Inc.:
Jeff and Kelly Lantz, a Lake St. Louis couple have created an online community for those over 50, 55 Alive!
At that age, people are often retiring or becoming empty nesters.
They’re also using the Web. But because of the stereotype that older people don’t even know how to turn on computers, most websites don’t try to target that demographic.
Our expert contributors write about grandparenting, relationships, and pet care. We have blogs, a dating section, listings of RVs for sale, movie reviews, and articles from providers such as Filmcritic.com and LexisNexis.
In July, we had 72,000 visits and 600,000 page views. We need $250,000 to expand our content and to hire someone who can help with ad sales.
David S. Rose, New York Angels venture firm, says, “They get props for having come this far with very little money. But they’re not going to succeed by simply targeting a certain age group. What brings people together is not their age but their interests.
55-Alive! needs to do some research, figure out what content attracts the most hits, and build the site around that. They could focus on grandparenting, for example. They should try to sell ads on their own for now, and then wait until they have more visitors before trying to raise money.”
Jeff Bussgang, IDG Ventures, suggests, “55-Alive! needs to do some research, figure out what content attracts the most hits, and build the site around that.
They could focus on grandparenting, for example. They should try to sell ads on their own for now, and then wait until they have more visitors before trying to raise money.
Photo by Colby Lysne.
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