For many realtors, one of their best assets is a gift-of-gab. You know what I mean...that ability to enter a room, shake hands with a complete stranger and chat them up, and after a few minutes make them feel like they've known you for years. For many, this was an agent's main source of self-promotion and although still important, the times they are a changing and realtors need to keep up with these changes to stay afloat.

Becoming computer savvy in today's market is one of the best gifts a realtor can have. Creating a website is the first step, but having a site is not enough. When potential clients are search for "Sarasota real estate", the search engines need to find your site. If not, then your potential customer will be calling your competitor whose site ranked higher on the search results. Currently one of the most powerful methods of being noticed by search engines is through blogs or social networking sites. Ironically, this fits right in with that asset we were just talking about - a gift-of-gab. In this case, think of it as an online conversation with a virtual handshake.

It's relatively easy to get started using a social networking site, and can become quite addictive. Get your feet wet by participating in a blog on a regular basis, make it a habit with your morning coffee. Chat with other realtors, potential customers or anyone interested in real estate in your particular area. Once you've got the idea, add a blog to your own website and make regular postings on interesting topics that you feel comfortable talking about. I know one agent whose site ranks number one for searches for "contractors" in his area, simply because of a series of blogs he wrote about his mishaps with local trades people.

Blogs or networking sites come in many shapes and sizes, use this glossary to help sort through the different terms and acronyms used to describe them:

Blogs: What began as a form of online diary or commentary has evolved into an effective website marketing tool. A blog can be on your own site, a brokerage site or other themed site intended to host topics related to the real estate industry. Many times your web software already includes the option for creating a blog, or you can spend the extra dollars for a custom design.

Wikis: These are reference sites that compile information from all the various contributors. A realtor could create a wiki outlining community information about schools, area amenities or local hotspots. Examples of these types of sites are Inman.com and Zillow.com.

Mash-Ups: These types of info sites include useful facts from various sites to provide a single resource source. It may include images from map quest, or stats from another site in order to provide a one-stop resource for community information.

Social Networks: Not all discussion sites are considered blogs, and some like Facebook or MySpace are popular social networking sites. They're not just for displaying family photos, some realtors swear by them as marketing tools, and consider them good sources for new leads. Some popular blogs, such as ActiveRain.com also have social networking branches as well.

Videos: When you think of hosting videos online, the first site that comes to mind is YouTube. Even though commercial use is not allowed, this is still a common marketing tool used by many agents.

So get out there, get your name on a blog or social networking site and put that gift-of-gab to use!