Thursday, February 17, 2022

Great Cousin Bait: Ancestor Landing Pages








It's been nine years since I first created ancestor landing pages along the top of my genealogy blog, an idea I got from Caroline M. Pointer

I use these landing pages to summarize what I've learned about each ancestor or ancestral family, including images plus links to specific blog posts I've written about that ancestor or family. As I discover more details and write new posts, I add the links to the corresponding ancestor landing pages.

Just as important, ancestor landing pages are incredible cousin bait! When relatives search online for one of their ancestors, they often see my ancestor landing pages in their search results. With a click, they land on the landing page, read about the ancestor(s), and can connect with me via my blog's "contact me" widget. 

Thanks to landing pages, I've heard from dozens of farflung cousins who have landed on my landing pages. What a joy to get acquainted or reacquanted and exchange stories and photos!

By far the most popular ancestor landing page is the one devoted to my husband's McClure ancestors from Donegal. Even when most readers don't turn out to be related to this branch of the McClure family tree, they can get fresh ideas for researching their McClure ancestors by checking the resource links on this landing page or getting in touch with me.

Other genealogy bloggers have created different formats for their ancestor landing pages. For instance, Randy Seaver calls his "Randy's Genealogy," with links to his family trees plus more. Gail Dever calls hers "My Ancestors' Stories," linking to stories she has written about particular ancestors. Sandra Sue Pittman McPeak labels each landing page by surname

Different formats, same goal: to tell the ancestors' stories AND to serve as cousin bait!

"Landed" is the week 7 genealogy prompt in Amy Johnson Crow's 2022 edition of #52 Ancestors.

6 comments:

  1. Great use of the theme Landing, and a real boost for the use of your blogs TABS content of family history. Mine have been good Cousin Bait as well, but I've not explored or connected with very many. Your post is an inspiration to do just that. Good job on Wk#7.

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    1. TY for your comment and I've added your blog to my list of examples!

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  2. Wow, love both your post on the theme and the idea of using tabs for family pages. I'm going to explore this idea. I have so many posts now, that it would be good to have family stories grouped together.

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    1. TY for reading and commenting! Ancestor landing pages also help refresh my memory on each ancestor's background and what I've blogged about that ancestor (avoiding unnecessary duplication).

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  3. You have reminded me I need to work on more ancestor landing pages...they're so worth the effort!

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  4. Great tip! I have already imagined how I will implement ancestor landing pages on my site. Thanks for sharing.

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