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, it is also extremely easy to set up and get running. To put it simply it is has the live stats like you are used to with products like Have a Mint, but with conversions and in depth info. There is a dashboard that has live instant stat info somewhat similar to Mint but with a conversion section that shows you the latest conversions. It also has a killer Keyword section showing the latest hits from keywords as well as what search engine and what your rank is for that term both live and on average.

Here is a Screen Shot of the the Top Row of the Dashboard:

Features
RSS Conversions:

You heard me right, we have it set up to track your referrals to subscribing to your RSS feed. Until now you had to set up complex Google outbound click reporting, or set up your own special java script or guess as to whether StumbleUpon, Digg or a blog link brought you the new subscribers.

Digg This Conversions:
If you love social media like I do you have to have live stats as you don’t want to wait til the next day to find out you are on digg with only an hour left of voting time. You want to know the second you are on Digg, so you can send that url around or watch your comments etc.This way you can best welcome and utilize that influx of traffic. But we took it a step further, in the dasboard you can set up Digg This buttons that have our analytics tied to it so you can treat it like a conversion and see which referrals bring you the most Diggs. If you are on Reddit, Stumble, Sphinn and Digg at once which one of the other communities brings you extra votes. If you see that Reddit will bring you more Diggs and help you reach the front page easier you should start tweaking your strategy accordingly. Right now this is only available for Digg but soon it will be most if not all Social Buttons. We have done a lot of studies in this area and will be releasing some sweet data on the BLVD Status blog talking about conversion rates to the Digg This button.

Live Keyword Tracking:

This is a favorite amongst most people that have tested it, there is a dashboard in side BLVD Status dedicated to Keyword referrals. It will show you the most recent referrals, all time referrals, what engine they came from and what your live or current rank is. It also has a filter so you can just view Google Referrals, Google Blogsearch, Live, Yahoo and pretty much all the main engines. It uses Googles API when getting the ranking so for now it will only let you go to number 32. So anything that ranks further back than 32 will show up as >32.

We will be adding a ranking reporting tool that will let you see what your rankings are, how many hits, conversions etc. you got for that term as well.

Traffic Allotments for Beta:
Right now we have now limits as to your levels we want to get as many people using it as possible and not limit your stats. As we grow if our servers start to take a beating at it could effect the reliability of the product we will announce a new traffic level structure.

Feedback:
We want your feedback we want to make this the analytics product that offers all the tricks and trinkets you could ever want. When we look at feedback and decide whether or not to do anything about it we will always lean towards the side of the feature helping someone better understand and ultimately improve their web site.

For now please send any and all feedback to - chris@blvdstatus.com or leave comments at the BLVD Status blog it will be live this week.

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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.

When we release the next version I will be uploading a video on how to use it at all the different sites and how you really can use it to build top profiles. Last year I used it to build a good Digg profile, one of my friends is in the top 15 Stumblers and he used it to do that, and I have had literally hundreds of people say they have used it to help them build more powerful profiles.

Nearly 100k downloads of the old version can be bad right?

Stay tuned, make sure you subscribe to our feed for updates. Also stay tuned I have a really cool beta analytics product for blogs that is about a week or two away from release. If anyone wants to help beta post in the comments or email me.

Thanks to Marios for lighting some fire.

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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, Down and Review Counts for StumbleUpon and let you choose which combo to display
> Adding Mixx and Sphinn
> Letting You Choose Which Sites to Have Displayed in the Bar
> Adding some really cool social news hubs to be able to scan the content but I don’t want to release the sites yet as we are testing and I don’t want to get people hopes up.
> We are thinking about Taking out Del.icio.us they have made some upgrades so we are testing but if we release right away it will be out as it never works and their API is not supported very well. We can always add back in.

Again any other ideas please send them over the tool has had near 100,000 downloads and we plan on making it even better.

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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. My son does not have any sleeping disorders (that I know of) but he sure can fall asleep in the funniest of positions, and in the strangest of places that you have to wonder how its comfortable enough to even fall asleep at in the first place!

Check out this picture, and you will probably see where I am going with this post:

I was thinking an absolutely adorable post would be a photo (or video I guess would be ok) compilation of 10 or 15 of the funniest positions, and places you have ever found your kids asleep at. A great title could be “15 Of The Funniest Places Kids Fall Asleep At” or “15 Of The Funniest Positions You Have Ever Seen Kids Asleep In”

This kind of a post would also work if you were in the mattress industry, because I have seen people in this industry turn out some pretty funny posts about strange sleep disorders. Don’t take any of this as making fun or light of a problem, but it may be a good avenue to help make people aware of the seriousness of these disorders that would normally not know.

