eric rochow

We always hear how advertisers are trying to reach the 15-25 crowd, and I’ve always said, “Older people have more money.”

In a recent article, The Graying of the Web, the NY Times has some good points on the use of the web by older people, and why advertisers and websites should start making their websites more gray-friendly.

…there are 78 million boomers — roughly three times the number of teenagers — and most of them are Internet users who learned computer skills in the workplace. Indeed, the number of Internet users who are older than 55 is roughly the same as those who are aged 18 to 34, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a market research firm.

The stickiness of older users, their propensity to keep going back to one site for information/interaction, rather than jumping to the next flavor of the moment, is why these web users should appeal to marketers and web developers.

But what web developers need to do is to make the sites easy to use for older people. Keep in mind what my father-in-law said to me, ” You have to remember, you’re dealing with 70 year olds here”

Now, not all sites are targeted to surfers in that age bracket, but nonetheless, the sites have to be made easier to read and navigate. Tiny type and low contrast colors don’t work.

photo by Xenia http://www.xenia.com.br