I am sorry that its been a few Fridays since the last post, but things )as always( have been crazy hectic. I am sorry because that is no excuse, but its a real one. A few weeks ago I ran into a friend that just launched a chandler house cleaning business and we got to talking about different things she could do online to drive more traffic to her website and of course viral marketing came up!

Last week, I got this viral marketing question in the form of a comment - I am building a new web application that sends reminders in the form of text messages, emails and voice messages to subscribers. The idea originated from my wife's situation, being a soccer mom and everything, and having four kids, its hard sometimes to keep track with all the practices and games' so she either carry a notebook with her all the time, or she checks her emails. To make a story short,

Luckily I have never lost any info inside any of my blogs, but I also credit my technology background and understanding that websites need to be backed up )and backing all mine up( to never losing any info. But what about the people who are less technical and using blogging software from websites like Blogger, or Wordpress for family blogs? If this is you, and you did lose your blog, or these companies go out of business, how much of your life would you be saying goodbye to?

This week it seems like I have had so many conversations with people about the simple things they can do to their website to make it social media optimized, and because of that I wanted to take that approach with today's viral media post. Has anyone )other Internet marketers( else noticed how good CNN is doing lately with embracing social media and trying to connect with the users of it? You can follow them on Twitter , Facebook and more.

There are so many "geeky" technology )type( websites out there that provide some amazing information that people use everyday, but many of these blogs do not have the exposure they deserve. Many of the geeks I know that love to code and share about their world of technology have no clue about social media sites, let alone micro-blogging sites like Twitter or Plurk . They may have heard about Digg, used it once,

I got asked this question in the form of a comment today - if I had any viral marketing ideas for a hearing aid clinic? At first it stumped me, I have to admit. Had I finally found an industry that is to boring for viral marketing? I have not had a lot of time to think about this, but all of a sudden the first thing that popped into my head was this "The 10 Greatest Health Related Technology Advances" and research out,

I was not going to post rant about this, but after reading Matt Mcgee's latest post about Google giving love to Yahoo Answers )which is worth looking at( I had to say something. It is just to good not to, well I think anyway. I have been using my Yahoo Answers account more recently, after a period of inactivity I wanted to give it a shot again and build up my account. I was doing it for pure fun )maybe a little testing( and had no marketing intentions with it )honestly(.

As I downloaded yet more of Metallica yesterday from iTunes )the new stuff freaking rocks btw( it got me thinking of how some bands are embracing social communities and growing bigger because of them. Also, bands like Metallica are finally starting to figure out the power of the Internet, and embrace its users more to grow their fan base )and maybe win back some fans in their case(. What can a no name band do to get its name out there more with social media?

I have been seeing some pretty interesting picnic and outdoor related blog posts and articles show up online lately, and I wanted to share some more ideas on the industry of picnic baskets and share how I think this industry could do really well in the social communities. Now picnic baskets themselves are pretty boring )in my opinion( but when you can put them side by side with the reasons we use them )food, tailgating parties, outdoor romance( they get a lot more interesting,

I thought I would get a few variations of searches, but I had no idea what kind of ideas would pop into my head after asking this simple question today. I wanted to share a very important lesson taught by students of mine )ironically enough( today, during a webinar presentation on Social Media Marketing that I was giving. Most people that I run into have no clue how to properly research out keywords, and they just want me to do it for them. If that is the case with you,

I had a great viral idea the other day when my son came home with a shoe full of sand )see picture, because I really mean a SHOE FULL!!(. This picture I am showing you is the sand that came out of only ONE of his shoes from a day of playing on the Kindergarten playground. I got to talking to my sons Kindergarten teacher about this and how she keeps her room free from all the sand, or whatever else they bring in, and that got the conversation started.

Thanks to Ben for asking this weeks viral marketing idea question: I read your site every now and then because I want to shape my mind to of a top level social marketer. I especially like you insights marketing ideas for boring industries. Here is the question though. I have been cracking up head to come up with some interesting and viral campaigns for the "stock photo" industry but I can't seem to think of anything!

I usually don't go on rants here, but this one has been brewing in my mind for a long time. A recent trip to the Apple store made it that much worse for me too. I was one of the suckers that got the iPhone way back in the day, and own the old school, non 3G one. The one thats a piece of crap now ' right? I hear the commercials about how the new iPhone 3G is half the price, and twice as fast and the only thing I can think of is how I got 100% screwed by Apple.

Just go to MSN home page anytime you want a good idea for a "link bait" driven article written related to money, as they always seem to have some kind of an article that sparks my interest. I have been reading a lot lately about a new online money management social community that offers tips, advice, and all kinds of tools for you to manage your money online as well as connecting with others. That is the inspiration for todays viral post.

Chris and I have worked with a ton of travel industry professionals over the years and helping them with their online marketing needs. We have even spoke at travel industry conferences on SEO and Social Media. I feel I have a pretty grasp on the whole travel industry online scene and wanted to share a viral marketing idea that I was thinking about )because of my recent travels( that would probably go huge and make front page on every top social site out there. Also,

I am sorry its been a few weeks since a viral marketing idea Friday post, but things have been super busy around here as you know! I personally have been on vacation for a couple of weeks, and just hitting the projects hard. I am hoping to be done with all the excitement for a while so I can get back into )every Friday( providing examples, and answering your questions about specific industries and how to go viral. Thanks for being patient!

In my opinion this is a pretty easy industry to get creative with, as far as viral marketing is concerned, but I still got asked the question about the viral marketing ideas )I would have( by a lady who runs a website/blogsite giving information about sleeping disorders. As in a few of my other more popular viral posts, I am going to again use my son because he was the true inspiration for this post.

Recently I was interviewed about keyword research, and why doing proper keyword research is important )or if it still is(. I appreciate Nate for wanting me to answer these questions. You can find the full edited keyword research audio interview , or read the text highlights on his marketing blog teaching other people how to start an online business .

I had a pretty good conversation with the man who owned the concrete company that I used in a recent backyard landscaping project I had. He told me he had a website, but only because everyone he talked to told him how important it was, and that he needed it. He does not have more then a home page and a place to contact him, but he used some cheap builder that automatically inputs the titles and descriptions,

The more and more I think about the high gas prices, the more I want to say, bring it on! Why? I have noticed over the last several months a few things that I really like about gas prices being so high and want to share my thoughts with you. Reason Number One - I never have to wait in line any more to fill up. There is a gas station near my house that I would ALWAYS have to wait at, and fight other angry people having to wait to fill up as well.