The Grand Unexpected

Today, I received a great surprise from fellow geneablogger, Jana Last, author of Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog. I have learned to appreciate Jana’s blog a great deal, and enjoy reading it on a regular basis.

On 9 January 2013, she posted an article entitled, “Three Blog Awards, Kindly Given,” in which she stated that she had been nominated for three different awards at the close of 2012, and my only thought was that this was so well deserved.

As I continued to read, I was humbled and honored to see that she had chosen my blog, Ancestral Breezes, as one of her nominations for the “Blog of the Year 2012” Award.





It may seem like a simple gesture, but truly, I consider it great praise when another blogger and genealogist compliments my work. As a “transitioning” genealogist professional, I have spent countless hours in the past twelve months trying to find ways in which to turn my passion into a career path; I am truly astounded at the pride such an action invokes.

Part of this process is selecting my own nominations for ‘Blog of the Year 2012’. Thankfully, I am not limited in any way, so here are a couple of my favorites. These are people from whom I have learned, who have had an influence or impact on my professional world, or simply those that have conveyed true emotion and the spirit of collaboration in their blogs.

• Dan Curtis, “Professional Personal Historian”
• Lynn Palermo, “The Armchair Genealogist”
• The In-Depth Genealogist Blog (full disclosure, I am a contributor to this blog. The other authors, and the editors, have taught me a great deal, so this nomination goes to the collaboration effort as a whole.)
• Stephanie Pitcher Fishman “Corn & Cotton Genealogy Blog”
• Mariann Regan "Into the Briar Patch"

My thanks go out to all geneabloggers. What an incredible year it has been! I have learned much, laughed a great deal, and even cried some at the stories you tell, the personalities you bring forth in your writing. 

Raise a glass, friends, 2013 is going to be amazing. We will make it that way together.

Here’s the skinny on this Award:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them
5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

My Three Words for 2013: C x 3

2013: Exploring new, fresh territory.
© Ancestral Journeys, 2012-2013

I follow many people and all sorts of businesses on Twitter, Facebook, etc. One of the best discoveries I made in 2012 on social media was Chris Brogan, and his community, Human Business Works. He is well known, but new to me, and I have learned quite a bit from his blog, etc.

On 1 Jan 2013, he posted “My 3 Words for 2013”. This is a reoccurring post for him,  but it’s my first time. As I have spent a great deal of time in the last week reading about 2013 goals from other geneabloggers, and debating what my take on that would be, I found this concept to be very refreshing, meaningful and most importantly, manageable for me.

So, inspired, here are my three words.

Clarification: In my business plan. In my writing. In establishing myself, and my role, in my field. In my overall goals, not just in business, but as a person.

Collaboration: 2013 has started with the launch of a new project, a genealogy Twitter chat: #genchat,  that I am co-hosting with the amazing Stephanie Pitcher Fishman and Terri O’Connell. I continue to write a monthly series for The In-Depth Genealogist, which is one big collaboration in and of itself. I would like to find ways to continue this trend of working with others. Conference Keeper continues to expand and grow, with contributions from genealogists around the world. I would love to find more of these kinds of projects, perhaps guest blog some, and create new and interesting ways to incorporate my own research with the mission’s of the local societies'.

Courage: To reach out and grab what I want from life; to stand up to other’s that look down upon me; to yell out to the world, “I'm good at this!”. Courage. It goes hand in hand with confidence, and all that is growing inside me, it needs a little more attention to fully blossom. After my first year in the professional world, it's time for me to stop "getting my feet wet" and start making a difference, an impact. 

I am incredibly excited for the opportunities coming to me in 2013. I feel absolutely blessed to be in this field, to be able to turn a passion into a business, to share that passion with others. I am determined to reach out and grab what I want, instead of letting life take me where it will.

If you wish to collaborate on any projects stirring in your imagination, send me an email, huh? I would love to hear from you.

All my best for an amazing 2013,
~Jen

Tanner, my office buddy, an I are ready for an amazing 2013!
All rested and ready to go!
© Ancestral Journeys 2012

A Snapshot of SEO’s: Understanding Search Engine Optimization and How It Can Affect Your Genealogy Blog

My eBook, by the above title, was released on 27 Dec 2012. Addressing the need for all genealogy and family history bloggers to optimize their sites using simple and easy to understand SEO tactics, this step-by-step guide will walk you through it all.

The benefits of using SEO tools can be striking, allowing other researchers – and cousins – to find you easier and faster when seeking information via search engines.

Written specifically with genealogists in mind, the guide will provide examples that are easy to understand and graphics that make it simple to implement.

Don’t be intimidated by SEO’s! They can help you connect your blogs to the rest of the world.

Here’s what a couple of folks had to say about their purchase… these are screen shots captured from Twitter, and yes, I have their permission to post it here.





You can purchase your own copy on my website, Ancestral Journeys. 

My thanks go to Stephanie Pitcher Fishman of Corn & Cotton Genealogy and Mariann Regan for their assistance in this project.

Powerful Memories in December

December may prove to be a very interesting month for me.

Personally, there is a significant amount of change in our lives right now, and it's only going to get more chaotic before we reach 2013. It's a challenge and a promise of better things to come. There are a few people in my life that I am concerned about, and December may just answer the ongoing, stressful questions that arise in their situations.

My daughter and husband, working their
way down the slope. I'm the shadow.
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2012.

It is, also, a time for family. We have our own traditions as a family, some of which have already played out this year. On the 28th of November we celebrate a birthday in our family with our annual "first day on the slopes" (unless, of course, there is an awesome powder day before hand, then we just pretend), and we go snowboarding. This year, we took our daughter for her first runs on a board, and she had a blast. At three and a half years, it was amazing to watch her jump into it with 100% confidence and laugh and giggle all the way down the hill.

