Blogging Research, Memories, and Family Stories...

Blogging Research, Memories, and Family Stories 1

© Laura Hedgecock 2015

Welcome to

Blogging Research,

Memories, and

Family Stories

Instructor: Laura

Hedgecock

Note pack and other resources are available at

http://TreasureChestofMemories.com/rootstech-handout.

My email: Laura @LauraHedgecock.com

My passion is telling

stories and helping

other people tell theirs.

That passion led me to

write a book,

Memories of Me: A

Complete Guide to

Telling and Sharing

the Stories of Your

Life.

My website, http://TreasureChestofMemries.com is all about

preserving and sharing memories and family stories.

This session focuses on technical end of blogging.

When it comes to creating content for your blog, both my

book and website have lots of helpful ideas and resources.

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/rootstech-handout

http://treasurechestofmemries.com/



Session Outline

why family historians blog helping you to identify your goals and preferences

look at website building and blogging platforms to help you find the right one for you

l look at some family history sites to help you develop Ideas for how you want to configure your site.

how you’ll find and connect with your readers.



Your stories are like optics.

zoom in and make your own version of Who Do You Think You Are?

provide selfies.

use a wide-angle lens, tell stories against the backdrop of history.

Explain why the research matters; share the journey

You might not have access to the

professional genealogists that WDYTYA?

enjoys, but you can highlight the family

stories that make you who you are.



Both blogging and family history is about connecting:

Connect with your past

Create a legacy and a bond with loved ones. Even future ones.

Collaborate, share theories, frustrations

Find new cousins

• Unlike journals, blogging lets you share immediately

and globally.

• Push information out to people

• Post it to let others find it

• Include image files, audio files, and video files.



Your goals and

motivations will help

you evaluate the site

building platforms…

Content Management Systems --- CMS

• no longer just maintain a site.

• provide and mange content.

• Look at how best to deliver content to readers.

• Bells and whistles are only useful insofar as they

highlight and deliver your content.

• In fact, often it’s the complexity of the content—not

your technical aptitude—that will determine the

complexity of your website.



What kind of readership do you want?

How are you going to connect with them?

• A blog that you only share with a small circle of

friends and family?

You can “publish” privately or even publish

password protected posts.

• A blog and resources that drives web traffic to your

business site?

• Complex e-commerce requires a more robust site.

• For a global audience, you’ll want a website building platform that helps you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO or SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is basically the best

practices that make it easier for your site to achieve a high

raking from Google, Bing, or other search engines.



There’s best fit for

• Your content • your abilities, • your goals, • your technical aptitude, • your budget, and • Your time.

________________________________________________

It’s a balancing act

between user-

friendliness and

functionality/control

• Friendliest options limit you in some way

• Most flexible options require a more know-how or

willingness to learn.

• You can change your mind later. You can “migrate” or

move a site, but it’s not always convenient.



The Contenders

(See last page of

handouts for detailed

comparison chart.)

All the sites we’re

looking at today will let

you do the following:

• Design an attractive site with

• a logical layout and navigation

• Support a blog as well as other pages

• Support multiple users/bloggers

• Integrate with your social media

• You can use your own domain name

• You can use your logo and tagline.



DEFINITIONS:

User-friendly and fee options:

Wordpress.com and Blogger.com

• WordPress.com and Blogger.com provide hosting,

• WordPress comes in two “flavors.”

o WordPress.com is the free version.

o WordPress.org is the self-hosted version.

BLOG vs PAGE

• Your blog displays articles—or posts—usually in the order of the most recent first.

• Pages, in comparison, tend to be relatively static and usually display the most critical information “above the fold,” so visitors can find that info without scrolling.

THEMES The preset formatting that gives the site a cohesive look and feel without you having to work hard at it. It chooses the layout, color scheme, fonts, and image sizes



PROs of WordPress.com and Blogger.com

• Free

• Includes hosting and domain or (subdomain).

• Beginner friendly

• Wordpress.com is open sourced.

