News

Jeff Preshing,
founder & CPO of
Pixel-Mart.com

Benefit from Pixelotto!

Alex Tew, the original Million Dollar Homepage creator, is launching a new website: Pixelotto. I could sum up how it works for you, but I won't waste your time. You can go to his site and check it out. I'll just point out one nice side effect: Pixelotto is increasing traffic to Pixel-Mart.com. Take a look at my "visitors" graph in the top-right corner. Yesterday there were more than double the number of visitors than there were the day before: over 100.

And these are some curious visitors! I got almost three times the number of click-throughs than I did the day before.

See, by launching Pixelotto, Alex is rejuvenating interest in his original website, the Million Dollar Homepage. And of course, Pixel-Mart.com already has one of the most attractive pixel ads on the Million Dollar Homepage - you probably already know where it is. So, the more visitors he gets, the more visitors I get.

These curious visitors are coming to Pixel-Mart.com and seeing a lot of blank space on the front page. But if you buy some pixels here, those visitors could become your visitors too. It costs only $20 per block to place your pixel ad here for the next four years.

The Little Pixels That Could

Yes: There is still life energy flowing through the arteries and veins that power Pixel-Mart.com!

Thanks to Amsterdam Escape for purchasing this: pixel ad today. You'll find it right smack in the middle of the front page. If you're planning an Amsterdam trip, this hotel looks like a pretty funky place to complete the experience. Click their pixel ad and have a look.

The only downside to selling pixels here at Pixel-Mart.com is that, as Chief Pixel Officer, it gives me a fair bit of accounting work to do. Let's see. Total revenue to date for Q4 2006: $80. Phew! Now I'm exhausted.

Search Engine Optimization

Earlier this year, I made some effort to optimize Pixel-Mart.com for the search engines. People call this "SEO" (search engine optimization). After doing a little research, I decided that the keywords I should target are "pixel advertising". Basically, I wanted Pixel-Mart.com to rank high when people searched for those words. I made some changes: modifying incoming links, changing page text, and so forth. It didn't make a big difference at the time - Pixel-Mart.com ranked pretty low. But today, I noticed I have been receiving a few visitors from the search engines. So I checked. Here's where I stand right now:

• Search for pixel advertising on Google: Pixel-Mart.com currently ranks #20 (out of 10,000,00). Bottom of the second page. Slightly higher if you put quotes around the search phrase.
• Search for pixel advertising on MSN search: Pixel-Mart.com ranks #4 (out of 818,724). With quotes: #3!

I'm surprised to see the rankings get better over time, all by themselves. Not bad. Looks like I'm a SEO expert! I should be a consultant. (My fee? Buy some pixels!)

Four More Blocks Sold

Please welcome Pixel-Mart.com's newest additions! No, scratch that. Don't just welcome them. Click them!

The first new link is in the top row, which takes you to another pixel page. Now, some might say that the pixel page market is saturated. But these guys say, impossible! And so do I, for that matter! So I wish them the best of luck.

The second new link is . Three blocks worth! This is a page where you can buy T-shirts about enlightenment. I defy you to visit this page and not experience instant spiritual awakening! Then, you should buy a T-shirt!

Much thanks to these new sponsors. You guys rule.

Sold Another Block!

Wow! A cutting-edge fashion website just broke three months of silence and bought some pixels on the ol' Pixel-Mart.com homepage. Awesome!

This is their link: , which you will now find on the top row. Everyone should click it, because they are awesome for buying pixels here. I would buy something, but it's ladies' fashion only... although admittedly, I do have quite a petite figure.

Well, that made my day. Could this be the start of a pixel-ad resurgence here at Pixel-Mart.com?

Recognized

This was kinda funny. I recently started a new job, and my new boss had been to Pixel-Mart.com before we even met. I don't always wear my glasses, but when he saw me wearing them, he thought, "Why does this guy look familiar...?" Then he remembered seeing my picture here on the site (on the right). Small world! Of course, it narrows the world down when you're a computer guy working at a computer company.

Glitches Fixed

I just noticed that for the last two weeks, nobody was able to upload any images to the site. So basically, nobody was able to purchase any pixels. Dang! I missed out on a few orders because of this. In addition, the daily "visitors" graph in the top-right corner had stopped updating.

I investigated the problem and found the cause. It was due to a sudden change in permissions on the webserver. Scripts now run under a different user than they did when I first built the site.

Anyway, I got everything working again. If you had attempted to buy some pixels, please try again! And if you notice any thing else acting wonky, please send me an e-mail about it. Thanks!

One Month Later

Two more pixel ads sold: and .

