Million Dollar Homepage

Last Updated: May 1, 2013

Definition - What does Million Dollar Homepage mean?

The Million Dollar Homepage is a website conceived by a student in Wiltshire, England, named Alex Tew. Tew created the page to raise money to pay for his college education. The site was posted in 2005 and its homepage consists of 1 million pixels, which were sold to advertisers for US$1 apiece. The ads included a tiny image for each advertiser, which linked to the advertiser's product or website. Pixels were sold in 100 pixel blocks measuring 10x10 pixels so that advertisers would have enough space to display a meaningful ad. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, Tew's idea quickly spread online, and he sold $40,000 worth of pixels within the site's first two weeks; he reached his $1 million goal in just five months.

Techopedia explains Million Dollar Homepage

Although this concept sounds like easy money, The Million Dollar Homepage ran into several major problems that Tew had to scramble to overcome, including a lawsuit from an advertiser, a denial of service attack and a suspension of his PayPal account as a result of high volume. When Tew sold his last block of ads in January of 2006, his site was reportedly receiving 1.5 million unique visitors per week and had been featured in many major publications in both the U.K. and the United States. Tew sold many of his pixels through eBay, as well as directly through the website.