CONs

• Limited Customization

• Limited Functionality

Weebly and Square Space

Depending on the package you choose, they price out at anywhere from $3 to $25 a month.

What you CAN NOT do with the free options.

• You can’t structure your permalinks.

o You can change the ending slug, but you can’t work around their file structures.

• You can add some simple buy now and donate now

buttons to your site, but more complex e-commerce won’t work with these platforms.

• Domain management – you can’t create subdomains, testing domains and re-directs



Weebly and Square Space – con’t

PROS

Reasonably priced

User friendly o drag and drop interfaces. o easy transfers from other blogging platforms.

“Premium Support” options

CONS

not open sourced –You rely fully on Weebly and SquareSpace to meet your needs.

Some limits to customization, but not as limited as with the free options.

The less you pay, the more you’re limited. Using code – particularly html – is trickier

Likewise, some limits to their functionality.

o The limits tend to come in the blogging interface.

o increased functionality can cost more

per month Either of these options might be good for you if: • You want your site up quickly

• If you needs are straight-forward.

• If you don’t want to learn the things you have to learn to

get a self-hosted site up and running.

• Especially for business sites, if you like-- and can afford--

the security of technical support.



Wordpress.org,

Joomla, and Drupal

Big 3 of Open-sourced

Self-hosted website

builders

• Self-hosted means you arrange for the hosting yourself.

The software is free.

• One time set up; annual renewals

• There are advantages to having a self-hosted site. Much

more control of your site, domain, etc.

PROS

Opened sourced. - Huge knowledge base means forums, how-to articles, and videos.

- They’ve been tested and re-tested

-They continue to be updated

- Developers continue to offer additional themes and plugins.

Sites are highly customizable

Have great functionality. Wordpress.org

- over 2000 free themes, plus “premium” themes that you

can purchase.

- 27,000 plugins.

Joomla

-900 themes and 8000+ plugins.

PLUGINS are add-on

software packages that

make your application do

something better or do

something differently.



Drupal

- Most robust of these three

Cons:

You have to set up hosting on your own domain name.

Learning curve in getting started

all those plugins aren’t all created equal and it can be time consuming to test them out.

These options are best for:

• Those wanting increased customization

• Those wanting control of everything.

• Those with comfortable with technology.

• Those moving from Wordpress.com or Blogger.

Moving from a Wordpress.com or Blogger site to

Wordpress.org doesn’t involve a huge learning curve.

The editor screens are very similar.

Themes and Layout

Changing “themes”

within a platform is

easy:

You lose no

content,

No search engine

rankings

No subscribers.



Choose one that will

• Fit your personality and your audience, as well

as your needs and content.

• Support a side panel

• That’s responsive

• CAVEAT, some themes will let

you customize more.

• Some themes will work better with certain plugins.

Layout options:

Header images:

They take up room

above the fold, but also

provide personality and

visual appeal

Landing pages--

Websites can open up

to your most recent

post, a page of “snippets” of your recent posts or to a

different page of your choice.

What side panel apps –or widgets-- would work for your

purposes?

Layout Considerations

Aesthetics:

o Consider the age of your readers

o You want to draw readers in. Don’t make them

work to read your content

RESPONSIVE means that

your site will render, or

display, well on all sorts of

different devices, from

phones to PCs.



Side panels:

o Right vs Left: We read from left to right, so consider what’s most important—your post content or side panel content

o Categories and tags translate into short links that you can place in the side panel or elsewhere.

o Archives by date don’t help first time visitors

o Easy to find search field is a “must”

o Side panel can offer ways for readers to follow or connect with you via social media

o Side panel can display badges with your professional or vocational associations

Top Navigation

o Should look clean and professional.

o Good place to reference services or resources.

o Should not confuse visitors

o Font big enough to find things at a glance.

General appeal o Let your personality shine

o Header can depict your interest and emphasis

o Can add personality

o Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Test your choices out by asking friends to find info at your site.

o Landing page

If your site opens to a snippet page, readers will see the types of things you blog about versus one post.