So let's review some statistics for Pixel-Mart.com. It went online just over three months ago (Dec. 15). There have been 51,236 visitors, which ranks the site #59,666 out of all the websites on the Internet, according to Alexa. I've sold $1200 USD worth of pixel ads on the front page, and those ads have been clicked 17,947 times in total. Not too shabby for a copycat site, I guess!

Not much else to report. Things have clearly slowed down around here. It's quiet... too quiet. Hey, you know what would blow peoples' minds? If you bought some pixels!

PageRank = 5

"PageRank" is a number from 0 to 10, measuring the importance of a webpage, according to Google. Every three months or so, Google updates this value, and you can see it if you've installed a certain plugin for your browser, like the Google Toolbar.

Looks like Google did an update last night. The Pixel-Mart.com homepage now has a PageRank of 5! This is what you see if you have the SearchStatus plugin (for Firefox), which is what I use:

Happy Valentine's Day

What better way to say "I love you" than with the gift of pixels?

Pixel-Mart.com has already climbed to #18 on that ranking site I mentioned earlier, which is pretty cool. It looks like Alexa's 3-month traffic rank is starting to update continuously.

Also, two more blocks were sold recently: and . Thanks guys! It's nice to get out of that slump.

Price drop: Now just $20 per block!

I haven't sold any pixels in a while. Two weeks, actually. You can see from the graph in top-right corner that traffic has plateaued at about 300 visitors per day. Not bad, but here I was charging $100 a block? That didn't work. So, I decided to slash the price from $100 per block down to $20. Let's see if that helps!

To compensate the people who already bought pixels at the $100 block price, I've given each person four free blocks for each block they already purchased. That's why you see a sudden smattering of new ads on the homepage.

I also decided to retire the blimp. It was cool, but it wasn't really good for showing information. So for now, it's staying parked in the hangar. I don't know, I find the banner up there a little cleaner without it.

But enough about the blimp... Buy some pixels! It's just a measly $20 for crying out loud!

We're number ... 22!

Alexa tracks website popularity using a plugin on a few people's browsers. Sort of like the Neilsen ratings for TV. A commonly-used indicator of website popularity is the "3-month traffic rank". Alexa updates this figure on a monthly basis.

Anyway, some time ago, I noticed this site which ranks about 300 known pixel ad sites in order of their 3-month traffic rank. (You may have to scroll down on that page.) Looks like Pixel-Mart.com is moving up! I've only been online for 7 weeks - not even two months - but I've already climbed to #22 in the ranking. Go Pixel-Mart!

Million Dollar Homepage prediction

Traffic peaked when Alex Tew sold the final pixels on the Million Dollar Homepage (MDH). That was a peak for me, too, because MDH drives traffic to my site. But traffic is still quite healthy over here. For the past four days, Pixel-Mart.com has generated about 200 total click-throughs per day for its advertisers.

I'm going to predict another surge in interest for the MDH sometime in the next few weeks. MDH has sold out, but not all the ads have been published yet. I think once all the ads have been published, and the grid is finalized, MDH will receive another wave of media attention. The grid's final image will symbolize, like, the potential of a creative idea. I'm sure Alex Tew will start selling the image on posters and T-shirts. I knew a lot of guys in University who would have worn a T-shirt like that!

New ordering system online!

I've overhauled my Buy Pixels page. The new ordering system is now online! It's a lot more automated and user-friendly. Try it out to see what I mean. If you experience any errors while using it, or have any comments whatsoever, please send some feedback to jeff@pixel-mart.com.

10,000 click-throughs

Traffic today has been so busy today that, around one hour ago, Pixel-Mart.com logged its 10,000th pixel ad click-through. I only started logging clicks on December 28th, so basically, the ads you see on the front page have enjoyed 10,000 click-throughs between them in the span of just three weeks! That's including the lighter traffic days due to the Million Dollar Homepage's recent downtime.

That's a lot of clicks!

Million Dollar Homepage under attack!

The Million Dollar Homepage (MDH) has been under attack by hackers since last Thursday. It's been very difficult to get through. The hackers have been holding the site hostage, demanding a random of $50,000.

I have a $1600 pixel ad on MDH, and I certainly haven't received very many clicks from MDH during this downtime. However, I've still been averaging about 300 visitors/day. A lot of these visits have been from repeat visitors, and from other referrals besides MDH.

As a paying sponsor of MDH, it is somewhat frustrating to see the site go offline. But the good news is, it's back and it's now sitting on some fatter pipes. Its new IP is 209.249.221.13, which resolves to a co-located data center in Chicago. Hopefully, it can weather out the attack over there. In a way, the whole incident could actually turn out to be a blessing; it's given the MDH even more media attention. As a result, I've received over 1200 visitors again today, and it's barely past noon.

