Pixel millionaire makes his next move

Alex Tew, the 22-year-old entrepreneur behind The Million Dollar Homepage which took the web by storm last year, has launched his latest venture - again involving one million dollars and the sale of pixels.

However, there is a twist - this time Tew will be giving somebody else one million dollars, as well as netting a tidy fortune himself.

The site, launched this week, is called Pixelotto.com and as its name suggests it is being run as a lottery. In common with The Million Dollar Homepage, Tew is selling off pixels on the site but this time he is urging visitors to register and click on up to 10 ads on the site. Every click they make, taking them to an advertiser's website, will enter them into a prize draw.

Once all the pixels are sold - which Tew anticipates will happen within the next two months - one registered site visitor will be picked to receive the million dollar windfall. Tew says he will then relaunch the site and run the competition over again, stating he believes the format has some longevity.

Tew told silicon.com: "I love the thought that I'm going to give somebody a cheque for a million dollars."

Already Tew has sold more than $120,000 worth of advertising space on the site, including the largest ad to date which was bought by Lastminute.com for $20,000.

And, as with The Million Dollar Homepage, Tew expects people to launch their own versions of Pixelotto.com.

He said: "People will copy the idea but I don't think they'll have any sort of success - in part because I'm doing this on the back of The Million Dollar Homepage which was the original."

Tew insists, though, he isn't going to see himself classed as a 'one-click pony', simply tinkering with the format of The Million Dollar Homepage.

He said: "I'm only 22 and I've got plenty of time to come up with ideas which are different. The pixel thing is a unique novelty thing and I've ideas for things you might find more useful but it takes time to build up the experience and contacts and to build those things while Pixelotto was right now a good way of building on the brand.

"I'm not going to spend my whole life selling pixels."