So, you’ve been thinking about having your own family tree website. Somewhere you have control  over all the content and not behind a paywall like Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc.

Well, this blog post is about the option I’ve been using on a couple different hosting services for over a decade.

Got questions? You’re welcome to email me.

Now first, if you just want to blog about your research and not share tree data, then I would go with free options such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com… you will be limited in storage size so you’ll need to learn how to compress photos down to a smaller shareable size.   You don’t want to be using 300 dpi 8×10 photos here – it bogs down the website.  Jpg files of 72 – max 96 is very adequate for a website, or use webp image type. And screen size, a maz width of 1950 px is great for filling all of a desktop screen.You’ll also be limited in theme/template style.

A Wix free account is also an option for setting up a blog if you’re not picky about having their subdomain names instead of a purchased domain name. Plus, the free Wix have the branded label at the top of every page. Depending on the theme you choose, say one with a dark background, it’s not quite as noticable.  A Wix paid account would still be accessible if you stop paying for their plan, but you are then open to losing a paid domain name & revert to their subdomain names. 

Willing to get your hands a little more dirty when setting up a site? Then there’s a couple other options. 

The first one, the way I was building until a couple years ago, was paying for a yearly hosting plan and running a WordPress site (aka a CMS = content management system) combined with linking subdirectory with Darrin Lythgoes’ TNG genealogy software.  In my opinion, if you want to share your GEDCOM with linked photos & documents, this is the software to use.  Check out his “User Sites” page on the link I just shared for some inspiration. You don’t have to run  it with a blog like WordPress, but it helps give the data more life. WordPress is free software, very popular for building sites, but also requires security software to strengthen it against outside hackers (whole other topic).

So, if you go this route, where to host the website?  I’ve been on Godaddy years ago – I advise avoiding it. I’ve also been on Hostpapa WordPress hosting but found I was having speed issues even on a small website. 

Then a couple of years ago, thinking about what would happen to my site if I died tomorrow (hint: as soon as regular hosting fails to be paid, your website is toast) I discovered the Guild of One Name Studies.  Yes, it’s a paid hosting plus a yearly membership, with hosting servers designed specifically for genealogy websites and preservation of those sites.  And you don’t have to have a focused dedicated surname study in order to qualify. Their member websites also include genealogy societies and regional sites. 

Curious now? Check out their Members Website Program (MWP). If you decide to use a CMS, I recommend staying away from Joomla.  I tried it a few years back and returned to WordPress.  And I use a page builder, Elementor to be exact, with my WordPress sites and a theme like Blocksy or the very basic Hello. Elementor adds a little bit of code bloat, but I’m not a fan of the Gutenberg editor yet.

You can also check out some great resource sites: the TNG Users Forum, Facebook Group for Guild of One Name Studies. Facebook  group for TNG Sitebuilding.