You can also have your blog open to a different page.

Note: when visitors come to your page via social media or search engines, they’ll come directly to that post, not your landing page.

Remember: Categories and

tags aren’t the same.

Categories are more of an

upper level organization.

Tags function as a detailed

indexing system.



Blog readers like to scan.

• Use shorter paragraphs • Use more active speech. • Add white space to your page

o Post length varies, some experts recommend 400-600 words. You can publish longer articles in installments.

• Use h1, h2, etc. tags (see articles in resources below)

Connect with your readers. The tone of a blog is conversational

o Use 1st person speech

o Use informal speech

o Bad grammar is bad, but personal flare and license are good

Sharing and Promotion is a matter of you and your

audience finding each

other.

Two factors

• providing and

delivering fresh,

interesting content

• Connecting with

others



Social Media & Sharing

Sites “integrated” with

Social media.

That means:

• You can set things

up so that every time

you “publish” new

content, you also

“publicize” or promote

that content your new post on the social media outlets of

your choice.

• Content (pages/posts) can be accompanied by “sharing”

buttons allowing readers to promote or share, via their

favorite social media.

• You can place social media “follow me” apps in your side

panel.

**** If you don’t use social media to interact and build

relationships, you’re limiting what Social media can do for

you.

Share others’ content, interact, show personality.

Pinterest:

Great for sharing family history ideas and articles.

See recommended articles Why Pinterest is Great for Family Historians, How to Use Pinterest to Share

Memories, and see also Pinterest Boards for Memory Sharing

Twitter:

Great for interaction

#memes (#familyhistory #genealogy, #rootstech) can increase readership. Twitter users look for content with those memes.

TIP: When you promote with social

media, you’ll reference a permalink

that goes directly to the post, by-

passing the landing page. Likewise,

if your users find your articles via

Google or Bing, they’ll go directly to

your article.

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/pinterest-great-family-historians/

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/pinterest-great-family-historians/

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/how-to-use-pinterest-to-share-memories/

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/how-to-use-pinterest-to-share-memories/

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/pinterest-boards-for-memory-sharing-ideas/

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/pinterest-boards-for-memory-sharing-ideas/



If you want other people to retweet your content, it’s better to keep you tweets down to 110 to 120 characters

Facebook:

Recent changes in Facebook metrics have made its “Fan” or business pages less valuable unless your want to pay to “boost” your posts, i.e. advertise.

Often, less than 11% of your followers will see your Facebook posts.

If you have fans or collaborators on your personal pages, you can use that to promote new content.

Linked In

Network with other professionals as well as share articles.

Join groups

Great place to find content and develop ideas.

Google Plus

Gurus seem divided, but

Good for interaction

TIP: As you blog, your stats till tell you

where your visitors come from. From there,

you can decide on which social media

outlets you want to concentrate.



Other Sharing Options

Geneabloggers.com

Genealogy listing service

Everyone should register! (one time registration)

Great place to find bloggers with similar interests

Daily blogging prompts

Cyndi’s List

Comprehensive listing service of all things genealogy

related.

One time signup.

RSS feeds

Often called Really Simple Syndication

Readers can sign up to receive notifications of new

content

One time set-up, place in side panel

Mailing Lists

Great way to share content

For businesses, great way to grow influence

Ideal frequency is monthly. No more often than every

2 weeks, no less often than quarterly.



SEO, or Search

Engine Optimization,

is the technical and

writing best practices

that help search

engines find your

content, which results

in referrers.

**** Good content is king.

o Good content and fresh content trumps writing

for search engines.

o Good content and fresh content is what keeps readers coming back.

Google, Bing, and others’ algorithms constantly changing

Very complicated

The technical attributes of your site builder affects SEO

Your writing and formatting can help

Self-hosted sites have plugins that evaluate drafts and suggest tweaks—keyword use, naming photos, reading level of writing..

o You don’t write so much for SEO as tweak your

writing and content to optimize your visibility.