Of course you are going to have to make people laugh in order to make a viral campaign like this go anywhere, but again its a good way to help make more people aware. You can poke fun of an industry, and not make the industry mad at you, even if just a little tact is used. By doing so you are spreading the word to someone who may need to hear it, and you have accomplished your goal in creating something that could go viral!

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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 if you click on that link, or read the text highlights on his marketing blog teaching other people how to start an online business.

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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, so hes left with a title tag on his home page that reads; “Home Page 1″ and he gives no information on the website (other then the area code on the phone number) that gives you any clue as to where locally that the concrete work is actually done.

Even just a little bit of content where he is talking about the different local areas where he does the concrete work (and what he does) would probably get him some kind of traffic and rankings (even with a cheap website) but that is another topic (another day) on basic SEO, and not for a viral marketing idea Friday post.

So when he asked me about how he could better use his website, besides the things I mentioned above with basic SEO stuff, I started to ask him some questions that would give me some ideas for viral marketing for his website. I asked him if he ever found weird stuff when he pulled up the carpet to get to the bare concrete, and he said he had. He had found some funny writings that builders had left knowing that carpet would be over it, and that homeowners would never see. Things like “This builder sucks, get your money back” and “this is where they are gonna do it” in places like the master bedroom.

That was enough to get me thinking viral, and come up with some pretty good title ideas for a viral post about a concrete company. “10 Things Hidden Under Your Carpet” or “What The People Building Your House Really Think Of It”. These kind of titles would make me want to click, but still fit in well content-wise on a local concrete company website blog.

We also talked about the other things that were cool that his company could do like transform existing concrete into what looks like flagstone, tile or anything else you can dream about. You could do a post talking about “10 Concrete Floors That You Won’t Believe Is Concrete” or “10 Ways Going With Concrete Floors Can Save You Money “ or “10 Reasons To Go With A Concrete Floor” or “Guess Which Is Concrete, And Guess Which Is Flagstone”. These are not posts that will make the front page of Digg by any means, but they are posts that people (who are into this industry or looking for info) would like, and share and could do well in a viral type environment.

Check out this picture of a concrete counter-top. I really can’t believe this is concrete it is so amazing:

The point is to try and get people to talk about and share your content, and writing posts like this for a concrete company would do just that! Remember to leave comments about your industry, and I would be happy to give you viral marketing ideas to help you grow your business.

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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. It really got annoying how busy this gas station got, but I no longer have to worry about that now. Over the last few months with gas prices rising, and even in the last couple of weeks with gas prices going up 5 to 10 cents a day, I am amazed at how few people I have to deal with at the gas station anymore.
Reason Number Two - There are less angry people on the road. I myself can be an angry driver too if the right person sets me off, but now I am a happy driver because most of the time the road is free and clear because of less people driving. I don’t have a commute, but when I do get in my car to drive to go shopping, or if I am grabbing a bite to eat I really have noticed a slow down in the number of cars on the road.
Reason Number Three - I no longer hate shopping at grocery stores. Before the gas prices were so high, I hated going to any grocery store because it aways seemed like I decided to shop when everyone else did. During this last month I have really enjoyed going shopping at the grocery store because it seems to me that the isles are emptier, and I have to attribute that to higher gas prices as well. People are just not going to the store to do as much shopping. If they wanted to get some extra ice cream to snack on - forget about it - because they just spent 70 bucks to fill up a little car, so there is no way they can afford to indulge with that little gallon of ice cream!
Reason Number Four - All of the places I usually go to eat out at are much emptier. I never have to wait, or put my name on the list anymore. I just walk right in and get seated. I love that! Before the high gas prices, some of my favorite places to eat I would have to wait up to an hour (Texas Roadhouse for example) but now - no matter what time or day, I just get seated right when I walk up. I really do love these high gas prices!
Reason Number Five - It gives me great material to blog about for viral marketing idea Friday. If you didn’t guess it by now, this was an example of what a company selling a fuel additive could do. You must take advantage of the current situations around you, and this would be a perfect piece of link bait for any company in (or related) to the oil industry.

