Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers

Status of Bootcamp for GeneaBloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Just a quick note to explain the lack of posts here at Bootcamp for GeneaBloggers:

There haven't been any posts since July 29, 2009 and folks have noticed this - as well as the GeneaBloggers.com site having more technology-oriented posts.

I've been working on developing a technology section of GeneaBloggers complete with a printable PDF newsletter and an easy-to-use menu system so you can locate the blog help you need. The target date for this new project is January 2010 - stay tuned!

And in case you are worried, Bootcamp for GeneaBloggers won't be going away - it will stay here in its current form with all the archived posts for those genealogy bloggers looking for assistance.

Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings for Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:25:00 +0000

Just an FYI to check your Facebook privacy settings so that third-party vendors are not able to use the photos that you post. Is this something new or a change in Facebook's Terms of Service (TOS)? No. But there have been recent incidents where a Facebook user suddenly sees their photo that they posted on their Wall show up advertising a website or an item

Example (and in the funny or not-so-funny vein depending upon your perspective): a married man was on his Facebook page when suddenly he sees his wife's picture advertising a dating site with the caption "Hot singles are waiting for you!" The problem is that your photos can be "co-opted" to advertise to your friends on Facebook!

Here is how you can make certain that your photos are not used by third-party vendors in Facebook:

1. Go to your Facebook page.

2. In the upper right corner click Settings and then select Privacy.

3. Next, click News Feed and Wall.

4. Click the Facebook Ads tab.

5. Make sure the setting for Appearance in Facebook Ads is set to "no one."

6. Click Save.

(via Mashable)

Tracer - A Tool To Enforce Your Creative Commons License

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Over at GeneaBloggers I've recently written about blog content theft and offered tools on how to track who is copying your text and how. Well now with a heads-up from a recent post at Creative Commons blog, there is a new tool which can help you enforce your Creative Commons license.

The tool is called tracer and here is the premise: when a snippet of javascript is installed on your blog template, a person copying text from your blog will see an attribution and link back to your post when they paste the text.

Pretty neat, right? Here is what happens right now if you copy and paste from the GeneaBloggers site where I have tracer installed:

1. Select text to copy then use CTRL + C or right-click and select Copy from the shortcut menu.

2. Next go to a Rich Text Editor based location to paste the text. This would include the screen used to create a blog post, a Microsoft Word document or even a blank email message using Google Mail or Microsoft Outlook. Use CTRL + V or right-click and select Paste from the shortcut menu.

3. You will notice how not only is the original copied text pasted, but there is also text at the end of the copied segment with a link back to the original post and the type of Creative Commons license in effect.

tracer could not be easier to sign up for (it's free) and use. In fact, normally I would post a "how to" on getting the javascript code pasted into your Blogger or WordPress template. But tracer has a great How To Setup Tracer On Your Blog page so they've made my job easier! (Note: currently you can only use tracer on a hosted WordPress blog - meaning you have your own domain name and paid hosting for your WordPress blog.)

In addition, once you setup and install tracer, the website provides a dashboard to track where your content is appearing over a 1-day, 7-day, 30-day timeline.

While tracer will not stop someone from deleting the attribution link and language, it will serve as a reminder to to person copying your valuable content that there is a Creative Commons license in force at your site.

I am off to install tracer on my other blogs!

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Using Google Custom Search On Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:51:00 +0000

Here's one for the "How did he do that?" file. Many genealogy bloggers have said they like the convenience of the new Search GeneaBloggers Member Blogs widget (which allows you to search all posts in all of the nearly 500 genealogy blogs listed at GeneaBloggers). But many have also wondered how they can leverage Google Custom Search for their own blogs and website.

The details of the "how to" are listed below and only give you the basics - as with most Google apps, there are a myriad of bells, whistles and customizations you can add. Many depend upon your technical knowledge and the type of site you are running.

If you don't already know, I am a big fan of Google and all their free, open-source applications. I use Google Reader not only to read the posts from almost 500 genealogy blogs, but also to generate many of the widgets used over at GeneaBloggers including those for Tombstone Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday.

1. Go to the Google Custom Search website - you will need to log in with your Google credentials. If you do not have a Google account, go here to create one.

2. Click Create a Custom Search Engine.

3. The Set up your search engine screen appears.

4. In the Search engine name field enter a name for your search engine. Then in the Search engine description field enter a brief description of what type of search is to be performed. (Tip: Make sure to use your blog or site name as a form of branding in each field.)

