Nicollet.Net

Let’s start with a classic idea. Something like an oft-repeated quotation:

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.

A good starting point. Now, what should we try to collide this with? Let’s try random Wikipedia articles:

A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered.

So, the thing about a pyramid scheme is that people at the top get a lot of money (they started the scheme), but the people at the bottom lose money when the scheme runs out of steam because they cannot find another layer of people to pay them. But what if the pyramid involved smiles instead of money?

Your new job is to find two people you know and explain to them that you’re running a smile pyramid scheme. They have to smile to you, and to me (you can send emoticons to victor@nicollet.net). Then, they each look for two more people and explain that they’re running the scheme. The four people on the third layer have to smile back to the second-layer person who entered them into the scheme, and they have to smile to you (but not to me, unless they really want to). Instead of two smiles, you get six! A 300% return on your smile investment!

The pyramid propagates this way until people are sick of smiling at everyone. When it finally dies down, no one has lost anything because of the “costs nothing, gives much” theorem above. But a lot of people were enriched by the experience.

I agree, this is silly. What else is great for the receiver and cheap for the sender?

The Backlink Pyramid

Internet links. When I link to someone from this blog, I usually make them happier because they get some additional readers out of it. On the other hand, linking to someone does not cost me anything. Sure, if I keep linking to uninteresting or annoying sites, I’ll get myself a bad reputation. But I can spend weeks linking to good content websites without having to worry.

Your new job is to find two websites or blogs you know and explain to them that you’re running a link pyramid scheme. They have to link back to your blog, and to mine. Then, they each look for two more people and explain that they’re running the scheme, and so on. By asking two people, you get six links.

Are you afraid of asking people for a link to your blog? Right. Try saying that to your “Retweet This” button, your “Google Buzz” button, your “Share on Facebook” button or any number of social bookmarking buttons you have set up on your blog. We actively yearn for people to link to us. We comment and trackback. We write guest posts. We follow on twitter in the hopes of being followed back. Asking for links is nothing new.

The real problem is that there’s no way to make sure the second layer tells the third layer to link back to you. In fact, they might just start a pyramid of their own, ignoring you altogether. People are like that.

The Backlink Pyramid Watches You

Why not add a middleman? Some sort of Backlink Pyramid Scheme service that works like this:

• Alice uses the service and registers by entering the address of her blog. In return, she gets an url such as linksche.me/mhBx89 that she posts on her blog.
• Bob reads Alice’s blog and follows the link. There, he finds a registration page that includes a link to Alice’s blog.
• Bob registers for the service using that page, enters the address of his blog, and gets his own url such as linksche.me/261pFb that he posts on his own blog.
• Charlie reads Bob’s blog and follows the link. There, he finds a registration page that includes a link to the blogs of both Bob and Alice.
• Charlie registers for the service. The cycle continues.

To be part of the pyramid, you need to start on someone’s registration page, and the software will automatically add a link to your recruiter on your own registration page. So, as long as the second layer manages to find a third layer, you are guaranteed to get your additional links back.

What the service is saying, basically, is that if you join (for free), you’ll get a registration page that will let you bring other people on board. These people, in turn, will spread around a registration page of their own, and there will be a link to your blog on each and every one of these pages.

Would This Work?

I’m dying to know whether this is yet another flamethrower idea, or if it could actually work. So, I’ve written the software, registered http://linksche.me/, and set up a registration page.

Get on there and create yourself a registration page of your own. This might get your blog some publicity. If you don’t have a blog, point to your Facebook page or to your LinkedIn page or your Twitter feed or to the page of a cause you support. I’m sure you’ll find something. Then, start posting links to your registration page on your blog, Facebook, Twitter…

There are basically two ways this could play out.

If we don’t bring enough people on board, then nothing happens. We go home, forget about that silly idea and move on to the next interesting shiny thing like the iPhone 5 or something.

If we manage to get a critical mass in the Pyramid, then people will start hearing about it and will try to jump on the bandwagon before the entire scheme inevitably runs out of steam. The media will notice that there’s a rush to join, buzz will happen, and awareness will increase. This, in turn, will further increase join rates. If things go this way, we’ll be the tip of the pyramid, getting tens of thousands of visits. This could play out like the million dollar home page all over again, except that instead of one person getting all the money, the early joiners will all be getting a lot of web traffic. And I’ll be happy because my idea worked. Hell, I might even get enough ad money out of the traffic rush to pay for the hosting.

Let’s get this ball rolling!