|
Sample
Genealogy Website:
Surname Website |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Notes |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
This
is a surname website devoted to presenting extensive
information about one surname - in my case my
Mannigel family. A surname project is always difficult
because of the numerous people encountered with
the target surname. Many of them are not part
of the surname-clan but its hard to tell when
you are in the thick of collecting information.
Therefore, I adopted the strategy of separating
the collection of surname information from its
synthesis. I recorded all Mannigel findings (in
all spellings) documenting the citations of each.
This produced many entries for various people
with the correct name but not necessarily a proven
ancestor of mine. I did find reason to believe
that a many of the lines were related if I could
get enough documentation. It was a productive
way to proceed and once I had nailed down a Mannigel
ancestor completely, I wrote a biography of that
person. Eventually I hope to have biographies
written for them all. It is my purpose to
put this information on the web in hopes of drawing
interest from fellow Mannigel researchers worldwide.
I have received numerous queries and can whole
heartedly recommend this approach - a
surname website.
|
-
This site
has been completely built with Microsoft
Word in HTML. Microsoft Word can work in
HTML as easily as it can in its native ".DOC"
format. This means I can do all of the work
of creating my website in my word processor
thus creating my website in my familiar,
every day work environment.
- Notice that as a Microsoft
Word website, it can be turned into a genealogy
book! While the project to turn a Microsoft
Word website into a book is definitely a time-consuming
project, it is not difficult since it is a
straight forward project. The hard
part has already been done - the research.
Also, Microsoft Word is great at organizing
and creating complex documents such as a genealogy
web site..
- When I'm communicating with
fellow researchers I can use this website
to present my information, giving them a simple
link to my website instead of a pile of paper.
Notice that they always have my latest information!
-
As the Mannigel
research matures and I make contact with
more and more people, I will use this site
so they can communicate with each other.
For example, I'll maintain an accurate e-mail
list as well as sponsor a message board
(e.g., via Rootsweb.com) with a link from
this site.
-
This site
also has robust e-mail account capability
with the ability to add 500 e-mail accounts
on the "Economy"
hosting plan.  This means a surname
e-mail system could be built and made available
so that Mannigel descendants would have
an e-mail account reflecting their family
heritage (e.g., johnsmith@mannigel.org).
Sponsoring a surname-clan e-mail system
is a good way to get people all over the
world organized as a family and focused
on their mutual genealogy research!.
- Notice ... with this
setup, I have my own permanent e-mail address
for my Mannigel genealogy correspondence (e.g.,
martygale@mannigel.org).
|
| Detailed
Article |
Article
(PDF):
Surname Website (click here)
Here
is a detailed article describing the www.mannigel.org
surname website. Also, see
other articles |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
click
the figure above
to see my surname website |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Here's
What you Need for a Surname Website
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
This
type of website (a surname website) will grow and be
perfected through the years so one needs an open ended
disk space capability. I purchased the Economy
Hosting Plan  which gives me more disk space
than I'll ever need. I have a separate Microsoft
Word HTML page for each citation page and another for
each biography page. I also put some buttons along the
top for links to common information or tools of interest
to Mannigel researchers. Here is what you would
need to build your own surname website. |
| Domain
Name (Click Here):
|
 |
From
$1.99 per year
(includes many free
services)
The domain name
is the web address of a website. For example, the
domain name of the website "www.olsen42.org"
is "olsen42.org." It will not only
be used to form your website name but also could be
your genealogy e-mail address. In fact, once you own
a domain name, you can use it as your permanent e-mail
address (e.g., "jim@olsen42.org") and end
once and for all the e-mail chaos when you change
your Internet Service Provider (ISP). For a genealogy
website, it's best to use a domain name ending in
.name, .org, or .info. If your domain name such as
"olsen.org" is not available (someone else
has already claimed it) then try a numbered name such
as "olsen42.org" as in this example. Also,
try variations such as "olsenfamily.org."
|
| Economy
Hosting Plan (Click Here): |
 |
From
$2.79 per month (free with domain name but with advertising)
This will be the home of your genealogy website. Your
website is actually just a bunch of files (i.e., linked
together) in which you copy the files from your computer
to your website using standard file functions (e.g.,
Windows drag and drop). We have a full line of hosting
plans. Also, you obtain a
free "Economy Hosting Plan" when you register
or renew a domain name which is identical to the paid-plan
but is ad-supported. |
| C-Site
Copyright Protection - Optional (Click
Here): |
 |
Just
$14.99 one time (plus government filing fee)
A growing problem for genealogists is to see their genealogy
work, verbatim, on other genealogy websites and without
giving any credit to the author who did all the work
to create the information. In fact, anyone who visits
your genealogy website can download your work and claim
to be the author. The solution is to obtain an official
federal copyright of your website. While you can always
copyright your work by just putting the copyright words
(e.g., "Copyright 2007 by Mildred Smith")
on each web page of your website, without a federal
copyright, it’s difficult to prove actual authorship.
With c-Site, we’ve made it easy for you to protect
your website contents and file for a federal copyright
– the indisputable legal proof you need to claim
ownership of your work. |
| Online
File Folder
- Optional (Click
Here): |
 |
From
$4.95 per year
Every genealogist needs online file storage. Online
file storage is disk storage housed on a internet server
and is an addendum to the disk storage on your local
computer. The point is that the online file storage
is accessible from any place in the world from the internet,
not just your home computer. Our "Online File Folder"
service provides disk space on our highly reliable servers.
You access your "Online File Folder" using
any standard web browser such as Internet Explorer or
Netscape Navigator. With an Online File Folder, you'll
be able to upload (or download) any files from any computer
with internet access using a very easy and user-friendly
interface. This capability is great on genealogy trips
when you are using the public computers in a library
or research center. Prior to the trip, you'll be able
to easily upload files from home to be used on the trip
(i.e., accessed from any public computer). Or you can
easily upload files from the library (i.e., those great
files available only at that library) then download
your treasures once you're back home. We have written
an article on the genealogy
road warrior which explains these procedures in
detail. AND this is also a great secure offsite storage
location for those irreplaceable family history files
and folders or your financial records. |
| Traffic
Blazer
- Optional (Click
Here): |
 |
From
$17.74 per year (usually one year is enough)
One of the main purposes of a genealogy website is communication
with your fellow genealogists and family members. How
will your long-lost cousin who has the family bible
and is activity searching for your mutual ancestors
ever find your genealogy website? Search engines - that's
how! You must get your genealogy website listed in all
the major search engines for the genealogy keywords
and phrases (family names, locales, etc.) that are important
to your genealogy website. This process is known as
"search engine optimization." It is a process
of refining your website so that it is in the best possible
position to gain a high search engine ranking. However,
search engine optimization is a lengthy and tedious
process. In fact, the author of a website must design
and execute a time-consuming campaign to complete the
search engine optimization of the website. The campaign
will be an iterative process in which the website is
optimized for search engines then tested to see if the
author was able to second-guess the logic of the search
engine to collect the right keywords or phrases as well
as judge the website as relevant for those keywords
or phrases when a visitor searches for them.This is
where "Traffic Blazer" can help. “Traffic
Blazer” is a search engine optimization and submission
tool. It provides all the tools you will need to undertake
a successful search engine optimization campaign. For
a modest yearly fee, the ”Traffic Blazer”
battery of tools will be available to you to analyze
your website, optimize its contents for search engines,
and track the results of your campaign. “Traffic
Blazer” guides you through every step of the search
engine optimization campaign. In this way, your website
will be found by your long-lost cousin when he or she
performs a search. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
