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Web site provides one-stop information shop for Rowlett seniors
By Senitra Horbrook, Staff Writer
Prior to creating a Web site, Larry Beckham said seniors in Rowlett would have to visit a multitude of places to get information.
“I have been involved with the seniors in Rowlett for several years. Many of us meet at the Rowlett Community Center once a week to drink coffee and talk. As we talked it was evident that most people had problems in discovering what was happening around town with different activities and events,” he said. “The community center had booklets and fliers, the library had fliers, the city put out newsletters. There was no place where all the information was available.”
Beckham first created a newsletter and sent it out via an e-mail group, but he soon realized the newsletter distribution was limited to only the people he had e-mail addresses for. That’s when he created sites.google.com/site/rowlettseniors/home.
In less than six months, the site has had close to 1,000 hits, mostly from Rowlett, but also some daily visitors from Garland and Flower Mound. He tracks the statistics, such as where the visitors are from, what pages they look at and how long they stay on the site using an analytics tool from Google.
“We have had people from coast to coast look at the site,” he said. “I am sure these are the children or grandchildren of some of our seniors. So far, none of the search engines such as Google or Yahoo have picked up the site, so its existence has spread only by mouth.”
Beckham said he had no prior experience in creating or maintaining a Web site, but has always had an aptitude for computers. One day when looking around on Google, Beckham saw that anyone who was a member could create a site.
“I tried it, and through hit and miss I came up with the Rowlett Seniors Web site,” he said.
In order to find material for the site, Beckham subscribes to several online city newsletters from different city organizations. He also attends city meetings, watches the online streaming sessions or reads agendas and meeting to gather information on city issues. Beckham contacted the nearby city of Sachse to obtain its newsletter for seniors to publish on the Web site. The site also includes slide shows with photos taken from seniors at local events.
“The slide shows on the Web site are among the most popular pages,” Beckham said.
Beckham recently started writing simple instructions on how to do different things on the computer such as moving files, downloading photos, e-mailing photos and several other tasks.
“When I find computer instructions on the Internet, I often just put the link on the Web sites,” he said. “These include how to buy and sell on eBay and several Microsoft instructions on their operating systems.”
The site is updated often, depending on the frequency of new material Beckham comes across.
“Sometimes it is two to three times a day. Sometimes it is every other day,” he said. “I feel that if I don't update it often, people will stop accessing it.”
Beckham said he is continually learning how to improve the site through trial and error.
“Only last week did I find a way to make links to other Web sites so people could go to another site by the click of a mouse,” he said.
He is open to suggestions, recently implementing an idea to include links to local newspapers, national newspapers, other news sites, weather, city Web sites and health references. He also plans to add instructions on how to connect electronics to HDTVs.
“As I get more suggestions and come up with new ideas, I will add them to the Web site,” he said.
To view to Beckham’s Web site, visit sites.google.com/site/rowlettseniors/home.
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1. Something that might be worth trying is searching eBay for listings that have main key words misspelled in the title. Sites like www.ebuyersedge.com (typojoe.com, etc) will search ebay for common misspellings of keywords you enter.
Most searchers will never see these misspelled listings, reducing the competition and most likely ending price.
Ebuyersedge also gives you the option of saving your favorite searches, then sending you an email when an item is listed matching one your saved searches, giving you a jump on other potential buyers.
This works best with 'Buy It Now's, but is also effective with auctions.
2. Whenever you send a question to a seller, use the "Ask a question" link that is on a page of another item they're selling that you're not interested in.
Maybe send the seller an offer to end the auction early. All they can do is say no.
3. If you bid on an ebay auction, use a sniping service (www.hidbid.com, bidball.com, etc.) to avoid bidding wars, and hopefully save some money by not drawing early attention, and not giving manual 'nibbling' snipers a chance to react. "