If one of your New Year resolutions included creating your own genealogy Web site, you are in luck. A new comprehensive guide, Getting Started on Your Genealogy Website, has just rolled off the presses and it promises to make this undertaking no harder than a big term paper.

Authors Thorton and Marty Gale, two avid genealogists themselves, believe that while a genealogy Web site may be hard at times, the expertise required to create and maintain one exactly matches the expertise that genealogists are most gifted with - use of computers, project management, writing, general organizational skills and, of course, knowledge of genealogy.

They also emphasize that the cost of maintaining a Web site is very feasible and, compared to other forms of publishing, actually cheap. So putting your genealogy research on a Web site is by far the most cost-effective way to share your information with your family as well as other researchers.

As you have probably noted while surfing the Web, there are actually about 10 different types of genealogy Web sites. These include surname, family history, local history, local genealogy, descendant, pedigree, elusive ancestors, noteworthy ancestors, tickle sites and genealogy workbenches. So there could be more than one type to fit your style or organization.

The book describes all of these in detail and makes it easy to decide which one or several to utilize.

The Gales' explanations are very organized, clearly presented, understandable and, perhaps most of all, encouraging. The reader actually feels empowered to jump right in and tackle the Internet.

Written for the nontechnical genealogist, the chapters are backed up with comprehensive appendices where the technical topics are explained in detail. This keeps the user from getting bogged down and yet provides all the references and explanations needed.

The book does recommend using Microsoft Word to create your Web site, and interestingly shows you how to turn your Web site into a genealogy book by using the right tools in Word. As they point out, this is the dream of many genealogists - to present their family with a beautiful book of family genealogy. What better opportunity to do so!

The volume is presented by http://www.genealogyhosting.com/, which is a discount Web-hosting company.

It also offers the first chapter of the book as a free excerpt on its Web site. This presents a comprehensive overview of the whole process of planning, designing and building a genealogy Web site and can be accessed by clicking the "Book Viewer" link. Check this out and see if it raises your enthusiasm about the proposed project. If so, it may be time to just do it!

This 488-page paperback can be purchased from http://www.lulu.com/. Check either Web site for more information