Genealogy Marketing Archives

NGS: Sign Up For a Free Headshot!

21 April 2018 By cyndy Leave a Comment

RootsTech photo featuring Jenny from Like Herding Cats.

Ready to sign up for the photoshoot? Just go to Genlighten.com, create a free account, and reply to the welcome message to let us know when you’re available between 10:30 am and 2:30 pm on Friday. We’ll put you on the list and reply with an arrival time. It’s going to be fun!

Want to know more? Read on!

If you’re a genealogy professional, a great headshot can help create a positive first impression as you work to market your research and/or speaking services.

Headshots are an important part of provider profiles on Genlighten, but they’re also key to, say, Association of Professional Genealogists directory pages and the “about me” sections of business websites.

If you need a quality photo to help market your genealogy services, we’d like to help.

It’s time for another Genlighten Headshot Extravaganza!

We’ve hired a professional photographer to take headshots at the Genlighten booth at the the National Genealogical Society conference in Grand Rapids on Friday, May 4, from 10:30 am – 2:30 pm. (There will be no conflicting classes or events between noon and 2:30 pm that day.)

The event is free and you do not have to be a research provider on Genlighten to participate–although, of course, we hope you’ll consider that possibility.

Sitting for the photo will just take a few minutes out of your already-busy conference schedule and Sheryl will work hard to put you at ease. The resulting photo will be yours to use for marketing your business, no strings attached.

Here’s how it works:

Create a free log-in on Genlighten (user name, password, email address) and add your name to the account so we can match your photo to your email address when the time comes to deliver your headshot. (We won’t spam you and we won’t share your account information. This is just an easy way to make sure that we can get your photo to you.)
Reply to the Genlighten welcome message to let us know you’d like to participate, and tell us when you’d be available between 10:30 am and 2:30 pm.
We’ll put you on the schedule for a 5-minute slot and reply with the time you should plan to arrive.
Your photo will be ready approximately 2 weeks after NGS and we will email a link so you can download it. We’ll also provide you with a release giving you permission to use the image.

So, why are we sponsoring this event? Because it helps us get the word out about Genlighten. Because it’s a way that our marketing dollars can have a long-lasting, positive impact on the genealogy community. And because, quite frankly, it was a lot of fun when we did it at RootsTech and we’re looking forward to doing it again!

If you have any questions, just email support@genlighten.com.

See you at NGS!

Cyndy

Genlighten Co-founder
support@genlighten.com

Do You Have Someone Who Does Research in … ? Yes!

15 February 2016 By cyndy Leave a Comment

Down time at the Genlighten booth can only mean one thing — BANJO!

I just spent a week in Salt Lake City, working at Genlighten’s exhibit hall booth at RootsTech 2016. Starting when the doors opened on Thursday morning and continuing through late Saturday afternoon, I had conversation after conversation with visitors, trying to introduce as many people as possible to what Genlighten is all about.

I’m someone who would likely be an 11 on a 1-10 scale of introversion, so the conference scene can be a challenge, but as I talked to booth visitors, I realized there was one thing that I was really enjoying–telling attendees about our research providers.

I tend to be enthusiastic about things I’m passionate about and I found myself saying things like this:

“Oh, yes! We have some really talented researchers in the Maryland area.”

“Yes. She is very good at Chicago research.”

“Yes! This provider translated a hard-to-read German church record for me a few years ago and I thought she did a great job with it.”

“Yes! Getting in touch with her is one of the best ways to get a record from a Family History Library film.”

I’m the one who handles site user support for Genlighten and I’ve come to know many of the providers through phone conversations, by email, and even in person. No doubt about it. We’ve got some great people offering services through Genlighten and it’s a pleasure to work with them.

Dean demonstrating the new Genlighten site

While I was chatting at the booth, I often showed visitors what the provider profiles will look like on the new Genlighten (it’ll go live around the time of the National Genealogical Society confe rence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and I have to say, those pages do a good job of introducing professionals to potential clients. There’s enough detail there for clients to be able to make a comfortable decision about who to reach out to with the possibility of setting up a project. The pages have space for the usual information–education and training, research services and specialities, localities and repositories covered–but they also include sections for previous-client comments, client/colleague references, sample document and report uploads, and policy statements.

My focus at the moment is helping providers use the templates to create comprehensive profiles on the new site so they’ll be ready to go in May. If you’ve already done that, thank you. If you haven’t, email me so we can get to work on it!

