CardzReview Future (2019 and beyond)

[Pavle]

Hello,

As most of you know, I founded this website somewhere in 2013/2014. It grew from a personal blog to a website with a decently-sized community of fantastic people from all over the world. That's what I'm most proud of.

Cardzreview, just like the hobby, in general, has not progressed much last 2-3 years and that's very sad. I feel like as a community there's much more we can do to influence publishers and educate new and old collectors. Our blog needs more articles and more guides. We need more sponsors to help the website operating cost.

In order for this project to grow, we need a new face to lead that's not me. Personally, I'm not so much involved in collecting anymore.

I'm opening this thread to see if well-known community members would be interested in taking over the project and leading it forward. I'll still be happy to host the website and do technical back-end work. CardzReview is not my project, it was always our project, so I'm asking you guys, how can we make things better?

Ideas to improve:

• More articles/guides on the blog
• More reviews and news about collections
• Sponsored giveaways for forum members
• Create templates for reaching out to publishers
• Publishers should send community members samples so they can review the collections and share it with community

For people to do the work, they usually want to be motivated and compensated in some way, so here are some ideas on how people taking-over can monetize website:

Ideas for funding:

• Google Ads
• Paid sponsors (like shops, publishers)
• Donations
• eBook

I'd like to invite any member of the forum to share ideas and maybe a mini plan on how cardzreview can improve, how people taking over can monetize it to cover the operating costs an costs of their time, how we can connect with the publisher and have a group of reviewers and writers.

Also if you're interested in being in charge of any part of the project, just let me know what you can do.

I'm personally nominating people like @dantzig @AndyR @Makhno @LFC1892 @Ceesmk @Suisse @Danju @Kacper13 @SubZero (I'd also mention @Caniggia but I know he's busy rn) and many others well-known members as potential people who can either join efforts and take this to the next level with ideas or their involvement and. Sorry if I missed somebody out, there's just way to many great people here so @all

 

[dantzig]

As you know my friend, you can count on me. Not sure if I'm comfortable to be in that taking over position, but I'll do my best for my "collecting home".

We do need to have more "action" in the blog, it's been declining since you were very active some years ago. We still have many nice members here who are always sharing new important info, but one thing is sharing quick pieces of info, other is reviewing something entirely.

I've never been a fan of only working for a community based on prizes/giveaways. However, publishers take good advantage of the advertising we do for them, be in blogs, facebooks or youtubes. Our good members who have shown their passion and still want to help more the community must indeed be rewarded.

We're close to one of those times where there's plenty to involve the community again. Copa America 2019 is kicking off, then Road To 2020 and Women World Cup. Some months later, we'll have the Premier League hype. All Panini. Topps with Champions League; Bundesliga and still Premier League can't be forgotten, along with their new CL Crystal collection. And of course, we can't forget those local publishers who deserve some spotlight. For example, I just saw now @Caniggia presenting an album to be released mid-April in Italy that seems very promising!

Social media should also plays a very important role, it's where many are successful. I'm not a social network guy per se, but I recognize they have to be included. Reactivate again the collectors spark on Facebook and Twitter, plus creating an account on Instagram.

As for funding the website, all those ideas have to be applied for sure. Ads can be annoying, but I believe we all know how they are necessary. Paid sponsors can be arranged if we advertise it in the blog and here, plus sending messages to them on a regular basis.

Let's see how the community reacts.

 

[AndyR]

Im happy to help much more if needed but i think if you want to step aside Pavle there is definitely one man for the job and he's commented above, his enthusiasm is whats needed to carry everybody else forward and he still has youth on his side!! Dont get me wrong the other members you mention are all fantastic obviously and very important to the site as well.

I would say the blog posts probably don't necessarily have to be so long in length we have to remember some of the target audience will be youngsters who will read the info. They can always be amended to meet minimum length requirements at a later date with extra information as it becomes available. That would probably enable more of the posts to be written as information becomes available before certain collections are released, when most searches will be made??

 

[LFC1892]

I think Carlos is the best man for the job. He's always helping new members and contributing to the forums with posts & the blog as well.

Personally, I don't mind helping with the blog as new products come to the market but we need to make it less words more pictures imo. Sites like Cartophilic already cover plenty of of that. we have to be different in our approach to the blog.

Advertising on the site is vital and crucial to keep the domain going. Google ads & Paid sponsors is the way to go.

Furthermore, donation options can be tested by asking members here for a small donation to help with the site.

Not all will have deep pockets to pitch in as others but whatever comes in helps maintain the site. I will donate for sure but in Indian Rupi

If donations work out and members are happy to help then that's one plus.

 

[Pavle]

Thanks, guys, the reason I want to step down in a way, is to allow other people to step in and express themselves and their passion with more responsibility which ultimately leads to better CardzReview. I will still be around helping with back-end and technical things, more than happy to do that, but we need someone to take over the front-end and take it to a better level.

would say the blog posts probably don't necessarily have to be so long in length we have to remember some of the target audience will be youngsters who will read the info. They can always be amended to meet minimum length requirements at a later date with extra information as it becomes

Great point, I also think we become obsessed with making perfect lengthy posts which drove people away since that requires time. Of course, for important collections like World and Euro Cup, Champ league, detailed posts that Carlos had are a masterpiece and one place where people can get all the info.

we need to make it less words more pictures imo. Sites like Cartophilic already cover plenty of of that. we have to be different in our approach to the blog.

One more great observation, I 100% agree. Any specific suggestions in which we can make our posts different and more interesting?

My suggestion is to focus on news-like short articles on upcoming collections that will provide first-hand info and as Andy said, be updated accordingly. No need to stress and make them be 2000 words or perfect.

Type of blog posts

1. News like articles that can announce new collections in collab with publishers, with short text providing important info, pictures and a standardized table providing important collection information. Should we include both sports and non-sports? I think we should include non-sports as well, it can bring different people in the community and make them interested.
2. Guides - posts that are more in-depth and less frequent. Focusing on hobby's general guides about protecting, trading, storing, etc.
3. Seasoned articles about important collections: an in-depth overview of the important collections (World Cup, Euro, Cup, UCL, etc)
4. Interviews with collectors, publishers, and people in the hobby that can be conducted via the standard pre-defined form

The goal of blog should be to attract people from search engines like Google and provide information, serve ads to of course, maintain the site and have a call to action, invite them to join the forum if they have more questions.

Thoughts?

Social media should also plays a very important role, it's where many are successful. I'm not a social network guy per se, but I recognize they have to be included. Reactivate again the collectors spark on Facebook and Twitter, plus creating an account on Instagram.

I love this idea! Instagram account sounds like a great way to share photos and invite people to visit the website, great suggestion!

 

[dantzig]

Thank you for the confidence guys, it's always wonderful to have people appreciating what you do... and also completely agree with the suggestions, I'm also not the same guy I was a couple of years ago, where bigger and detailed was my goal (no more LE locations lists, it was always very tiring, though fun, to compile what I and others found).

Pavle is usually on point and one thing that makes me"follow" him is how we share mostly the same vision (except Portugal-Serbia match yesterday, ahahah)... So are the members too and it's soooo easy to run this community... I'm feeling more and more energized for what's coming, so keep up firing those suggestions

 

[Pavle]

Alright, it seems the first order of business - determining the direction in which blog should go is concluded. We also have a social media strategy in place it seems.

Next should be ideas for sponsors who'd like to help with products as review units for reviewers on the blog and also to advertise on site and help with covering the cost of websites maintenance. Carlos seems pretty determined, so would be good if we get more ideas and brainstorm some solutions.

Also, ideas on how the forum can be improved are welcome.

 

[LFC1892]

Firstly, having a Instagram account is vital. More and more people use Instagram ahead of Facebook nowadays.

