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How to set up a personal surname website for genealogy research

CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME
To set up your own personal website is not hard to do and it can be fun and free. First, you need to choose a domain name. If you are using it for family history/genealogy, then you need the name to reflect this. I called mine (myretrace) so named because it was mine and I was retracing my family's history. The choice is yours. You could use your family names like (smith/Johnson). A genealogy search for the surname Johnson would produce more results, rather than one called Hannah's Kitchen.

FINDING A WEB HOST
Be careful in selecting a web host. Your own Internet provider may have a free web hosting service. That would be a good place to start, with everything on the one account.
Do not be coerced into paying exorbitant fees for a host. If you are new to the Internet, you need to find one that has easy tools for creating a web site.

CREATE A WEB SITE
Some web sites have their own site builders, with their own emails and easy to use tools.
This is best way for a beginner. You choose the design you want and then add your text.
Some of these free sites will put their own ads on them, which is why they are free. Do a thorough search and find the best one to suit you. If you want something better then you may need to pay for it. If you have problems setting up, you can find directions for setting up links, importing photo's and pictures of events by doing a Google search.

There is another way to set up your surname genealogy site. Some of the Family history web sites offer help in creating your own web site. Another option is to create a family history in a Blog. These give you clear instructions on how to set them up. I cannot guarantee that the information you put on them is copyrighted. You would have to check that out yourself. We had information copied from our family tree so we deleted the site.

Ancestry.com. has the facility to create a new family tree http://www.ancestry.com.au/mya ncestry/default.aspx

When your site is set up, there are genealogy sites that would encourage you to add yours to their web site. Whichever way you decide to go, have fun in creating and finding new family members and making new friends in the process.

Learn more about this author, Eileen Hughes.
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