

Some sites just give indexes and you order copies of the original document from there, according to what you find - that's fine because you can see the information for yourself when your document arrives. Can you access original documents (digitised) or just transcripts? It is always better seeing the original document in digitised form that what someone else has copied (or miscopied) from it. Is there a full explanation of what else is in the site? Can you find details of all the records held, how they were created and how researchers can use them? Without this information, you might just end up groping in the dark. Does it contain the basic resources of genealogy - in other words, birth, marriage and death certificates (or indexes to the certificates) and census returns? You're not going to be able to do your genealogy without them.

So, to start from the very beginning, which sites do you absolutely need in order to build your family tree, and how can you tell where to put your money?

Databases and search engines make information accessible in a way in which it wasn't before: searches that used to take weeks or months now take only a few minutes. There is a wealth of material available on the web, and it is being added to every day. But there are good reasons why more and more genealogists are going online. You cannot manage without the basic building blocks of certificates and census returns, and money can be liberally spent in travelling to archives, paying online fees, hiring private researchers and whatever else you deem necessary as you continue your research. The bottom line in genealogical research is that you are going to have to pay for it. Here are some tips and guidelines to help make order out of the chaos so you can make the right choice when it comes to selecting your website. It is fair to say that most genealogy sites for which you have to pay have some worth - it just depends whether they are going to be worthwhile for you. There is an overwhelming amount of information on the internet, and it's difficult to know which of the pay-for services are of value to you.
