Sometimes I lack discipline in regards to writing..can’t stand talking to myself but more importantly I have something to say and I want it to be heard…I admit I like an audience and the interaction.

I long for more connections…prefer word of mouth marketing over the hard sell and that is a big reason why I love social networking.

For many of my brilliant real estate friends..they started their own blogs years ago…and I stuck with social networking.   Some questioned…some shook their heads and some thought maybe she doesn’t have a clue.

Little did people know..I trained agents just the opposite…get your own blog going...even if its just photos… because the down side of social networking sites are:

• You can spend countless hours of socializing without making a dime.
• There is sometimes too much drama on social networks
• Eventually you will have to pay and it will be difficult to give up.
• You are creating additional traffic to a site that does not belong to you.
• For some social networks… there seems to be a certain mindset and if you do not agree…you can and will get into heated battles.

I didn’t really look at it in this light…because I love people!

The upside of social networking sites are tremendous if you are social and many of these benefits would include:

• Growing your sphere of influence
• Referral Business
• Like Minds
• Several pats on the back and sometimes several slaps.
• Endless Opportunities

I can’t say that I have been anti-social these days…just socializing very different.  I admit…time is money…including the time I spend on social network sites and the time I spend in my business.

For the past few months I have been working on my own blog…its just little Ole me and the computer scientist honoring my request for changes in my template…added tools and features.

I can honestly say…I really love my own personal blog even if it gets a little lonely…but it hasn’t been lonely at all.  It’s a myth…there is the big bold blogosphere out there…and many people globally want to connect.  I admit its an amazing feeling…when someone contacts to me outside of my social network sites and social circles.

Now with the responsibility to drive traffic to my own site..I am working quite differently..

• Studying SEO and using the correct tags and key words.
• With moderating every one of my comments
• And watching the numbers closely on technorati and alexa
• Posting more frequently here than anywhere else
• Managing my time it takes to write each post

So in comparing social network sites vs. my own blog…the social network sites that I belong to are just that...my social network sites…

As for my own blog…its really not that different as a matter of fact it has become quite social…..it seems to generate more emails…phone calls from total strangers outside of the real estate realm.

I admit I got another call from a first time homebuyer today..yeah baby..I’m on a roll!  And when I asked them where did they find me…it wasn’t my social networks it wasn’t my site…

It was google…and my own personal map using the words..Daytona Beach Real Estate Agent..and then it lead them to my real estate website…my social networks…and then to this blog… and the proof is in the pudding…by connecting all of these sources my little blog…has become quite a social network and very social!

Contributing Writer: Midori Miller is a Real Estate Trainer and writes and trains Real Estate Training and assists sellers in short sale situations.  Midori is a Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker , License # BK645709 at CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty and a member of the Daytona Area Association of REALTORS.