I want to share an article that was written about me in Ocean City Today. It appeared on Friday, Aug 22, 2008.

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As the online worlds of social and business networking draw closer together, the merger has resulted in more than a few awkward encounters.

Realtor Monica McNamara would know.

"My kids were shocked when I asked them to be my friend on Facebook," she said. "They said, 'We don't know that you should be on here, mom.'"

But McNamara, an agent with Coldwell Banker on 104th Street, has become determined to build her online presence. She recently won the Real Town/Inman Connect Blog Contest for her first post on her real estate blog and has become more and more interested with online networking as a way to attract new customers and build a wider clientele.

But even with her rapid success, McNamara said, she is just now catching up to many Realtors who see blogs, particularly those that mix the commercial and the personal, as the marketing strategy of the future.

McNamara's blog, www.RealTown. com/MonicaMcNamara/blog, is on the Real Town platform, a site devoted to Realtors and the real estate business.

Her posts track her personal experiences as an agent, as well as featuring her commentary on statistics and industry trends. McNamara's award-winning post is titled, "What I Would Want if I Were a Buyer."

The idea, according to McNamara, is to build a relationship with potential customers who are looking online for real estate information.

"Before [the buyer] actually approaches an agent or wants to see a property, they feel like they've developed a rapport with you," she said. "They've heard your voice through the blog."

Any way to make yourself more visible or familiar to potential buyers gives you an edge, McNamara said.

"I get a lot of Google Alerts, to see what tags and such make your name come up more," she said. "It's very interesting to look at the background strategy."
And it's a strategy that seems to be working. McNamara was recently contacted by a soldier stationed in Iraq who found her through the blog. The serviceman will soon be returning stateside to work with the Ocean City Police Department and wants McNamara to find him a house.

As her prize for winning the contest, Inman, a real estate news service, sent McNamara to a conference in San Francisco devoted entirely to making online connections in real estate.

"When I was at the conference, people would have RSS feeds down the side of their screens, tracking who's posting what and commenting to whom," McNamara said. "Not four or five feeds, but dozens, on a loop down the side of the screen."

"I got to know a lot of people who had all the background knowledge, adding all these bells and whistles to their blog, widgets and gadgets that I'm just beginning to learn about," McNamara said. "They just had that down."

McNamara said that many at the conference, particularly those from the West Coast, saw Internet networking changing in two ways - the preference seemed to be for blogs with formats that allowed for brief but rapid pieces of information, and ones that mixed personal connections with business ties.

"It's a matter of instant gratification," McNamara said. "People want pictures, videos, and snippets of language, not as much long verbage."

But for McNamara, the only option is to keep learning.

"I think you've got to stay along this track, or very soon you won't be generating new customer leads," she said. "Any industry is always looking to please the consumer, and if this is how the consumer wants to become aware, then it's what we'll do."