Starting a Genealogy Blog

Good Morning!

Today, I thought I'd take a moment to write a post about starting a genealogy-related blog to help and/or encourage others who may have an interest in starting one up.

Photo credit- Google.com

Step 1; I think the obvious first step would be to have SOME genealogy research completed. If you don't, that would make for an interesting blog for sure! Do what ever works for YOU!

Step 2: What kind of genealogy blog do you want to create? I know this may sound confusing to some, but a good way to think of it is- 

Who is going to be your audience? Your blog could be for anyone and it could be for yourself and your own genealogy organization. It could be full of stories, biographies, mysteries, etc. My blog is mostly about my family but I do branch out occasionally to other genealogy topics and I research more than just my ancestral line. 

Step 3; Choosing a blog site. There are several different sites that you can create your blog on. Obviously, here, I use Blogger (or blogspot). I've had this blog since May 2014 and love this site. It's easy to use and if you get enough visitors, you can eventually have Google AdSense, which pays you by putting ads into your blog. 

Other blog sites I have found just doing a quick Google search- 

~www.squarespace.com

~www.wix.com

~www.weebly.com

~www.sitebuilder.com

~www.wordpress.com

Explore your options and see what works best for you and your needs.

Step 4; Explore other genealogy blogs. I know this may seem like the first step, however...I don't think it's too smart because you want to make this blog YOURS. You don't want to steal/borrow ideas. Figure out what you want to do and then view others' blogs for inspiration and encouragement. See what works for them and how often they blog and how many people follow their blog. 

Some sites off the top of my head- 

Amy Johnson Crow- Amy is a professional genealogist and huge in the blogging world. She created the blog post challenge titled "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks". I participated in this challenge and just recently started it again. It's a lot of fun and a lot of people still really enjoy it! 

Dear Myrtle- This blog is by Pat Richley-Erickson, who is a blogger and speaker at regional and national genealogical conferences. She has many videos on YouTube as well.

Genea-Musings- This is the very first genealogy blog I ever read and to which I credit my sudden desire to create a blog in the first place. This one was created by Randy Seaver. He posts many times a day and writes about a variety of genealogy topics as well as his own tree. I'm friends with him on Facebook and have talked to him many times- very sweet person.

Step 5; Start writing! Remember, even though you may find inspiration and encouragement from other blogs, don't steal information or plagiarize. Make this blog your own and own it! Have fun with it, be creative and share with the world your family stories and lore!