Sharing Family History

with a Blog

Tips for Getting Started

Created by Nicole Dyer, June 17, 2017

What is a Genealogy Blog?

• Blog: a collection of posts or articles; a regularly updated website or web page with the newest post first

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• Genealogy Blog: a regularly updated website to share your genealogy research and family history stories, helpful how-to articles and other status updates

FamilyLocket.com

Article with two purposes: idea for father’s day activity and a story about my Grandpa “Adventures of Cowboy Bob”

My Personal Family Blog - Private/selected readers

GeneaBloggers Tribe

http://geneabloggerstribe.com/

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GeneaBloggers

• Group started in 2007 to support fellow genealogy bloggers
• Thomas MacEntee created a website in 2008 called geneabloggers.com
• Daily blogging prompts
• Blog roll - list of over 3,000 genealogy bloggers
• other resources and helps for bloggers
• Last month Thomas announced that he’s moving on
• Creation of GeneaBloggers Tribe by Pat-Richey Erikson (DearMyrtle) and team
• www.GeneaBloggers.com
• GeneaBloggersTribe.com

Why become a GeneaBlogger?

Be Published Today!

• Before genealogy blogging, family historians’ work was published in:
• Genealogy society publications
• Books
• Online family tree databases
• Create a blog and be self-published instantly

Why would you want to publish a blog?

• Preservation
• Connect with relatives
• Flexibility
• Education
• Give Back
• Networking
• Research help
• Fun

• Preservation

• Keep family information from being lost by publishing it to the web. Blogs survive even after we’re gone.
• Blog posts are searchable: archived and there when you need to quickly find them

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• Preservation

• Blog posts can be printed into a book
• www.Blog2print.com

• www.Blurb.com/blog-book

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2. Connect with Relatives

• a.k.a. Cousin bait
• Find relatives who are doing google searches for ancestral information
• Post full names of ancestors and other identifying information
• I found my British cousins and they helped solve a family myth!

• a

https://atideswellman.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/edwin-gregory-1900-1995/

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3. Flexibility

• Why not just share family history info with your relatives on Facebook?
• Blog posts are more flexible than Facebook posts
• more media: photos, videos, etc.
• Short form content or long form content
• More formatting options
• Blog posts last longer than Facebook posts and public blogs can be found through google searches forever

Further reading: Amy Johnson Crow - “Is Genealogy Blogging Dead?”

4. Education

• Share what you know with others (and as you write, you learn even more)
• Read helpful articles from others (as you read about their research, you get ideas for your own)
• Follow blogs through email or with a feed reader
• Feedly.com

Feedly

Feedly

5. Give Back

• Do you have an area of interest or expertise?
• Share helpful “how-to” articles on your blog
• Short tips that are helpful to others
• A way to volunteer

Genealogy Tip of the Day

http://genealogytipoftheday.com/

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6. Network

• Comments: respond to others’ posts and articles with feedback
• Share others’ posts on social media: facebook, twitter
• “Best of,” “Favorite Reads,” and other Pick posts
• Join the “Genealogy Blog Party” or the “Family History for Children Blog Link Up”

Favorite Reads Post

• I compile this list monthly at FamilyLocket.com
• Connect with other bloggers and learn from them
• Keep current on trends and news
• http://familylocket.com/category/favorite-reads-of-the-month/

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Best of the Genea-Blogs

• List by Randy Seaver at his blog Genea-Musings.
• Links to other bloggers’ pick posts
• http://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/BestofGeneaBlogs

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Genealogy Blog Party

• Hosted by Elizabeth O’Neal
• Formerly LittleBytesofLife.com
• Now her website is named MyDescendantsAncestors.com
• She hosts a monthly “blog party” or link up
• Geneabloggers everywhere can submit an article and read/comment on the other articles to network and learn and have fun

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MyDescendantsAncestors.com

Genealogy Blog Party

FHforChildren Blog Link Up

Hosted by myself at FamilyLocket.com

http://FamilyLocket.com/family-history-for-children-blog-link-up/

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7. Research Help

• Writing helps you see what you’re missing from your research
• Writing forces you to do more analysis of your evidence
• Fellow geneabloggers may be able to give you help
• Cousins may find your post, reach out, and share a document, photo or tip that solves a brick wall

8. Fun

• Writing blog posts is fun and therapeutic
• Make friends
• Opportunities - RootsTech, etc.
• See the fruits of your work

How to Create a Blog

Free or Self-Hosted?

• Free Blogging Platform
• Free account and domain
• Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, etc.
• Good for beginners
• Self Hosted Blogging Platform
• Host on your own server or rent space from a third-party to host blog (BlueHost, iPage, etc.)
• You have full control, can perform more functions
• Best for businesses

Wordpress

• Open source software for blogging and websites
• Well trusted
• 28% of the web uses WordPress, from hobby blogs to the biggest news sites online.
• Learn more about the Wordpress blogging software at Wordpress.org

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Wordpress.com vs Wordpress.org

• Wordpress.com
• Beginners can start here to create a free blog
• Restricted version of wordpress software, site hosted on their servers (free)
• Domain: familylocket.wordpress.com
• Wordpress.org
• Full wordpress software
• Site hosted on third party software (paid)
• Domain: familylocket.com

Further reading: Jessica Knapp, “Should I choose a free or self-hosted blogging platform?” Blogging Basics 101

Blogger.com

• Google product
• Free, easy to set up
• Free domain: i.e. LanceandNicoleDyer.Blogspot.com
• Can upgrade to a custom domain (without the blogspot.com)
• Store posts and photos with google for free
• http://blogger.com
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Choose a Name

• Unique
• Memorable
• Short or long? I like short.
• Ideas
• Think of your purpose (family, ancestor stories, research, state, local, how-to, education, tips)
• GeneaBloggersTribe.com/members
• Family names
• You can always change it later!

