Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Finding Someone In Mexico - Does the Internet Work?

So you've searched the Internet and can't find the person you are looking for in Mexico. The problem with trying to find someone in Mexico by using the Internet is that very little of the information on individuals who are living in Mexico is digitized. Herein lays the problem. The information is not on the Internet. If you did an Internet search for Mexico, you would receive a lot of results, but a closer look at the results reveals that most of them have to do with New Mexico or Mexico, Missouri. The search results are not focused on the Country of Mexico but more on searching for people that live in the United States.

Marie Daly, director of the Research Library at the New England Historic Genealogical Society is quoted in Margaret Moen's How to be a Self-Sufficient Researcher as saying, “I’d say perhaps only 10 percent of the genealogical information out there is on the Web. But when people do genealogy research, they think that’s 100 percent, and they make a big error that way. Not everything is on the Web. And some of the things that are on the Web are erroneous.”

Even though you may spend a lot of time looking for this information, it may be in the wrong direction. If you have spent over an hour searching the Internet, stop. Why would I say this? Because most people after an hour have tapped their knowledge of how to search online. There is a science to searching online. After an hour most people have used up all of their resources. They have used up all of their knowledge on how to look for information. At that point most people are pretty much just surfing around, looking and hoping to find new information.

People may feel that if they keep searching, they will find that one site that has the information they are looking for. There is no one magic web site to help you locate someone living in Mexico. It is just not out there and this includes family genealogy sites.

If you are frustrated because you have spent a lot of time looking for someone, have tried free genealogy sites and nothing you have done has worked, you are finally in the right place. In the next few blogs, I am going to share with you information on what to do and how to do it. So don’t give up.

Take the first step to uncovering the five top challenges stopping people from finding someone living in Mexico. Subscribe to get our FREE Special Report.

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Family & Friends Found

Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your In box? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Finding Someone In Mexico - The #1 Challenge

Are you frustrated because you have spent too much time looking for someone in Mexico and nothing you have done works? You’re not alone. Hours of research only ending in frustration is the #1 challenge when trying to find someone living in Mexico or trying to start your Mexico family genealogy research.

Breaking through the #1 Frustration Challenge

One of the most interesting challenges that I have come across in my research is frustration. People may feel as though there may be no hope in finding the person they are looking for. Maybe they are frustrated because they don’t know or speak the Spanish language. This can be especially upsetting for people who are doing their Mexican family genealogy and researching to find a mother or father living in Mexico.

Some of our clients have said their biggest problem is they do not speak Spanish or have never been to Mexico and have no idea where to start looking. Some tell us they have names and some information, but have not had any luck at all finding anybody. They feel lost and have given up on their Mexico family genealogy research. They are possibly frustrated because they may have spent hours on the Internet and have come up with nothing. This includes free family genealogy web sites.

Let’s talk about that for a minute. There's a good reason why a person doing family genealogy research for someone in Mexico has not found any information. Let’s start with the Internet. For most people, the Internet is an easy way to find people. Let’s face it, if you are trying to find someone in the United States, all you need to do is put in their name, city, state, and maybe their zip code.

There are many online search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or the Internet White Pages. If someone has any kind of web presence such as: owning a web site; have published articles; been in a newspaper; or even just have a residential listing that is online, they can easily be found through an online search just by plugging their information into a search engine. There is a lot of information on people who are living in the United States and there are many ways to look for them and it is very easy to find them--if they are living in the United States.

Next week . . . Does the Internet work for finding people living in Mexico?

We'll share with you the top five challenges stopping people from finding someone living in Mexico? Subscribe now and get our FREE Special Report.

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Family & Friends Found

Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your In box? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Friday, August 17, 2007

PS. to "Nicknames Can Hurt You" article

I was reading through my blogs and this article caught my attention. With the large number of people contacting my company and using our information, we are always picking up better ideas to help people just like you.

First I recommend you read the article "Nicknames Can Hurt You". At one point I commented against using nicknames. Well, I'm going to change my position a little. People who are posting family information, especially to family genealogy web sites, should be listing the formal name of the person they are looking for. But they may also want to add a side note and mention that they believe the person had a nickname. I have noticed on a few records that people back in the late 1800s and early 1900s did sometimes list their nickname. One name might read Jose "Nacho" Rodriguez.

