Ever since England’s Alex Tew developed “The Million Dollar Homepage,” the pixel advertising phenomenon has fascinated internet advertisers and aspiring techies. Tew had a very innovative idea to help pay his way through college. He decided to sell space on his homepage for $1.00 per pixel. His ultimate goal was to sell one million pixels and make $1 million. Not only was Tew successful at making $1 million, but he inspired a whole new form of internet advertising.
What is a pixel? A pixel is essentially a measuring tool used to determine resolution or space used in a computer page. One pixel is very small, which is why Tew required a minimum purchase of a 10X10 block, or $100.00 worth of space. In order to have an ad that has visible presence, Tew said anything smaller would be impractical.
Inspired by Tew’s success with milliondollarhomepage.com, other entrepreneurs have tried to take advantage of the new advertising medium. For instance, pixeladvertising.org currently is populated by some of the most well know names on the internet, including such companies as godaddy.com and buy.com.
While pixel advertising certainly was innovative, many wonder whether it was and is a viable means of advertising. The limited space gained from pixel purchases allows for little else than branding for a company. The pixel page is inherently full of advertising clutter. Is it possible for one brand to stand out amongst the rest? Tew believes that his idea was not only creative, but for companies that used his initial site, a great opportunity to be associated with his phenomenon.
As more pixel sites pop up and brands it is possible that branding may be diluted with hundreds of other brands sharing space. However, brands can stand out in a web page in the same way they might in print media. They can go bigger and stand out with color and unique design in their ads.
The benefits of being branded on the original million dollar home page are definitely significant. Pixeladvertising.org is currently selling pixels for $.25, which is one-fourth of the pixel value drawn by Tew’s site. This is logical as the more availability of such advertising space, the less relative demand to drive the price. Similarly, while Tew’s page remains full, pixeladvertising.org and other competitors have pages that are only partially full. They have not been able to fill the available space.
One of the advertising benefits to pixel advertisers is that curiosity seekers who look over the pixel ad pages can link directly to the advertiser sites with a simple click. With the significant traffic to Tew’s page and to some others, only a small percentage of filtered consumers are needed to make the advertising investment pay off. Compared with the relatively high prices required for television advertising and some of the traditional media, pixel advertising is a very low risk investment. Even if there is little to no return for advertisers, the cost is certainly effective.
What is a pixel? A pixel is essentially a measuring tool used to determine resolution or space used in a computer page. One pixel is very small, which is why Tew required a minimum purchase of a 10X10 block, or $100.00 worth of space. In order to have an ad that has visible presence, Tew said anything smaller would be impractical.
Inspired by Tew’s success with milliondollarhomepage.com, other entrepreneurs have tried to take advantage of the new advertising medium. For instance, pixeladvertising.org currently is populated by some of the most well know names on the internet, including such companies as godaddy.com and buy.com.
While pixel advertising certainly was innovative, many wonder whether it was and is a viable means of advertising. The limited space gained from pixel purchases allows for little else than branding for a company. The pixel page is inherently full of advertising clutter. Is it possible for one brand to stand out amongst the rest? Tew believes that his idea was not only creative, but for companies that used his initial site, a great opportunity to be associated with his phenomenon.
As more pixel sites pop up and brands it is possible that branding may be diluted with hundreds of other brands sharing space. However, brands can stand out in a web page in the same way they might in print media. They can go bigger and stand out with color and unique design in their ads.
The benefits of being branded on the original million dollar home page are definitely significant. Pixeladvertising.org is currently selling pixels for $.25, which is one-fourth of the pixel value drawn by Tew’s site. This is logical as the more availability of such advertising space, the less relative demand to drive the price. Similarly, while Tew’s page remains full, pixeladvertising.org and other competitors have pages that are only partially full. They have not been able to fill the available space.
One of the advertising benefits to pixel advertisers is that curiosity seekers who look over the pixel ad pages can link directly to the advertiser sites with a simple click. With the significant traffic to Tew’s page and to some others, only a small percentage of filtered consumers are needed to make the advertising investment pay off. Compared with the relatively high prices required for television advertising and some of the traditional media, pixel advertising is a very low risk investment. Even if there is little to no return for advertisers, the cost is certainly effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment