What is your goal in your Family History Blogging?

Distraction is my biggest enemy – it takes me away from my intended path. I get stuck sometimes knowing what to blog about. So at the beginning of this month, I planned a set of blog posts about blogging and placed them on my Trello board. Now I can track my progress and keep on the path to achieving my goals.

How do you keep yourself on track? Do you use spreadsheets, worksheets, or diaries? Or does your blogging happen spasmodically? Here’s the truth – it doesn’t matter! Having a time-based blogging goal is the first step toward streamlining your family history blogging! Keep that goal focussed in your mind, or planted on a sticky note attached to your screen or your desk diary. We all need reminders. This is not a new thing, many have blogged about this. In my research, I found these 5 tips offered by Ryan Robinson.

1. Step 1: Set Specific Blog Goals (+ Real Examples)
2. Step 2: Choose Measurable Goals
3. Step 3: Pick Achievable Blogging Goals
4. Step 4: Decide on Relevant Goals for Your Blog
5. Step 5: Time-Bound Blog Goals Will Keep You on Track

How do you keep yourself accountable? Do you write your goals in a journal or do you join a group with similar intentions? Having others around you, a social learning group, to keep going, commit your time, and complete the tasks set will provide the next step in streamlining your family history blogging! My group is on Facebook and I see the others striding ahead with their blogging; this inspires me to catch up so that I have something to brag about in the group chat too. I am currently immersed in a Blogging Bootcamp with Sarah Cordiner – her strategies for blogging appeal to many – a 30 day challenge to start, build and blow up your blog. Here’s a little summary of the process recommended by Sarah (including tech tips).

1. Create a list of topical blog post titles to engage the reader – get ideas from a Blog Title Generator
2. Store these in a spreadsheet or Trello board
3. Create a set of thumbnails (graphic illustrations) in Canva
4. And most importantly, share your progress in the shared Facebook group.

What about the task of preparing your blog post about your ancestors? Do you use templates or other prompting devices to help you in that process? I find it motivating to plot out my ancestral story outline on another Trello board, where I gather the data, the images, and the storyline. However, I am always on the lookout for other strategies. Recently I located some great Word templates that would help in the process of story-outlining. I visited the website of the Creative Family Historian and explored the templates on offer there from Prudence Dwyer. Take a look and choose from a wide selection to help you in the ancestral story outlining process too.

This week I interviewed Prudence to find out more about these templates and gained insight into how to put them to best use. You can listen to the podcast below.

Prudence also has a YouTube channel. where you will find some useful video tutorials, like this one – Make Ancestor Snapshots simple with this Brilliant Timeline trick.

These three strategies:

• time-based blogging goal
• social learning group
• ancestral story outlines

got me thinking about how I can help you when you get stuck – to streamline your Family History Blogging. I have planned a Live Cast.

Join me on Saturday, August 20 for a Live Cast on Facebook at 12 noon (UTC +10) where I will be discussing the reasons Why Start a Family History Blog? on my Family History Preserved page.

This Live Cast is an ideal introduction to Blogging in the Past Lane, a free course in which you can gain access to your own social learning group in the Digital Storytelling Online group.