That’s an interesting mix of subjects that should resonate with most of our readers. I must admit, I’m starting to really enjoy this blogging thing. Sharing what I know and what I believe with a bunch of creative-minded biz friends is fun and challenging.

Blogging.
As I sit down at my keyboard tonight and begin to write this week’s posts I ponder about some things.

1) Should this blog and Oddpodz for that matter be more narrowly focused, our content, tools and offerings?
Today, we strive to give creative-minded business people and organizations, from a 1 person solo practice to a 500-person enterprise, good ideas, free tools and a network to find and connect with other valuable resources and people.

Is diversity a good thing? Or is a more laser-like target better? Please tell us what you think.

2) What does it take to build a power blog?
In general terms, we know it’s about good content, ongoing SEO efforts and participating in other high traffic communities and blogs. But what are the top 10 most powerful actions a blogger can do to significantly move the reader meter.

I’m going to post both of these questions in our forum and invite you to add your feedback. I’ve been using my Linkedin groups quite a bit to have discussions on a bunch of issues. I’ll be compiling these soon and sharing them with in Oddpodz.

Headlines.
It was my intention to next blog about my friend Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success

Me 2.0 teaches people how to use social media tools for personal brand building and is the first book of this kind written for the millennials generation. I suppose us older folks can also learn from this book, since we often act like we are 30 something. The book is great and I will be posting a review in the book review section in the Oddpodz forum and will dedicate our Tues. blog to some of the book’s highlights and the topic of personal branding.

Sorry, I got side tracked.
As I was crafting my blog title on personal branding, I discovered a very cool, free tool that analyzes headlines for its emotion marketing impact. As you know, reaching your customers in a deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

The Advanced Marketing Institute provides the free headline analysis tool.
The Advanced Marketing Institute is a group of researchers, educators, and developers who have come together to provide real tools and knowledge to businesses and individuals who are tired of struggling to control their chaotic systems.

How does the Headline Analyzer work?
Simple go to: Headline Analyzer

Type in your headline. It must be under 20 words. Hit analyze this.
Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline. In addition to the EMV score, You will find out which emotion inside your customer’s your headline most impacts:

Intellectual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation.

Empathetic
Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people.

Spiritual
Words which are especially effective when offering products and services that require reasoning or careful evaluation. Words which resonate in with Empathetic impact often bring out profound and strong positive emotional reactions in people. Words which have the strongest potential for influence and often appeal to people at a very deep emotional level.

So I tested out a few headlines. There is no limit to how many headlines you can get feedback on.

Remember this title is for a blog post for Dan Schawbel’s new book,and other personal branding insight.

My first headline: Be a business magnet Project Authority Earn trust Win Contracts
My Headline’s EMV Score: 40%

My 2nd headline: How to be a business magnet, project authority, earn trust and win contracts today
My Headline’s EMV Score: 42.86%

My 3rd headline: Stop losing opportunities. Be your strongest business magnet, exude authority, earn trust and win more clients today My Headline’s EMV Score: 52.94%

This score indicates that my headline has a total of 52.94% Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Words. To put that in perspective, the English language contains approximately 20% EMV words. And for comparison, most professional copywriters’ headlines will have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.

Yahoo, I’m gifted! For at least a few minutes.
This is a cool tool and gets you really thinking about how to write more emotionally charged copy. But for a blog title, it also has me thinking search engine results. So my recommendation is: Headlines should be short and include keywords, use the highest rated title as a subtitle.

In closing, what does constipation have to do with any of this?
Well for starters, brilliant comedians have been leveraging this writing technique for years. It’s called a triple. Two words are normal, expected and could go together. The last word is goofy, unexpected and some times shocking. Which makes the choice and combination of these three words so effective in getting attention and hopefully a laugh. You can use this method when you are speaking or writing.

Last week I talked about dealing with creative brain freeze, which could also be described as creative constipation. This week I’ve been jamming, pumping out ideas and enjoying my favorite things, writing, thinking and problem solving. If my thawing your brain tips and the free ebook on creative productive we recommended didn’t help, start reading Mark McGuinness’ blog, it’s amazing! Or, eat more fiber.

In case anyone you’ve been wondering, the Oddpodz team has not turned into a slacker blogger team. We know our last post was over a month ago. Sorry about that.

