The Million Dollar Homepage

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The Million Dollar Homepage is a website created in 2005 by Alex Tew, a student from Wiltshire , England , to raise funds for his university education. The homepage consisted of a million pixels arranged in a 1000 × 1000 pixel grid; the image-based links on it were selling for $ 1 per pixel in 10 × 10 blocks.

The buyers of these blocks of pixels provided tiny images to be displayed on them, a URL to which the images were linked, and a slogan to be displayed when the cursor is hovered over the link. The goal of the website was to sell all the pixels in the image and generate a million dollars in income for the author. The Wall Street Journal commented that the website has been a lasting inspiration to other websites to sell pixels.

Launched on August 26, 2005, the website has become an Internet phenomenon . The Alexa web traffic ranking peaked at around 127; on the reporting date there were 40,044. On January 1, 2006, the last 1,000 pixels were auctioned on eBay . The auction ended on January 11th with a successful bid of $ 38,100, bringing the total gross to $ 1,037,100.

During the January 2006 auction, the website was subject to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and ransom demand, which left it inaccessible to visitors for a week while its security system was upgraded. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Wiltshire Constabulary investigated the attack and extortion attempt.

history

Alex Tew, a student from Cricklade, Wiltshire, England, created The Million Dollar Homepage in August 2005 when he was 21 years old.

He was about to begin a three-year business degree at Nottingham University and was concerned that he would be left with a student loan that could take years to pay off. As a fundraising idea, Tew decided to sell a million pixels on a website for $ 1 each; buyers would add their own picture, logo, or advertisement and have the option of including a hyperlink to their website. The Pixels were sold for US dollars instead of British pounds; the US has a larger online population than the UK , and Tew believed more people would be interested in the concept if the pixels were sold in US currency. In 2005 the pound was strong against the dollar: 1 pound was worth about $ 1.80, and that price per pixel may have been too expensive for many potential buyers. Tew's set-up cost was € 50, which was used to pay for domain name registration and a basic web hosting package. The website went online on August 26, 2005.

The homepage consisted of a web banner with the website's name and a pixel counter showing the number of pixels sold, a navigation bar with nine small links to the website's internal web pages, and an empty square grid of 1,000,000 pixels that was displayed in 10,000 100-pixel blocks was divided. Tew promised customers that the website would stay online for at least five years i.e. H. until at least August 26, 2010.

Because individual pixels are too small to be clearly visible, the pixels were sold in 100-pixel "blocks" of 10 × 10 pixels; the minimum price was thus 100 dollars.

The first sale, three days after the website went live, was to an online music website run by a friend of Tew's. He bought 400 pixels in a block of 20 × 20 pixels. After two weeks, Tew friends and family had bought a total of 4,700 pixels. The website was initially marketed through word of mouth only; however, after the site raised $ 1,000, a press release was sent out, which was picked up by the BBC .

The technology news website The Register featured two articles on The Million Dollar Homepage in September. By the end of the month, The Million Dollar Homepage had raised $ 250,000 and was number 3 on Alexa Internet's list of "Movers and Shakers" behind Britney Spears and Photo District News websites . On October 6, Tew reported that the website had 65,000 unique visitors; it received 1465 Diggs, making it one of the most visited Dugg links of the week. Eleven days later, the number had risen to 100,000 individual visitors.

On October 26th, two months after the start of the Million Dollar Homepage, more than 500,900 pixels had been sold to 1,400 customers. On New Year's Eve, Tew reported that the website had 25,000 unique visitors every hour, had an Alexa Rank of 127, and that 999,000 of the 1,000,000 pixels had been sold.

On January 1, 2006, Tew announced that due to the huge demand for the final 1,000 pixels, it would be "the fairest and most logical" to auction them off on eBay rather than "the integrity and level of exclusivity that the million-pixel Concept inherent "to lose by launching a second million dollar homepage. The auction lasted ten days and received 99 legitimate bids. Although bids were received for amounts up to $ 160,109.99, many were either withdrawn or canceled as a hoax.