• Be bold, try new things and explore new things.

• Connect with others! Enjoy yourself as you share.

• Don’t let your stories go untold. Tell your stories!



Website Builders Comparison Chart

Platform Pros Cons Good for Wordpress.com

Free (with fees for upgrades) Limited ability to customize Testing the Waters

Powerful and popular Limited functions Beginners

User friendly Limited to built-in pluginsi ii Technophobes

Includes hosting (sitename.wordpress.com)

Easy to migrate to self-hosted site later

Blogger

Free (with fees for upgrades) Limited ability to customize Beginners

Powerful and popular some html required to customize iii Casual Bloggers

User friendly Limited functionality Google Apps &

Includes hosting (sitename.blogspot.com) Google claims they own content Google + Users

Easy to migrate to self-hosted site later

Weebly If you want:

$3 -$29 per month depending on functionality and support.

Not open-sourced Attractive site w/out a lot of technical expertise

More functionality costs more monthly

User friendly Less you pay, more you’re limited Content management system

Drag and drop dashboard Using css or html is trickyiv want a site up quickly

"Premium" Support at all levels Limited to Weebly plugins security of tech support

Supports e-Commercev May charge more for domain namesvi

Limited SEO Or if SEO less priority

Blogging interface limited.vii

Square Space If you want:

$8 - $24/month, including domain Not open sourced: content management system

Beginner friendly drag and drop interface

Has SEO infrastructure, but no plugins to evaluate content.viii ix

Attractive site w/out a lot of technical expertise

Easy transfer from free platformsx Not as customizable as self-hosted Site up quickly

Free domain with annual packagexi

Some limits to functions, esp. blogging Security of tech support .

24/7 support; live chats or 1-hour email replies Can’t modify backend codexii Or if SEO is medium priority

Supports e-commerce

Wordpress.org (self-hosted) Good for those

Platform free-- you pay for the hosting. Learning curve getting started comfortable w/ technology

Open sourced; huge developer community You need a hosting service wanting full customization



Very flexible and powerful You need your own domain name. wanting full CMS

Many web-hosts have 1 click installationxiii Not all plug-ins created equal. preferred by many authors.

"Best Pick" for self-hosting beginners. Options can be overwhelming Moving from WordPress.com

Highly customizable +2,000 free themes Used for many businesses

27,000 plugins

Joomla

Platform free-- you pay for the hosting. slightly higher skill level required comfortable w/ css, html

Open sourced; huge developer community You need a hosting service E-commerce sites

Robust platform Learning curve getting started comfortable w/ technology

900+ themes, 7000+ plugin You need a hosting service wanting more customization

Drupal

Platform free-- you pay for the hosting. Learning curve getting started Techies

Open sourced; huge developer community You need a hosting service Group Sites

Extremely flexible and powerful You need your own domain name.

Probably more functionality than average Family History site needs.

1800+ themes, 24,000+ plugin Not as user friendly as Wordpress.org

wide variety of content types

Front-in functionality

© Laura Hedgecock 2014-2015

RESOURCES:

Susan Gunelius, “How to Choose the Right Blogging Platform for Your Business,” Annanova.com, March 20, 2014, http://www.ananova.com/blogging-platform/.

“Plugins,” Wordpress.com, accessed February 2, 2015, http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/.

Jake Jorgovan, "Squarespace vs WordPress - The Ultimate Guide to choosing the right platform," WP Curve, June 19, 2014, http://wpcurve.com/squarespace-vs-wordpress/.

Kasia Mikoluk, “Best Blogging Platform: WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, SquareSpace, or Typepad?” June 20, 2013, https://www.udemy.com/blog/best-blogging-platform/.

MOZ forum: "SEO and Squarespace," MOZ.com, January 13, 2014, http://moz.com/community/q/seo-and-squarespace-is-this-really-an-option

"Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]," WPBeginner.com, February 2, 2015, http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/?display=wide

Ginny Soskey, “How to Choose the Best Platform for Your Blog,” Feb 4, 2013, Shareaholic.com, https://blog.shareaholic.com/best-blogging-platform/ .

