The Genealogist

Our Weekly GenMates Update

Hope that your week has gone well? I know for us it’s been a little mad to put it mildly. As some of you will be aware my other half had a knee operation early in the week and I have been running back and too trying to look after them! Anyway things are slowly getting on the mend. So that is good news!

GenMates is continuing to grow at an amazing rate. We are seeing so many new members joining and taking advantage of the facilities on offer and it’s great to know that we are providing something that genealogists clearly want. We already have plans for a number of other sites in associated niches (areas of interest) so watch out for the news on those.

The events of the last week have delayed some of our activity but we are rapidly catching up! The Genealogy Audio Articles and The Scrapbooking Audio Articles are getting there and as someone said to me the other day they will be great to listen to on the colder winter nights. Talking of winter nights I don’t know about you but it doesn’t feel like autum yet does it! Well certainly not here in the Uk where the trees are still looking very green and leaf laden! Oh that reminds me the other thing I was asked about the Audio articles was whether the audio files will be available as MP3 downloads so that people can listen to them on the move. I am working on that at the moment and seeing how we can make them available at a nominal charge for the lot - so again watch out for news on that.

During the week I made a special offer available of The Genealogy Guide and literally dozens of people took advantage of the offer. It’s still available if you want to grab a copy for yourself and I will probably leave it available for just a couple more days at The Genealogy Guide.

We also received quit a few emails asking if we could make other offers such as that one and I am pleased to say we are doing at PK eBooks - Your eBook Store! The site specialises in home and hobby quality eBooks and you will find eBooks on Scrapbooking Ideas, Coin Collecting, Stamp Collecting, Amateur Photography and much more besides! Do take a look at the site as you will find a lot of eBooks and there is even a free download which I think you will find interesting!

So there you have it a very busy week! Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you over at GenMates or at one of our other Genealogy sites!

Another Week Flies By!

I wonder if you are like me and get to the end of the week and wonder where all the time went? I certainly did this week no sooner was I involved in the launch of a major new helpline for the Charitable Organisation that I head up Learning and Development for than I was at the next meeting or interview! It was just one of those weeks and time just seemed to disappear.

I had intended doing some of my own Genealogy research this week as we are on the trail of an ancestor who has suddenly emerged from some black hole! Isn’t it one of the amazing things about Genealogy that you will suddenly come across some information that opens up new avenues for you to pursue! I think the “Amateur Detective” aspects of Genealogy is one of the things that draws a lot of people into this fascinating hobby.

Although Internet Marketing is one of my main occupations outside of my offline work it is the Genealogy that set me onto that line of work and to which I keep returning.

GenMates, which was a site we developed to meet the needs of Family Historians to interact with one another, has received some major publicity this week with the publication of a half page article in the leading UK Genealogy Magazine - Family History Monthly - and we are now heading towards that 1,000th member at some speed! Not a bad achievement, even if I do say so myself, given that the sit has been live just about 2 months. If you haven’t taken a look at GenMates yet then do pop along and let me know what you think. If you are already a member then I look forward to seeing you on the site!

As you will know I have been developing a number of Lenses over at Squidoo which I am sure you will find of interest:

Genealogy and Family History
Hobbies For You
Scrapbooking Ideas
Planning for Christmas - yes not long to go!
Identity Theft - an increasing problem these days.
The Classic Movies - take a look and relive some memories!

We have a range of new sites that will be coming online in the next few weeks covering everything from Scrapbooking to Building Your Own Family Tree Website, Baby Boomers and of course How to Build Your Own Internet Business! Then of course we have our new Audio Article Site planned and we have commisioned audio articles around a whole range of areas - the first ones being Genealogy, Scrapbooking and Cholesterol! Don’t ask! I am not sure what the link is between Genealogy and Cholesterol either! or there again perhaps we research our ancestry to find out if high cholesterol was in the family!

Anyway I will finish for now as I know you are busy and hope that you have a great week!