Select your preferred language and in the What do you want to search? section, select Only sites I select.

5. In the Select some sites section, enter the URLs of the sites to be included in the search with one URL per line.

Select the Standard Edition radio button, mark the Terms of Service check box and then click Next.

6. You can now test your search engine in the Preview section. If you are happy with the results click Finish.

7. Click the Google custom search logo and then click manage your existing search engines. You will see a list of all the search engines you've created. Click Control Panel next to the name of the search engine.

8. Review the various customization options available in the left sidebar. Only work with the ones which are relevant to your search engine and your level of technical expertise. Don't be overwhelmed or feel that you need to totally "pimp out" your search engine with every option.

9. One area you should look at is Preferences in the Basics section. Decide if you want to include collaboration on your search engine (letting others add sites or make changes) and whether you want your search engine visibility made public or unlisted. Click Save Changes when finished.

10. Click Get Code to review the options available for inserting your new search engine on your blog or web page. For the Search GeneaBloggers Member Blogs widget, I used the first option which required me to place the code somewhere on my blog or website and the results would appear on a Google results page.

You can get more information and follow the latest news about Google Custom Search at the Google Custom Search Blog.

FavBackup - A New Way To Backup Your Browser Settings

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:22:00 +0000

As part of our Data Backup initiative, we are always on the lookout here at Bootcamp for GeneaBloggers for new tools to assist you in backing up your data. This means even browser settings such as security levels, favorites etc.

There is a new application (free but works only with Windows OS) called FavBackup which works with any browser including Firefox and Google Chrome to backup all your browser settings. Not only is a tool like FavBackup great to use during your monthly backups (which you are doing, right?) but it can help you when transferring data and settings to a new machine.

FavBackup (via LifeHacker)

© Thomas MacEntee - 2009

Screenjelly Makes Screencasts Simple

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to explain a procedure to a family member or colleage but e-mail or a phone call just didn't convey what could be done visually? And what about those procedures where a series of screen captures just don't work either?

Well if you've been hesitant to invesigate creating "screencasts" because you thought it would involve special software, complicate audio recording, etc. then you need to check out Screenjelly.

All that is required to create this snippets are a java-enabled web browser - audio is optional. There is a 3-minute max on the length of recordings.

The best feature is how easy Screenjelly makes it to share your recordings: you can send them via e-mail or post them via Twitter or Facebook!

Screenjelly (via Lifehacker)

© Thomas MacEntee - 2009

Market Your Blog Posts with su.pr

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:06:00 +0000

I've written before about the use of URL shortening websites with Twitter and while I had been partial to using tr.im, I've made the switch over to su.pr and here's why:

su.pr allows you to not only shorten a URL for one of your blog posts, but you can also post to your Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as bookmark your blog post to StumbleUpon

If you are interested in effectively marketing your blog posts or any of your other items, then you need to consider all the different ways you can publicize their posts. And it becomes tedious to try and update or post to each site individually - this is how combination sites like su.pr can help. You will need to set up a StumbleUpon account and then link your Twitter and Facebook accounts in order to reap the time-saving rewards of su.pr.

Su.pr via Lifehacker

copyright 2009, Thomas MacEntee

Manage Your GenealogyWise Email Settings

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:54:00 +0000

If you have hopped on the GenealogyWise band wagon like me, then you might find yourself bombarded with many e-mail messages. Don't forget to manage your e-mail settings - you can select whether or not you receive an alert each time someone posts an item to a group, etc. This is much the way Facebook works and unless you tell GenealogyWise, your account is activated with the default e-mail settings once you sign up.

To change your e-mail notification settings in GenealogyWise:

1. Sign in at GenealogyWise

2. Click Settings in the right-hand sidebar

3. Click E-Mail

4. Select your settings and then click Save at the bottom of the screen.

Google Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:55:00 +0000

I finally received my invitation to join Google Voice! The email arrived this afternoon and I have been jonesing for several weeks now. I am so psyched to be able to loop in my other phone lines and have my voicemails available to me online!

Stayed tuned for more information as I work with Google Voice and I'll weigh in on how it may help genealogists and family historians!

Google Chrome OS - On Target for Netbooks

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Today Google announced that it is launching its own operating system - called Google Chrome OS - based upon the popular Google Chrome web browser. I am already a big fan of Chrome and have used it almost exclusively as my web browser of choice since it debuted in September 2008.

