How one kid made a million dollars online in less than six months!
Hello from sunny Australia!
I'm really excited to be here for a seminar we're putting on... but whew! Was that ever a long plane ride! ;)
But at least it gave me some time to think about some of the crazy Internet marketing headlines to hit the industry in the last year. Blogging, podcasting, and RSS syndication were some of the big ones...
However, an unusual story that really stands out for me is the story of a 21-year-old student from England, Alex Tew, who took a simple (and kind of crazy!) idea and turned it into $1 million... in just six months!
Now, you may not know the name Alex Tew. But you may have heard of his web site, www.MillionDollarHomepage.com. Maybe you've even visited it.
If you have, you've seen the patchwork quilt of tiny advertisements that takes up the entire page.
Alex had the brilliant (and fiendishly simple) idea of selling off the individual pixels on his web page to advertisers for $1 a pixel. Because one pixel is too tiny to display anything meaningful, he sold his pixels in lots of 100. So, for $100, anyone could own a little piece of real estate on MillionDollarHomepage.com for a period of five years.
But it's not so much the idea that's the great thing about this story -- it's why THIS idea out of the many that explode onto the Web every day... month... year grabbed people's imaginations, and took off.
You see, The Million Dollar Homepage could easily have been just another wacky Internet idea that generates some publicity then disappears as quickly as it surfaces.
Of course, there's no doubting that luck had something to do with it... But when you examine the story of The Million Dollar Homepage, it's clear that the wild success of this "wacky" Internet idea was actually founded on solid marketing techniques...
- Be unique: On the Web, being first is like
winning the jackpot. Alex's idea for his web site was certainly unique! So
when his idea began taking off, even though imitators started appearing all
over the Web, he's the one who eventually made the serious money
Being unique is something you should always strive for in your online business. Even if your product isn't the only one of its kind, you should still find your own unique selling point -- what you do that sets you apart from everyone else out there.
- Sell the benefits: Alex still had a lot
of work to do after creating his site. He had to sell the benefits to advertisers
of spending $100 or more for an ad on a blank web page.
And he did this brilliantly -- from his offer of "a piece of Internet history"... to his promise to create publicity... to his calls for advertisers to get in first so their ad stands out more.
Remember, benefits describe exactly how your customers will be better off after buying your product or service.
- Create a buzz and get traffic: This is
what really turned Alex's idea into gold. People wouldn't just come to his
site -- he had to drive them there, as more traffic meant more advertisers.
He knew he had a unique idea so he sent out press releases advertising it, and once a few media outlets started to bite... his web site took off.
His site built up so much momentum that, even though he had no specific target audience, advertisers looking for mass exposure started buying up his pixels faster than he could publish their ads!
- Use proven Internet marketing techniques: Alex is
either a born marketer or he was getting some great advice! He made sure that
his web site built up enough momentum to propel him towards his million-dollar
goal by adding testimonials from his happy advertisers and by running a blog
that charted his progress.
He also wrote an FAQ that detailed his background (including a picture of him with his university entrance papers) to build his credibility -- another key Internet marketing technique.
And he branched out and used eBay to auction off his final 1,000 pixels -- for $38,100, meaning his final total actually came to $1,037,100!
Now, let me restate for the record: Luck had something to do with Alex's success. His idea "caught on" and spread through the media like wild fire.
But he used SOLID Internet marketing techniques to fuel that fire, and ultimately created his own success.
That's the key. And while we can't necessarily give you your
million-dollar idea, we CAN tell you how to make it successful. In the end,
the Million Dollar Homepage is a story of how good Internet marketing techniques
can make any online venture a success.
Comments
Hi Derek,
Today is my first time of reading your blog. I must confess that Iam already hooked.
Ike.
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