Free Online Memorial Checklist: 12 Things to Prepare
This is a free checklist for families who are about to build an online memorial page for someone they lost. It is one page long, it costs nothing, and you do not need an account to read it or to print it.
Most of the work of an online memorial happens before you open any website. If you gather these twelve things first, the page itself takes about twenty minutes. If you don't, you end up half-finished, hunting for a photo in someone else's phone at eleven at night.
Print this page, or keep it open in a second tab, and work down the list. Nothing here is required β a memorial with four photos and three sentences is still a memorial.
The checklist at a glance
| # | What to prepare | Where it usually comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full name, dates, and the name people actually used | The funeral home paperwork, or a family member |
| 2 | One portrait photo you are happy to see first | A phone, a frame on a shelf, a scanned print |
| 3 | 15β30 more photos, roughly in order | Several relatives' phones, an old album |
| 4 | Six facts you want spelled correctly | Checked with a second family member |
| 5 | A short life story, 150β300 words | Written by one person, read by two |
| 6 | The eulogy or a service reading | The person who gave it |
| 7 | A quote, song, poem, or verse that fits | See our quote collections below |
| 8 | Any recording of their voice | Voicemail, video, a recorded speech |
| 9 | Who is allowed to see the page | A family decision, not a technical one |
| 10 | Who can post, and who reads posts first | One or two named people |
| 11 | How the link reaches everyone | Message, email, service card, printed QR |
| 12 | Who keeps it going after the first year | Two people, both with the login |
The rest of this page explains each item in one or two sentences.
Before you open any website (1β4)
1. The name, the dates, and the name people used. Write the legal name, the birth and death dates, and the name everyone actually called them β "Robert James Ellis, 1947β2026, known to everyone as Bob." The third one matters most: it is what people will search for and what makes the page feel like them.
2. One portrait photo. Pick the photo that should be the first thing a visitor sees. It does not need to be the most recent or the most formal β it needs to be the one that makes people who knew them say "yes, that's him." Set it aside from the rest.
3. Fifteen to thirty more photos. Ask two or three relatives to each send five, and ask them to include at least one from before you were born. Rough chronological order is enough; nobody expects a curated exhibition. If the best pictures are prints in a shoebox, our guide to digitizing and restoring old family photos covers doing it with a phone.
4. Six facts, checked twice. Places of birth and work, a spouse's name, a regiment, a village, the spelling of a grandchild's name. Run them past one other family member before you publish. Corrections after the fact are easy, but the first reader is often the person most likely to notice β and most likely to be hurt.
What to write (5β8)
5. A short life story, 150β300 words. One paragraph on where they came from, one on the work and the people, one on what they were like in a room. Short is not disrespectful; it is readable on a phone, which is where nearly everyone will read it.
6. The eulogy, or one reading from the service. If someone spoke at the funeral, ask for their notes β the writing is already done and it is already the right tone. If nobody has written anything yet, how to write a eulogy walks through it in about an hour.
7. One quote, song, poem, or verse. A single line under the portrait does more than a wall of text. Our collections of memorial quotes and funeral poems exist for exactly this moment; so does a favourite lyric or a line from a letter they wrote.
8. Any recording of their voice. A saved voicemail, a wedding video, a speech someone filmed on a phone. Families consistently say this is the thing they are most grateful someone thought to keep β and the thing most easily lost when a phone contract ends. Preserving a loved one's voice explains how to get a voicemail off a carrier's system before it expires.
Decisions to make as a family (9β11)
9. Who can see the page. There are usually three honest options: a public page anyone can find, an unlisted link that only people you send it to can open, or an invite-only page. Public is right for a well-known person and a large circle; unlisted is right for most families. Decide this before you publish, not after someone finds it.
10. Who can post, and who reads posts first. Decide whether visitors can add their own messages and photos, and name one person who checks what comes in. Grief brings out generosity and, occasionally, old family arguments β one named moderator settles it quietly.
11. How the link actually reaches people. A memorial nobody can find is the most common failure, and it is entirely avoidable. Pick your channels in advance: a group message, an email to the address list from the service, a line on the printed order of service, or a QR code on the headstone or memorial card. Sharing memories online covers how to invite people without it feeling like a mass mailing.
After it is published (12)
12. Name two people who keep it going. One person to add photos after the first birthday and the first anniversary, and a second person who has the login in case the first one cannot face it that year. Write the login somewhere the family can find it β a page that outlives everyone who can sign in to it is a page that slowly stops changing. If long-term survival is your main concern, what makes an online memorial permanent is worth ten minutes before you choose any provider.
If you have not chosen a platform yet
Two honest pointers rather than a sales pitch:
- How to create a free online memorial walks through the actual steps, whichever site you use.
- Best free memorial websites compares the free tiers, including their limits.
If you are earlier than this β if the death was recent and the paperwork is still ahead of you β what to do when someone dies is the list to start with instead. This one will still be here afterwards.
About this checklist
It is published by GetMemorial and free to use, copy, print, or link to. There is no paywall on this page and no account needed to read it.
For the sake of being straight with you: GetMemorial is a memorial page service, so we have an obvious interest in you building one. We do not send anniversary reminders, we do not do fundraising, and our Android app is still in development. The checklist above works on any platform, including none β a printed folder of these twelve things is a perfectly good memorial.
GetMemorial helps families build beautiful, lasting online memorials in minutes β a permanent home for tributes, photos, and stories. Create an online memorial for them whenever you are ready.