What does Google's announcement mean for genealogists? Well you've already heard me rave about my new Asus netbook and I have written a review of five different netbook brands in the upcoming issue of Digital Genealogist. And if that were'nt enough, it turns out the Consumer Reports did a "first look" at the Asus 1000 HE that I purchased and they seemed to have the same feelings about it as I did.

A netbook is a travelling genealogists best friend in my opinion and now I can't imagine ever ponying up the big bucks for a laptop. Sure you need to make adjustments in how you work but I think that in five years time, I will also dump my Dell desktop and simply be working with my netbook, a large external hard drive and computing in the cloud.

Right now most netbook models are shipped with Windows XP Home Edition (since Windows Vista cannot run on netbooks) or for the brave techies with Ubuntu (Linux based operating system). Google seems to be positioning itself for the holiday consumer electronics season since the new OS will be available in the second half of 2010.

Not many details yet, but expect to hear more in the next few weeks. But you can probably count on these changes in the netbook landscape:

Speed: Google Chrome is lightning fast compared to Internet Explorer and even Firefox.
Cost: when bundled with a netbook expect to see the base price of a netbook decrease - some are saying as much as 10%
Less Fuss: well, that's what I call it - less messing around configuring apps to work within the wacky world of Windows
Portability: as I've written before, a netbook is intended for portability and it makes sense that Google would jump into the OS field with netbooks first. Google Docs, Gmail and other Google apps were designed for portability and offline use.
Open Source: Google is an app developer's best friend and you can look forward to some neat and probably free applications intended to work in the netbook environment.

And if I can get my hands on an early copy, I will see if I can yank out Windows XP Home Edition on my netbook and replace it since I already have my Asus pimped out with Google Docs, Google Chrome, Gmail and more!

The Graying of Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:41:00 +0000

As reported by iStrategy Labs via Mashable, it appears that the demographic of Facebook is definitely changing.

In the last six months alone there has been a growth rate of 514% in the number of users age 55 and above! While this sub-group still only represents about 8% of overall Facebook users, the growth rate does seem to indicate that Facebook is catching on especially with retirees.

GFI Backup - Another Free Backup Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 +0000

There is a new (and free) data backup tool available called GFI Backup. What sets this product apart is the use of "wizards" to configure the data to be backed up.

In case you are unfamiliar with what a "wizard" is, it is a series of prompts that ask you where something is located, what actions should be taken and under what conditions. Most of us use wizards when we install software for the first time: we are asked where it will be installed, whether we want it to load on startup etc. Many installation and deployment packages are basically wizards.

GFI Backup lets you do incremental backups and even works with removable memory storage such as USB flash drives and external hard drives. GFI Backup will store the backed up data on your selected site and is not to be confused with an online backup service.

Is Your Blog Mobile Ready?

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:01:00 +0000

These days many readers are accessing blogs through mobile devices especially with the debut of the iPhone almost two years ago.

Have you ever thought of what your readers encounter when they try to access your site on a mobile device? Would you even know where to start in terms of making your blog "mobile compliant?"

A new site called Mobify ensures that visitors to your blog from mobile devices have a great experience in accessing your site. Mobify lets you create a free mobile view that eliminates long load times, incompatible content and difficult navigation on websites. According to Mobify's site, users see a 50% increase in mobile traffic with visitors wanting to return once a site is made easier to access on a mobile device.

How does it work? Here is the step-by-step process from Mobify's website (using the site http/www.justcreativedesign.com as an example):

1. Mobile user pulls out his iPhone (Nokia, BlackBerry, etc) and clicks a link to justcreativedesign.com/article that he just saw on Twitter.

2. justcreativedesign.com is a WordPress blog with a Mobify plugin installed. It detects the mobile device and redirects the user to the mobile view located at m.justcreativedesign.com/article (plugins for Drupal & Expression Engine and a generic JavaScript snippet are also available)

3. As m.justcreativedesign.com is a DNS CNAME pointer to jcd.mobify.me, MOBIFY receives the request and loads the original webpage at justcreativedesign.com/article on user's behalf.

4. MOBIFY applies content selection and styling tweaks set by the site owner and resizes the images to fit the mobile screen, reducing page size by orders of magnitude and making it look just right. Image resizing and other transcoding takes place in an optimized cloud computing environment so even the most media-rich sites are adapted in an instant, without overloading the source site.

