Blogging, which is essentially an interactive online newsletter, has quickly become one of the most effective ways to market your business online. While there are several elements that contribute to this, some of the most significant are drastic improvements in search engine marketing, the ability to develop a readership, and an online way of networking with your readers as you establish your expertise in a subject. While your XSite comes equipped with everything you need to run an online blog, there are a few things you must adhere to in order to make your blog is successful.

1. Post frequently. The most important aspect of a blog's success is regularity. It's far more important that you post often than that you post well-written, long, or eloquent articles. While frequency can vary a bit from one market to the next, typically you should expect to post once or twice a week if you intend to generate some online influence.
2. Post professionally. Your readers are far more interested in what you have to say as it relates to their real estate problems than what's occurred in your life. Stick to real estate problems and relate what you say back to your primary audience.
3. Focus your posts. Pick a few topics in your industry and stick to those. Blog studies have shown that blogs that vary widely from post to post lose the audience's interest. If you are a specialist, post about things that interest your specialty clients.
4. Relate the posts back to your services. As a real estate professional, the reason you're blogging is to attract clients to your real estate services. As you post, try to relate the posts to your audience but with ties back to your own business. Whether that's occasionally posting about appraisal discounts, new listings, or mortgage rate reductions.
5. Just post. Many real estate professionals avoid blogging because they "don't have time" or "don't write well". Many of the most successful bloggers in the world fall into both of those categories. It's not about writing long articles or eloquent soap-box speeches. It's only important that you post frequently about a certain set of topics and keep your point clear. Your post could be just a few lines with some thoughts that crossed your mind about the industry, a question, a paragraph, or even a full page article. Just get started and stick to it.

To add a blog to your web site:

1. Hover over XSite in the top toolbar and click Blog in the toolbar that drops down.

   

2. From the Blogging pane on the left, click the Settings option.

   

3. Check the Activate blog on website box.

   

4. Scroll down and click Save.

When you post your first blog article, if you own our XSellerate marketing tool, you'll also be taken through the Market Your Blog wizard to help you set up a simple blog marketing campaign.