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FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Professional Genealogists: Difference between revisions
FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Professional Genealogists (view source)
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This is a project to help professional genealogists | == Purpose == | ||
This is a project to help FamilySearch patrons find professional genealogists they can hire to help them find their ancestors. | |||
== Get noticed. It's free! == | == Get noticed. It's free! == | ||
In 2011, | Professional genealogists can list themselves on FamilySearch Wiki for free. In 2011, the wiki received an average of 306,076 unique visitors per month. How many Websites attract that many genealogy visitors and allow professionals to list thier services for free? | ||
== Why promote professional genealogists on the wiki? == | == Why promote professional genealogists on the wiki? == | ||
One purpose of FamilySearch Wiki is to help patrons find the records of their ancestors. The wiki already | One purpose of FamilySearch Wiki is to help patrons find the records of their ancestors. The wiki already contains tens of thousands of links to digitized records that require an access fee. Linking to professional researchers that can provide similar records is no more commercial than linking to fee-based records, and gives the patron one more way to access his ancestors' information. To learn more about why FamilySearch is doing this project, please visit the [[FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Professional Genealogists/Purpose|purpose]] page. | ||
== How to help patrons find you == | |||
=== Step 1: Register on FamilySearch === | |||
Registering on FamilySearch Wiki is easy and free. From any page on FamilySearch.org, click the Sign In link and follow the prompt to register. Once you have registered, the system will send an email to the address you used to register. Click the link in that email to confirm your registration. | |||
Once you have confirmeand confirmed your registration, If you already have a FamilySearch account, | |||
=== Add your résumé to your user page === | === Step 2: Add your résumé to your user page === | ||
Once you have a FamilySearch account, visit the wiki and login. Click Personal Tools and then click your username under that. This will bring you to your user page. Most wiki contributors add to their user pages information about their background and about information they contribute to the wiki. But the idea behind this project is for each professional genealogist to add to his user page the sort of information that might help a patron decide whether they'd like to hire him. This may include the following information: | |||
*Genealogical education | *Genealogical education | ||
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*Contact information | *Contact information | ||
Many professionals also like to display longer items such as samples of client reports, research plans, or customer testimonials, | Many professionals also like to display longer items such as samples of client reports, research plans, or customer testimonials. Adding these to a user page would make it too long, but they can be added as sub-pages and linked from the user page. For help in creating sub-pages, see [[Help:Subpages|Help:Subpages]] or contact the FamilySearch [https://www.familysearch.org/help/contact?wicket:interface=:2:telephoneLink::ILinkListener:: Help Desk]. | ||
=== | === Step 3: Contact FamilySearch === | ||
If you are a professional genealogist and want patrons to find your résumé / user page, | If you are a professional genealogist and want patrons to find your résumé / user page, you will want us to create links to your user page from appropriate directory pages such as [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]]. We'll make all the links for you; all you need to do is fill out an online form. | ||
=== Link topic pages to directory pages === | === Link topic pages to directory pages === | ||
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=== Do the math === | === Do the math === | ||
Let's say you've linked the directory pages of five U.S. states to your résumé / user page, and linked about two-thirds of the topic pages of those states to the directory pages where you're listed. With 18 topics per state (28 times 2/3), that would yield a funnel of 90 pages leading to you. Now imagine if you were to duplicate that at the county level! When one also considers that [http://www.wolf-howl.com/google/google-love-affair-with-wikipedia/ Google loves wikis] -- that Google tends to rank wiki content higher than content from other sites -- it adds up to serious traffic potential. | Let's say you've linked the directory pages of five U.S. states to your résumé / user page, and linked about two-thirds of the topic pages of those states to the directory pages where you're listed. With 18 topics per state (28 times 2/3), that would yield a funnel of 90 pages leading to you. Now imagine if you were to duplicate that at the county level! When one also considers that [http://www.wolf-howl.com/google/google-love-affair-with-wikipedia/ Google loves wikis] -- that Google tends to rank wiki content higher than content from other sites -- it adds up to serious traffic potential. | ||
== Inappropriate marketing on FamilySearch Wiki == | == Inappropriate marketing on FamilySearch Wiki == | ||
*Don't add listings or links of individual researchers to topic pages; add them to directory pages instead. In other words, don't add an entry to a topic page like [[Ohio Vital Records|Ohio Vital Records]] that says ''"Joe Genius is a professional genealogist who does fee-based vital records lookups in Ohio vital records. Click here to go to his user page and see his services and fee schedule." ''Instead, add to [[Ohio Vital Records|Ohio Vital Records]] a link to the directory page [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]]. Then link from the directory page to Joe Genius' user page. | *Don't add listings or links of individual researchers to topic pages; add them to directory pages instead. In other words, don't add an entry to a topic page like [[Ohio Vital Records|Ohio Vital Records]] that says ''"Joe Genius is a professional genealogist who does fee-based vital records lookups in Ohio vital records. Click here to go to his user page and see his services and fee schedule." ''Instead, add to [[Ohio Vital Records|Ohio Vital Records]] a link to the directory page [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]]. Then link from the directory page to Joe Genius' user page. | ||
*Don't use FamilySearch copyrighted materials or images in pages you make to promote your business. Some patrons may incorrectly interpret this to mean that FamilySearch endorses your business. <br> | *Don't use FamilySearch copyrighted materials or images in pages you make to promote your business. Some patrons may incorrectly interpret this to mean that FamilySearch endorses your business. <br> | ||
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=== Assignment 1: User testing of directory page design === | === Assignment 1: User testing of directory page design === | ||
Description: The directory table used in [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]] needs to be tested by users to see whether it bears the information they need. | Description: The directory table used in [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]] needs to be tested by users to see whether it bears the information they need. | ||
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Assignee: [[User:RitcheyMT|RitcheyMT]] | Assignee: [[User:RitcheyMT|RitcheyMT]] | ||
Progress: 0 | Progress: 0% | ||
=== Assignment | === Assignment 2: Create directories for U.S. states === | ||
Description: After | Description: After Assignment 1 is complete, use the wiki code from [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]] to create similar pages for all 50 U.S. states. | ||
Volunteers: | Volunteers: | ||
Progress: | Progress: 2% | ||
=== Assignment 3: Link from state topics pages to state directory pages === | |||
Description: After each state directory page in Assignment 2 is finished, link all the appropriate topics pages listed in its place page to the directory page. For example, link most of the pages listed in the Topics section of the [[Ohio|Ohio]] page to [[Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research|Professional Genealogists Who Specialize in Ohio Research]]. | |||
Volunteers: | |||
Progress: 0% | |||
[[Category:WikiProjects]] | [[Category:WikiProjects]] | ||