5. The page is loaded in seconds and the mobile user is pleasantly surprised without knowing anything about MOBIFY.

There are three pricing levels available: free, plus and premium. With the free version, users will see the "powered by Mobify" footer and you won't have access to analytics or preferred support.

If you want to expand your blog traffic you may want to consider checking out Mobify!

Footnotes - How to Cite Sources In Blogs and Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:45:00 +0000

When I created the Genealogy Source Citation Quick Reference for Geneabloggers, one topic I knew that I had to deal with was how to get footnotes to work in your blog or website. Here are some tips and tricks on the best way to handle them in Blogger and WordPress.

WordPress

Of course, WordPress has several plugins available the best of which is FD Foonotes.

Blogger

For Blogger users - and those with WordPress blogs which don't allow the addition of plugins - you need to learn a little HTML code in order for footnotes to work properly.

Before you begin - and as I've said here at Bootcamp before - do not panic about having to learn HTML code! Many readers have been able to leverage these simple codes to do wonderful things over at their blogs.

Simple Footnotes

I call these simple footnotes since clicking on the footnote reference does not "jump" down to the note itself. This html code will simply place a superscript footnote reference in the text:

Complex Footnotes

Besides just placing a superscript footnote reference in the text, you need to make it "jump" down to the footnote text area. This requires a "target" - a target is the footnote text at the bottom of the post. And you also need a pointer to that target which is what we'll embed in the footnote reference itself.¹

1. With the footnote text already located at the bottom of the blog post, create a "name" marker which will serve as the target. Your text should be entered where it says "Footnote 1 text" below. Also note the name is "fn1" since each target must have a unique name, this refers to "footnote #1."

2. Now go up to the text where the footnote reference will appear. We will still use the superscript code listed above, but right before it we need a command to tell it to "jump" down to our target which is named - remember? - "fn1."

Tedious as this may seem it is the best way to set up footnotes that allow your readers to jump down to the footnote text.

This is the sample footnote text - it has a name "fn1" set as the target.

Are Genealogists Also Exhibitionists?

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:57:00 +0000

I don't know for sure but they may become exhibitionists once they get their hands on Exhibit.

As mentioned today over at Lifehacker, the basic premise of Exhibit which is a free, open source application, is to display your spreadsheet data in an interactive manner.

Big deal right? And if I am keeping my data in a genealogy database application, why would I be interested?

For the professional genealogist who is perhaps researching family lines for a client, many don't bother to enter the data into a genealogy database application. They opt instead to place it into a spreadsheet despite some of the character/data size limitations. I've been working with such spreadsheets to drive a Microsoft Word template which would then produce a client report based on genealogy research data.

So how would Exhibit be beneficial for genealogists? If you had a table listing locations such as birth place, burial site, etc., you could very easily build a dynamic page hooked into Google Maps and also displaying a timeline. This would also be a nice way to depict data for your client besides the standard genealogy report.

Check out the project using US Presidents at the Exhibit site and you'll see the full potential of this application.

Add Your Blog To Google Results

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Although this feature was announced by Google back in November 2008, I've finally gotten around to using the SearchWiki feature in Google.

SearchWiki allows you to "add" your preferred website when searching for a specific term or keyword. It requires that you have a Google account and have signed in to that account. Here are the steps to using SearchWiki:

1. Search for your keyword or term. In the example below I've used "genealogy blogs."

2. Notice that the Geneabloggers site is not listed among the top ten listings (I am working on tweaking my SEO settings to get the page rank moved higher!). Scroll to the bottom of the web browser screen and click Add a result. Enter your preferred URL in the Add a page . . . field and click Preview.

3. Review the results and click Add.

4. Refresh the search and your preferred URL will appear at the top of the search results.

5. Keep in mind that this occurs only when you are signed in to your Google account. But using SearchWiki to add your preferred URL will allow others to see this result when they click See all notes for this SearchWiki at the bottom of the screen. They will then be able to "promote" the URL to be in their search results for the term or keyword.

Give Good Link Karma

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:31:00 +0000

We all know that one of the hallmarks of participating in a blogging community is the ability to "link back" to each other. This means when you mention a neat post Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog you don't just type out the name of his blog. You also embed a hyperlink so that readers can easily be transported to Randy's site without having to manually enter the URL or copy and paste it into the address bar of their Web browser.

There is a way you can take this one step further and not only help out your readers, but your blog as well: make sure that clicking the link will cause it to open in a new browser window or tab.

