Sunday, September 1, 2013

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Tasking--Blog Questionairre


Saturday Night Genealogy Fun


I was reading Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings and decided the assignment for his readers might be fun.  He, in turn, had gotten the questions from Jill Ball's post on her Geniaus blog.

The assignment was to answer the following 20 questions about blogging.  Randy said it took him an hour to answer his; but I am hoping I can do it quicker as I haven't been blogging NEARLY as long.

1.  What are the titles and URLs of your genealogy blogs?  My only blog is Del's Genealogy Ramblings and the URL is HTTP://delram.blogspot.com/.

2.  Do you have a wonderful "Cousin Bait" blog story?  A link to a previous blog post might answer this question.  I have some great "Cousin Bait" stories associated with my Family Tree on Ancestry.com; but none yet for my blog.

3.  Why did you start blogging?  Is there someone who inspired you to start blogging?  I started once about three years ago; but never stayed with it after a couple days.  I started again on 3 May 2013, about four months ago and have stayed with it a little better.  I think that the only blogs I had read on a regular basis were Dick Eastman and Randy Seaver, so they would have been my inspiration.  

4.  How did you decide on your blog's title?  At first I just called it "Del's Ramblings"; but then decided it should be more descriptive so I added Genealogy.  Because there isn't much order to my blog, I thought "ramblings" was a good descriptor.

5.  Do you ever blog from mobile devices?  I have used my laptop to blog while on travel; but no other devices.  I recently purchased an iPad; but haven't tried using it for the blog.

6.  How do you let others know when you have published a new post?  I send a short Google Plus note; but nothing else.  I think I need to expand this and may start putting it on my Facebook account.

7.  How long have you been blogging?  I guess I already answered that in #3 above--I am a real rookie with only four months of blogging.

8.  What widgets or elements do you consider essential on a genealogy blog?  I have learned that the ability to hyperlink and include photos are very important.  Obviously, it is also nice to have an archive of your blogs and a means for others to provide comments and feedback.

9.  What is the purpose of your blog?  Who is your intended audience?  My purpose is to share with the readers some insight into my ancestry, to provide some insight into helpful genealogy tools and, hopefully, to keep them informed of important developments within the genealogy community.  My audience are both family members and others who share an interest in family history.

10.  Which of your posts are you particularly proud of?  I think it would be my first blog about my O'Malley ancestors, both because it was my first and is an ancestral line that particularly interests (and frustrates) me.

11.  How do you keep; up with your blog reading?  I don't.  I still only read two on a regular basis, Dick Eastman and Randy Seaver.  I have tried to use Feedly; but not with much success.

12.  What platform do you use for publishing your blog?  I use Google Blogger.

13.  What new features would you like to see in your blogging software?  I would like to be able to manage photos much better.  I find it very difficult to do side-by-side photos in Google Blogger or to do any type of wrap-around with photos and text.

14.  Which of your posts have been most popular with readers?  Being brutally honest, my readership hasn't gotten to the point I can say any one of them has been appreciably more interesting than any other.  

15.  Are you a sole blogger or do you contribute to a shared blog?  I am strictly a sole blogger.

16.  How do you compose your blog posts?   I type them directly into Google Blogger.  I do have a separate file in "My documents" that I use for my blogging graphics.

17.  Do you have any blogs that are not considered genealogy related?  No, I just do the one blog.  Not sure where I would get the time to do another one!

18.  Have you listed your blog at Geneabloggers?  I think I have.  I guess I should check to see if it is actually listed.

19.  What resources have helped you with your blogging?  My subscriptions to Genealogy search websites, genealogy societies, and other genealogy tools such as magazines and periodicals. 

20.  What advice would you give to a new Geneablogger?  
--Make sure you know what the daily time commitment for your blog will be and manage your time wisely.
--Decide how frequently you want to blog and set up a schedule.
--Experiment with several of the blogging tools before getting started.
--Establish objectives for your blog.  Why are you doing it and what do you hope to accomplish?

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