"Weebly Starter, Pro or Business: Which plan should I choose?" Websitetooltester.com, http://www.websitetooltester.com/en/reviews/weebly-review/starter-vs-pro-vs-business/.



Other Resources -- click on link to go to pdf

document with other resources.

Bonus Material:

Making your site look more professional

✔Align photos✔ Use sub-titles✔ Proof-read✔ Logical categories and tags✔ Add badgesX Images without permission

Why does Weebly not mention their pricing anywhere on the website before you sign up?" Quora, accessed November 21, 2014, http://www.quora.com/Why-does-Weebly-not-mention-their-pricing-anywhere-on-the-website-before-you-sign-up.

Jeremy Wong,"Weebly Pricing - What You Get from Weebly Business, Weebly Pro & Starter Plans, Website Builder Expert, November 17, 2014, http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/weebly-pricing-pro-starter-plans/.

Jeremy Wong, “Website Builders Comparison Chart,” Website Builder Expert, February 2, 2015, http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/website-builders-comparison-chart/.

"Wordpress vs Joomla vs Drupal + CMS 'Comparison Chart'," Website Setup.org, accessed November 21, 2014, http://websitesetup.org/cms-comparison-wordpress-vs-joomla-drupal/.

http://treasurechestofmemories.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Other-Resources-for-Roots-Tech-Blogging-Research-Memories-and-Family-Stories.pdf



• The DO’s • Align your photos. This is like wrapping text in

Microsoft word. I have a more detailed explanation in my handouts, but in most applications, from Mailchimp to Drupal, it’s as simple as left clicking your image and opening up the image properties. If you choose align left, the photo appears on the left with the text continuing to the right.

• Use sub-titles and format them using the h2 formatting options in your dialogue.

• Proofread. I know. The worst person to proof-read text

is the person who wrote it. Yet bloggers seldom have the luxury of a proofreader of copy writer. Use a text to voice program that will read your post out loud to you. It will help you find errors. The good news, however, is that when you do find an error, you can correct it.

• Use a logical group of categories and tags. They turn

into hyperlinks and can really help users find the information on your site.

• Add a badge representing your professional or other affiliations to your side panel

• The DON”Ts • Don’t grab images from Google images. Use stock

photos sites (see listing) or use your own or ask permission.

• Don’t copy other’s content, which is basically why you can’t grab images off Google.

i Ginny Soskey, “How to Choose the Best Platform for Your Blog,” Feb 4,

2013, Shareaholic.com, https://blog.shareaholic.com/best-blogging-

platform/. ii “Plugins,” Wordpress.com, accessed February 2, 2015, http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/. iii Soskey.



iv Susan Gunelius,"How to Choose the Right Blogging Platform for Your Business," Annanova.com, March 20, 2014, http://www.ananova.com/blogging-platform/. v "Weebly Starter, Pro or Business: Which plan should I choose?"

Websitetooltester.com,

ttp://www.websitetooltester.com/en/reviews/weebly-review/starter-vs-pro-

vs-business/. vi Ibid. vii Gunelius. viii Jake Jorgovan, "Squarespace vs WordPress - The Ultimate Guide to choosing the right platform," WP Curve, June 19, 2014, http://wpcurve.com/squarespace-vs-wordpress/. ix MOZ forum: "SEO and Squarespace," MOZ.com, January 13, 2014, http://moz.com/community/q/seo-and-squarespace-is-this-really-an-option x Kasia Mikoluk, “Best Blogging Platform: WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, SquareSpace, or Typepad?” June 20, 2013, https://www.udemy.com/blog/best-blogging-platform/. xi Gunelius. xii Kasia Mikoluk, “Best Blogging Platform: WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, SquareSpace, or Typepad?” June 20, 2013, https://www.udemy.com/blog/best-blogging-platform/. xiii Gunelius.

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