A 21-year-old British business management student has made enough money to fund his way through University by selling US$60,000 worth of pixels on his website, www.milliondollarhomepage.com, which he launched just three weeks ago.
Alex Tew, from Wiltshire, England, set-up ‘The Million Dollar Homepage’ after thinking of ways to pay for his degree studies, which begin next week. His site, which offers a total of one million pixels for US$1 each, has Spread rapidly across the Internet thanks to the blogging phenomenon, and is currently receiving over 200,000 visitors per week.
“The response has been incredible,” Tew says, “the idea just seems to have caught people’s imagination.”
Businesses can advertise on Tew’s homepage by buying at least one 10×10 pixel block for US$100, which they can use to display an ad or logo, together with a link to their own site. Those buying up Tew’s pixels have included poker sites, loan companies and some small businesses, with the biggest single order so far being for 6,400 pixels – from a website promotion company in the US.
Tew, who will be reading business management at Nottingham University, England, says that businesses are getting value for money by advertising on his site.
“Each ad on the homepage is averaging over 5,000 clicks per week.” Tew explained, “One company even doubled their online sales as a direct result of buying my pixels.”
Asked what he will do with any leftover cash, Tew says that he intends to invest in new business ideas. “I think the mark of my site’s success will be what I do with the money after I’ve paid for my degree”, he explained, “and I’ve got already got some interesting ideas”.