We’ve been cranking on a few new things that we know you will like. One is a new feature that will save you time and provide you some awesome free stuff, the other is huge partnership with with one of the top job placement/resume board companies in the US and finally the every improving front page project of our site in an effort to make your journey a bit easier on Oddpodz.

This new action is scheduled by the week of November 25th. Please check back and make sure you’ve signed up for ezine too. Thanks for your continued support.

~K & J

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

Whether you are writing a blog post or a note to kick your romantic pal to the curb, your choice of words says a lot about you. Do you want be a mere lame, language lightweight or an author with personality and punch?

Here’s resource I use to keep my tongue tone, tantalizing.

Wordspy.com
My pal Paul McFedries is the brain behind this resource. His Web site archives over 2,500 current life, trend, culture and behavioral-centric words. You can sign up for a regular email dose, which I love.

Here’s a recent post:
white pollution n. Litter, particularly plastic bags, but also papers, cups, and food containers.

He also includes:
Example Citations
Earliest Citation
Related Words

I asked Paul how did this word resource get started?
Paul explained, “It amazes me that the language has this extraordinary capacity to generate neologisms. I view the language not as a solid mountain to be admired from afar, but rather as an active volcano to be studied up close. This volcano is constantly spewing out new words and phrases; some of them are mere ash and smoke that are blown away by the winds; others are linguistic lava that slides down the volcano and eventually hardens as a permanent part of the language. Both types of ejecta are inherently creative”.

His Word Spy work grew out of this. Word Spy began as a mailing list where each day he’s send out an interesting word to a collection of friends and readers. The first post to the Word Spy list was back on January 2, 1996. After he’d accumulated a few dozen words, he created the Web site to give people a record of what had been posted and to make it possible for other people to join the list. The list and site have grown by leaps and bounds since then: He gets over a million page views each month; the list has over 10,000 subscribers; and Word Spy has been cited or profiled in over 150 newspapers and magazines around the world.

He does accept suggestions, although prefers new words and phrases seen in the media, not neologisms that people have made up themselves.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Nettie Hartsock

Note: we usually publish this feature on Tuesdays, but had a hiccup this week, we’ll be back on track next week.

In this week’s “Five Questions for Creatives” we turn to Lisa Haneberg, author, blogger and management guru. Lisa is the author of the much-lauded book, “Two Weeks to a Breakthrough” and blogs at managementcraft.com. Lisa’s web site can be found at www.lisahaneberg.com.

Lisa shares her insight on all things creative.

Five Questions for An Author, Business Strategist and “Breakthrough Champion”

Q.What do you think is one of the biggest challenges to being a successful creative person?

Lisa: Giving yourself the time to allow you mind to wander. Often we expect creativity within a two minutes - and creativity doesn’t happen like that.

Q. What are three tips you would give to anyone who wants to empower their creative career, whether it be as a copywriter, web designer, artist?

Lisa:
1. Plan time and create a space that makes you feel good. This can be a home office or a favorite chair in the local coffee shop.

2. Create the context for creativity.

Q. What is most rewarding about being on your own and working to grow your creative business?

Lisa: Having choice about how I spend my time. This is also at times a burden and can feel like pressure (pressure to produce, pressure to get clients).

Q. What inspires you to be creative?

Lisa: Intrinsic satisfaction of something well-crafted.

Q. What is the greatest benefit to working as a creative professional?

Lisa: My mind stays fresh and I am always learning. After I crossed the 40 year old mark, it became crucial that I do work that helps me learn and keep my mind engaged.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite book about business or creativity?

“The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund Zander and Benjamin Zander

“Make the Impossible Possible” by Bill Strickland*

*Note from the editor: Bill Strickland and Manchester Bidwell Corporation are friends of ours at Oddpodz! Check out his and the MBC story, both are truly inspirational.

About the author: Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist helping authors, creatives, musicians and companies create actionable how-to 2.0 programs to establish a powerful base for attracting both blogger and journalists attention. Her website can be found at NettieHartsock.com.

By Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

Getty the photo folks have launched a very interesting brainstorming online tool called Moodstream. Pick your mood, adjust your music, color and intensity. Start creating. This app is well done and a nice break from anything you are working on. Check it out. Any mood can take you places. See something you like, you can buy it, too.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.