WordPress

1. Highlight the string of text to be embedded with the link, and click the Insert/Edit Link icon. The Insert/Edit Link dialog appears:

2. Select Open Link In New Window in the Target field and click Insert.

3. If you want to see what this command looks like in code, click the HTML tab.

4. You will see that target="_blank" appears at the end of the link code.

Blogger

Unfortunately, Blogger does not have an automated way to designate the target for an embedded link. If you remember the Embedding Links In Comments post here a few weeks ago, you learned how to type the HTML code for a link.

All you have to do is click the Edit HTML tab when editing your post:

Simply add target="_blank" within the first section of the code to tell the browser the manner in which you want the link opened.

Besides making your readers happy, this trick will also keep the "focus" on your blog posting at all times.

Blogger's Followers Widget Now Integrated With Google Friend Connect

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:26:00 +0000

When I was updating my Twitter followers using Twitter Mosaic, I checked the layout of widgets over at Destination: Austin Family and saw something new: a link to Google Friend Connect below the listing of my followers.

Here is an overview of what you and your readers will now see and how each function works:

1. The Followers section appears with several new links.

2. Click on Follow and you will be prompted to sign in to Google Accounts if you are not already signed in.

3. Once signed in, your profile photo and the Settings and Sign Out links will appear.

4. Click Settings and the Settings dialog appears where you can review basic settings, see all the sites you are following and also manage your followers.

5. Click Invite Your Friends at the bottom of the Followers widget and the Follow dialog appears. You can invite friends via e-mail or . . .

6. . . . click the Share tab and links to various social media applications including Facebook and Twitter appear.

7. Click Manage and a full page of your followers appears (no more limit of 10 per page and the need to click Next).

8. Finally, click on Google Friend Connect and you will be taken to the Google Friend Connect page to utilize this feature.

At this point, I have not fully explored Google Friend Connect - if I feel it has value or if other geneabloggers want more information, I will post about it at a later date.

Note: Google also offers a video presentation explaining how to use the Follow featurfe:

Wordpress Trackbacks and Pingbacks

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:00:00 +0000

As a follow-up to yesterday's Trackbacks and Backlinks - What's The Deal? here is a brief introduction to effectively using trackbacks and pingbacks with WordPress:

Trackbacks

Codex, the WordPress help site, has a good explanation of how trackbacks work:

1. Person A writes something on their blog.

2. Person B wants to comment on Person A's blog, but wants her own readers to see what she had to say, and be able to comment on her own blog.

3. Person B posts on her own blog and sends a trackback to Person A's blog.

4. Person A's blog receives the trackback, and displays it as a comment to the original post. This comment contains a link to Person B's post.

Pingbacks

Pingbacks are different and here is how they work:

1. Person A posts something on his blog.

2. Person B posts on her own blog, linking to Person A's post. This automatically sends a pingback to Person A when both have pingback enabled blogs.

3. Person A's blog receives the pingback, then automatically goes to Person B's post to confirm that the pingback did, in fact, originate there.

The Difference Between Trackbacks and Pingbacks

1. Pingbacks and trackbacks use drastically different communication technologies (XML-RPC and HTTP POST, respectively).

2. Pingbacks support auto-discovery where the software automatically finds out the links in a post, and automatically tries to pingback those URLs, while trackbacks must be done manually by entering the trackback URL that the trackback should be sent to.

3. Pingbacks do not send any content.

Some feel that trackbacks are superior because readers of Person A's blog can at least see some of what Person B has to say, and then decide if they want to read more (and therefore click over to Person B's blog). Others feel that pingbacks are superior because they create a verifiable connection between posts.

Setting Up Trackbacks and Pingbacks in WordPress

1. In the Dashboard, go to the Settings section and click Discussion.

2. The Discussion page appears. Make sure "Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)" is marked.

3. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Getting Notified of Trackbacks and Pingbacks

Once the settings are activated, you will receive an email when a pingback or trackback occurs if you have also set the Email me whenever settings appropriately.

The trackback or pingback will also appear in the Comments section of the post.

Should I Care About Trackbacks and Pingbacks?

Definitely. First, if a more authoritative blog (one with a large following such as Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) links to one of your posts, it will help channel a large group of viewers to your site. And it improves your blogosphere reputation and "street cred." Second, you should always see who is linking to you and weed out splogs and other nefarious site to which you don't want any connection.

