Creating a family history blog is something which many people investigating their family history and the story of their ancestors decide to do. While many people prefer to keep their genealogical discoveries a bit more private, a growing number of people choose to develop a blog or website to share what they have found about their family story. This can be useful in unexpected ways, as sometimes an individual who might have known a family member mentioned on your blog or have some information thereon could be become aware of your genealogical studies and contact you with information you didn’t previously know existed.[1] Similarly, if a family member was prominent in some walk of life, whether it was politics and business, or the arts and culture, details of their life and what you have discovered about their wider family may be of interest to others. Here are ten things to consider when creating a family history blog:
Do some research
Chances are by the time you begin considering setting up a family history blog you will have done a good bit of genealogical research already and your family tree will be well-developed. What we mean by ‘do some research’ here is to research other family history blogs. Try and get a sense of how these are laid out, the kind of information people include in them and other particulars like the kinds of visuals included and what the general ethos of a family history blog is.[2]
Choose a domain and web content management service
In order to start a family history blog you will need a domain name. You can get these quite easily from a web content management service like WordPress or Wix. These will also provide the necessary tools to quite easily set up your own website. In order to do so you will have to choose a domain name, i.e. what your web address will be. WordPress, Wix and others also provide tools for building your blog which are a must really unless you know how to actually write computer code yourself.[3] Alternatively, you could decide to go down the route of using an online writing platform like Medium to share your findings, but your options are much moore limited if you do this.[4]
Decide on what is relevant to include
Once you have a domain name sorted, think about what it is you want to actually include in the blog before you begin building it. Remember, a blog, like any form of writing, is about storytelling. You don’t need to include every single kernel of information you have discovered about your extended family over the years, particularly so if you have a huge volume of information. Stick to what you think is germane to the story of your family and what people will find interesting. If your grandfather climbed Mount Everest, put that in; if you found a record of him visiting the dentist in May 1947, you might want to consider leaving that out![5]
Always check with other family members
Family blogs are personal at the end of the day, especially where you are relating information concerning people who are still alive. Some people might not be as comfortable as you are with having elements of their life story details online. Therefore, be sure and check with family members and others that you might be going to include details of in your blog to make sure that it’s ok with them beforehand.
Start building your blog
Once you have a domain name in place, know what you want to present on your blog, and are sure everyone involved is ok with what you might include, it’s time to start building your blog. Blogs started in the halcyon early days of the Digital Age, all the way back in the mid-to-late 1990s, as online diaries. However, they’ve evolved down many paths since and come in all shapes and sizes today. The tone, style and approach can basically be whatever you want them to be. It’s your story after all. You can, for instance, begin topically, even with something like ‘An introduction to my family history’ and build out from there with other entries. Whether you have five, ten or a hundred entries in mind to add over time, start with one and go from there. Don’t get carried away on the length though. It is probably best to keep entries to somewhere between 800 and 1,200 words. Any more than this might put people off reading an entry. If you do have a longer entry, look through it and consider how you might break it up into two, three or more entries depending on the length.[6]
Illustrate your blog
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A picture probably doesn’t say a thousand words, but it does say a hundred! Its always a good idea to include one or two pictures to illustrate what you’re discussing. Examples for a family history blog could include photos of family members, images of birth certs and other demographic records, pictures of a family event like a wedding from long ago, or a picture of a family home. The range is pretty wide and ultimately every case is unique, yet it’s always best not to have a blog which is just a solid block of text, especially when trying to humanize what is a very human topic.[7]
Include your contact details
As mentioned above, you never know when someone might end up reading your blog and suddenly realize that they have some information that might be relevant to your genealogical research, or vice-versa, that you might be able to reveal something to them about their own investigation of their family history. Therefore, include a way of contacting you on the blog. You certainly don’t need to put down your telephone number, and if you are wary of putting your email address online you can always build-in a contact form for someone to contact you in that manner. Also, maybe add a note for how you might want your blog cited if someone wants to reference your research in their own work.[8]
Back-up your information
Finally, it might go without saying, but always back up your information in case of any technical problems. The best way to do this is to write out everything you post on a file offline beforehand and only transfer it to the blog once you have finalized the text and proofread it. If nothing else this is also a good way of ensuring you only publish blog entries online that you have checked, proofread for typos and the like and are happy with. After a time you probably will want to try and back up the layout, images and so forth as well as the text. Luckily, sites like WordPress allow you to ‘export’ your blog content and back it up fully, something which it is worth doing occasionally for safe-keeping.[9]
See also
Explore more about family history blogs
- Blogs: Easy to Make Web-Pages at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Getting Started in Family History – 3 – Family Stories at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Future-proof Your Family History: How to Make Sure Your Genealogy Research Outlives You at the MyHeritage Blog
References
- ↑ https://www.creativefamilyhistorian.com/create/family-history-blog/
- ↑ https://familytreemagazine.com/storytelling/how-to-start-genealogy-blog/
- ↑ https://wordpress.com/support/domains/
- ↑ https://medium.com/
- ↑ https://genealogystories.co.uk/how-to-go-from-boring-to-brilliant-family-history-writing/
- ↑ https://www.wix.com/blog/what-is-a-blog
- ↑ https://www.tiny.cloud/blog/blog-illustration-tips/
- ↑ https://leavesfamilyhistory.co.uk/blog/copyright-and-genealogy/
- ↑ https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-easily-save-a-blog-post-to-your-computer-5-methods/