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!

I have been working along with my brother Patrick )who is an insane web designer ( and a kick butt programmer named Charles Berube for the past seven months on an analytics tool . I am happy to say that it is finally ready for anyone and everyone to test out. We have had it in private beta for about two months and it is stable enough now that we want you to give it a try. It is called BLVD Status it is a killer tool with a lot of features that no other analytics tool offers,

Quick update: Social Media for Firefox 3 is ready. You can download it here . Right now it is just the update with Del.icio.us working better. We will be releasing an update soon that will be adding Mixx and have some new options with StumbleUpon. Then after that we will be working on another Kick A version that will have all kinds of crazy stuff it is going to be rad.

We are getting close on have a Firefox 3 compatible version of Social Media for Firefox . We are sorry it wasn't ready with the FF 3 launch but it is coming and it is going to be sick. We have taken the opportunity to add some upgrades. Here are some quick features we are working on if you happen to have any additions you think would make it be an even better tool we are all about it and please add in the comments. We are looking into > Showing Thumb Up,

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.

I recoreded a webinar over at Omniture's head quarters a couple of weeks ago and it is now live. It is geared towards corporate and enterprise sites and how small tweaks leveraging Organic SEO can yield very high returns rather quickly. It is just under an hour I believe and I give away some sweet tips. If you have a chance click over and check it out, it is titled "Corporate SEO Small Changes, Big Results.

Todays post comes from a question I got from a reader of the Viral Marketing Idea Friday posts, and more specifically one I did on marketing a preschool several weeks ago. Here is the question: I read your port on Viral Marketing. I need to increase enrollment at my preschool and kind of at a stand still as to what else to do. Print media is so expensive and cannot afford to keep doing them because of the limited funds. Please let me know if you can help me.

I think I have outdone myself this week with finding the absolute most boring industry on the planet. If you are a part of the fixed assets software community then please accept my )not so sincere( apology for poking fun at your boring industry! After having a pretty good talk with a friend of mine who happens to own a fixed assets and depreciation software company I realized that this industry does have some pretty interesting things that could in fact go viral.

I had an interesting conversation with a lady who owns a company that teaches parenting classes that I want to share for today's viral marketing idea post. Todays post also stems from something I witnessed the other day at my daughters baseball practice. I am not in the business of judging other peoples parenting skills, especially when I feel I have a lot to learn still as a parent of only 7 years, almost 8 but I have seen some parents act pretty bad,

Todays viral post is going to be a little different, but I wanted to share a few tips for going viral that have been on my mind this week, so here goes: #1 Think about the audience - You need to research out the group of people you will be targeting, and the social communities they use. There are a ton of targeted social networks out there, but trying to get on them all with one post is just plain silly. Angling Masters is one of the biggest social networks for fishermen ,