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A couple of years ago, an interesting phenomenon hit the Web. Called a WebLog (or blog for short), it gave people who didn’t want to build Web pages a way to have a site without the HTML headache. (HTML, as you probably know, stands for Hypertext Markup Language—the code used to write Web pages.)
Since then, blogs have been used for every topic on Earth, including genealogy. Even companies like Google are jumping on the blog bandwagon as a way of communicating with consumers in a friendly, non-corporate manner.
Why would you want to begin blogging? For starters, it’s an easy way to get your family Web page up and running with zero cost. In addition, the blog format invites comments from other family members, giving you the opportunity to create an active online community. Blogs also archive anything you write, and generally have an on-site search engine, making it easy to search your entire site for a specific topic. That function alone is a gem, because once you get blogging, it’s tough to remember when you might have written about Great Uncle Jack’s probate file. Best of all, blogs are free.
As the blog owner, you generally have a lot of options to choose from, including whether to hide or show comments, or whether to list your blog in a general directory. If privacy is important, don’t get listed in a directory; just give your blog address to friends and family. However, for safety’s sake, don’t post any personal contact information like your address or phone number on your blog.
Not sure what to include in your blog? How about research notes, findings, photos, reference books, how-to books, favorite family recipes . . . get the picture? To get you blogging, check out these links to other genealogy blogs, and to free blog providers:
• Timebot’s Genealogy
www.genealogybot.com/geneblog/index.html
• HyperTree
www.hypertree.com
• Computer Genealogy (my own blog)
www.computergenealogy.com
• Blogger Free Blogs
blogger.com
• eBloggy Free Blogs
www.ebloggy.com
• BlogDrive Free Blogs
www.blogdrive.com
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