Sebastian launches 2 Web sites promoting retirement, business
Admin
SEBASTIAN – Sebastian officials hope two new Web sites will help better promote their city and bring new life and new business to the area.
Those two sites, SebastianRetirement.com and SebastianBusiness.com, are designed with newcomers in mind and provides information on how to move to Sebastian, how to set up shop in the city and how to expand that business once here.
Ed Herlihy, who volunteered much of his time to getting the sites up and running, told the Sebastian City Council at a recent meeting that the information would be kept current and changes could be made with relative ease.
“These are fluid sites,” Herlihy said.
He added that the retirement site in particular is fitting to have due to the real estate market being what it is.
“A lot of people are looking to retire in Florida,” Herlihy said. And with prices being the lowest in the nation, now’s the time to buy, he added.
Earlier this year, Mayor Richard Gillmor suggested the city – and county, too – work to promote relocation and retirement to Florida due to the large number of vacant homes. He said at the time that if the housing units were absorbed, it could spark more construction, putting people to work building.
The Sebastian Economic Development Center Web site targets a different audience, providing information on the incentives available to potential businesses and how to get started in Sebastian.
Such incentives included in the site are the recently approved tax abatements, permit fast tracking, and reduced impact fees – as set by the county.
Applications for building permits and growth management are also available on the site.
Vice Mayor Jim Hill said that while he likes the Web sites, he wants to make sure that information from the Indian River County and Sebastian River Area Chambers of Commerce and from the Economic Development Council also be incorporated.
Herlihy told the council that the next step for the city would be to investigate target marketing of the Web sites, especially the retirement site.
He suggested they look into targeting Canadians by using Web advertisements or Google listings and other such methods.
The Canadian dollar is on par with the US dollar, currently, according to Herlihy, which could help sway potential Canadian retirees to make the move south.
“We’re open to suggestions,” he told the council of marketing the sites.
On the Web:
SebastianRetirement.com
SebastianBusiness.com