"I actually contacted people over the phone and it turned out they weren't serious, which is quite frustrating, so I removed those bidders at the last minute," Tew said. The winning bid was for $ 38,100 and was submitted by MillionDollarWeightLoss.com, an online dietary products store.

Tew noted that due to media interest, he was expecting a higher final bid. The Million Dollar Homepage grossed $ 1,037,100 in five months.

After expenses, taxes, and a donation to The Prince's Trust, a charity for young people, Tew expected a net income of $ 650,000 to $ 700,000.

Media presence

Following the September press release that drew attention to the website, The Million Dollar Homepage was featured in articles on BBC Online, The Register, The Daily Telegraph and PC Pro.

Tew also appeared on the national breakfast television programs Sky News Sunrise and BBC Breakfast to discuss the site.

In November the site grew in popularity around the world and received attention from the Financial Times in Germany, TVNZ in New Zealand , Terra Networks in Latin America, the China Daily and most notably in the United States, where it was featured in Adweek , Florida Today and the Wall Street Journal was reported.

Tew hired a US-based publicist to get American media attention and went on a week-long trip to the US where he spoke to ABC News Radio, the Fox News Channel, Attack of the Show! and local news broadcasts.

The concept has been described as "simple and brilliant", "clever", "awesome" and "a unique platform [for advertising] that is also a bit of fun".

Professor Martin Binks, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Innovation at Nottingham University, said: "It's brilliant in its simplicity ... advertisers were drawn to its novelty ... the website has become a phenomenon".

Washington Post's Don Oldenburg was one of the few without praise for the site, calling it a "cheap, insanely lucrative marketing monstrosity, an advertising pool of spam, banner ads and pop-ups". Oldenburg continues: "It looks like a bulletin board on designer steroids, a commercial wreck that you can't miss. It's like getting every pop-up advertisement you've ever received in your life once. It's the internet equivalent of the sudden feeling of wanting to shower ".

While the last pixels were being auctioned, Tew was interviewed at Richard & Judy and featured in the BBC News online magazine.

The Wall Street Journal wrote of The Million Dollar Homepage and its impact on the Internet community: "Mr. Tew himself has become famous in the Internet community ... the creative effusion ... paints an interesting picture of online entrepreneurship" .

Tew dropped out of business studies after one semester, which the project was set up to finance . In 2008, Tew founded Popjam, an internet aggregation and social networking company. In 2016, Tew was an entrepreneur in San Francisco .

A 2017 study by Harvard University found that the website that was still active had a significant level of dead links. Of the 2,816 original links, 547 (342,000 pixels, sold for $ 342,000) were dead, and 489 (145,000 pixels, sold for $ 145,000) were redirected to another. The report also found that of the remaining links, "the majority appear to be inconsistent with their original purpose".

