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The Million Dollar Homepage is a website conceived by Alex Tew, a 21 year old student from Wiltshire, England to help raise money for his university education. Launched on August 26th, 2005, the website has (as of November 17) generated a gross income of USD $609,600 and has a Google PageRank of 7. His Alexa ranking as of November 9, 2005 is 2,259.
The index page of the site consists of a 1000 x 1000 pixel grid (one million pixels), which he sells image-based links on for US $1 per pixel. A person who buys one or more of these pixelblocks can design a tiny image which will be displayed on them, and also decide a URL which he or she wants them to link to. The aim of the site is to sell all of the pixels in the image, thus generating one million dollars of income for the creator.
Origins
Tew wanted to find a way of funding his degree studies, since he was starting a course at Nottingham University in a month. He had the idea of selling pixels, and even though he didn't really believe anyone would want to buy them, he decided to go ahead with the plan, knowing he had very little to lose by trying. He planned not to market the site, but to simply allow it to become known by word of mouth. Within three days, he sold his first 20 x 20 pixel block, to an online music site. From then on, with only a press release in terms of self-promotion, he sold several blocks a day. To Tew's surprise, it only took about two weeks before he had enough money to pay his first year at university. By now, a number of well-known blogs and UK newspapers (e.g., The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Sun) had noted his endeavor, and the numbers of orders skyrocketed. A month on from the site's launch, he had made $152,900.
Tew notes that compared to most Internet advertisement, his Web site is good business for his buyers as well, due to high traffic and low prices.
Critics of the site claim that it is nothing but a large advertising banner; the defenders point out that what gives it so many visitors is not the banners themselves, but rather the original and novel concept of the site.
Imitators
A simple internet search on "pixel advertising" or "pixel ads" will reveal many sites that are seeking to emulate the success of the Million Pixel Homepage - it has become a minor subgenre in internet advertising. However, the limited success of these imitators may have an impact on its long-term sustainability.
References
Boggan, Steve (Nov. 10, 2005). "Million Dollar Boy". New Straits Times, p. L12–L13.
External links
The Million Dollar Homepage, as of 29 December 2005.
Alex Tew, a student in England, has almost reached his target of one million dollars on his website: Million Dollar Homepage. He came up with the idea after jotting down ideas before he went to bed on how to become a millionaire before he went to university. Then he came up with the million-dollar idea: selling pixels at USD $1 each on a web page. Alex currently believes he can make his goal by the end of 31st December, 2005.

Advertising companies especially appreciate the website, as they wish to "make Internet history" on the Million Dollar Homepage. In fact as of writing, he has already made USD $999,000. The student says advertisers get to keep their ads for a period of five years from purchase and he says he will use the money he has made to guarantee it. Alex has said he has already got numerous job offers from companies aiming to secure his money making talent.

Tew is undergoing a business management course at Nottingham and needed GBP £7000 a year to complete his studies. He is understandably overwhelmed by the success he has achieved: "It's just nuts. I'm in a state of disbelief. It's like Monopoly money but then I look at my bank account and there's a lot of cash in it." The British National Union of Students claim that 90% of students are in debt. However, what only worries him is how he's going to spend his money. He has already spent some of his money on a car for himself, as he thinks of what to do with his new fortune.

His website's method is simple; his website is made up of one page divided into 10,000 boxes, each 100 pixels in size. Companies can buy one or more boxes for USD $100 each and cover it with a logo, which, when clicked on, transports web users to the customers' own site.
The figures add up with the site now carrying over 240 advertisements and has 30,000 hits a day. Even the actor Jack Black, star of "''School of Rock''" and "''Shallow Hal''", is using the site to advertise his band Tenacious D.