It was a slow night at work tonight. When I say slow, I don’t mean it wasn’t busy, I just had to do a task that was a very slow process and left me lots of time for thinking. My thoughts drifted to my web site and blog, for some strange reason! 
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about why I originally started my blog. The main reason I wanted to start a blog was to compliment my web site, which had been up and running for about two years beforehand. It was meant to be a compliment to my web site but, it seems, it eventually became the main focus and my web site took a back seat to my blog. What I’ve been contemplating is how I can best make both of these tools work for me so that I can get my information out to the masses.
My first thought was to compare it to how a marriage works. Why that? Well, I have a very happy marriage. For the last 24 years I have been married to the most wonderful woman in the world. Is it perfect? Well, some folks have said it is but I have to disagree. Does that mean there are problems? No! It simply means that my wife and I realize that neither one of us is perfect. It’s our love for each other that makes this marriage work. We are willing to accept each other’s faults and we work together to make the best of every situation. I have plenty of faults but my wife makes me think that I am better than I really am. My wife has very few faults, if any, but something that I do makes her feel special and loved. On my own I’m really pretty worthless but with my wife I am a much better man.
This is what I want to try to bring to my web site and blog. I’d like to look at them both, realize where they are weak and where they are strong and then learn how to put the two together to make them the best they can be!
So, how can I accomplish this? I’m sure if I wanted to I could make a very long list of things to do but it really doesn’t take that much thought to figure it out. I think the number one thing to realize is that for them to work together they need to both be on the same page! That’s not a pun, that is my thought for how to make the most of the two. How can I do this?
In my opinion, I believe that there should never be an instance where there is information found on my web site that can’t be found on my blog. Likewise, there should never be information found on my blog that can’t be found on my web site. Now, lets not be literal here. I understand that I may put a post on my blog saying “Happy Birthday” to someone and that doesn’t need to be on my web site but I believe that most folks will understand what I am trying to say here.
That being said, I believe that I should make sure I take advantage of every situation where I can link from by blog to information on my web site and vice-versa! If I am doing a blog post about someone, why not link to their obituary on my site? If I am designing a page about another person, why not link to a blog post about that person? The two “tools” should always compliment each other.
One other thing I would like to start doing is take the time to promote each tool as much as possible on the site. Make sure I have a link to my web site on my blog and also make sure that I have a link to my blog on my web site.
There are many other things that could be listed here but, in my opinion, if I could accomplish what I’ve listed above then my site should become a lot more useful and a lot more productive.
So, starting right now I will try to put this into action. Fortunately for me my web site only has my direct-line ancestors listed right now. I will begin to add blog posts about them and link to there pages on my web site. As I branch out, I will add the information to both my web site and blog before moving on to the next person. What if I don’t really have any information on that person? That’s the best reason to post it to my blog! Someone may be searching that name and have information they can share with me!
Anyways, that’s all I have for now. I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I am still trying to figure out the best way to make the most of my domain. I have other ideas but I will save those for another post.
Have a great day,
Ken
