Resources

Check back to this page frequently. We’ll continue to add great blogging resources as we find them, including information on best blogging practices, social media help, choosing a platform for your blog and using images and graphics.

We only post links we know about and trust. If you have resources to recommend to your fellow content providers, please drop us a note using our Contact form. We’ll check them out.

BLOG RESOURCES

Free, basic blog sites

• Blogger.com (your URL will look like youruniquesitename.blogspot.com)
• WordPress.com (your URL will look like youruniquesitename.wordpress.com}

Both provide you with customizable templates to get your writing published and distributed quickly. Multiple authors, scheduled posts. Remember to use at least one graphic per post, citing your sources of course.

Blogging Platform Comparisons

• WordPress vs. Wix—Which is Right for You? by Brenda Barron
• Blogging with Squarespace by Squarespace.com
• How to Choose the Right Blogging Platform for Your Business by Susan Gunelius Annanova
• Blogger vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison with Pros & Cons by Mahesh Mohan
• How to Choose the Best Platform for Your Blog by Ginny Soskey

Creating a Blog

• Web Hosting Services Explained: The Beginner’s Guide to Small Business Website Hosting by firstguide.com
• What Is The Best WordPress Host for Beginners?” – an excellent overview from Wise Startup Blog on selecting the right hosting service for your WordPress blog
• A Guide To Building Your Own Blog” – StartABlog123.com offers a free step-by-step guide on starting a personal or business blog
• How To Start A Blog – The Beginner’s Guide to Successful Blogging by firstsiteguides.com
• How To Start A Blog– from WikiHow
• Is Genealogy Blogging Dead by Amy Johnson Crow

Blogging Best Practices and Other Advice

• 10 Practical Reasons to Use Short Paragraphs On Your Blog Posts by Pauline Cabrera
• 10 tips for an awesome and SEO-friendly blog post by Marieke Van de Rakt
• 13 Things Successful Bloggers Do by Elena at BlogShareLearn.com
• 16 Effective Ways to get More Comments on your Blog—Starting Today by Adam Connell
• 9 Guidelines for Skyrocketing Your Web Content’s Readability by Nix Tiffany
• 9 Reasons I Hate Your Blog by Jerry Low
• Cousin Bait: Blogging to Find Your Family YouTube(video) by Ann Mitchell and Ancestry.com
• Headings and Why You Should Use Them by Michiel Heijmans
• How Long Should My Blog Post Be? by John Rampton
• How Long Should Your Blog Post Be? A Writer’s Guide by Joe Bunting
• How to Encourage More Comments on your Blog by Jeni Elliot aka The Blog Maven
• ProBlogger by Darrin Rowse (blog & invigorating podcast)
• Proofreading Tips by Mignon Fogarty
• Seniors as Web Users by Jakob Nielson
• Use Information Correctly: Copyright and Fair Use by the Goodwill Community Foundation
• Using category and tag pages for your site’s SEO by Joost de Valk aka Yoast

PODCAST RESOURCES

Audio Editing

• Audacity (Windows, OS X, Linux) is the usual suspect here.
• GarageBand (OS X)

Music

• Note: You cannot use most music, as you would have to pay ASCAP & BMI fees, however any custom music your brother-in-law may share with you will work.
• Intro Music for Podcasts: Melodyloops.com‎ offers 3 melodies for $29 which includes MP3, WAV AIF, all length versions and long loops. Can be used on unlimited projects.
• Podbean
• Buzzsprout
• 3 Places to Host Your Podcast by Megan Brame-Finkelstein, Huffington Post

Podcast Players to suggest to your listeners

• Check your iOS device for Podcast addict
• Android devices can use Podcast Addict and Stitcher Radio for Podcasts
• iTunes
• Lybsis

Podcasting Advice

• Jeff Large’s (come alive CREATIVE) Podcasting Articles
• Audacity: A walk through on the basics of editing audio using Audacity by Rich Johnstun, YouTube video
• Garageband Tutorial For Beginners – 5 Things You Need To Know by Patrick, The GaragebandGuide on YouTube
• Podcast software and hardware to create a killer podcast by John Lee Dumas, Razor Social

VLOGGING (A.K.A. VIDEO BLOGGING) RESOURCES

Platforms

• Adobe Spark Video
• Vimeo
• YouTube
• Zoom
• You Too Can Zoom from Dear Myrtle

Video Editing

• Camtasia

OTHER WEBSITE RESOURCES

• • • Cyndi’s List
    • WordPress SEO by Joost deValk aka Yoast
    • Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
    • How to Choose the Perfect Domain Name from from WhoIsHostingThis.com
    • Pingdom Website Speed Test is a great tool from Pingdom Tools
    • What is RSS? by ProBlogger.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

• • • How to Rock Hashtags (and Why You Should) by Olga Andrienko
    • How to Use Instagram by Jess Bolluyt
    • 10 Reasons Why Authors Should Embrace Twitter: Social Media Marketing by Stephanie Chandler
    • Google+ as We Knew it is Dead, but Google is Still a Social Network by David Pierce
    • 5 Reasons Genealogists Should Be on LinkedIn by Kerry Scott
    • Doing more with 140 characters by Prashant Sridharan
    • The Pros and Cons of Social Media Platforms (Part 1)by Waypostmarketing.com
    • Using Hashtags on Twitter by Twitter.com
    • Facebook Versus Blogging: The Pros and Cons by Alona Tester
    • Blog or Facebook: Which Works Better for Your Content? by Laura Hedgecock

USING IMAGES & GRAPHICS

• • How to Find Royalty Free Images for Your WordPress Blog Posts by WP Beginner
  • All About Images: Resolution by the University of Michigan Library.
  • JPEG Myths and Facts by Sue Chastain
  • Optimizing Website Images by Rob de Cleen
  • 15 Amazing Sites with Breathtaking Free Stock Photos by Christopher Gimmer
  • 10 Must Know Image Optimization Tips by Mark Haye
  • Image Publishing Guidelines by Google.com
  • What David Ogilvy and Minions Show Us about the Principles of Successful Image Marketing by Rynn Jacobson
  • Learn When to Use JPEG, GIF, or PNG with This Graphic by Melanie Pinola
  • The Shocking Truth About How Web Graphics Affect Conversations by D. Bnonn Tennant
  • The British Library offers over a million free vintage images for download by Neil Bennett