To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
– Thomas Campbell
Whether through funeral rituals, remembrance items, or telling stories to younger generations, celebrating the life of a loved one who has passed away is as old a tradition as humanity itself. But the ease with which these stories can be shared has improved dramatically with the creation of memorial websites.
What is An Online Memorial?
An online memorial allows family and friends to add tributes, pictures, music, videos, and stories, all of which are compiled onto one website that can be easily shared. An online memorial can also serve as a living tribute or as an online funeral guest book.
Some memorial websites even offer innovative features such as memorial slideshows or scannable QR codes that can be placed on a headstone to link to the online tribute page or obituary to learn more about them.
These online memorials for loved ones have become especially valuable during coronavirus. Many families currently cannot travel or gather in groups. With online memorial sites, your loved ones can still be celebrated.
Read more: 7 Reasons You Need a Memorial Website
Top Online Memorial Sites
Kudoboard
Unlike many other options, Kudoboard memorials are focused on simplicity and ease of use. You can share a link with anyone invited to the memorial website, allowing them to easily contribute a poignant memory, photos, obituary link, or videos with the click of a button. These contributions are gathered on a memorial board with easy sharing and submission. The online memorial can be played as a slideshow or easily printed as a poster to display at a celebration of life reception or funeral service. It can also be shared on social media. Kudoboard offers both a free “Mini Memorial” with a limited number of posts and a “Full Memorial” board with unlimited posts for a one-time payment of $99.
Looking for inspiration? See an example of an amazing online memorial with Kudoboard here.
EverLoved
EverLoved is designed as a one-stop shop for celebrating your loved one. It provides an online memorial page, but it also offers some unique qualities such as a fundraising platform to cover funeral costs, price quotes from funeral providers, and links to independent memorial companies to allow you to save money on funeral-related items such as caskets, urns, and headstones. The website also provides ready phone and email support.
Keeper
Keeper is a modern memorial website that offers a number of unique features. You can create a timeline of milestones in the deceased’s life; you can create a family tree; and you can map the location of a funeral home, cemetery, grave, or mausoleum. Additionally, the Keeper Mobile App includes a step-by-step navigation service to these locations. The Keeper Plus version is offered at a one-time payment of $74.99. Keeper currently allows users video-streaming options during COVID-19.
Legacy
Legacy is the largest, and perhaps oldest, host of online obituaries. The website has obituaries and memorials for over 70% of all U.S. deaths. It prominently features obituaries of famous Americans, and it partners with local newspapers to upload obituaries from across the country. These obituaries have guest books, options to send flowers and gifts, and clearly-displayed funeral information. While its design is less modern than several other options—if a ready-made connection between your online memorial and print obituary is what you are seeking, then this is often the default option.
Forever Missed
Forever Missed is a robust online memorial that offers many templates and themes to structure your tribute page. You can also create a playlist of songs, light virtual candles, and control viewership settings. The free plan limits the number of precious photos to five and does not allow for video uploads. The paid plan is $6.99 per month, $64.99 per year, or a one-time payment of $124.99.
5 Tips for Creating a Successful Online Memorial
Regardless of the memorial site used, we recommend a few things for a meaningful experience:
- The More The Merrier. You might have the closest connection to the remembered loved one, but by inviting a friend or a family member to share their own pictures, videos, and stories, you’ll allow them to remember the loved one uniquely, and you’ll hear stories and see photos that you’d perhaps forgotten. Additionally, the experience can allow you to connect with those you haven’t seen in some time.
- Tell A Story. In addition to describing your loved one with descriptive adjectives (caring, kind, intelligent, fun, energetic, happy, etc.), consider writing down a particular story (maybe it was the time Mom lost her luggage, but she made the best of it by buying a silly souvenir t-shirt every day of the trip). Stories bring out the loved one’s unique personality, and guests to the memorial website will enjoy remembering the same story as you share memories and personal stories.
Read more: What To Write In A Memorial Card. - A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words. Unlike a traditional guestbook, memorial websites allow users to add pictures and videos. This is a great opportunity to capture a moment in the loved one’s life, a particular trip or event, or just an encapsulation of that person (“Dad always loved that jacket and wore it everywhere!”) in a photo.
- Find Pictures From Different Ages. If you can find them, include pictures from different periods of the loved one’s life. Everyone enjoys pictures from when dad was in his crazy twenties (“those sideburns!”) and then again from thirty years later (“what happened to dad’s hair?!”).
- Keeping Adding. You don’t ever have to stop. Your online memorial site can continue growing as you remember different stories or uncover new photos. By using a site like Kudoboard, your memorial site will last forever, and you can revisit it any time you want to remember your loved one.
If you have any questions about Kudoboard Online Memorials, you can email us at [email protected] and we will get back to you within one business day.
We at Kudoboard wish the best for you, your family, and your friends.
People Also Ask
What are online memorials?
A memorial website is a virtual space like a website dedicated to remembering and celebrating someone who passed away.
How do I create an online memorial?
Creating an online memorial site is easy. Here are the steps to get you started:
- Create an online memorial board by selecting “Create an Online Memorial Board “
- Fill out the information and select a background.
- Begin honoring your loved one by attaching messages, photos, and videos to the online memorial.
- Invite family and friends to contribute to the board
Once the board is complete, you will be able to print it as a book of remembrance, display it, or share to other sites and emails.
Can an online memorial be used as an online memorial guest book?
Yes. Any online memorial can be used as a online memorial guest book. Asking participants to sign an online memorial with their memories, pictures, and videos of the one memorialized will create a meaningful guest book. Instead of simply being a book of signatures, it will be full expression of the persons life and the relationships they had with others.
Once the memorial is complete, the Kudoboard Online Memorial can be printed as a book.
For more content on memorials, visit our blog.