Patricia Diane Godinez, a 30 year veteran of Hispanic family genealogy research at the Bonita Family History Center, commented that the first 100 years of research can be the hardest. She was referring to those who want to start their family genealogy but because of divorce or other reasons have lost contact with their relatives in Mexico. For these people, any one piece of information could hold the key to their making contact with their Mexican relatives or friends.

I really started thinking about this when my wife was talking about some friends the other day. I was half listening as a husband might do from time to time but then she mentioned this one person by their nickname. I'm not even sure what his formal name is. I only know him as "Nacho". And if you mention "Nacho" around town, given the crowd, everyone knows who "Nacho" is.

So even though I tell clients to list formal names when posting on family genealogy web sites, I also now encourage people to make a comment and list the nickname. It's always possible that someone may have a record referring to a relative with the same nickname. If you're doing family genealogy research, you will want to verify all of this information with documents. But use all that you have, and you may find that person sooner than you expected.

Richard Villasana
Mexico Family History Expert
Family & Friends Found


Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your In box? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Finding Someone In Mexico - Are Genealogy Sites The Right Place to Look?

Who is this person you are trying to find? Could they be a relative or a parent? Possibly a friend or maybe someone they met on vacation? You may be looking for this person because you want to learn about your Mexico family history or maybe because you are into family genealogy. You may be searching for medical reasons. We are hearing more and more how our relatives can affect us physically, how our genetics affect us. Many people now want to know all about their family’s health history so they will know what diseases or medical problems they may face as they get older or so that they can provide this family history to their doctor. Family medical history is rapidly becoming an important reason for people wanting to learn about their relatives.

Most people looking for someone in another country or looking for someone in their family think about genealogy first. Genealogy is a study of our family and our relatives. But here is the catch; most of the time genealogy deals with people who are deceased such as our great grandparents or people who came to the country hundreds of years ago.

Here is a quick example. Let’s say someone wants to do genealogy research on their Mexican Family History, but they do not know who their father, uncle, or current relatives are. It could be very challenging to discover more about their family history until they find out more about their living relatives.

If someone has been looking at genealogy sites, they are probably looking in the wrong place. Genealogy sites are there mainly with information to help users find people who are deceased. For privacy reasons, the majority of genealogy societies worldwide are prohibited from putting personal information online until that person has been deceased at least 71 years. If someone is trying to find a person who is living, then genealogy sites might help but only if they know who their great-great-grandparents were. Then the person has to work forward from there.

In most cases, this is not what people are looking for. What they want to do is find someone who is alive today and living in Mexico. They want or need to find their living relative. They may want to find a friend. This is the point where people want and need help finding someone living in Mexico.

Next week . . . overcoming the frustrations of finding someone living in Mexico.

We've uncovered the five top challenges stopping people from finding someone living in Mexico. Get Our FREE Special Report.

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Family & Friends Found

Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your In box? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

How To Get Started Finding Someone In Mexico

Are you looking for or want to find someone who is living in Mexico? Do you need help getting started on the right path for your Mexico family genealogy research? Do you want to find that person as soon as possible? This, and the next several blogs, will discuss the challenges and solutions for finding someone in Mexico.

How to Get Started Finding Someone Living in Mexico

First, we'll discuss the five biggest challenges people face when trying to locate someone in Mexico or beginning their Mexico family genealogy research. These five key challenges are what hold people back from successfully being able to find someone. The good news is, throughout these next blog posts, we will break down these challenges and explain the solutions to finding someone in Mexico. These blogs will get you to the door so you are ready to go through to achieve your desire: finding someone in Mexico. We will also save you time, frustration, anguish and confusion.

The five biggest challenges are:

1) Frustration in Searching
2) Having No Information
3) How to Get Started
4) Sorting Through the Information
5) Knowing Where to Go Next

Next week, we will focus on and identify two key goals to finding someone in Mexico. For some people starting their Mexico family genealogy, they may first have to find relatives who are living in Mexico. When you have the two key pieces of information, you will be ready to find the individual you are looking for.

Find out more about the five top challenges stopping people from finding someone living in Mexico. Your first step is to subscribe now and get our FREE Special Report.


Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Family & Friends Found

Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your In box? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.