Personal Life Media

Transcript

Segment 1

I named mine Blog Your Family History and my web site address is http://blogyourfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/

- If you’re not signed in to your google account, do so now.
- Click Dashboard
- To get back to your blog just click the View Blog link for the blog you want to view
- Click the Customize link in the upper right hand corner of the blog

To add another gadget by clicking the Add Gadget link in the top gadget box and a window will pop up showing us out options.  Click the plus sign for the Add a Search Box so that my readers can easily find articles with keywords they are interested in.

• Keep the title as “Search this blog”
• Keep that check box checked
• Click the SAVE button

Once you get the elements of your blog the way you like them – at least for now, and you can certainly make changes any time you want – then it’s time to start blogging.

Things to keep in mind:  First, each time you write and article and publish it to your blog page it’s called a “post”.  

How to publish your first blog post:
- At your blog Dashboard click NEW POST
- This is where you can write your text and there are some formatting buttons along the top
- You may want to make your first post a welcome message and explain to your readers what they’ll will be seeing in the future on your blog. 

The first thing to do is write your post title. 

And now finally it is time to actually write your blog post!  Of course you can unleash your creativity here, but I do have a few suggestions:

1. Keep your paragraphs shorter rather than longer – it just makes them easier and quicker to read
2. Incorporate those keywords and phrases
3. A picture says a thousand words – add images whenever possible and I’ll show you how in just a moment
4. Write in your natural voice.  Typically blogs aren’t formal, and you will have an easier time writing if you write more like you speak.  And that will come across as more genuine to your readers.
5. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  If you have a lot to say on a particular topic, consider publishing your thoughts in a series of blog posts rather than one really long one.  And I find that readers really like following a series.

Once you’ve got it written up, it’s time to a bit of formatting.  You can:

• bold and italicize text
• change text to a different color
• select whether your text is left right or centered justified, or fully justified
• create numbered and bulleted
• use the Block Quote feature to set text apart as a quotation by indenting it from both sides
• Add photos
• Add videos

If you happen to know HTML  you can click the HTML tab and work with your blog post code to further customize it.  When you’re done just click the Compose tab to go back to regular editing mode.

Once you have everything formatted, you’ve spell checked and you’ve reconfirmed your title, your ready to send it out to the world!  Just click the orange Publish Now button and it will immediately be live on your blog.

Segment 2

Now if you’re like me then occasionally you’re going to want to go back and edit one of your blog postings. And thankfully that’s very easy to do. 

- Go to your Dashboard 
- Click the Edit posts link
- This takes you write back into Compose mode and you can make any changes you want
- Click the Publish button

Publish your posts in the future:

1.          Click the Post Options link

2.          Enter the date and the time that you want the post to go live online

3.          Click the Publish button

Setting up Comments:

1. Go to the Dashboard
2. Click the Settings Tab
3. Click on the Comments menu link
4. Show:  I usually have this set to show comments.  But you can hide them if you want.
5. Under Who Can Comment? I would recommend that you allow anyone to comment
6. For Comment Form Placement that’s just a personal preference, but I find the pop up window is easy for readers to use.
7. Comment Moderation: I would recommend that you always moderate your comments, at least to start. 
8. This means that when a reader leaves a comment you will have the opportunity to read it and approve it to be published in the Comments section of that blog posting. 
9. Type in your email address so that you’ll be notified by email if someone leaves a comment that needs to be moderated.
10. Click the SAVE SETTINGS button

So how do you moderate reader comments?
Click on the Posting Tab, and there will be three options:

1. New post
2. Edit Posts
3. Moderate Comments – just click that link. And if you have comments that need to reviewed and approved or deleted you can do it there.

Help your readers subscribe to your blog:

1. Go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/add.html
2. Here you can add an “Add to Google” button to your blog. 
3. For “Choose your content type” select RSS
4. Under “promoting” select one
5. Select the style of button you want to put on your blog
6. Type your blog address into the box

http://YOURBLOGNAMEHERE.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

1. Click the Generate HTML button
2. The html code you need to add your button will automatically appear in the box, and it’s already highlighted for you so all you need to do is Control C on your keyboard to copy the code to your computer’s clipboard
3. Go back to the dashboard
4. Click Layout
5. Click Add a Gadget
6. Click to add the HTML / Java Gadget
7. A window will pop up where you can type in a title such as Subscribe to this blog
8. In the big box press Control V to paste the HTML code that you copied into the box.
9. Click the SAVE button.
10. Back on your Layout page you’ll see at the top that you the “page element has been added” and now the top gadget is “Subscribe to this blog”

When you click the Add to Google button you get the option to add a Google gadget to your iGoogle page that will feature your blog, or you can add the blog to your Google Reader.  Personally, I’m an iGoogle user.  iGoogle is a very powerful tool, and if you’re not using it you are really missing out. 

With iGoogle you can literally turn the Google.com page into your own personal Genealogy dashboard.  The folks at Google probably didn’t design it for that, but with a little know how you can really improve the effectiveness of your family history research with it.  If you’d like to learn how, I’ve created an 11 part video series walking you through the process step by step.  You’ll be amazed at what you’ll be able to do.  You don’t have to wait until you can attend one of my classes in person.  By subscribing as a genealogy gems premium member you’ll get all of the videos, plus additional videos on hard drive organization, as well as two new members-only podcast episodes every month.  So if you’ve been thinking about becoming a member, this is a great time to do it!

So whether you add the blog to iGoogle or Google Reader you will receive each new blog post when it’s published, and have a link to click through directly to the articles and the blog.  It’s very convenient and keeps your blog on the minds and lists of your readers. 

Now you’re all set to go.  You can post your articles, which your readers can follow.  As you have more time you can fine tune the settings and layout of your blog.  Most of all, have fun and best wishes for connecting with other researchers around the world.

If you’d like more information on this podcast as well as The Genealogy Gems Podcast the best way to get it is to sign up for my free e-newsletter which will give you the scoop on upcoming episodes as well as research tips and great websites for genealogy.  Just go to genealogygems.tv and click the Subscribe to the Newsletter button in the left had column on the homepage.  And as a thank you for doing so, you’ll receive a link to my 20 page e-book on Google for the Family Historian in your welcome email.  That’s my gift to you and is like a huge cheat sheet of Google search strategies. 

And be sure and tune into my other family history podcast called Genealogy Gems which you can also find at http://www.GenealogyGems.TV.