GeneaBloggers Tribe - Get name ideas

• a

Layout

• Choose a theme
• Free templates come with the blogging platforms
• Or Purchase a custom template
• Header
• Photo
• Title
• Sidebar
• Widgets
• Contact info, about, badges

Header

Menu

Sidebar

Organization

• Categories: subjects that create a table of contents for posts
• Overarching subjects
• Themes
• Tags: keywords that help create an index to posts
• Surnames
• Places
• subjects

Menus

• Helps the reader see what content you have on your site
• Categories as the menu options
• About page

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Use full names of ancestors
• Add dates and places lived
• Add metadata to pictures
• What terms will people be searching for that you might want this picture to show up in the search results?

Further Reading: Caroline Pointer, “Blogging Genealogy: SEO,” Blogging Genealogy.

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Adding metadata to a photo on my blog for SEO

For more help...

Resources tab at GeneaBloggers Tribe

http://GeneaBloggersTribe.com/resources/

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Writing Tips

Elements of a Post

• Title
• Featured Image
• Text
• Photos, videos, graphics
• Source Citations: links, citations
• Organization: categories, tags

Tips for Writing Engaging Posts

• Hook your readers with the first paragraph
• Use headers
• Use short paragraphs
• Add visuals
• Use links and source citations
• Use descriptive titles
• Share a how-to article with our family story as the example
• Find out what articles already exist about your topic and try to give yours a unique twist
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13 Things Successful Bloggers Do

By Elena at BlogShareLearn

http://blogsharelearn.com/list-successful-bloggers-do/

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Ideas for Posts

• Keep a running list of post ideas
• Jot down ten post ideas
• Most interesting discoveries
• Hard lessons you’ve learned
• Important traditions in your family
• Unique heirlooms
• Fascinating documents you have uncovered
• Tips you have to share

Ideas for Posts

GeneaBloggersTribe.com/genealogy-prompts/

Give Life to Family Stories

• Research the historical context
• Place
• Historical photos
• Characters
• Consider fictionalizing the stories
• For younger readers
• For fun
• To make them more memorable

Fictionalized Scene

• Places: What was the place like when your ancestor lived there? Are there landmarks nearby? What was the weather like?
• Events: What important historical events happened at the time they were alive? What important events happened to the family?
• Culture: What were the ordinary details of their life: what did they eat, wear, do for fun?
• People: What did they look like? Use details to put flesh on the bones of your family. Study photographs, write with your senses. Describe voice, movement, manner, etc.
• http://familylocket.com/the-adventures-of-cowboy-bob-pickin-cotton/

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Share your Sources

• Using as many accounts of the event as you can
• Add historical research and context
• Add creativity

http://familylocket.com/the-adventures-of-cowboy-bob-the-covered-wagon-trip-and-the-train/

Photo Tips

Photos and Blogging

• It’s best to add photos to each post
• Copyright
• Use free images (https://pixabay.com/, etc.)
• Contact the website who owns the photo to ask permission to use it, and give credit
• Use your own images
• Create your own images (http://Canva.com)

Further Reading: Judy Russell, “Copyright and the old family photo,” The Legal Genealogist

Nicole Martinez, “Fair Use in Blogging: Can Bloggers Use Copyrighted Images,” Art Law Journal

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Canva.com

• Easy graphic design website
• Helps design images
• Free
• Fun

Contact Archives for Permission

• Emailed
• Responded in a week giving me permission
• Asked that I submit an image use agreement
• PDF to fill out and mail/fax/email in

Finding an Audience

Know your Audience

• Imagine who might want to read your blog
• Your cousins, children, neices, nephews, aunts, uncles
• Beginning genealogists, non-genealogists, stay at home moms, DNA users
• Where do they go to find content?
• Google
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Share posts on social media

• Wordpress has a feature called “publicize” that automatically shares your posts to social media when you publish them
• Share content in places that make sense
• Personal Facebook profile
• Facebook family groups
• Facebook genealogy groups
• Use hashtags on Twitter #genealogy #familyhistory

Add Sign up for Notifications of Posts by Email

• Add a way for readers to subscribe to your posts
• They will receive an email every time you post something new
• Wordpress and Blogger easily allow for this

Create a Facebook Page that connects to your blog

• Relatives can “like” the page
• They’ll see the posts every time they are published in their facebook newsfeed
• More interaction
• More sharing

Start a Genealogy Blog Today!

Blogger.com

Wordpress.com

Choose a theme

Choose a Name

Look! I made a blog! Easy & free.

Now I’ll customize it.

Add a title and tagline

Change the header image

Make your first post by uploading a photo and telling about it

Add others to help - administrator, editor, author, contributor

Add a widget to allow readers to follow by email

All set up, 10 minutes later! You can do it.

Questions

View this presentation at FamilyLocket.com