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January 06, 2006

Million Dollar Home Page Will Best 1 Million USD

alex_milliondollar.jpg

Alex Tew
in the WSJ
Alex Tew is down to his last 1,000.

Pixels.

Demand high. Supply low.

What's a Capitalist to do?

eBay.
The American Way.
Even for our English cousins.

Alex is auctioning off his remaining inventory. The bid stands at:

Current bid: US $152,300.00
(Approximately £86,701.58)

Time left: 5 days 2 hours
10-day listing, Ends 11-Jan-06 18:42:28 GMT
Start time: 01-Jan-06 18:42:28 GMT
History: 151 bids (US $1.00 starting bid)

alex-ebay.JPG

Alex Tew
at eBay HQ

Yes -- That's $152,300.

My microscopic marketing investment of (only!) a hundred bucks is paying off. Bigtime.

21 hits.

My new best friend Alex sends me this update:

Hi Jack,

I thought you'd like to hear my big news: I've almost hit the million dollar mark! I say "almost" because there are still 1,000 pixels available, and due to exceptionally high demand, I'm auctioning them off on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5652179487&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:UK:31

MillionDollarHomepage.com has received over 1 million unique visitors in the last 48 hours due to a surge in international media coverage (Reuters, CNN, ABC, BBC etc.) which has caused demand for pixels to outstrip supply by a huge amount. Therefore auctioning the last 1,000 pixels on eBay seemed like the best option.

Find out how things have unfolded in the past few days on my blog at
www.milliondollarhomepage.com/blog.php

Oh, and happy new year!

Cheers

Alex Tew

The Million Dollar Homepage
www.milliondollarhomepage.com

The chirpie puke.

And yes, I'm cheering for him.

###

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Joe Grossberg has analysis and an excellent suggestion.

Mary Redford has eBay bid comparisons.

The brainchild of Britisher Alex Tew was written up in The Wall Street Journal.

Posted by Jack Yoest at January 6, 2006 10:30 AM

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Comments

If I was the type to buy pixel ads, which I'm not, I might go for Company Battleships cos at least there's a bit of programming behind it.

Posted by: geek-pie at January 18, 2006 03:40 PM

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�

Posted by: Spider at January 23, 2006 02:45 PM

Here's another of those sites out there:
http://www.bcz.com/

Posted by: Ronald at January 28, 2006 03:35 AM

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