With a family, you’ll probably want to have multiple authors so that mom, dad, and maybe the kids can all share their own thoughts on the blog.

Nuclear Family vs. Extended Family

Your immediate family may only have a few people that would be authors on your blog. If that is the case, your blog only needs to support just a handful of authors. Be careful when investigating options, not all blogging services let you have more than one author.

If you want your entire extended family to share a blog, make sure your blogging service supports numerous authors. Here at FamilySays.com we have a “Family Reunion” plan that can have up to 50 authors, which should be enough to cover a large extended family.

We’ve used our extended family website to replace the traditional printed newsletter we had for years. The family blog gives people the opportunity to share news and events when they happen instead of having to go through the coordination hassle of a family newsletter.

He shared how many of his colleagues have had to set up family websites from scratch for their loved ones:

Several of my colleagues have had to build photo galleries, blogs, and even message boards so their families could communicate, and while there are a ton of apps that already do this, it’s up to the individual to bring them all together and design the site so everything works smoothly. For someone without a world of technical experience, this can be a near-impossible task. Family Says wants to make the whole process easy by doing it all for you.

This is exactly why we built Family Says. Since I was the family member that had the technical expertise, I built a family blog for our family. When we saw the positive reception it got from family and friends, we realized that other families would benefit from a similar service. Thus Family Says was born.

Alan continues:

I was very impressed with Family Says. It fills the need for families who often are spread out across the globe to communicate and share baby pictures, wedding photos, and more without the need for a Web designer in the family and without having to pay someone a ton of money to set up a family site. The service is new but looks polished. Also, since it’s easy to use and is locked down to family members only, it looks much more useful than a simple family blog.

I think he described our service very well and definitely picked up on how it can make life easier for lots of families that don’t have a resident web guru.

Thanks for the great review!

They captured the spirit of our service very well. We are indeed a “Private Family Network.” The fact that we’re private contrasts with the other social networks out there that are frequently very public. As you know, keeping your family interactions private is one of our core founding principles.

KillerStartups paints an accurate picture of what we’re trying to accomplish:

Only family members and whoever else they’ve invited have access to their pages, which means random strangers won’t be reading about your family vacations or drooling over pictures of your daughter’s graduation.

They sum up our service by highlighting two of the key benefits of Family Says:

For one, FamilySays is streamlined and simple, so that all family members, even granny dearest can use it. It’s also private, so that things are kept within the family. Basically, it’s a great way for families who are spread out around the world to keep in touch and feel connected.

Simplicity and privacy are definitely two of the benefits of using Family Says for your family communications.

If you enjoy our Family Says service, visit the KillerStartups.com review and vote for us by clicking the “Killers” button with the big plus sign:

“What would be the competitive advantage of this website as compared to a family blog?”

Our Family Says service is, at its core, a family blog. A primary advantage Family Says has over other blog providers is privacy. With our service your site isn’t accessible to the unknown public scattered across the Internet. You control who sees your site and your personal family news.

Family Says is free from advertising banners and other intrusive commercial marketing. Your site is for your family and private discussion and shouldn’t be covered in distracting ads.

Simplicity is one of our founding principles. Our service is so easy to use that great-grandfathers can use it. Family Says is ideal for baby boomers whose families are now scattered across the country or even the world. We already have people using Family Says in Korea, Japan, and Portugal to keep in touch with their families and friends here in the States.

Thanks for your question. It was a great way for us to reflect on the things that are important to us that we hope are also important to you.

I think that privacy on the Internet is somewhat discounted when it comes to the extreme popularity of blogging. It’s so common for the younger generation to have “their space” that they share freely with friends and use to look up acquaintances. But for some of us in older generations, we aren’t quite ready to give up our privacy like that.

We like the idea of sharing thoughts and feelings in a way that used to be reserved for the daily diary but hesitate because that puts a lot of us out there. The feeling could be compared to running through the grocery store naked. Thankfully, Family Says stands ready to hand those seeking privacy a proverbial pair of shorts.

I’m glad that I have friends who share glimpses of their lives with me via blogs, but I am also glad that when I share glimpses of my life that I have complete control over who sees what I’m sharing. It helps to foster the intimate feeling that I hope people feel when I share daily struggles and triumphs.

I have to wonder how many others there are out there, like myself, who view themselves as private people. Listen up: Family Says is for you! Join in the fun! Here at Family Says, private means private.

His letter, in part, read:

“Thanks so much for all you have done to make this such a viable commodity for all of us! It’s great!…especially when oldsters like us can navigate through the program.”

There seem to be many people out there who don’t consider themselves computer savvy and don’t have the resources to join the technological world, as much as they might want to. This isn’t too shocking, given the fact that the majority of all things Internet have developed in the last 15 years at a rapid rate.

One of the prime reasons we focused our efforts on making Family Says easy to use was due to the large number of our family members who were intimidated by the computer and online technology. They have all been surprised by how easy it’s been for them to participate in online family conversations and relieved that they have been able to join the “in” crowd.

We love hearing comments like this because it reinforces the point that Family Says can level the playing field for family members of all abilities and levels, as this great-grandpa (as well as all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren) illustrate. I mean, we knew it for ourselves, but it’s nice to hear it from others, too!

You can change colors by visiting the “Site Management” tab and selecting the colors that best fit your family:

If you have any suggestions on new color schemes, please let us know.

Enjoy!

You can now add some pictures to the top of your site like you see here:

You can upload these pictures via the “Site Management” tab where you’ll see the “Top of the Page Pictures” section. These pictures will appear at the top of every page of your site.

Pick your favorite family pictures and customize your site today! Have fun.

How often do you see ads that are flashing and annoying? Probably too often.

We feel that your Family Says website should be a sanctuary from the non-stop attack of banner ads and gimmicks you often find online. Even though families are a great demographic for targeted ads, we want you to have a distraction free family website.

You should be able to share your latest family news or pictures without seeing or being influenced by unrelated, irreverent, or annoying third-party advertisements.

So sit back and enjoy your ad-free zone.

If you can send an email, you can create a website that your family can use to communicate and share your latest news, pictures, video, and more. It is just that easy.

While Family Says has been around for over a year now, we just recently set up our official blog. We’ll post our latest news, features, and thoughts here.

You can try Family Says for free for 30 days. Sign up today.