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Blogspotting! Interview With Elsa P.: Astrologer, Exemplary Blogger and All Around Badass

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elsap.jpgI get asked this question often: what makes a blog go from good to great?

What about great to addictive, as in, “I need a 12-step program to stop myself from hanging around this person’s blog 24-7?”

Well… it’s taken me a while to find the EXACT juicy blog that embodies this condition, but I think Elsa Panizzon of ElsaElsa.com fits the bill. A professional astrology blogger who’s been at it since 2000, Elsa has the blogger’s advantage of being:

- a gifted storyteller and conversationalist
- a confident and sometimes controversial figure
- able to hammer out endless streams of content
- highly organized in her approach to blogging and online business
- a long-time expert at what she does, which again, is astrology

That said, I’d like to welcome Elsa as this month’s Exemplary Blogger and ask her a few questions about what makes ElsaElsa.com such a raging success.

DINA: How long have you been blogging for, exactly? Is there a difference in the way you blogged as a newcomer to the internet, versus your blogging style today? What, if anything, changed and why?

ELSA: I was writing about astrology on a thread I started on business-themed message board near the end of 2000. The thread was more than 400 pages long and a crowd had gathered when I got a spam mail inviting me to start a blog. I fell for the thing hook, line and sinker and started my blog, VeryModern Astrology in April of 2001. I moved to ElsaElsa.com in 2005.

My writing has changed over the years and the mix of the content has morphed but the astrology theme has been a constant. In the early years I was focused on storytelling. I was writing about my life and the astrology was baked in since I am an astrologer and took up with the subject when I was 8 years old. The stories were interspersed astrology Q&A posts and other variety and after writing about 8000 posts and a 600 page book on that blog, I moved to ElsaElsa.com in an effort to become professional.

The new blog was focused on offering astrology-based advice. I had hoped to develop a column at the time and I kept that up for a couple years, 6 posts a week, supplementing with more storytelling which is my first love.

Currently, I’ve all but given up writing advice. I still write stories, though I keep them ultra short, I am sorry to say. I like my old style better and I think the reader does as well but no one pays for that kind of work and I’ve had to set it aside. Today I focus on making astrology accessible and useful to people using a variety of techniques.

One of the main draws of my blog it that it can’t be predicted. The innovating comes natural to me so I just keep it up.

DINA: If I were to Google any number of astrology questions or topics right now, your blog would pop up pretty high on the list. What’s your secret for accomplishing such a challenging feat?

ELSA: I don’t know. I have no technical skills at all. I think it may be that there is such a large body of work and it is all original. The new blog has about 7000 posts and I add to it daily.

DINA: How many months or years would you say it took for your blog to become wildly popular? What would you say contributed to this popularity?

ELSA: I had a solid audience when I started. There are a good number of people who have read everything I have ever wrote for going on 10 years now. I am talking roughly 15,000 posts so this was a head start for the new blog. Since then it has grown very slowly and growing faster now probably due the fact google favors it.

DINA: You never seem to run out of energy for blogging or things to say. Is this just “how you are,” do you draw inspiration from other sources, or what? What if a blogger needs a break… any words of advice, suggestions on where to find fresh content, etc.?

ELSA: Yeah, this is my personality. I could easily produce 10 posts a day and have 30 more in my head that I didn’t have time to get to. As for inspiration, it seems readily available. Matter of fact when I was young, I was a bartender. I worked day bar and the period after lunch and before happy hour was slow so I started doing “lectures” from 2-4 PM. I was 19 at the time, so I guess I am crazy but anyway I would have a crowd there and have someone give me a word… just one word and I would take off on it and talk for 2 hours.

I was funny back then so the place would fill up to watch me do this and I don’t recall ever stumbling. Really, I just have a lot to say and my biggest problem today is the PC movement. People have just become ridiculous with their sensitivities, making it very challenging for me to express myself without shocking and appalling them. I think they come to my blog to be shocked and appalled… but not too much!

I can deal with it but I miss the free-wheeling days and do hope my inner dog will have the opportunity to run free again some day.

