Here, in the first of two articles, we take a look back at 2010.

In this first one, we reflect on some of the things we have been doing to maintain, and improve our service to you, the KTLN readers, in 2010.

And in the KTLN review of 2010 part 2, we will be revisiting some of the more interesting local news items, published this year.

Kalkan Turkish Local News aims to deliver a website that is both interesting and easy to use.  We may sometimes publish articles that are about important subjects, but we try to maintain a balance by giving you plenty of 'good news' articles. 

We don't take ourselves too seriously - at the end of the day this is a hobby, not part of the News International Group!  

Having said that, we do want to deliver something that is valued, and for that reason, we are always thinking of ways in which we can do things better.  So in this article, we reflect on the things we have done in 2010, and we also tell you about some of the things we are planning to do in the months ahead.

What has KTLN done in 2010?
We will be writing a separate update on The KTLN Trust in the new year.  (We originally intended to write this in November, but for a number of reasons, decided to wait until the year end).  Thanks to you, the KTLN readers, we have made a positive contribution to the Kalkan community.  More on this in our forthcoming article.

Back to the website, and in January, we undertook the KTLN Kalkan survey 2010.  As far as we know, this was the first public, independent survey undertaken in Kalkan.

We uncovered some interesting, if not altogether surprising, demographic information, and we got an insight into your views of Kalkan. 

Marketing people would tell you that for a place the size of Kalkan, a survey response of 388 people, (representing families/groups numbering over 1,200), is a statistically significant sample of views.  We think it makes fascinating reading.  If you have not seen the findings, why not take a look now?

In March, we added some great Turkish recipies, from Binnur's Turkish Cookbook, to the KTLN home page.  They had always featured in the KTLN Knowledge Bank, but we wanted to make them more accessible.

Back in April, the KTLN webmaster enhanced the KTLN Toolbar, by adding the main BBC radio stations, so that they are literally just one click away.  Here at KTLN HQ, we use it every day.  It's so easy. Why not take a look at the KTLN Toolbar.

The KTLN Flight & Travel information page (our single most popular page), got a couple of enhancements this year.  In June we added a neat flight search facility (using Skyscanner), and in October we added a link to a flight tracking website.

In June, we introduced our fourth webcam at Coast @ Gironda restaurant (now just called 'Gironda').  Shortly after that, in July, we took a feed from the Enjoy Kalkan 'Adda webcam', so that you could see all Kalkan's webcams in one place.  

Also in July, we introduced a new delivery channel for KTLN content, when we launched iKalkan, for mobile devices, such as the Blackberry and iPod.

In August, we launched the free KTLN email alert service.  We currently have 160 members signed up.  To read more about this free service, click on the above link.

In November, the Fethiye Times website started to take a feed from our local news articles, so Fethiye Times readers can now read the latest Kalkan news, if they are interested.

And earlier this month, we introduced a facility for you to share your favourite KTLN articles on Facebook.  So if you read something that you think your friends would be interested in, why not share it with them.  If you just want to tell people about the site, you can share our home page on Facebook too.  Just click on the Facebook icon.

What's coming up?
Very soon, we are going to bring you another Kalkan webcam, which we think will be popular.  We said that we wouldn't have another, but we couldn't resist this one.  We are still working on it, but we aim to be online in the not too distant future.  Watch this space.

Towards the end of January 2011, we will be conducting the second KTLN Kalkan Survey; asking for your views on Kalkan.  Let's see if we can improve on the number of responses we got last year (388).

By popular demand, we will be hosting another online auction in March 2011, with 100% of money raised going to The KTLN Trust.  We already have some cracking items lined up.

Twelve months ago, we introduced a Classified Adverts feature, however due to minimal use, we decided to drop it.  Subsequently, we did receive several emails from people wanting to advertise things for sale, but we are still not sure if there is enough demand to justify its return. 

So, when we run our Spring 2011 online auction, we will reintroduce the Classified Adverts for a time, and if it gets used, it can stay.

In time for the new season, we will be introducing a brand new feature to KTLN, for members only, which we think will be popular. 

This is 'work in progress', so we don't want to give anything away just now, but let's just say if all goes according to plan, it will be interactive, useful, and potentially money saving.

KTLN Feedback
We always welcome your feedback, in terms of content, and also the technical functionality of the KTLN website.  Thank you for all your kind comments - they are appreciated.

Brief comments can be typed in the feedback box on our home page, (visible to registered members), or you can simply reach us via the Contact Us tab at the top of the page. 

Please feel free to get in touch, if there is something else you would like to see on KTLN.

From time to time we do get gremlins in the works, and we always do our best to resolve technical problems as quickly as possible.  If you have trouble accessing any part of the KTLN website, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

For information
Kalkan Turkish Local News published its first article on 1st April 2009.  Some 21 months later, we are Kalkan's most popular website, with around 3,200 members.

We have published just short of 800 local news articles, plus we have lots of useful information in our Knowledge Bank, the best local Business Directory you can find, and not forgetting of course the very popular KTLN webcameras.

KTLN is run as a hobby, by three people - the editor and his PA, both based in Kalkan, and the webmaster, based in England.  Nobody at KTLN gets paid - it is a non-profit making enterprise.  To read more about our core values, take a look at the KTLN Brand.

Do you just read the local news articles on KTLN?  Did you know there is much more to this website than news?  To find out about many other features on this webste, click on this link: Membership