In other news, I'm still working on improvements to my Buy Pixels page. It's a lot of work! But advertisers, don't delay... Place your pixel ad on Pixel-Mart.com today!

One month online

Pixel-Mart.com has been online for one month (and one day). Total visitors: 28,945!

Another traffic surge

The eBay auction has ended, and we're in the midst of another traffic surge here at Pixel-Mart.com. Because as you know, 1% of the Million Dollar Homepage visitors click directly through to here - and that's a lot! There were 2514 visitors, with 1101 pixel ad click-throughs yesterday, and we may exceed those numbers today.

The auction winner hasn't been announced yet, so traffic should continue after that. A lot of the space on MDH is still blank (reserved), so traffic will likely get another boost once those are filled in too.

Final MDH auction almost over

Alex Tew's final 1000-pixel auction ends soon - 6 hours to go! It should be interesting to see how that turns out.

I've nearly completed a new Buy Pixels page for the site. I'm making it much more interactive and user-friendly. Even with a worthwhile number of click-throughs, I realize it's going out on a limb to ask people to invest in another pixel ad site, so the least I can do is make it easy for you to do so!

Also, Monday was another great traffic day for Pixel-Mart.com, with 517 pixel ad click-throughs.

More mentions

I love it when people mention Pixel-Mart.com in their forums/blogs.

• musick.blogspot.com - "Ah, yes the imitators have already begun..."
• www.boards.ie - "Another, much less successful clone."
• forums.somethingawful.com - This guy actually Photoshopped my Million Dollar Homepage link.

eBay Auction

The bids for Alex Tew's final 1000-pixel eBay auction have climbed to $152,300. My god. It seems that all Alex has to do is leave his hat out on the street, and the whole world falls over themselves to pour money into it. Meanwhile, I'm barely scraping by over here! What's up with that? I mean, The Million Dollar Homepage doesn't even have a blimp!

Traffic and click-throughs are still doing well. I still expect a surge in traffic once the eBay auction ends, coming from my "big nose guy" pixel ad over on The Million Dollar Homepage. Of course, I wouldn't mind having a few extra pixel ads here on Pixel-Mart.com. It would give those visitors more things to look at!

Finally, I'm experimenting with a method for making pixels easier to buy. It's quite a bit of work, but it's fun. Keep your eyes peeled!

More clicks

546 click-throughs yesterday! Don't hesitate to buy some pixels and enjoy increased traffic to your own site. Supposing your $20 ad gets an average of 20 clicks per day for the next year, that's almost a penny per click!

Vote Pixel-Mart

We had a healthy 417 pixel ad click-throughs yesterday. That equates to an excellent value for advertisers, and I'm convinced that the heaviest traffic days are yet to come.

Alex Tew has decided to auction off his last 1000 pixels on eBay. The high bid is already $21,400. That's nuts!

From Alex' blog: "Some [people] are wondering why I don't open a second page. Well, I won't do that because I am determined to maintain the integrity and degree of exclusivity intrinsic to the million-pixel concept." I would suggest that if advertisers are looking for a second page to buy pixels on, look no further than Pixel-Mart.com! You get an excellent cost-per-click, and I am also determined to maintain the integrity of the page. I don't give away ads, lie about statistics, or participate in pyramid schemes to artificially boost traffic figures, as some pixel pages do. If I did, it would compromise the effectiveness of your ad, and that's not good.

Finally, if you like Pixel-Mart.com, please take a second to vote for the site on the Pixel Wars. Thanks!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2006! People are less likely to be on their computer this weekend, I would wager. Especially around midnight in my time zone; there were no click-throughs whatsoever between 11:45 PM and 12:30 AM! Everyone was too busy singing "Auld Lang Syne". But we still had a terrific 350 click-throughs yesterday. Remember that these pixel ads will remain here for five years - I'll let you do the cost-per-click calculations.

The Million Dollar Homepage has frozen sales and is currently sitting at a tantalizing 999,000 pixels sold! I'd predict another traffic boost for a while, once those remaining 1000 are gone.

Heaviest traffic day yet

Yesterday, there were 1226 unique click-throughs from 5427 unique visitors. Awesome! Those visitors could have been yours if you had bought some pixels. Correspondingly, the Alexa daily traffic rank spiked to #13,991. Pixel-Mart.com was one of the most looked-at pixel pages that day! And three more blocks were sold, too.