I'm pretty big on traditions. I absolutely loved it when I was in high school, and my father was still making us wait for him to get his hot chocolate and for Mom to get her coffee before we could start opening gifts. I loved it that, even as "big kids", we had to pick someone to sit at the base of the tree and pass out a present to each person, then we could all unwrap together. I loved it that no matter how old I got, on Christmas morning, I was still just their little girl. The littlest, actually.

I loved that we went to my Aunt's house every year for Christmas dinner, that we celebrated Christmas Eve Mass and then drove around town, looking at all the lights. That we ended that special night with our own hot chocolate in Mom's special Santa mugs, that only came out on Christmas Eve. I love that no matter what our situation, our family made it special.

So, I absolutely adore the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, presented by Thomas MacEntee of GeneaBloggers. What an amazing idea! Blogging prompts are provided for every day of the month, leading up to the 25th. If you haven't seen this yet, please do take a look. Share your holiday memories, one day at a time!

Here's two of my favorite memories. I've posted the group photo before, I believe, but it dates to 1980 and includes myself, my two sisters, and one of our cousins. I'm the one with the doll.

And, me and my big brother. Not sure on the exact date of this one, but it had to be around 1990 somewhere. He is playing Santa Claus at the annual pancake breakfast, which was a fundraiser for the high school band program that all four of us heavily participated in. Behind me is one of my sister's. My parents were also very involved in the program, as members of the "Band Boosters" for several years, and we were all recruited to participate in events like this. Which explains my apron - I was probably stuck washing dishes.

I am very much looking forward to 25 days of memory lane. I hope you will join us! 

SEO: Why It's Important for Your Blog

SEO.

If you cruise the internet, you may have come across this acronym. You may have thought it wasn't relevant to you, your blog, or your search for ancestors. It is, in fact, important. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization", and no, its not scary.

What is it, exactly?

If you want the technological jargon, you can read all about it on Wikipedia. This is my take, my version of that information, but into language I can understand.

Simply put, SEO is the way a search engine reacts to a website and lists it in your results page. For example, if you do a search for "genealogy blogging", you will see www.geneabloggers.com is almost always at the top of the list. How does that happen? Well, site creator Thomas MacEntee has done an amazing job of providing search engines with the proper search terms, so people find his site first and easily. (He may have other tricks up his sleeve, and probably does, but I know he is doing this, and doing it well.)

Chrome search results for "genealogy blogging"

Think of it this way. When you open your web browser and conduct a search - for anything - you use a certain set of terms to try to get the best results possible, right? For example:

"Brown + Nebraska genealogy"

This is essentially universal. Yes, there are other ways of conducting a search. But, think about when you are looking for a recipe. You might search for "spaghetti recipe" or "world's best spaghetti". You don't always use a complicated search pattern to find what you are looking for.

Applying these terms to your unique blog or website allows the search engine to identify what your site is about and related to. It makes it easier for the search engine to find topics on your site and match those topics with the search terms that people use in simple searches.

Why should I do this? 

Simple. You want people to find you. Don't you?  Are you writing your blog to find other relatives? Well, they search for surnames, locations, photos, etc. Lead them to you with the right terms. Are you writing about your business, or general methodology? Great! Use the applied terms to communicate that's what you are writing about!

Don't care if anybody reads your blog? Ok. You can still read the rest of this one, though.

• "Why does it matter if your site is at the top of the results page or on page 42?"

Wouldn't a dedicated searcher find it either way?  Well, yes and no. I recently read that the average user in the U.S. only looks through the first two pages of search results, then either adapts the search terms or stops all together.

• "So what? Genealogy is reportedly the second most popular hobby - they are still going to find it."

Eventually, yes, they could. No built in guarantee on that one. Imagine that this long lost cousin finds you today, or finds you in five years. What have you missed out on? What kind of relationship could you have developed with this new branch of the family in that time?  There is a whole series of "what if's" here, and my favorite one is this: "what if long lost cousin's grandmother is still alive today, but dies next year?" Think about that for just a minute.

Convinced yet? Ready to start? I hope so.

How do I do this? 


Caroline Pointer of BloggingGenealogy.com recently posted a great little piece entitled Want More Cousins to Visit Your Genealogy Blog? in which she introduced us to "Cousin Awesome Sauce", and using "alt text", which allows you to "'tell' the search engine what the image says..." (Read the full post, it's worth it, I promise.)  So, start with that. Create a way for your images to be identified with the text you are producing.

Once you've got your feet wet, take a look at Search Engine Optimization: Step By Step on the About.com Web Design / HTML page, by Jennifer Kyrnin. It's a visual - yes, visual - instructional post about how to do this, and gives a more technical look at why you should. She makes it pretty easy.

Do not overlook this! This little tidbit from the step by step guide I just told you about is priceless! Use Adwords from Google to identify the best, and most common, search terms for your blog. Ms. Kyrnin puts this in her tutorial, but I want to point it out specifically as a really useful tool for this process. Just putting my blog and my webpage through that one tool, I learned a great deal. It proved to be incredibly useful.

Have other ideas? Know something about SEO that I don't? Well, that's likely. I'm just starting to educate myself on this particular road to internet usage and success. If you have a great resource you have used to improve your site, I'd really like to see it. Please leave a comment.

In the meantime, here is a great graphic to explain the process just one more time. And one more tip: look on Pinterest. There are numerous "infographics" to help understand SEO.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6442/12-Amazing-SEO-Infographics.aspx