Maintaining this Elder Guru site has been a bit grueling over the past several weeks. My few regular visitors to the site, a group I’m guessing consists largely of writers of other aging related sites and people in related lines of work, will notice that it’s been nearly a month since my last post. The first two weeks of that were spent deliberating over a new way to approach Elder Guru.

The problem, in the nearly one year the site has been up, is that this site’s following has repeatedly received increases in numbers only to have that soon followed by a decrease. My suspicion is that readers arrive at the site primarily via a search engine that leads to a post of interest to them, so they then subscribe, only to receive a post or two later that doesn’t interest them, so they stop following.

Another problem is that the content as I’ve been writing it has not been keeping my own interest. While writing about Medicare changes, as an example, specific to a small group of people in limited circumstances might be valuable information to those individuals, it does little to fill my need to write creatively and attract an audience.

To that end I decided to bring a new approach to Elder Guru, one that will provide both relevant information for elders and those who help them, but also deliver more insightful, philosophical, and just plain fun posts to read and write. It is my hope that this new approach will peak both my writing interests, but also reader interests, for my writing interests are not satisfied unless there’s an audience to speak to. For this reason I changed the tag line for the site from “Information on Aging” to “Informed, Insightful Aging” as a means of encompassing wider, more interesting content.

After designing and uploading a new header for the site to embody this change, my site crashed – and crashed again – and again – and again. Being a person more interested and skilled in the written word than I am at writing CSS and HTML to design websites, the process of getting my site fully functioning without errors was difficult and frustrating. With the exception one remaining, minor design difference that can be seen by people using Internet Explorer (it looks fine in Firefox), the site is back up and running with an updated version of WordPress and other updated files. As is the case with any difficulty we face in life, I learned from the experience. Perhaps next time, because these things always happen again, the process will go easier.

So to that end, for those reading, you can expect more varied and consistent writing at Elder Guru.

Warman Home Care, a senior home care provider serving elders in Maryland, Northern Virginia and Pennsylvania, is hosting a “Warman Fuzzy” photo and video competition for Grandparents Day (September 13th).

The best photo will receive an iPOD Nano and the winner of the best video will win an iPOD Touch! Their site states:

Send us your warm and fuzzy photo or video that includes your grandparents or another senior that has touched your life. Please include your favorite memory with this person as well.

“Best” is determined by the highest number of positive comments on each photo or video on Flickr and You Tube. You can win by rallying your family and friends!

Visit warmanfuzzy.com to learn more about the competition.

ElderGuru.com has been in existence almost four months. Traffic has been slow to start, but I have done little to actively promote the site in favor of first better determining the direction and scope of the blog. That is being achieved with each post, and it is now time to begin actively connecting with others. Facebook is but one step in that process.

“Marketing a blog for seniors and adult caregivers on Facebook?” you ask.
“That might be better if it was a blog for teens.”

Think again! CNN Technology recently reported that women older than 55 make up the fastest-growing age group on Facebook. Older families are using the site to reach younger generations and to stay in touch with family members and long lost friends. “The trend,” as reported in the article, “is relatively confined. Only about 7 percent of people older than 65 have online social-networking profiles, according to research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.” Nevertheless, it is happening – seniors are becoming internet savvy! Read more:

Joanne Woeppel joined Facebook so she could keep tabs on her 13 grandkids.

But the Web site also has helped the 71-year-old keep up with other people without changing her routine.

“I’m pretty much what you would call a loner. I’m content in my own company. I can find things to do to entertain myself that I don’t need to be out and about,” she said by phone from her three-bedroom house near Dallas, Texas. “I don’t go out to socialize.”

Technological advances are not leaving older generations out. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Please join ElderGuru.com at the new Facebook page.

ElderGuru.com is launched this date (January 1, 2009) by Derrick Grant of Northern House Media, LLC. Derrick was looking for one site that delivered the latest updates on aging issues, senior health news, insurance updates, legal matters, policy changes, etc. He could find no such site. Rather than follow a multitude of sites, he developed the site he was looking for to share with others.

Derrick is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) with extensive experience in the aging field. He holds a degree in English and a graduate degree in Public Policy and Management. Derrick has:

• worked as a LSW in a nursing home
• worked as a Social Services Manager at an Area Agency on Aging
• directed an Adult Day Health program specializing in Alzheimer’s and related dementias
• worked for government as a Policy Analyst on aging issues

ElderGuru.com is the site elders, caregivers, policy makers, non-profit administrators, and others use for the latest information on aging.

You can contact Derrick through the Contact Page, but if you have a response to a particular post, please use the comment box associated with that post.

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