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Happy (Belated) Second Blogiversary!

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I’m a bit behind since the holiday and I haven’t yet acknowledged last week’s milestone. On November 28, 2007, the California Genealogical Society Board of Directors voted to approve the CGSL blog. It was a venture started rather hastily, with great enthusiasm but little planning. I admit to losing a few nights’ sleep the first week wondering how I would ever sustain it. Now I can’t believe it’s been two years.

Since that time CGS and I have discovered a whole new Web 2.0 world of wikis and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter where I’ve made many new friends in the GeneaBlogger community. My colleagues are a prolific bunch who fill my blog reader with an endless stream of all things genealogical and who offer a font of inspirational ideas which I gladly co-opt for the benefit of CGS.

During this last year the CGSL blog has become a kind of internet centerpiece for the society. Blog articles link back and forth to the CGS website, to the eNews and to social networking sites and calendars where our events are posted.

Recently Amy Coffin of We Tree featured the CGSL blog in her article Should Your Genealogical Society Have a Blog? She summed up the blog-website relationship perfectly:

Blogs are websites. Websites aren’t always blogs. A genealogy society’s web page is like a store window. It highlights the group’s value, hopefully enticing visitors to walk through the virtual door and explore the site. A blog is like a genealogy society’s in-store sale circular. It is a good communication tool for the latest information and quickly changing details. A genealogy society’s web page serves one purpose and a blog another.

Now that the whole blog-website-internet dynamic is working well for us, CGS is ready to pretty things up a little. Several members of the Pub/Mark and Website Committees have been working on the CGS “brand” and we will be rolling things out over the next couple of months.

Today Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings very graciously recommended the CGSL blog in his Follow Friday post. Nothing gets past Randy and he made note of the fact that this blog has a new URL: http://blog.californiaancestors.org/. This is the first peek into the branding project which will involve a major redecorating overhaul of the CGSL blog.

Stay tuned.

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Comments

  1. Anonymous  December 5, 2009

    Happy anniversary from one of your East Coast fans who's looking forward to enjoying the CGS blog for many more years.

  2. my Heritage Happens  December 5, 2009

    Congratulations to you! This is a top notch society blog for sure! Happy 2nd blogiversary! Looking forward to the seeing the overhaul and more from CGSL!

  3. Charley "Apple" Grabowski  December 5, 2009

    Happy Blogiversary! You are blazing a trail for other Societies to follow. Looking forward to your new look.

  4. Tim Cox  December 5, 2009

    Kathryn has done a wonderful job at creating and maintaining the CGSL internet presence. It seems like this blog is her life because she's always thinking about it and soliciting ideas and feedback from members. Her hard work and dedication to the blog is being recognized by CGS members, the blogger community, and potential new members of CGS.
    So happy blogiversary to the CGSL blog and congratulations to Kathryn for making it happen!

  5. Amy Coffin  December 6, 2009

    Congratulations on the milestone. You've done a fantastic job. This is such a wonderful blog and a great example of society marketing. I look forward to the changes and see big things in your future!

  6. Sheri Fenley  December 8, 2009

    HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY TO YOU, HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY TO YOU, HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY DEAR KOOL KOOL KITTY, HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY TO YOU!

  7. Elizabeth O'Neal  December 15, 2009

    Belated blogaversary wishes to a terrific site and resource and a wonderful person. I can't wait to see what exciting changes you've got in store!