5 Reasons Why Viral Marketing Works

1. It's fun. Be it just plain silly, or very clever, people want in on some fun.

2. Guilt, plain and simple. Some people don't want to participate, but they do anyway because otherwise, they'll feel bad about not participating. 

3. Viral Marketing is oh, so grassroots, and taps into people's natural desire to be interconnected. Web viral marketing offer this connection without further emotional investment, like face-to-face relationships. (yes, this is good and bad)

4. Something bigger: People enjoy being part of something bigger than themselves, or on the front end of a popular, or emerging trend. They don't want to be left behind.

5. Each person drives the trend. It's "open source," changing and evolving individually, making it vivacious, and attractive in an empowering type of way.

Thank you for reading. I hope this was helpful.

What did I leave out?

Feel free to leave your responses, comments, marketing ideas, or suggestions.

Please my other project. It's a kind of  "travelers blog," and proposes, among other things, that God cannot possibly be a angry, white, old, bearded dude in the sky. Well, that and I recently posted a hilarious photo of a man with a tramp stamp tattoo of the Golden Arches. What's not to like. Hope you can check it out.

A diner with the best pie -yum

I just had the pleasure of going to the Kumm Esse Diner at the corner of Rts 501 & 422 in Myerstown, Lebanon, County, Pa. They make all their own pies, and often used freshly picked fruit (not canned or frozen). I had some fresh strawberry and some deep dish apple, and both were superb!

I have no idea what Kumm Esse means, though it seemed vulgar to me at first. The diner is a 1950s style shinny sheet metal type, and I imagine the name is derived from the local PA German dialect, and might actually mean something nice. Maybe like, "rest for a while' or something, who knows. (If you happen to know, drop me a comment!)

The waitresses all wore colorful scrubs. I image because they may be nursing us with comfort foods. The coffee was spot-on diner coffee. Good joe, but not gourmet. Fine enough to go well with great pie. My BLT sandwich was good, but not amazing. The staff was friendly. Our waitress sat down to chat briefly with two different customers who were eating alone–probably two of her regular customers.

What diners do you like? And what kinds of pie?

Great ideas to catch Dinner Guests that snoop

I heard a story of a couple who filled their medicine cabinet with ping pong balls. They anticipated one of their dinner guest wouldn't be able to resist peeking in their bathroom medicine cabinet. When the first snooper did, the sound echoed brightly off the ceramic tile, and the balls went everywhere, exposing their faux pas. Everyone at the dinner table broke into hysterics as they were told of the prank.

Here are five other was to expose less-than-classy guests:

1. Keep an open envelope out with a bill or statement inside. On the back rub graphite from a pencil. It'll stick on their fingers.

2. If ping pong balls aren't at your disposal, try filling the bathroom cabinet with something noisy.

-Silverware

-Nuts and bolts

-A pot lid

3. Put a note in your bookcase that says a personal, "Hello, _____!" When they look over your shelves, they will see your greeting.

4. Just before they leave, tell them you love to stay up after people leave, and watch the tape that the hidden camera takes. And check out the look on their face. (Maybe tell them you're kidding, so you can keep your friends/guests.)

5. Just after they use your bathroom, tell them a crazy story about the last unfortunate soul who looked through your medicine cabinet.

If you try any of these, tell me how it turns out!

Chinese Tower Sign against Ragamuffins

Ragamuffins aren't taken kindly to at Oriental Pearl TV tower. This odd sign is awfully funny, as it must be mostly lost in translation. (I found this Peter Hill photo, and other images at the BBC.com.)

My Top Ten Blogging Tips

My Top Ten Tips for Blogging

1. Make Blogs with Lists. They're quick to digest, so people like 'em.

2. Go for quality of content more than frequency.

3. Don't be afraid to niche your articles. Random thoughts might be "you", but predictability will grow a reader base. For an example of this, don't look around here see my other blog.

4. Don't swipe. Plagiarism is wrong. (Stealing-taking what isn't yours.) It's totally brainless, and shows you're a hack. Link to the content, and give proper credit. Your reputation depends on it.

5. Spread the love. If you like something, where you live, work, or play, promote it. Take a picture. Include specific information. Give a shout out. Generosity comes back to you. You should see the free stuff I get, by doing this sort of thing! Plus, I love to spread good news!

6. Give away stuff. Authors, give away signed books; coffee companies, offer up some samples; chocolate makers, ship out some boxes. Word spreads fast! Btw, all the things I mentioned...I just LOVE, so if you happen to be anyone of these types, I WILL notice you, and deeply appreciate you. :)

7. More than 1 post a day is really not so good, unless you have good reason, or goal. Just, back away from the keys, and get another hobby.

8. Retweet. Retweet/pass along your good blog finds, and often others will do the same about the good content they find on your blog.

9. Decide how often you will post, and stick to it. If it's once per day, once per week, or whatever, be consistent. People get into habits, so it's a nuisance for them to wait around for 10 days for your new stuff every day, without getting way too sick of it. They may move on to other material, but it's quite likely they'll get out of the habit of stopping by. Not good for you. Don't teach them they can't rely on you. Give them a reason to keep you a habit.

10. Interconnect your writing updates. If you have more than one blog, or social media tool, link them up, as one, to inform the visitors, so everyone you are connected to gets a headline of your newest article when it goes up, in one swift maneuver.

What are your best tips?

Crafting Fandango-style bag Puppets

My daughter made these two interesting characters today.

Hair Sweater-Hot

The beach scene was hot! I mean truly. This beach bear started to look ill from the heat of his natural pelt which had to increase his felt temperature experience to about 104º. No one told him, or he hasn't listened to the hints, that long curly shoulder hair isn't the rage anymore. It only really worked with a few odd Chewbacca fans, anyway.