This blog post is a response to the series “31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog,” at the Tonia’s Roots blog. This series is based on the Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) e-book 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.
This week, Tonia gives the following reasons for why bloggers should write “link posts”:
- Linking out gives something valuable to your readers. There is a lot of great information out there, but who has the time to sort through it all? When you share a post or a site that you have found valuable, your readers will be appreciative.
- Linking out builds your credibility. Building on the above bullet point, by sharing the valuable information you have found, you establish yourself as an authority.
- Linking out builds relationships with other bloggers. They’ll appreciate that you are sending traffic their way and if your post builds on their ideas, it could lead to a continued dialogue and ongoing interactions. Plus, it’s just a great way to support others in our community.
- Linking out may help your search results. Search algorithms consider outbound links to related content as a positive thing, so it could help you appear higher in search results.
These are very good reasons. I would like to emphasize the second.
Writing a “link post” – a collection of online resources, whether blog posts or others – helps to establish your own interest in the subject. Eventually this interest should develop into a specialty, and the specialty becomes expertise.
For example, many of you have read my posts on Source Citations:
- “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part one“
- “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part two“
- “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part three“
- “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part one“
- “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part two“
- “Source citations in your online writing“
- “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part three“
- “Source Citations: Getting it ‘Right,’ part four“
- “Source Citations: Why Form Matters, part four“
But have you read the other blogs that have written recently on the subject of source citations? Not all of them agree with my philosophies and formats, but these posts should still be read. When blog posts do not agree, in fact, I feel that it is more valuable to the discussion. So go ahead and read all of these posts, and make up your own mind.
[UPDATED, 6 Jan 2012. I have verified that all of the links below still work, and added several new posts (some older, some newer).]
For this to be a real resource of value, I will continue to update this list as new posts are published!
- Donna Moughty, “Strategies for Starting Your Family History: Citing Sources,” Donna Moughty’s Genealogy Resources blog, posted 15 Feb 2010 (http://www.moughty.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Dick Eastman, “Citing Sources,” Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter blog, posted 17 Oct 2010 (http://blog.eogn.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Amy Crow, “I Don’t Care Where You Put the Comma,” Amy’s Genealogy, etc. Blog, posted 11 Feb 2011 (http://familytrees.wordpress.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Kerry Scott, “Source Citations in Genealogy: Church or Cult?,” ClueWagon blog, posted 16 Feb 2011 (http://www.cluewagon.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- footnoteMaven, “Collecting Information For A Source,” footnoteMaven blog, posted 21 Feb 2011 (http://www.footnotemaven.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- footnoteMaven, “UNCLE! If You Use A Citation Tool – Learn From It,” footnoteMaven blog, posted 21 Feb 2011 (http://www.footnotemaven.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Harold Henderson, “The Abominable Snowman of Genealogy,” Midwestern Microhistory blog, posted 22 Feb 2011 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Amanda E. Epperson, “Citations – The Historian’s Perspective,” The Historian’s Family blog, posted 22 Feb 2011 (http://historiansfamily.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Joan Miller, “Genealogy Citations: Good, Better, Best,” Luxegen Genealogy and Family History blog, posted 6 Mar 2011 (http://www.luxegen.ca : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ian Hadden, “Citing Sources for Your Blog Posts,” Ian Hadden’s Family History blog, posted 14 Mar 2011 http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Tamura Jones, “Genealogy without Documentation is Mythology,” Modern Software Experience blog, posted 26 Mar 2011 (http://www.tamurajones.net/index.xhtml : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ancestry Insider, “Citations Have Two Purposes,” Ancestry Insider blog, posted 6 Apr 2011 (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ancestry Insider, “Is Mills Style Necessary?,” Ancestry Insider blog, posted 18 May 2011 (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Randy Seaver, “Inflaming Source Citation Passions,” Genea-Musings blog, posted 2 Jun 2011 (http://www.geneamusings.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “The Perfect Citation Storm,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 2 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “Entering the citation jungle,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 3 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ancestry Insider, “Citing Quoted Sources,” Ancestry Insider blog, posted 8 Jun 2011 (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “Citations unveiled,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 12 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “Some more thoughts on citations in genealogy,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 13 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “To Cite or not to Cite, That is the Question,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 14 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ancestry Insider, “Emphasize the Source You Used Over the Source of the Source,” Ancestry Insider blog, posted 15 Jun 2011 (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “Citations pro and con,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 15 Jun 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- footnoteMaven, “Making My Way in the Technology World Today Takes Everything I’ve Got,” footnoteMaven blog, posted 24 Jun 2011 (http://www.footnotemaven.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Tamura Jones, “Genealogy Citation Standard,” Modern Software Experience blog, posted 27 Jun 2011 (http://www.tamurajones.net/index.xhtml : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- Ancestry Insider, “Citation Principles: Websites are Like a Book,” Ancestry Insider blog, posted 6 Jul 2011 (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- footnoteMaven, “How to Cite a Blog Article/Post!,” footnoteMaven blog, posted 7 Jul 2011 (http://www.footnotemaven.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
- James Tanner, “Looking towards a rational philosophy of citations,” Genealogy’s Star blog, posted 17 Jul 2011 (http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
Thanks for including my citations post on your list. Great idea for a series too – good luck with it.! Amanda
I hope that this list may spur more awareness and discussion of the need for source citations in genealogical work. Thanks for your contribution!
Michael, while I agree that “linking out” gives readers easy access to other voices on the same subject, I disagree with the statement, “Linking out builds credibility.” Our KNOWLEDGE transferred to blog or website CONTENT, such as your posts about citations, gives us credibility. I do think you did a great job of fulfilling this assignment with its 30+ links. : )
(Please excuse the use of caps for italics.)
Great resource list, Michael! There have been so many posts about citations in recent months; it’s great to have one place where they are consolidated.
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I have included your blog in Interesting Blogs in Friday Fossicking at
http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/friday-fossicking-29th-july-2016.html
Thank you, Chris