Success stories

An idea worth one million dollars (The Million Dollar Homepage)

An inspiration for others

When I first read about this Million Dollar Homepage it blew my mind. I became very anxious to make a million dollars too. When my father was telling me how important it is to work hard for each penny I was thinking myself “oh no, I will prove you that I don’t have to work all my life”. So it inspired me and my friend to create this milliondollarplan blog.

What was the idea?

The idea was simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Pixels were available in 100-pixel ‘blocks’ (each measuring 10×10 pixels). Most of the pixels were supposed to be clickable ads with pictures or logos. Alex Tew says the main motivation for doing this was to pay for his degree studies. However I believe that this motivation was only for the press and his true purpose was to become rich.

Did it work?

Oh yes it did, and it only took him less than 5 months. He became a real internet celebrity, a part of internet history and what is most important a millionaire made at home. And he was only 21 back then when he launched The Million Dollar Homepage.

What did pixel ad buyers say

Those who bought pixels didn’t even dream about the results that these ads were going to bring.

“Since placing a one-square ad on Million Dollar Homepage, we have seen our web traffic go from 90 hits a day to an average of 5000. One day saw a 19,500 hit count. I’ve been interviewed by BBC Radio and have won thousands of pounds worth of new clients. This was the most cost-effective piece of Marketing I have ever conducted.” (Steve Fair, Managing Director, Sponge New Business, UK)

How did Alex Tew come up with the million dollars worth idea?

”It was a muggy summer’s night late in August (2005), the time around midnight, and there I was, lying on my bed with a notepad, brainstorming ideas to make money for uni. I think I’m quite a creative person, so I wanted to come up with an idea that was unique and would hopefully capture people’s imagination, but with the whole purpose of making money. No point being shy about it!.. So anyway, after an hour of two of jotting random things on paper, the idea seemingly popped out of nowhere. Almost like my subconscious mind had been ticking over in the background, working it all out. So it just kind of happened. That’s about it. I scribbled it down and within about 10 minutes a picture of what needed to be done had emerged.”

The cost of last 1,000 pixels was much higher

On Friday 13th of January 2006 payment of US$38,100 has been received from Mr Kliger for last 1,000 pixels that were sold on Ebay. It meant that officially all one million pixels on the homepage were sold, with total income standing at US$1,037,100 - not bad for less than 5 months work!

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