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One of the Guild commitments expected of study registrants is to respond to all enquires received. In fact study holders like nothing more than talking about their study and sharing the gems they have discovered. They too, welcome submissions to the study.

All registered studies with the Guild have a profile page and I always encourage fellow members and those at the beginning of their study to set up the profile. I shared a number of them a little earlier in this series, and you can read that post here. The profile page sits on the Guild website and the profile will be displayed if the surname searched for is registered. Profiles can be updated at anytime. On the profile page is a link to a website, should the study have one, the Surname DNA project and the means to contact the study holder.

If a member has not registered their study they may list their surname interests and these are where the member has substantial work on a surname in either a particular place or perhaps they are not at the point of wanting to register. However, registration of the surname does yield certain benefits, such as Study Profile page, access to the Guild’s Members Website Project and participation in the Guild’s Marriages challenges. Essentially, a Profile page is the shop window of your study and without registration and the profile page how will people know you are beginning your One-Name and surname research journey?

Without sounding fanatical, you need to work your study, by that I mean advertise it, share information from the study with the wider genealogical community. Take advantage of the Guild’s offering, a website and profile page, write articles and blog posts. The power of social media is tremendous, so please do not overlook it. Over the years I have talked and written about my studies and have had a number of articles published in both the Journal of One-Name Studies and Family Tree Magazine (UK).

We delve into this element of advertising and promoting your study in the Pharos Introduction to One-Name Studies course and there are a number of sections in the book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the Art of One-Name Studies published by the Guild of One-Name Studies.