Yesterday I talked about avoiding hosted solutions if were going to incorporate a blog into your web presence. By hosted solutions I mean platforms like Blogger, Typepad, etc. These files are held outside of your site hosting, and instead remain on the servers of the company providing the blogging service. Most people will try to simply add a link to their blog and consider their work done. This is a fine solution, but it won’t add much weight to your website, and it really won’t do you much good in the way of search engine rankings.
A lot of agents are partial to active rain. You can use this service all you like, but I wouldn’t count on it being much of a marketing vehicle. I personally wouldn’t use it all, I just don’t see what it could do for you. Using active rain to promote your site is akin to spinning your wheels. It will give you some decently ranked inbound links, but you won’t pick up much business, and it won’t add depth to your site content.