I'm currently in New York City at the Inman Connect Conference at the Marriott Marquis. For those of you not familiar Inman Connect, it is the premier real estate conference in the country, where real estate agents, brokers, lenders, and companies serving the real estate industry come together to learn from each other.

One particularly interesting session today was called "Blog-r-rama: Using Blogs to Market Real Estate" with Brad Inman moderating a panel consisting of Alexis Palmer of Curbed.com, Jake Dobkin of Gothamist.com, and "Anonymous" (explained below) of Brownstoner.com. The three panelists shared insights into what has made their blogs so successful in the real estate market.

A few takeaways:

Snarkiness Pays: Having an opinion and sharing it in your posts makes them interesting.

Credibility is Key: Each panelist shared information on how they got involved in blogging that only added to their credibility. "Anonymous" from Brownstoner is absolutely passionate about brownstones in Brooklyn, which led to his founding of a blog of the subject, and exponential growth in traffic from others sharing his passion for brownstones.

Allow Comments on your Blog: Comments build a community on your blog. People will return more often and take ownership in your blog if you allow them to publish comments.

Blogging Isn't Easy: Yes, it's easy to create a blog. Very Easy. But blogging for a living is far from easy. Brownstoner.com's founder was undercover with a mask and wig to protect his identity so he doesn't lose his day job. I'm sure the insurance benefits from blogging are fairly minimal at this time as well.

Can blogging make your business more profitable? Yes, if you blog with a credible voice or contribute to blogs related to your business or with visitors in your target market.

Hat tip to Alexis at Curbed: Thank you for the great restaurant recommendation.