Often times at RootTech, when someone asked, “Do you have someone who can do research in … ?” my answer was, “Yes!” but sometimes I had to answer, “Not yet.” If you offer genealogy research for Japan, Switzerland, or Luxembourg, for example, there are people out there who need your help. Consider creating a profile on Genlighten so we can send them your way.

Cyndy
Genlighten Co-founder
support@genlighten.com

Current Providers: Market Your Genealogy Business on the New Genlighten

27 January 2016 By cyndy Leave a Comment

Dean is coming down the home stretch when it comes to getting the new Genlighten website ready for launch. It’s not quite done–there are tweaks to be made and new features to be added–but we’re ready to start inviting current providers to log in to set up profiles.

I’m going to give you a quick introduction to the new site below. We’ll be introducing it at our RootsTech booth next week so if you’d like your business to appear as attendees explore the site, now is the time!

The Home Page

The new home page is simple and colorful and inviting. The top banner is actually a rotating image carousel that we can use to feature providers. The example below highlights Italian researchers.

Locality, Specialty, and Repository Pages

Clients search or click image buttons find focus pages in three categories–Localities, Specialties, and Repositories.

You can choose which pages your profile appears on and you can select where to place your map pin.

Provider Profiles

Profile pages give potential clients an easy way to learn more about your services, specialties, training, and research experience. The reputation you’ve built on the current Genlighten follows you to the new site so potential clients can review the feedback you’ve received. We also provide a way for clients, colleagues, and friends to post references for you–especially helpful if you haven’t yet had a Genlighten request.

Tabs labeled Skills, Portfolio, and Policies allow you to add additional information to your profile without cluttering the main page. Skills is a checklist of genealogy-related tasks such as “Brick Wall Analysis and Formulation of a Research Plan,” “Lineage Determination,” and “Obituary Research.” Portfolio lets you upload example documents and reports, and Policies lets you state your business approach.

The Hire Me tab explains what clients need to do to initiate hourly research projects and lets you list specific fixed-fee document retrieval tasks, if you wish.

Setting Up Your Profile

Setting up profiles is a straightforward fill-in-the-blanks, check-a-few-boxes, and select-from-dropdowns process. Just don’t forget to click the Update Provider Data button! The most time-consuming part is writing polished text for the About Me, Education/Training, and Research Services boxes, but many of you will already have already written that for other purposes. If you need help finding header images and/or cropping them to the right size, we can take care of that for you.

Managing Projects through the Site

Just like the current Genlighten, all project-related events are tracked on the site. Clients message you or submit project requests using simple forms and you receive email notification when that happens so you don’t need to check the site every day. Just make sure that your email address is current and add system@genlighten.com to your address book so our correspondence doesn’t get caught up in a spam filter.

When a project is created, a dedicated, private tracking page becomes available to you, your client, and Genlighten Support. Use it to post your proposal and quote, to correspond with your client, to send invoices, and to upload documents and reports. All payments are handled securely online and your fees (minus our commission) are credited to your Genlighten account allowing you to transfer them to your checking account at your convenience.

Once the dust settles and we’re sure the basic site features are working without error, we’ll begin adding new features such as report templates and a time tracker to make project management even easier for you. And, more importantly, we’ll launch targeted advertising campaigns to bring more potential clients to the site.

Set Up Your Profile and Let it Go to Work for You

It shouldn’t take you very long to create a professional-looking profile for your genealogy business on the new Genlighten and once that’s done, you can step back and let it go to work for you marketing your services. Just make sure to keep your contact information current and be ready to respond quickly if a potential client contacts you through the site.

The new Genlighten will be free to clients (no payment processing fees and no cost to use the site other than the fees charged by providers) and we will offer a number of provider subscription plans including a free basic option with a 20% project commission to Genlighten. However, providers who set up on the site before 1 May 2016 will be able to choose a legacy plan–all the features of the basic and transitional plans with no monthly subscription fee and a 10% project commission, the same as the current site.

We can’t promise that the new Genlighten will immediately send work your way. Much of that just depends on who visits and what type of research help they need. But, setting up a profile is quick and there’s really nothing to lose! We hope you’l give it a try.

If you have any questions about the new Genlighten, just drop me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Cyndy
Genlighten Co-founder
support@Genlighten.com