I’m starting a new experiment tonight that I’d like to have some fun with over the coming weeks, but there’s a catch - I’m going to need some help from you, my critical-thinking, curious readers. Essentially, I want to launch a viral linking campaign with some pretty loose guidelines for the links. I’ve constructed this in such a way that I (or anyone else who’s interested) will be able to monitor the progress of the experiment as it (hopefully) spreads across the blogosphere.
The Finer Points
The experiment, henceforth referred to as “The Indie Virus,” has two goals:
- To bring exposure to lesser known blogs (especially those outside of Technorati’s top 100)
- To explore the metrics behind a viral linking campaign launched by the “little guys” (less popular blogs)
Instead of rehashing the ideas here, I’ll send you on over to Copyblogger to see how this thing progressed in the comments. I think people are skeptical, but the bottom line is that this is just a casual experiment. Launching it doesn’t really cost a thing, so why not try it? I’m just hoping for enough results that I’ll be able to crunch a few numbers. Consider it an experiment in marketing with blogs.
The Rules
Participating in The Indie Virus is easy. All you’ve got to do is link to lesser known blogs from within a post (or two, or eleventeen), but you have to make sure that the anchor text of your link is The Indie Virus. This is critical, because in order to track the experiment, I’ll be searching for the phrase “The indie Virus” on common engines like Technorati, Google, and Yahoo! Oh, and also, make sure that you link directly to a post WITH A TRACKBACK and not to the site itself - it speaks louder!
So, a sample link would be coded up like this: <a href=”…”>The Indie Virus</a>. Got it?
The Kickoff
Since I came up with this thing, it’s only right that I kick it off with the first link. Today, I came across a site that combines intelligence, insight, and design in a clean, interesting package. Among the gold at this site is an article that I think is perfect for the spread of The Indie Virus. Go check it out, and then go and spread The Indie Virus yourself!
And if you want to be wicked cool, send a trackback to this post in your inaugural Indie Virus post. Have fun with this one, and I’ll keep you posted on the results.
32 Comments ↓
Hey Chris, count me in like I said before and I’ll be posting a piece on the Indie Virus tonight on my blog
Chris: I like your Indie Virus idea, but why did you not make it, say, a technorati tag? It’s going to be awkward always making this phrase the anchor text. I’ll give it try, but certainly you could still track metrics for the tag?
Raj - you’re totally right. I figured that using the phrase as the anchor text would help it with the Googles and Yahoos of the world, too.
I like your idea, though. Tag it up!
the indie virus
Heralded to be the virus that all small, independent bloggers want to catch (props to Kristin for posting it on her site for me to learn of), The Indie Virus as designed by Chris Pearson is just the germ I want to pick up.
The rules behind the virus ar…
Very interesting. I’m interested to see how this goes.
The Indie Virus
> the world on MY terms ” href=”http://www.pearsonified.com/”>Chris Pearson has come up an intersting experiment in viral linking, called the The Indie Virus. The idea behind the experimaent is to examine the spreading of ideas amon…
I agree, should def. use a technorati tag too. And it’d be a good idea to put something in the “title” parameter of the anchor.
<a href=”…” title=”the great American indie virus”>The Indie Virus</a>
Good call, Evan. Your site is wicked, too, by the way. I felt compelled to scroll and read, scroll and read, scroll and read. Love it!
The Indie Virus: What will those bloggers think of next?
The Indie Virus is an experiment in linking cooked up by Chris Pearson at Pearsonified. I found out about it from the ICE blog, a very good customer experience blog, that talked about The Indie Virus. And I’m exceptionally grateful
It is viral
Pearsonified has started a small, casual social experiment, it’s called “The Indie Virus.” Here’s how Pearsonified describes this experiment:
The experiment, henceforth referred to as “The Indie Virus,” has two goal…
Though no one infected us - we saw the link at Open Switch - we continued the infection process on our site by infecting 10 other blogs. I hope it works well and gets them all some notice as they deserve it.
http://www.team-swap.com/wordpress/2006/03/28/indie-virus/
Increase Your Traffic with the Blog Virus Part Four
What are some examples of viral blogs?
Seth Godin (remember that idea virus download) has one. He also talks about others that he’s seen. Business Week’s Blogspotting has a good eye for them too. But it’s not just about the big dogs…
no one infected me, but i thought it was a hot idea. here’s my trackback:
http://99nonessentials.blogspot.com/2006/04/infection-in-progress.html#links
Ever heard about Blog.Worm? See http://www.moox.nl/blogworm/, a similar experiment
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i’m infected by the indie virus!
I agree re: the technorati tag. Call e a purist but I want my anchors to relate to what they reference. So I would anchor to “article” or “this site” but “Indie Virus” wuld come back to this page, always (or to the Technorati page as they did it on
LockerGnome)
Does anyoe else cringe when they see “virus” used in this manner. People, viruses are Bad News. Medically, they are bad. in the Windows and IT worlds they are bad. Even Mac users know that they might get one Some Day and that would be A Bad Thing.
Techies like us may be able to compartmentalize, see the joke, understand the satire in using the word “virus” but will my Mom understand? My lesws thecnical friends? The newspaper reporter?
Sheesh. “Virus”.
Hi,
ive done exactly what’s been said here… all for this social experimentation stuff and will be monitoring it as close as possible.. hope it works..
peace
G
Many people is getting afraid with this kind of “virus”
If you want to check your computer, run http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
Joaquin
The Indie Virus
You probably have noticed that I include with my posts a number of links out to other blogs. it makes sense to me to share the information and I believe that when push comes to shove it’s going to benefit all of us to link our readers to more resources…
The Idea about The Indie Virus is very good. I’ll try it too.
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[...] One of the things that caught my eye was The Indie Virus (nope, the link is not sending you there, that’s the point - the background on the idea can be found here instead). Cool idea - reminds me of the Tammy Nyp era or the brrreeeport. Let’s see if it works again [...]
[...] Ok, fun. I’ve been tagged by Journey to a Million and asked to reveal five things you many not know about me. I love viral posts - kinda like when Chris Pearson started the Indie Virus. [...]
[...] Want to pretend you’re a CDC-type investigator? I know I did; there’s more info to be found here and here. [...]
[...] the Indie Virus. There is a meme called “The Indie Virus” going around the net. It’s a social experiment to link traffic to lesser known blogs. [...]
I’ve just been letting everything happen without me these days, but I guess it doesn’t bother me. I can’t be bothered with anything these days. Nothing seems important, but what can I say? So it goes.
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