The Million Dollar Homepage idea, by Alex Tew

Good point you have there. But the thing is... Internet nowadays can be used as a way of Indentity theft and fraud. Most people wont even believe you, as long as it has to do with their money.

Seun,

Thanks for changing the heading; I think yours is more appropriate. I wasn't suggesting that Alex Tew should be taken as role model, the relevance of this is the fact that we should always pursue  our dreams if we believe in it however crazy it might seem; who would have thought he could make money from selling pixels, he believed in his dream, went for it and the rest his history.

Haven said that, Alex hasn't done anything illegal, he arrived at this business strategy as a result of creative thinking and that's what makes people buy the pixels (creativity and ggenuineness read what the British press are saying about him here http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/press.php

I don't know this guy from Adam, I read his story in the British press and went to his website to find out how he did it - he is actually providing a service - driving traffics to his clients website, if you are ffamiliarwith google ad you will know how much it cost to generate/buy traffic to your site

Great Idea, Great move ! Nothing else works, no matter how big your dream is ; without taking a step, its will just be there and u remain same.

What i just want to say is that, a anything u can concieve just believe u can achieve with positive mental attitude. Combine with good people around, you are there.

The internet's posibilies is not 50% discovered, and who knows you may be lucy to get 10% of it(big enough hun?). Google guys started less than ten years ago , now they are bigger than some businesses that has been established before those guys were born.

worked for him

hahah that easy. We all wish it was that easy. Man idea is one thing, for it to work for you is another thing. Thats just the reality you would have to live with as an entrepreneur

Yes there are many pixel advertising sites popping up now, but one which is caught my imagination is

http://www.freemillionpixelhomepage.com

the guy says once hes got the million he will gamble it on red or black on a roulette wheel, and if it wins all the advertisers get their money back,, its hilarious

As you can expect, there are many many clones. It looks like everybody wants to be rich... without too much work. How surprising 
Some copycats are innovating at least. For example, MapShares mixes "pixel ads" and Google Maps!

Currently he has raised $959,000 already!

Love him or hate him - the boys done well.  Theres also a lot to be said for girl power... you should check out http://www.pinknoticeboard.com - a refreshing change as its a site that looks even better than his and has more than just advertising space.... go girl!

Sabrina

I really hate this guy   
I've been following his exploits since early september and it's truly the best 'dumbest' idea ever. 

Its all about 'thinking outside the box' and kudos to this guy for making money from this idea. The idea is quirky and similar in a way, to the girl who ran up $20,000 worth of credit card debt, and then set up a Web site where people donated money to help her pay it all off.  It seemed like a crazy idea but guess what, people actually donated and she eventually paid it all off and made some extra cash as well 

http://www.savekaryn.com/AboutSaveKaryn.htm
check out the old original site  http://www.savekaryn-originalsite.com/

I know that this is the kind of idea that young Nigerians will be excited about.  Easy ways to make a lot of money!  But the truth is that the guy was just lucky to be the first to come up with the idea, and as the first he was able to get a lot of attention from the media.  And that is why he has been able to raise so much money.  Others who try it will see that they won't get much response.

I just went on that site Sabrina recommended and it seems that a girl called Rupa Kanabar has an advertiser that got 4 times more traffic or something from his advert on her website at www.pinkmilliondollars.com ! Shes pretty hot as well.   

The Million Dollar Idea by Alex is cool and is one of the best examples yet that the Internet is a place to do New Things in a NEW way, instead of doing OLD things in a new way. But it is only the beginning.

I am convinced, that more savvy organisations will take Alex's business model and carve out niche Million Dollar Pages. In fact, I've found two such new NICHE sites. One is http://www.milliondollarcredithomepage.com/ and was recently featured by Yahoo News at http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060102/bs_prweb/prweb326701_3.  And as if to prove my point, a number of finance related companies have bought pixels on the site. One such company is http://www.creditcardbank.co.uk/.

So, lets all praise Alex Tew not bury him!

Catch22

This one is interesting! http://www.milliondollartale.com
Looks like he took Alex's idea and put a spin on it...

Another spin on the same gimmick

http://www.fillmyroom.com/

News from www.millionairepixels.co.uk 
‘a Devon business with global ambition’

Date: Monday 16 January 2006                   

Australia asks Devon Designer for Help

Devon internet businessman and web designer Alan Wheeler has launched an innovative web advertising service which has already attracted an international company to sign up.

Bovey Tracey based Mr Wheeler has also been asked by Australian charity ‘Hope for Children’ to help them design and set up a similar web-based advertising service.

His web-service www.millionairepixels.co.uk  enables businesses to buy a square of pixels, on the web page. Customers click on the coloured pixels and are immediately transported to the advertiser’s web site.

With each block of 100 pixels costing just £60 (60p per unit) it is, believes Mr Wheeler, one of the best value advertising and promotion options for businesses of all sizes and a potentially valuable boost to tourism related services. 

And, in the longer term, advertisers could end up bidding for space on what is being described as internet ‘real estate’. 

Mr Wheeler, aged 42, said “It’s a quick and easy way for people to find a service or firm and it also gives competitive advantage to the businesses because, with the millions of web sites available, this will draw potential customers to them much more easily.”

“Without a doubt there are people globally willing to pay for quite gimmicky advertising solutions. The internet is a fast moving place with over eight million web pages added on a daily basis. For a website to stand out and generate sales it needs to stand out from the rest,” he added
 
Last autumn university student Alex Tew set up the Million Dollar site and since then has been overwhelmed by the success of a venture intended to raise enough money to pay for his way through university.

 Alan Wheeler’s www.millionairepixels.co.uk is, he says, the next big step in the concept because, in effect, businesses are ‘leasing’ virtual real estate on the web to promote their businesses.

Launched just two weeks ago, www.millionairepixels.co.uk  has already won the backing of international business Optis Europe Ltd, an operations management company, which is using the site to promote its business.

With more customers advertising it is, says Mr Wheeler, inevitable that like real property, some of the pixels on his site will become increasingly valuable for their ‘owners’ as more business is generated.

However, the last 1200 pixels, or advertising blocks, will eventually be auctioned off in support of the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, said Mr Wheeler.

Ends…