FAQs - ODAON.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Announcement?

An Announcement (or Listing or Notice) informs people of a death and gives the funeral arrangements. ODAON Announcements will include:

Name of the deceased
Picture of the deceased (optional)
Date and location of death
Age at death
Names of surviving family members
Funeral service details (place, dates, times), which can also include details of any reception following a burial or cremation
Link to allow family and friends to share on Social Media like Facebook and Twitter
Details of the Funeral Director (where applicable)

A Basic Funeral Notice will stay on the website for two weeks following the date of the service. Families can choose to upgrade a listing to a Premium Funeral Notice, which will allow more interaction and will remain on the site indefinitely.

Will an Announcement be easy to find?

The ODAON website has been created for ease of use. On site, people will be able to search for Death and Funeral Announcements via a general postcode area or by the deceased’s name. Alternatively, if the deceased’s name and town is known, Announcements will be findable via generic Search Engines like Google.

Why have an Announcement on ODAON?

There are a number of reasons:

ODAON is a national, UK based website

If you are dealing with a death and want to inform friends, extended family, acquaintances, a community, organisation or group who knew the deceased, then an ODAON Announcement is the most effective way to let people know.
An ODAON Announcement will provide one place to add obituary details and funeral arrangements. (Funeral details can be added at a later stage, when known)
The Announcement will collate and show all messages of support and comfort. Alternatively, families can have lots of messages on phones, emails or on different social media pages, which will ultimately be lost in a plethora of social commentary.
An Announcement will be tactfully better for non family members to share on their social media pages and an ideal format for informing a wider circle of the deceased’s friends and acquaintances.
An Announcement is contained within a dedicated page, so when shared, people will be sent directly to the page.
Due to the on-site search options, Announcements and funeral details can be easily found.
All site content will be up-to-date and refreshed on a daily basis.
ODAON is a dedicated site and a single, central location to find funeral details in the UK.
Newspaper Death Notices are commonplace, but expensive and reliant on printing timescales, which don’t always fit with funeral timeframes. This is fast becoming out-of-date format to announce deaths.
In general, online newspaper notices are difficult to search with deaths dating back years and confusing the search.

Who can create an Announcement?

Announcements can be created and uploaded by Next of Kin and any appointed Funeral Director in the UK. All Next of Kin and Funeral Directors will have to complete an online registration prior to an Announcement being uploaded. It is an easy process, which will ensure the validity of the content contained within ODAON.

How to write on an Obituary?

The reason to write an obituary is to let people know someone has died. So, certain information should be included. Obviously, it needs to give your full name, and any other name you have been known by. A woman who changed her name on marriage should have her birth name in brackets: Mary (Russell) McGoldrick. But, in addition, you should include information that best explains who the deceased person was.

Below is a couple of examples you can use and alter to suit.

Example 1

Information included:

• Name of the person who died

• Cause of death

• Date and location of death

• Date and location of birth

• Parents' names

• Marriage information

• Names of surviving family members

• Professional information, work or hobbies

• Charity donation information

SMITH John (Johnny) died after a long struggle with cancer on Sunday 22nd November 2015 at The Southern General Hospital Glasgow. John was born and grew up in Partick the eldest of three sons (Robert and George) of parents Frank and Josie. Married to Mary and settled in Clydebank where they raised their family John, Claire and James. John worked in John Browns before moving to Yarrows where he retired in 2001. John was a regular in the Nags Head where he also ran the darts team every Monday evening.Funeral service at St Stephens, Dalmuir, Clydebank on Saturday, 28th November at 10am, to which all relatives and friends are respectfully invited.

Donations will be taken for St Jonhs Hospice

Example 2

• Name of the person who died

• Date and location of death

• Cause of death

• Parents' names

• Marriage information

• Names of surviving family members

• Professional information, work or hobbies

• Personality

• Charity donation information

TAYLOR Anne (Jones) sadly passed away on Sunday 22nd November 2015 suddenly after a short illness. Anne will be sadly missed by her family, husband David, daughters Lauren & Claire, mum Joan, brothers Brian & Thomas & her extended family. She is also a great loss to her many friends, and all her work colleagues at Aggreko. Her unique, loud, bubbly, funny personality touched many lives, and I'm sure many of you will be able to leave comments about how she made you laugh or just feel better about your day.  Details of the funeral & the wake will be uploaded as soon as we can arrange it.  In lieu of flowers, Anne wish was for a donation to St. Marks Hospice or a charity of your choice. We hope you will be able to join us for the funeral and to raise a glass to this very special lady.

What is a Premium Listing?

A Premium Listing is an extension of the Basic Funeral Listing and will stay on the website as long as required. Friends and family will be able to post messages of support and create online condolence cards. There will be one main page owner who will have the ability to update information and change/edit photographs. Additionally, as many family members and friends can be added to receive notification of any comfort cards or messages. SEE CREATE PAGE FOR MORE INFO

I am the Funeral Organiser, can I alter an Announcement?

Yes, as the Page Owner, you will be sent an email from ODAON to register and set a password. Once the page is live and your email address and password validated, you can alter content and change / upload a photograph along with a lot of other actions through the member login area.

Can other family members be assigned to receive notifications?

Yes. If the Premium Listing option is taken, the page owner can set up as many family members as required to receive notifications of new messages. ODAON is a shared experience for the whole family and one place where all messages can be collated and stored and viewed at any time. Note: only the Page Owner will be able to edit content.

Will the site allow me the chance to respond to messages?

This function is in development and will be available soon. When people want to post a message or card, they will be asked for their name and email address to validate the post (and stop spam or trolling). Their email information will not be visible on the site or passed to any other 3^rd party site. As the page owner, you will be able to send an individual or a group email to every person who has taken the time to write a message of support.

How will I know how many people have seen the Announcement?

On a Premium Funeral Listing, there will be a running total of people who have visited and viewed your page.

Can the site set anniversary reminders?

This function will be available soon. With the Premium Listing option, anyone who has posted a message or condolence card will be able to request an anniversary reminder via email.

Can one Announcement be linked to another?

Not at the moment, but if there is a demand for this, then we will develop a solution to link family member Premium Listings.

What do I do with unwanted messages on my Premium Listing?

All posted messages will require a valid email address to stop spam or trolls. However, in the event of any unwanted messages, the page owner will have the choice to approve all messages in advance of them going live or they can delete via the Members Area.

Can an individual create an Announcement?

Yes. If a family member wants to create an Announcement they will have to register to use the site. Thereafter, they will be sent access to the Members Area to allow them to create an Announcement.

Who do I contact for any issues with our Basic or Premium Funeral Listing

Please use the Contact tab to inform ODAON of any issues.