The blog hit two speed bumps – one at the beginning of the year and another in the summer that together stalled traffic for 7 months. That (and perhaps other mistakes) meant that the Blog grew much less than it would have.

In 2010 the growth in eReaders ought to be huge and the aim is to ride off of that growth (perhaps a 10 times growth) and add to that growth by improving the value that readers get.

The aim is to grow these specific types of traffic of good intent 100 times or more -

1. People who are trying to decide whether an eReader is right for them and which eReader is right for them - growing this traffic 100 times.  
2. People trying to get the maximum value out of their Kindle – growing this 100 times too.  
3. People who love books and reading.
4. People interested in the future of reading.
5. People interested in eReaders - growing this 100 times, especially the Kindle, the Apple Tablet and perhaps 2 or 3 other eReaders.

The focus of the blog still revolves around the Kindle, figuring out which eReader is right for you, getting the most value out of your Kindle and the future of books and publishing.

Stay focused on you, the blog reader, and what’s best for you

This is actually going to be the 2nd toughest thing to do. There are a ton of distractions – negative people, the press, money, search engine optimization, lack of discipline, and more.

Perhaps the biggest is staying focused on what people actually want and need and respond to – as opposed to assumptions and perceptions.

So it’s basically two intertwined threads -

1. Figuring out and staying focused on what’s most important to all of you. 
2. Staying true to what’s best for the people who come to this blog - no matter what the distraction or temptation.

In many ways the third year of this blog is like the third release of a product - It’s time to hit the ball out of the park. The main resolution for 2010 is to do exactly that.

Filed under: evolution Tagged: | 2010 resolution, direction