You could spice this kind of a viral marketing piece up with videos or pictures, and find funny stuff that would really go along with whats going on with our economy right now with gas prices being so high. As for ideas for titles on a post like this? If you didn’t get it from the title of this post already, and if that doesn’t give you ideas, then I am not sure there is any hope! (Its called satire)

I hope you enjoyed the different kind of viral marketing idea Friday today, and I am sorry that I got it out so late, and that last week there was none, but this week has been a rather busy one for us here at 97th Floor, and more specifically for me as I am doing a ton of landscaping, painting and laying new hardwood floors this week!

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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.”

Omniture is the leading Enterprise Level web analytics product that I highly recommend. If you want to do custom tracking, behavioral targeting, a/b testing and just about anything else Omniture is the place to go.

I am very excited and honored to be doing this webinar with them, go check it out and let me know what you think.

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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.

Thank You

After more conversation via email, this preschool business owner went on to say:

I don’t have a marketing budget as such since I am a small preschool. The demographics have changed in the area I think and the older people are living in the area so thats one of the main reasons why I am having a hard time getting kids to school ages 2 to 6 yrs. Let me know what you think

I want to give some tips to anyone who may be in the same situation as this preschool owner. I want you to start thinking local online marketing. One, because its powerful, and two because everything I am going to share with you in todays post is FREE. That is one of the reasons I love local marketing and search more then anything is because it can really level the playing field for a no budget business, and their ability to compete in a huge market.

I did ask this preschool owner if they had a website and blog, and they did have a website, but not a blog so that would be one area where they could improve so they could take advantage of some of my viral marketing posts and create some amazing content that will generate buzz and help them rank easier.

So Tip #1 - Get a blog, and you can get the free WordPress software, and it is pretty simple to integrate if you have even basic understanding of FTP and hosting accounts.

Tip #2 - sign your business up at Google Local. In many cases once you are approved (and in the database) you can instantly enjoy a #1 (or top) ranking in the local results, and also in many cases there is not many people that are using this service (especially in targeted niches) and you can enjoy these top rankings for free by yourself or only with a few other choices. You can even go in and write reviews about the preschool, and have other parents who have used your services go in and write reviews because reviews are a huge thing that people are using and reading these days through the local results.

Tip #3 - similar to #2, but sign up for Yahoo Local results. Sign up through the link, and enjoy top rankings once again for free if you are one of the only businesses in the area doing what you do. You can also improve where you show up by having people that have used your services review you, and leave comments for others to read and make their own choice.

Tip #4 - Use Local Services like Yelp. Yelp is a place where you can review local businesses (even your own), add pictures, tell people if they were cool, useful, or pathetic. Again, you can have people who have used your services go and write reviews and comments about your business.

Tip #5 - Judys Book - a great place to find businesses near you, so another local marketing website that thousands of people in local areas use.

It is important to understand that you will not get millions of visitors a month from only marketing with these “local” tips here, but you will get very targeted traffic that could fill up your little business, and at this point that is probably ok with all who are in this position. Right? Once again, all of these places are free to sign up with - all you have to do is take the time to sign up with each of them. I also left several other local places that you could use to market your business for free with, but I hope this gets you thinking in the right way so you can use the Internet for the powerful tool that it is and find them yourself. Some are better then others, but testing, testing, and re-testing is what helped me get to where I am today!

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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.

One of the more interesting parts of the conversation led to the things that people try to claim as fixed assets, or more surprisingly what could be claimed as a fixed asset for tax purposes. I really was surprised on both ends of the spectrum. So what could a catchy viral title be for this industry? I would start with these: “10 Things You Never Knew Were Fixed Assets” and “The 10 Stupidest Things People Have Ever Tried To Pass Off As Fixed Assets” and you can even spice up the post with really cool videos you find, and pictures rather then just listing out the items. Its fun for us to look at the silly things people try to claim.

I was told a story of a client trying to claim his “hooker” during his businesses trips as a fixed asset because he always went back to her every business trip. He joked with this client that even though he could take her for a ride, it is not the same thing as a tractor (which would be considered a fixed asset). The client did not appreciate the joke! The funnies thing of all is that he had receipts (or documented invoices) and all to prove it too!

There you go - I gave you way to much info that you can have fun with today for this industry. Remember, even the most boring industries can go viral and I think I proved that one today! Please continue to email us, and leave comments with your viral marketing idea Friday requests.

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