Trackbacks and Backlinks - What's The Deal?

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Kathryn Lake Hogan at LOOKING4ANCESTORS asked me for more information on the concept of tracbacks and backlinks: what's the difference between the two and how do they work with blogs especially for Blogger and Wordpress platforms.

Trackbacks

Trackbacks: a method of being notified when another blog links to one of your blog posts. Trackbacks require a software and/or server element in order to generate the notification. The use of trackbacks has also been called "remote commenting" since the blogger linking to your blog doesn't go to your post to leave a comment.

By using trackbacks, a blog author can track who is linking to and referencing their posts. Why is this important? Not only is it a method of expanding your readership (since the linking site provides a link to your post and can help drive traffic there), but it can also help you keep tabs on the types of sites linking to you. It is important in maintaining the reputation and focus of your blog - if sites that you deem "inappropriate" are linking to your posts or even perhaps appropriating your content, you should know about it.

Unfortunately, trackbacks - like many other Web 2.0 mechanisms - have become the haven of spammers. Many splogs feed off of the content of other bloggers and their posts. To help manage trackbacks, consider using one of many free websites such as Haloscan.

Backlinks

Backlinks: similar to trackbacks except trackback notifications are generated using an automated program and backlink notification usually comes from search engines such as Google.

While WordPress supports the use of trackbacks, Blogger does not and instead pushes the use of backlinks.

Setting Up Backlinks On Blogger

1. Under Settings, click Comments.

2. Scroll down to the Backinks section. Mark Show and then in the field Backlinks Default for Posts select New Posts Have Backlinks. Click Save Settings.

How Backlinks Are Displayed

Scroll to the end of a post and you will see the backlink under Links To This Post. If there are no backlinks, only the Create A Link prompt will appear allowing a reader to create a link to the post.

Click on the link and the originating post linked to your post will appear.

Delete Backlinks

If you do not want to display a specific backlink, click the trash can icon next to the backlink. The Remove Link To dialog will appear and you can remove the link

Should I Care About Backlinks?

Definitely. First, if a more authoritative blog (one with a large following such as Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter) links to one of your posts, it will help channel a large group of viewers to your site. And it improves your blogosphere reputation and "street cred." Second, you should always see who is linking to you and weed out splogs and other nefarious site to which you don't want any connection.

Next: WordPress - How To Effectively Use Trackbacks and Pingbacks

As a reminder, if you have a technical question relating to blogging, feel free to ask by contacting me. If you are wondering about a certain topic chances are your fellow geneabloggers also would like to find out more information.

Data Backup Day Contest - Win a 4GB Flash Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:07:00 +0000

This Sunday, March 1, 2009, is Data Backup Day over at Geneabloggers. And this month there is a great prize being given away:

A Kingston Data Traveler 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive
(see details at http://tr.im/gAF6)

Data Backup Day is a monthly reminder of the importance of backup up all your genealogy research data including photos, documents, emails, and even your blog posts!

For this month's Data Backup Day, post about your worst data loss nightmare (real or imagined) or about steps you've taken to prevent data loss. Make sure you include "Data Backup Day" in your post title and your name could be drawn at random to win this great prize.

See the rules for the contest over at Geneabloggers.

Why You Should Trim Your URLs

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:19:00 +0000

I want to point out a new post over at my Examiner.com page entitled A Favorite Ingredient: URL Shortening which will probably interest most readers here as well.

Did you know that you can shorten the length of your URL links using over 100 different websites?

Big deal, right? Well did you also know most of these sites will also allow you to track how many people actually click on your links? Now I bet I have your attention.

Check out my post which also highlights some of the most popular URL trimming websites and their features.

Creating Wordpress Badges

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Today, I created a way for visitors at Geneabloggers to access code and post their own Geneaglogger badge with instructions for both Blogger and Wordpress users.

While creating the page with the HTML code, I realized that here at Facebook Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers we've covered how to add images with links to the sidebar of your blog, but only for Blogger users.

Here is how it is done for Wordpress users, with the process and syntax a bit different. The main difference: Blogger lets you upload the image as part of the process whereas Wordpress assumes you've already uploaded the image somewhere and have the URL link to the image.

To upload an image in Wordpress:

1. In Wordpress, go to the Admin panel and select Media.

2. The Media Library will appear. Select Add New.

3. In the Upload New Media dialog, click Select Files.

4. Locate the image file and then click Open.

5. The image details will appear. Click Save All Changes.

6. Now the image appears in the Media Library. Right-click over the image link and copy the URL. Paste the URL where you can access it to create your badge below.

