Tom and Yolanda Johnston want www.southmississauga.com to be the first and last site buyers and residents visit if they want to know anything about south Mississauga. They’re providing a host of free services so agents can take advantage of their comprehensive site.
“Our research has revealed that people typically search for the neighbourhood first,” says Tom. “Once they find a neighbourhood they like, they begin to look at properties.”
Using www.southmississauga.com, prospective residents can start with one of the 25 neighbourhoods, then filter down by price and/or property type and see houses on a local community map before looking at actual listing pages.
“We offer a host of free services for agents who want to publish their listings, be featured as neighbourhood experts in up to three of those 25 neighbourhoods or who want to have their blog postings uploaded to our consolidated real estate blog,” says Yolanda.
The website offers links to demographics and crime statistics, which are constantly being updated. There are links to maps, transit, government programs, mortgage and valuation information, rental and new home construction in the area, business and job links, senior and youth information, retail outlets and more.
The site is not just for potential purchasers. “It transcends real estate and is an ultra local site for residents too,” says Tom. It’s not a superficial site, instead offering a constantly evolving stream of information. “It’s like a living tree.”
Agents can be a part of the site at no cost. It’s a win-win for the website owners and for agents, Yolanda says. “The more agents post on our site, the better it is for us, and the better it is for them in terms of free publicity.”
The couple is building the website and tapping into local business to support its growth. “We’re very modest in our advertising. It’s just $7.50 per month but there are 40,000 businesses that we can cater to so there is a lot of upside there,” she says.
In addition to Tom and Yolanda, www.southmississauga.com has a “web development contractor, a couple of people doing business marketing and an arrangement with telephone resources if and when we need to initiate telephone marketing campaigns,” she says. They also have presence on Facebook and Twitter.
Yolanda and Tom have spent hundreds of hours developing the site and are now turning their attention to spreading the word to agents.
“It is my hope that the local agents in Mississauga will embrace this new free site as a marketing vehicle to tap new prospective clients or to share their insights by blogging with local residents or to direct people to relevant information about a local area when they are contemplating a purchase,” Yolanda says. – Connie Adair