DINA: Hugely popular blogs are often the target of trolls, hackers and people with nothing better to do than ruin other people’s good time. How do you combat the effects of such characters?

ELSA: I nuke them without hesitation. I absolutely obliterate them and do it publicly if necessary.

Again, I grew up a bartender. I started tending bar when I was 15 years old and I was taught by a pro that you have got to toss the troublemakers or they will ruin your bar. They will literally put you out of business.

It takes a lot of work (and talent) to build a community in a bar or on a blog and there is no way I am going to let someone come in and terrorize the place. It is the bartender’s job to maintain the space and serve the customers so when someone comes in to start trouble, I react quickly.

DINA: Your blog is more than just a blog, really. There’s a discussion forum linked in there (brilliantly) which makes for a vibrant, thriving community. Sometimes it can get hairy trying to manage so many different personalities and perspectives. What do you do if one member crosses a line? Have you ever had to break up a fight?

ELSA: I have broken up a few fights but usually it’s not necessary. It works just like the bar.

I see the fight, I see other people in the bar taking care of the problem. They don’t want their bar messed up anymore than I do so some member of the community usually steps up to intervene while I hold back with my hand the phone or my gun or whatever I think I might need. :)

90% of the the time it is a matter of someone had too much to drink and they’re back the next day with their manners restored. In the other cases, just like the bar, a small percentage make an exit speech vowing to never return to the establishment again. For an even smaller percentage, I’ve got to call the cops. If I have to call the cops, that’s it, that’s final, you’re toast.

DINA: Controversial topics often draw controversial responses. And as bloggers go, you’re someone who isn’t afraid to be bold, champion the less popular opinion, or tell the truth even if it hurts. I say that this is exactly why your blog gets so much traffic and participation. But others might disagree, go with the more PC approach. What is your advice to these people?

ELSA: I don’t have advice for them. They bore me. I think they are common and my fascination is with the anomaly so I am repelled.

DINA: People who visit my site want to know how to get clients via blogging. I see that you offer several paid options for people interested in astrology, including private readings, phone consults, and group astrology classes. Do you have any tips to offer other people who might want to do the same in their area of expertise?

ELSA: It is very hard to monetize a blog but I think it getting easier this bad economy. I know that is counter-intuitive but as people get harder edged and have less time to waste, if you provide something they know is valuable they will pay to save time trying to find the free replacement, not to mention the free replacements are drying faster than we can spin.

DINA: What’s your favorite part of being an authority on the web and why?

ELSA: People think I am lying but I really don’t much like it. I’d rather be standing in a bar telling stories with the lid off but I suppose I am grown up now?

I don’t like the authority but I do like the consulting. It is a job from God. It is always interesting, always a challenge, I am constantly stimulated, what more could I want?

DINA: Has anything extraordinary happened as a result of your being “out there” and blogging for the entire world? What occurred and who did it make a difference for?

ELSA: I would say that millions of things have happened due my blogging. I have changed many people’s lives, the lives of their children, their grandchildren and then some. Let’s just say I can die at anytime and be very comfortable with it. I have produced my legacy.

DINA: Recently you hosted a great private class on Astrology in Love and Relationships. Will there be more any upcoming events or classes like this happening?

ELSA:
Yes, most definitely. I have a private message board, dubbed the Colosseum where I host discussion groups and teach classes. Typically the classes are focused on overcoming impediments to forming happy relationships since this is an area of interest and expertise.

The classes are challenging and meaty rather than fluffy and worthless. I run sort of a Boot Camp of love using the astrology chart to both reveal and resolve problems that plague people and prevent them from relating to the other in a way that satisfies. I like this kind of work and will definitely continue to hold workshops.

DINA: Thanks, Elsa, for taking the time to talk with the readers of Wordfeeder Copywriting and Marketing!

ELSA: Thank you, Dina. :)

About Elsa:

Elsa Panizzon is a consulting astrologer and owner of ElsaElsa.com, the first astrology blog on the internet. She lives in Colorado with her husband and her son and plans to run her mouth until she dies.


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