To create the badge using a Wordpress widget:

1. In the Admin panel, select Widgets.

2. Locate the Text widget and select Add.

3. The widget will appear at the bottom of the list of widgets on the right. Select Edit.

4. Enter a title for the widget if desired. Then enter the HTML code below with LINK being the underlying URL link for the image and IMAGE URL being the link to the image (see above). IMPORTANT: you must include the quotation marks around all links.

5. Click Done. The widget appears with the title. Click Save Changes.

6. The image will appear with its underlying link in the sidebar.

Creating Topic-Based Widgets Using Google Reader's Clip Function

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Over at the new Geneabloggers site, I've added a widget that displays all current and past Tombstone Tuesday posts at blogs that are listed in the Geneabloggers blog list. Since I anticipate a few, "how did he do that?" inquiries, here's how you too can set up a similar widget.

The requirements are that you use Google Reader to follow the blogs you normally visit, and that you utilize the Tag function to mark posts as they appear in your reader.

1. In Google Reader, locate a post that fits your criteria for being displayed in the widget. In this case, we want posts that have Tombstone Tuesday in the post title.

2. Click the post and it displays inside Google Reader.

3. Scroll down to the end of the post and locate the Edit Tags link.

4. Enter the title of the tag, in this case it is Tombstone Tuesday. Click Save.

5. In the sidebar, you will now see a listing of all posts with the tag.

6. To get the code for the widget, click Settings.

7. Click the Folders and Tags tab. Make sure that the tag is marked as Public and not Private - otherwise you will be unable to create the widget.

8. The Put a clip on your site dialog appears. Customize the look of the clip using the various fields. Recommendation: select None for the color scheme if you want the widget to use your template's background. Also it is a good idea to mark the checkbox next to Show item sources especially, as in this example, all the posts have the same title and it would be difficult to distinguish one post from another.

9. For Blogger blogs, follow the steps with the Blogger button. For Wordpress users, highlight the code, right-click over it and select Copy. Then create a Text widget in the Administrative panel of your Wordpress blog and paste in the code by right-clicking and selecting Paste.

A nice feature of setting up tags in Google Reader, is the page that is automatically created listing all the posts with that tag. To view the page, in the widget, click Read More. Anyone can visit the page, you can send the link to friends, and users of Google Reader and also subscribe to the page as a feed.

So how will use this function at your blog? Will you perhaps tag your own posts in Google Reader by surname, and perhaps organize your posts and display a certain surname in the widget? Are there other uses you can think of? Any way you use it, you have to admit it is a great way to bring more visibility to a specific topic on your blog.

Embedding Links In Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas MacEntee) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:48:00 +0000

When making a comment about a post on another blog, wouldn't it be great if you could embed a link back to your own blog or to another blog instead of just typing "http://www.samplelink.com" etc.? Some geneabloggers also call this "making links look pretty" meaning having a way for a user to click on the link instead of copying and pasting it into a new browser tab or window.

Most blogs do not have an automated method to embed links but if you are willing to learn a very simple snippet of HTML code, you can solve this problem.

For my example, I am using a recent comment I left on Janet Iles' blog Janet the researcher:

1. In the Comments box, enter the text of your comment.

2. Go to the item you want to link. Enter the html code as shown below which uses the href command.

Take a minute to see how the code is constructed and realize for every "open code" there is a "close code":

- for each "<" there is another ">"

- for each " there is another "

This is also known as "on code/off code" - such as "a" being the "on code" and "/a" being the "off code."

3. Next, replace the word LINK with the actual URL for the link - make sure the quotation marks are in place around the URL link.

4. Next, replace the word text with the text which will appear as the link. In this example it is Geneabloggers. Continue the same process for all other links.

5. Hit Preview. You may see an error message stating that the HTML code cannot be accepted. Most likely, you are missing a quotation mark or you have an "open code" without a corresponding "close code." In the example below, a quotation mark was missing.

6. Your comment should preview perfectly with the embedded links - then you are on your way to completing the posting process.

Note: the HTML code will work for comments on most any blogging platform including WordPress.

We all know that being part of the geneablogger world is taking the time to comment on other posts. There are times when it would be great to drive traffic back to your own site or to that of another geneablogger and now you can with this little html trick!