Tech T.I.P. - March 12, 2009

by Denise Olson

Expand Your Digital Horizons

We Rabbits are becoming a serious graveyard research asset, but how many researchers know this? How can you help researchers find useful graveyard information? The first step is to increase the visibility of your blog - and all the Graveyard Rabbits - as subject matter experts on local graveyards. Not only will you help those researchers, but with luck you'll also inspire others to join our effort.

There are many simple things you can do to make your blog content more search friendly and to get the word out that we're here and have lots of useful information. Some ideas include:

• Use the Tags (WordPress) or Labels (Blogger) fields in your blog editor to include keywords related to each post. Search engines love tags. Be consistent with your tags - both on your blog and elsewhere.


• WordPress bloggers can take advantage of the WordPress Related Posts plugin. It works in association with the tags field to associate your current article with earlier posts. I use it to associate graves with cemeteries and to associate a news item with the subject cemetery or grave.


• Create a resources page on your blog. Provide links to local resources like historical and genealogical societies, cemetery indexes and public/university libraries. You can also use this page to point to specific content within your blog.

Don't just post content on your blog. Take advantage of other platforms to post graveyard-related information and be sure you're linking back to your Graveyard Rabbit blog from each - pointing out the resources your blog offers. Here are several possibilities:

• Post your graveyard photo collection on Flickr (Flickr offers both free accounts and pro accounts for $25/year). Flickr is making quite a name for itself with its growing collection of photo archives. The Library of Congress, Smithsonian, Florida Archives and Oregon State University Archives are just a few of the international group of institutions posting their photo collections at the Flickr Commons. Since Flickr's already attracting the attention of a lot of researchers, posting your graveyard photos at Flickr is likely to increase their visibility too. To improve your searchability:
  
  
  
  • Organize your photos into cemetery sets.
  
  
  • Make sure they are tagged using consistent tags. Make sure you include location tags as well as topic and surname.
  
  
  • Include links to your blog in each set's description.
  
  
  • Use the Flickr photo in your blog (Flickr makes that easy to do) - including a link to the "original" photo at Flickr.


• Post information about your site on research message boards for your area (RootsWeb, etc.).


• Contact your local genealogical and historical societies. Who knows, they might ask you to speak at one of their meetings.


• Contact USGenWeb administrator for your area to include a link to you - and be sure to link to them.


• Bookmark significant articles on bookmarking systems like Diigo, del.icio.us, etc. All rabbits are encouraged to take advantage of the Graveyard Rabbits group at Diigo to help us develop a central directory of resources.


• Create a WeRelate cemetery research guide for your area. I have most of my local cemetery information posted on my local area pages - currently St. Augustine and have begun collecting information for the St. Johns County page. Because of its historical significance, I did create a separate page for our local National Cemetery. There is the beginnings of a Cemetery Research Guide at http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Cemetery_Research_Guide for general cemetery research information. All rabbits - and other researchers - are encouraged to help improve the page as a resource.
  

All of this sounds like a lot of work. Yes, but you are providing a service for all researchers interested in cemetery research and promoting both your site and the entire association. The more you link to other sites and they link to you, the more visibility you receive and the more attention the search engines will pay to you. It's a win-win situation for you, the association and everyone wanting to learn more about their heritage.