The flurry of visitors from Thursday's press is dwindling, but we're still shaping up to get about half that many visitors today. Also, note that Alex Tew's Million Dollar Homepage has 16,200 pixels to go before he completely fills his grid. When he does, he will receive more press attention, and that will mean more heavy traffic for Pixel-Mart.com. So now is a pretty good time to place your pixel ad!

507 pixel ad click-throughs in 24 hours!

Boy, did I ever pick the right time to add a click tracker! Yesterday, 507 unique visitors clicked on the 20x20 pixel ad in the top-left corner of the grid. The site received 2306 visitors in total, and the Alexa daily traffic rank jumped to 31,103. That's right, pixels here have real value!

I understand if some people are skeptical about this claim, so here's a complete log of yesterday's pixel ad click-throughs.

Those visitors could be yours. All you have to do is buy some pixels on the front page.

And guess what? Today is even busier. Much busier! Between midnight and 10:00 AM this morning, there have already been 3050 more visits and 685 more pixel ad click-throughs. And there are still 14 hours left in the day.

So, why the sudden surge in traffic? It's this article from the Reuters news agency. Alex Tew's Million Dollar Homepage is getting much more traffic than ever now, and roughly 1 or 2% of his visitors click straight through to here. His page is almost full, but Pixel-Mart.com isn't. And once he reaches a million, he'll receive even more press. The best way to take advantage of that traffic is to buy pixels here!

Click Tracker

I'm interested in giving a worthwhile number of clicks to customers who place pixel ads here. And while I have earned one customer so far, I have no idea how many clicks he's received. So today, I made my own click tracker and hooked it up to the front page. I'll be collecting click-through statistics from this point on.

Also, my current customer's website seems to be offline at the moment. That's too bad, and certainly not a lot of fun for visitors! If you're interested in getting extra traffic to your website, why not fill the void and buy some pixels yourself?

Merry Xmas!

...and Happy Holidays from Pixel-Mart.com. I suppose if you celebrate Christmas, you're not too likely to check out the site today. But if you do, then how about a fresh batch of pixels to go with that egg nog!

Random mentions

It's kind of amusing to see people link to Pixel-Mart.com from various forums and blogs. Here are a couple such places. These are in German, so I've provided links to (rather sketchy) automatic translations. The posts themselves are about the Million Dollar Homepage, with Pixel-Mart.com being mentioned as a copycat:

• "Fundstück der Woche 005" ("Find of the week" - translation)
• "Pixelwahn" (translation)

Quote from the second blog entry (translated): "imitators are natural ... Here [are] a few hopeless examples". Hopeless?! They must not have noticed my one ad!

Hey there... blimpy boy!

Well, that was fun. I added a little blimp in the sky, to report site statistics. It will be there if you have Flash 5 (minimum) and Javascript enabled in your browser, which most people do.

And even more fun: I had my first customer this morning. w00t!

I still have a few more changes to roll out, but I'm happy enough with the way the site looks now, so it's time to start attracting more visitors. Keep your eye on that blimp!

Day Five

The front page is still blank. Google PageRank is still 0. But the Alexa Traffic Rank for today has inched up to 150,382 (from 2 million or so).

Most of my e-mails have been from other pixel ad webmasters, asking to trade pixel ads. It's cool of them to offer, since a few ads would create the illusion that people have bought already. But, I'll pass on that. My first ad will be a real one!

Yesterday, I figured out how to make the site look consistent across IE, Firefox and Opera. They didn't quite agree for the first few days. I'm still working on another little enhancement - basically a nifty way to report site statistics.

Day Three

As of last midnight, Pixel-Mart.com has received 837 visits from 753 unique IPs. Not too bad for only one existing link. Most of these visitors came directly from the Million Dollar Homepage where, (like you, probably!) they noticed my fairly conspicuous pixel ad, and clicked it. I'm currently working on a couple of enhancements - once those are complete, I'll start actively publicizing the site!

Welcome to Pixel-Mart.com!

Hi there! First, let me admit that the website you see here was directly inspired by The Million Dollar Homepage - the homepage which introduced the concept of "pixel advertising" to the web.

Four months ago, there was no such thing, but already, "pixel ad" is a standard part of the web vernacular. There are at least 783 copycat pixel ad websites. There's a slew of pixel ad directory sites such as The Pixel Wars. There are even a few sites offering support to other pixel ad websites - The Million Dollar Script, for example.

So why would I build yet another pixel ad website? Because clearly, pixel ads are here to stay. And as long as they are, my goal with Pixel-Mart.com is to build the most effective site for placing your pixel ad. Read the What is this? page for more information, and watch this space for new developments! And feel free to buy some pixels!