Million Dollar Homepage : $1 Pixels Advertising Idea
September 10th, 2005A unique concept to make make $1 million dollars by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each!
Alex Tew started the Million Dollar Homepage to pay for his degree studies and avoid student loan and debt. So he set up this page divided into 10,000 of these 100-pixel blocks (with 1,000,000 pixels in total) where each pixels costs $1. You can buy pixels available in 100-pixel ‘blocks’ (each measuring 10×10 pixels) which means a minimum investment of $100 (Buying one pixel would be too small to see).
You can buy as many pixels as you like and then display an image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you have purchased and can have the image click through to your own website. The homepage will not change and he guarantees to keep the site online for at least 5 years. You cannot change the image or link once you have submitted them. Check the FAQ for a full overview.
But why would you buy pixels? – it is a form of advertising on a site which is getting very popular by the day though links like this very post you are reading and your site can get some serious traffic – just see this clicks report. Moreover, there are no recurring costs of advertising and if you manage a good ad placement and clickthrough rate (CTR), the advertising deal might well be worth it.
Some tips and tricks to get a better click through rate on the Million Dollar Homepage -
Buy Early – Because the popular slots will get filled soon and you might just end up in the middle of a big array of pixels of varying ads. But if you have a pixel space in mind and want to see how its neighbourhood ads are comming up, that is also a good idea (till someone grabs that ad space). Anyway there is plenty of space available.
Buy Big – If you can afford it, the more pixels you buy, the bigger your ad and the more it will stand out and get you more clicks and traffic.
Get a Good location – If you are planning for a small 100 pixel block, you will have better chances of getting it seen at the border, corners (top left is corners are best), top row etc. where you can get around without scrolling. At present a lot of space in the centre is empty, this is good to use now as all advertisers will use ads sorrounded by empty space and they will stand out – so you can catch some early traffic. As the space fills up, only those ads which are larger will stand out in the centres.
Make A Good Ad – If you ad / image / logo is not catchy enough, even 500 pixels will not get a click, while a small 100 pixel optimised ad might get a better clickthrough.
What other tips do you suggest? The project is just starting and he has aleady sold over 5000 pixels. Success will depend on the traffic this million dollar page maintains once the hype is over. Are you still hesitating to buy some pixels!
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Corrected link for the Million Euro Homepage:
Million Euro Homepage
See a list of more of these similar million pixels pages
Check out http://www.globalnetworld.com/puzzle/ soon to be http://www.millionbuckspuzzle.com
Here’s another one: http://www.thepeoplesvehicle.com
This one is free: http://www.millionpixelpage.com Million Pixel Page is like milliondollarhomepage, but free!
This onw pays you to refer pixel advertisers…
Check it
http://www.advertisesense.com/?7
thats a german/english site, same idea, but nice to look at
http://www.pixelget.com
Now its starting to be categorised!
http://www.choicedirectory.co.uk
When will the madness end?
Hmmm this one is only for ebay sellers to advertise… take a look if you want
http://www.ebaypixels.com
A sexy verision
http://www.milliondollaradverts.com/
this one gives to Hurricane Katrina victims:
http://www.hundredgrandhomepage.com
This one lets you resell pixels:
the million pixel webpage
Here’s a site thats trying to collect the links to all the million pixel sites:
milpixel.com
i am not sure i agree with “buy big”, i would say buy medium or small, they are far more interesting.
one more for the mix
http://www.amillionquid.com
The best one that I have seen is at http://www.topdollarhomepage.com
I found 4 new pixel sites, they are all using the same script. These give away the pixels for FREE, but you can buy the script
for less than you pay for one block of pixels on the other sites and set it up on your own website.
This is the main one here
PixelYourPage.com
Then a copy of that one is here
AlotMoreTraffic.com
The next two are for members of MySpace.com and Xanga.com, you must be a member of those sites to get pixels
PixelsForMySpace.com
PixelsForXanga.com
Looking for even more :), what a great idea!
I Found This One
The Million Pound Webpage
Lets blow up a car.
http://www.blowupmyride.com/
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The Net Hobo… wandering the web in search of meaning and offering “pixel ads” in the meantime.
http://thenethobo.com/
Here is another dude who is trying to achieve the American Way – the Pixel Way. He sells little houses so he can buy his own house.
http://fnhomepage.com
Wow! Super sites! Yeah! Really wow! Great!
Alex’d got a great idea. But what are the others? Yuuuuh!
Copy-sites-parody-page: http://www.one-pixel.tk
I see the UK are having a piece here:
http://tenpapixel.co.uk
catchy name though I like it
This new one actually has a new twist on the whole idea!
http://www.bigbannerlottery.com
Thanks for creating a well organized article about pixel advertising.
JPEAdvertising.com, an 8-year old online advertising agency is now partnering with AskShari.com to bring PixelsAnyone.com a fresh new way of delivering pixel advertising.
While this initial site strongly resembles the original milliondollarhomepage.com concept, it is simply the first of several creative ideas for delivering pixel advertising.
Research indicates a strong trend towards smaller more creative image advertising, and much like the transistor first revolutionized electronics and then the Intergrated Circuit (chip) set forth miniaturization… pixel advertising opens the door for a whole new delivery method in “web advertising media”.
Pixel advertising at the micro-ad level is just ramping up, and PixelsAnyone.com is the first heavyweight player.
Shari Thomas
JV Partner
JPEAdvertising.com/pixelsanyone/
10 Ways to promote your website
1. Pixel advertising – newest addition
2. Monthly newsletters.
3. Resources page.
4. Free e-books.
5. Link exchanges with similar sites.
6. Offer a free affiliate program.
7. Search engines.
8. Buy own domain name.
9. Write articles.
10. Write a press release.
Visit “The Auction Homepage” for the next level in “Pixel advertising”
http://www.theauctionhomepage.com
I found another UK site –> PIXEL LOTTERY
http://www.pixellottery.com
neat site
PixelsAnyone.com is driving the Alexa ranking service bonkers!
In the first few hours the ranking has opened at 114,169. Watch for that to sky rocket as more advertisers flock to the site.
Sales are very brisk, $18,300 in just 4 days!
All I can say is… are we having fun yet?
Shari Thomas
PixelsAnyone.com
How bout this one?
http://millionpixelbooty.com
lol
http://www.millionpixels4kids.com
This one is for charity to the kids, buy some space early on and make some kids happy.
Boyan
Million Pixels 4 Kids
Not just a million dollar homepage, but a BETTER MILLION DOLLAR HOMEPAGE! :)
http://www.bettermilliondollarhomepage.com