Ken's Gen

Hello again everyone! (I’m still writing as if I have a million readers because I believe I will some day!)

I’m just taking the time to update what’s been happening at Ken’s Gen this week. It’s been a very busy week, although my posts might not show it. There’s a lot of work that goes in to a blog, especially when you are first starting out. Now, I know I am not just starting but, essentially, this blog was completely scrapped and is in the process of being rebuilt. I’ve been away from it for so long that I am having to re-educate myself and I am also having to learn new technology, new social networking sites and new ways of looking at things.

So, without further ado, let’s see what’s been happening this week.

New Posts:

Here is a list of new post at Ken’s Gen this week:

On Tuesday I added Just What Is “Smart”?, a re-post from my old blog. In it I discuss my mother and how smart I believe she was, even though some might have never thought of her that way.

On Wednesday I added Is There Anybody Out There?. This was just a short post lamenting the fact that it seems no one is around and also giving a shout-out to my little sister, Kim. She is my one loyal reader!

On Thursday I added Google Reader Is Closing Down! This is my initial reaction to Google’s news that they will be discontinuing the popular Google Reader.

Finally, on Saturday I posted David Isaac Spangler. This is what I want the future of my site to become. I want to get away from the old “Names and Dates” site to a more personalized, fleshy type of post. I want to let my readers know about my family. Look for more posts like this in the future!

Behind The Scenes:

The hardest part of writing a blog is the behind the scenes work. Eventually, I will get things running the way I want but I am still involved in the initial setup of my site. Here’s a few of the changes made this past week.

1. The first, and most obvious, change is that I have once again changed the name of my blog. Why did I do this? Well, the next change will explain that.
2. I no longer have both a website and a blog. I now have just my blog and will slowly incorporate my website into it. I believe this will make things much easier for me and make discovering my family and research much easier for my readers.
3. I have been re-designing my categories and also adding tags to posts. This will make it easier for others to find related information.
4. To further aid readers, I’ve also added a “Related Posts” plugin so you can pursue a topic a little further if needed.
5. I’ve changed the main page of my blog to only show the last 4 posts and started using the “More” option to shorten the load time of the site.
6. I’ve redesigned my sidebar to try to make it more user friendly. I’m still not totally happy with it but it does look a lot better than before!
7. I’ve added a “Spangler Research” page on both the top menu and the sidebar menu. This is, once again, how I plan to implement my website into my blog. It’s still a work in progress but it is a start!
8. Last but not least, I’ve uploaded my old blog, “Beyond Fiction“, to my Blogger account. This will enable those who want access to my old posts to be able to find them. There’s still quite a bit of work to do on it but the posts are there, just no images yet.

I think the biggest change out of all the changes I made this week was the decision to eliminate my website. There are still some options of the website I will have to figure out how to incorporate into the blog, such as  the “Family Lounge” idea. That will be done when my readership increases and more of my family decides to start using the site. Until then there is no reason for the secure section. I feel the same applies to a forum. My main focus for now will be to increase readership and try to get the word out to my family that there is a resource for those interested in our family history.

The name change to the blog was, to me, a must. All my pages have been spidered by search engines with the name Ken’s Gen and with the tagline of “The Genealogy Research and Writings of Kenneth W. Spangler” so I felt it was essential that I keep that brand. Another good thing for this is that most search engines will spider a blog more than they will a static web page, as the blog is constantly changing. Well, I’m hoping that is the case anyway!

What To Look For

I’m currently working on a post entitled “Could I Use WordPress For My Entire Website?”. Seems kind of wrong to write this post since I’ve already made the switch but I plan on finishing it. It should help folks to understand why I’m making the switch.

Look for a bio page for my mother, Patricia Ann (Forbes) Spangler, soon.

Look for me to start adding information on my paternal grandparents soon. I’ve discovered a few things in the last couple of days that had made me decide to go that direction first, even though I have more information on my maternal side.

I think I might also continue to add posts about my site design and about how I came across the knowledge to make the changes I am making.

So What Do You Think?

Do you like the changes that are happening here at Ken’s Gen? Do you have any suggestions to help out with improving the site? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you are thinking.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ken