Secondly, for the blogs it would good if the pictures we use are informative, ie, people look at them and notice the difference between lets say 2 parallel cards. No need to include a paragraph of words to describe as we all discussed earlier. Personal pictures much better than copy & paste off another website, preferably.
In my opinion I think we should just keep it to Sport only.

Google for advertising on the site would be very good.
Shops & Publishers is a great idea as well. Popular shops like Coolcard or Cardoonia for example can advertise here in return they get the buisness from members. Maybe give a little discount for members who use the sites that are advertising on Cardsreview.

Thirdly, to improve the forum and make it more interactive with the members we need a POLL sub-forum.
Get the members involved by voting on new collections to gauge interest and collect information just in case we go ahead and manage to interview some big wigs from Panini or Topps. Polls can tell us plenty about people's interest and collecting habits. It is also a fun thing to participate in and discuss.

I have a few other ideas but I want to dabble with them in my head a bit more before making suggestions.

 

[dantzig]

All great tips and ideas, Arthur

I'm also tired of using stock photos for the articles. Would be nice to have support from publishers and stores indeed, in case we have contributors who genuinely want to help. Advantageous for everyone, I guess... Now to convince publishers and bring stores to advertise here, that is always the tricky part

I see some Google ads here, top banner at least... Guys, don't forget to whitelist our forums, if you use Adblock or something.

Polls sub-forum also looks a great idea and very easy to implement.

Anyone else? More ideas are very welcome

 

[Juanitoloco]

I can help you, with collections from South America and more.

 

[Makhno]

Hi guys and sorry for not helping more these days. My work load didn't allow me to do as much as I wanted to but you can count on me on the future. Always proud to be part of this community.

 

[Danju]

About donations, I guess something like patreon would suite to our community.

 

[Pavle]

@Danju That's fantastic suggeston.

@dantzig you should definitely set up a Pateron account, it enables people to contribute on a recurring basis. It's a great platform, no idea how we didn't think of it before.

 

[dantzig]

@Danju That's fantastic suggeston.

@dantzig you should definitely set up a Pateron account, it enables people to contribute on a recurring basis. It's a great platform, no idea how we didn't think of it before.

Never used Patreon or any of those platforms... let's try then

 

[Kacper13]

From my side, I'll be interested to write small artictle about stickers/cards, and sports souvenirs expos and meetings all over the world, with dates, infos, and pictures. I can't find anywhere such a good calendar with infos with whole meetings. Let me know, if it can be used on main site. If there's no hurry up, I believe it can be done in the next week by myself.

 

[dantzig]

From my side, I'll be interested to write small artictle about stickers/cards, and sports souvenirs expos and meetings all over the world, with dates, infos, and pictures. I can't find anywhere such a good calendar with infos with whole meetings. Let me know, if it can be used on main site. If there's no hurry up, I believe it can be done in the next week by myself.

We always welcome new interesting articles, Kacper. If you're really interested and motivated to write one about those expos/meetings, I can create you a contributors account.

 

[Ceesmk]

Hi friends!

Like you know, I have my own FB page where I publish reviews, retros, articles and informations and I don't like to write in English. Moreover, I'm already administrator for a French forum. But it's still a pleasure to share with you on this forum pictures of the new albums (with my reviews in french) or articles that you can easily translate on FB with the translator, and I won't stop to do this in the future!

 

[Caniggia]

hi everybody,

sorry for late answer

unfortunately I have no time anymore to prepare reviews in english, in general I have no time at all!

