2011-01-25 Ancestry.com Expert Connect Alternatives

Expert Connect

Ancestry.com started their Expert Connect service in mid 2009. They just announced that they are discontinuing the service.

The question where to go now that Ancestry.com discontinues Expert Connect is easily answered. When Ancestry.com introduced Expert Connect, they acted as if they had invented the idea. They actually entered a market pioneered by several small companies. Small companies that were arranging genealogy services for a fee before Ancestry.com introduced its Expert Connect service, and these companies are happy to welcome you back. Here is a quick overview.

UnsolvedAncestry, AncestryBank

AncestryBank.com, originally known as UnsolvedAncestry.com, was started back in 2005. The home paged invited you to Find the answer to your unsolvable ancestry! By posting your question and offering a reward, you can utilize the resources of thousands of genealogists and enthusiasts interested in finding documented proof about your family.

UnsolvedAncestry Home Page 2005

UnsolvedAncestry, the question and answer service, morphed into AncestryBank, a database of document images and transcripts designed to provide access to those hard to find manuscripts that can’t be found anywhere else on the web!.
The service folded in 2008.

Genlighten

Genlighten is not about full-service genealogical research, but about document lookup. Genlighten connects genealogy researchers with lookup providers. They are like Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, but for a small fee. Think of Genlighten as Remunerated Acts of Genealogical Service. The site is easy to use. You can browse through lookup providers by document type and country. Each lookup provider has a short description of the lookups they provide, a price that's stated upfront and a feedback rating.
The site has a FAQ and there is a Genlighten blog.

GenealogyFreelancers

The GenealogyFreelancers home page claims that they are the true pioneer of this Groundbreaking, Easy and AFFORDABLE method that allows you to connect to a genealogy expert from anywhere around the world. They apparently do not remember the now defunct UnsolvedAncestry.com. You can browse projects to bid on, get listed as a specialist, or post your project.

On GenealogyFreelancers, each specialist has a profile that you can peruse before deciding to hire them. Each profile lists their expertise, where they live, what geographical areas and genealogical categories they specialise, their language speciality, their level of expertise, and the organisations they are a member of. GenealogyFreelancers displays profiles in a pop-up window, which I find rather annoying.

All that is provided by the members themselves, but there's also a feedback page with comments provided by their previous clients. Well, that is how it is supposed to work. I checked out the profiles of the researchers featured on their home page, but none of these had received any feedback yet.

eXpert Genealogy

The eXpert Genealogy site looks rather busy. The key to understanding the site is the menu along the left. This menu is a top-level index to research specialities. You may need drill down a few levels before you can choose a researcher. For example, if you pick England research, you'll be presented with a map of England, where you can pick a city or country. Once you've done that, you'll be presented with an overview of researcher offering services for that area.
It is possible to narrow your selection using the menu that has appeared on the right side to select a second specialisation. Each researcher provides a brief description of their services. These descriptions often reads like advertisements, and offer little real information to help select, and the researchers do not appear to be ranked by feedback rating.

GenealogyPro

GenealogyPro casts a wide net; their site is for finding professional genealogists, adoption and missing people researchers, translators, military and historical researchers, heraldry specialists, heir and estate researchers, photographers, and all genealogy related services. The byline for GenealogyPro is professional genealogists and genealogy services directory.

All the service providers are listed by geographic region and specialisation. Overview of researchers by region provide brief descriptions for each, when you click through to a particular one, you literally get an entire page of information on these researchers. It has their name and address along the top, and additional information is presented below three headings: Qualifications, Services and Fees.

updates

2011-01-25 GenealogyFreelancers update

GenealogyFreelancers have updated their home page text in response to this overview. The aforementioned groundbreaking and true pioneer claims are gone.

2011-03-10 GeneaPro

Added new service GeneaPro. This is different from the already existing service GenealogyPro.

2011-08-04 24-7 Genealogists

Added new service 24-7 Genealogists to the link section.

2012-07-25 Global Alliance of Genealogy Professionals

The Global Alliance of Genealogy Professionals (GAGP) was announced on 2012 Jul 23. A second press release makes it clear the GAGP sees itself as an alternative to Ancestry.com's Expert Connect.