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gwendolyn Bounds: How Selling Pixels May Yield a Million Bucks . In: Wall Street Journal , Nov. 22, 2005, p. B1. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  2. ↑ a b c d Gwendolyn Bounds: Pixel-Ad Entrepreneur Closes With an Auction . In: Wall Street Journal , Jan 10, 2006, p. B8. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  3. ↑ milliondollarhomepage.com Site Information . Alexa Internet . Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  4. ^ Blackmailers target $ 1m website , BBC News . January 18, 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2009. 
  5. ↑ Million dollar pixel site targeted by hackers , NBC News . January 18, 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2009. 
  6. ↑ a b c d e Student's cash-raising net scheme , BBC News . September 22, 2005. Retrieved January 30, 2009. 
  7. ↑ Alex Jew: The Million Dollar Homepage FAQ . Million Dollar Homepage . August 26, 2005. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  8. ^ Current and Historical Rate Tables . XE.com . Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  9. ↑ a b Tom Geoghegan: The million-dollar student , BBC News . January 6, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  10. ↑ Alex Jew: The Million Dollar Homepage . The Million Dollar Homepage. September 15, 2005. Archived from the original on September 15, 2005. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  11. ^ Dawn Kawamoto: Blackmailers try to black out Million Dollar Homepage , CNET . January 18, 2006. Retrieved February 19, 2009. 
  12. ↑ Tara Evans: Million dollar homepage: Alex Tew , This is Money . November 21, 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2009. 
  13. ↑ Sarah Pierce: The Million Dollar Home Page . In: Entrepreneur Magazine , January 13, 2006. Retrieved February 19, 2009. 
  14. ↑ a b c Don Oldenburg: A Million to One . In: Washington Post , January 11, 2006, p. C1. Retrieved February 5, 2009. 
  15. ↑ a b c d Steve Boggan: Million dollar boy . In: The Times , October 14, 2005. Retrieved January 30, 2009. 
  16. ^ A b Tim Richardson: Student flogs pixels to fund education , The Register . September 8, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009. 
  17. ^ Tim Richardson: Million pixel student makes £ 32k , The Register . September 20, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009. 
  18. ^ Movers & Shakers . Alexa Internet . Archived from the original on September 26, 2005. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  19. ↑ The Million Dollar Home Page . Digg . October 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  20. ↑ a b c Alex Tew: Blog Archive . The Million Dollar Homepage. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  21. ↑ a b c Gwendolyn Bounds: Pixel-Ad Entrepreneur Expected to Reach Goal . In: Wall Street Journal , January 11, 2006. Archived from the original on January 13, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  22. ↑ a b Alex Tew: Blog . The Million Dollar Homepage. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
  23. ↑ James Fontanella: Student faces legal threat after $ 1m website crashes . In: Financial Times , January 19, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2009. 
  24. ^ Tim Richardson: Pixel-flogging student makes a million , The Register . January 12, 2006. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  25. ↑ a b Richard Savill: Student solves debt fear as website earns £ 56,000 in a month . In: The Daily Telegraph , September 24, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  26. ^ Simon Aughton: UK student makes pixels pay . In: PC Pro , September 22, 2005. Archived from the original on May 8, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  27. ^ Sky News Sunrise . Presenter: Eamonn Holmes . Sky News . 6 October 2005.
  28. ↑ BBC Breakfast . Presenters: Dermot Murnaghan , Natasha Kaplinsky . BBC One . October 20, 2005.
  29. ↑ Nicolai Kwasniewski: The Way to the First Million - One Pixel, One Dollar (German) . In: Financial Times Deutschland , September 29, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  30. ↑ Estudante quer juntar US $ 1 milhão vendendo pixels ( Portuguese ) Terra Networks . September 26, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  31. ^ Web review: Topical site of the week . Television New Zealand . October 21, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  32. ↑ Cash pours in for student with $ 1m Web idea . In: China Daily , December 31, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  33. ↑ a b Chris Kridler: Student cashes in on brilliant, simple idea . In: Florida Today , October 4, 2005. Archived from the original on December 10, 2005. Retrieved on February 4, 2009. 
  34. ↑ Tim Nudd: The King Of The Pixels . In: Adweek , October 10, 2005. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008. Retrieved on February 4, 2009. 
  35. ↑ News interview. Interviewer: Jim Hickey. ABC News Radio . 14 November 2005.
  36. ^ Your World with Neil Cavuto . Presenter: Neil Cavuto . Fox News Channel . 14 November 2005.
  37. ↑ Attack of the Show! . Presenter: Kevin Pereira . Fox News Channel . November 15, 2005.
  38. ^ NBC 11 News . Interviewer: Cary Berglund . NBC . KNBC , Los Angeles, California. 16 November 2005.
  39. ↑ Million Dollar Homepage - Secret of Success .
  40. ↑ Jennifer Guevin: A million-dollar home page , CNET News . September 13, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  41. ^ Richard & Judy . Presenters: Richard Madeley , Judy Finnigan . Channel 4 . 9 January 2006.
  42. ^ Denise Winterman: What Alex did next . In: BBC News , December 5, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2010. 
  43. ↑ Jemima Kiss: The forecast for 2009: PopJam's Alex Tew thinks startups can be cheaper and faster than ever . In: The Guardian , January 5, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2010. 
  44. ↑ PopJam: what's all the fuss about? . In: The Telegraph , February 28, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2010. 
  45. ↑ Alex in 2016 . 
  46. ^ Blog - Library Innovation Lab . Harvard University . July 21, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2018.