there are many news coming about Figurine Forever and Football Stickers Museum, but I don't forget how much cardzreview helped me and give me opportunity to start friendship with some good friends/collectors worldwide

for example I could also use logo Cardzreview for some events I take part, to help forum to be well known

the following step will be opening a "shop" in Bologna, exactly will be the home of new Figurine Forever as association, but we open also for selling albums and stickers (not everyday, anyway. Probably we start with around 2500 albums, you think are enough? ). This association will manage also Gianni Bellini and whole Football Stickers Museum project, that now suppose to be an itinerary Museum, of course not only in Italy

we're planning also an expo inside Fifa Museum in Zurich, but could be postponed to 2021/2022 in order of World Cup in Qatar

not now, after summer I could think to help Cardzreview also as small web sponsor

then, consider my idea to organize first international meeting of forum, in Italy of course when? next Figurine Forever planned in january 2020 could be an idea, in my city Bologna. I will meet also staff of Romics who organize this very big event in Rome, idea is to do a second annual edition of Figurine Forever, in Rome. Maybe Rome is more exciting for all of you, but Bologna means being close to Panini and in Bologna I can find more ways to cut costs (accomodation, etc.) for collectors are coming from abroad

IN CASE you like idea of this meeting, we could start to work on it soon. Day of event in Bologna (FIGURINE FOREVER 3rd edition, dedicate mainly to Euro Cup) shall be saturday 11th january 2019

ok, let me know your thinkings

 

[dantzig]

Hi friends!

Like you know, I have my own FB page where I publish reviews, retros, articles and informations and I don't like to write in English. Moreover, I'm already administrator for a French forum. But it's still a pleasure to share with you on this forum pictures of the new albums (with my reviews in french) or articles that you can easily translate on FB with the translator, and I won't stop to do this in the future!

You better not stop for sure, I'm used already to see great photos from albums, some I didn't even know

hi everybody,

sorry for late answer

unfortunately I have no time anymore to prepare reviews in english, in general I have no time at all!

there are many news coming about Figurine Forever and Football Stickers Museum, but I don't forget how much cardzreview helped me and give me opportunity to start friendship with some good friends/collectors worldwide

for example I could also use logo Cardzreview for some events I take part, to help forum to be well known

the following step will be opening a "shop" in Bologna, exactly will be the home of new Figurine Forever as association, but we open also for selling albums and stickers (not everyday, anyway. Probably we start with around 2500 albums, you think are enough? ). This association will manage also Gianni Bellini and whole Football Stickers Museum project, that now suppose to be an itinerary Museum, of course not only in Italy

we're planning also an expo inside Fifa Museum in Zurich, but could be postponed to 2021/2022 in order of World Cup in Qatar

not now, after summer I could think to help Cardzreview also as small web sponsor

then, consider my idea to organize first international meeting of forum, in Italy of course when? next Figurine Forever planned in january 2020 could be an idea, in my city Bologna. I will meet also staff of Romics who organize this very big event in Rome, idea is to do a second annual edition of Figurine Forever, in Rome. Maybe Rome is more exciting for all of you, but Bologna means being close to Panini and in Bologna I can find more ways to cut costs (accomodation, etc.) for collectors are coming from abroad

IN CASE you like idea of this meeting, we could start to work on it soon. Day of event in Bologna (FIGURINE FOREVER 3rd edition, dedicate mainly to Euro Cup) shall be saturday 11th january 2019

ok, let me know your thinkings

You almost made me shed a tear when you wrote you could act as a "small" web sponsor (where the hell is the crying emoji?!)... For us, you're big, huge!

Whenever we can, we'll help you too, all community here won't forget all the time you spent here to make this a great home for collectors. We're all watching you growing in this hobby and doing incredible things with such amazing collectors like Gianni Bellini.

The CR gathering is an old dream of us and physically almost impossible to achieve I always say to Pavle that CR is going to make me rich (joking, of course), but if I really was, I would pay costs to Italy for every renowned member here and even organize some gathering in Panini Modena, ahah

About donations, I guess something like patreon would suite to our community.

I've set up a basic account for now

 

[Makhno]

The CR gathering is an old dream of us and physically almost impossible to achieve

Would love to see the face of most of our wives / girlfriends / boyfriends after discovering the real purpose of their forecoming holydays

 

[Ceesmk]

Would love to see the face of most of our wives / girlfriends / boyfriends after discovering the real purpose of their forecoming holydays

That's why I'm single ;-)