You DEFINITELY should set up your own site, and I would highly recommend wordpress.  You will ultimately get way more traffic on your own site (even though it will take time to built it up) and you will get more leads (as you can set up better lead capture programs and set up a site that will keep them with you (vs. going to other places on here).

when you own your site, you have complete control.  That means the formatting will be the way you want it and all the content and lead capture will be that way.  You can add google analytics to track and learn & improve and there are tons of plugins that can help you w/ SEO and better user experience.  Plus, you don't have to worry about changes that a 3rd party makes or fees (e.g. let's suppose AR decided to change their fee structure...or let's say eventually it is shut down (like Trulia voices).  you don't need to worry.

I always post my best and original content on my own site, and you should, too.  Then, I will often do another version on here and link to the original.  some do a snippet and link to the original.  I will often write other posts that link to my most important ones on my site.  All roads should lead to your website.

Hope that helps.

I do it all on Active Rain -- not enough hours in the day to do other blogs. At the end of the day, I can blog or I can sell real estate.

If you only have time to blog on one, put that time into your website/wordpress site.  Then, if you have more time, do some blogging on here and link to it and comment.

I'm amazed at how many have not yet made that move.  I did it after being on AR for 1 yr and it was one of the smartest moves I ever made.  If you blog well and consistently (e.g. once/week) and it's on a focused topic, you can do much better on that site than here.  My site gets 33,000 unique visitors a month.

Then, you AR for interaction & learning and backlink to your high priority posts.

I do all of my blogging on the rain, but i do link to an outside blog.

AR is enough for me, if I had a second blog I would not have time to process all the leads I get from this one.

I don't blog anywhere else.

Definitely add a blog to your website...do not have it floating out there in outer space, and then share to all the social media from your website.  A

I only use active rain.

....and here's what they didn't say,,,,,"You and copy and paste directly into WordPress from AR with all imagaes and links in place." 

You simply game the first few lines and your WP blog is ready!
Spanish Acres is this mornings example and it took 3 minutes.

Like Debbie Gartner, I also have my own WordPress site.  All true that Debbie says, too.  You have alot more control and lee-way for creativity.  

Yes.

I have a Wordpress site.

A.R.

Get a rainmaker account! I tried to use wordpress, however I got tired of copy and paste from AR to WP. The rainmaker account allows you to blog in AR and click the share buttons to blast to FB, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest. Absolutely time saving, practical, and generates traffic. Troy hows everything going in 2015 so far?

Hi Troy --- for now it's just AR but am leaning to try WordPress.  For me it's a time and comfort level issue ---- I give a lot of credit to Debbie Gartner for being able to master her blogging efforts to drive her business.   

AR is my primary blogging platform but I do publish similar blog on my personal point2agent website. I have got different result from both the site. Some blogs flourish better on AR over point2agent and vice versa. I like wordpress recommendation. I started working on that and never go around completing the site. 

For now, it is only AR place. But I'm planning to add another blog soon. I listed to a lot of blogging tutorials....You might want to check some Utube videos on this subject.

Debbie Gartner is the queen of answers. I agree with what she says. 

I have a wordpress and a custom website as well as the AR account.

According to our in-house SEO experts Anita Clark, Debbie Gartner and others, yes you should be posting on other networks first. What if AR goes away, where would your content go?  

I have an outside blog but my primary blog is here on AR. 

Troy Erickson I always thought of blogging on other platforms - however, I think the exposure I get from ActiveRain is sufficient for me and my business.

I know there are some tips on posting the blog on LinkedIn and other social media platform - however, never tried it.

Love Activerain for the interaction of the AR community as well as the SEO. However, I did enjoy my Wordpress blog (a Real Estate Tomato site) and had a different focus there. Nothing says you have to blog every day, or if you do that you have to blog in the same place every day.  

Hello Troy.  I have a wordpress site.  I used to copy from AR to Wordpress and make some small changes to title and first paragraph.  By accident I found that anything that may get deleted in AR then was deleted from my Wordpress post.  I now use Word program and copy from there to either or both.  One is not connected to the other other than the general information and I do not have to worry about loosing a lot of time because of eith leaving AR or something happening within AR.  Mark