Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
We had a very highly ranked jobs site banned from the Google index (it has since been reinstated, but still hasn't recovered 99% of its traffic) - and the reason Google gave for banning it was a statement on our homepage saying that we also offered "text links for sale". (I actually talked to a Google person on a plane when I vacationed in San Fran this fall, and that was her take on my ban). We always offered text links (since we are a job site), but Google apparently didn't like us advertising the fact that we did!
So .... if Google holds true to form, should we see some graying out of the PR on these pixel link farms and bans from the index in the next update or so, wouldn't you think?
Do you think they'll eventually be removed from the index, just like all the other link schemes? That would absolutely kill the popularity of these sites, IMO.
I hope he gets every penny for every pixel on that page. We have a war to fund with his taxes, and I'd like to think that I'm capable of the next million dollar homepage.
That's Capitalism Baby!
Team America @#$% YAH!
Genius
1 a plural genii : an attendant spirit of a person or place b plural usually genii : a person who influences another for good or bad
Yes there are other definitions and we tend to think of genius in terms of smarts, but take a look at the Mona Lisa and tell me if the artist was a painter, inventor, genius or all of the above.
icniV aD odranoeL
What is interesting that so many spots are for affiliates. Even GP ad (the big one on the left) is for referral, not to mention eBay etc.
And certainly there is no point in buying space on myriad of imitator sites, those will probably get penalized by search engines, plus will not get any reasonable traffic.
I hope they aren't considered bad neighbourhoods, but then I guess as I don't have a link to them it won't hurt!
On the other hand, I got a favourable link from a national newspaper into my site this week, so that should be good news :-)
...brilliant marketing gimmick that probably cost about $30 dollars a month if that to maintain...
Notice the "Hosting powered by..." at the bottom of the page has an affiliate link in it. He'll be making a killing of this as well.
It has not been updated and it still shows 999,000 pixels sold. I suppose Alex is celebrating and now that he has his million bucks he doesnt give a s**t.
From the ebay listing: "Funds must be fully received and cleared before your pixels will go live on the homepage."
Both www. and non www appear to have pr 7 though it's hard to tell for sure.
Nice to see people in the google forums, not all, but many, who actually appreciate what this kid achieved, I do.
To the people who think it's a dumb idea, whatever, think of something original yourself that catches the world's eye and checkbook, then get back to me, sounds like envy to me. It's hard to think of original stuff to do on the web, so many sites, so many people, everyone looking for an angle or scam, so little originality it's not even funny.
Nice going alex, make some money off this web, don't worry about PR, don't worry about google, viral marketing, nice work. Proves what many have said here many times, look to viral marketing, stuff like that.
I can't do it, but I appreciate it when I see it done. I know I'll never be a marketer, but I also know I won't be one, that doesn't make me jealous, just makes me admire it when I see it done well.
To make as much money as he did off of something so simple and yet legally and in such a short amount of time is fairly impressive by other standards.
Does it mean he is a creative genius? Who knows. Personally I wouldn't bet on it. I might think he used up all his creative luck with this one, but only time will tell.
I know some people have bad-mouthed him because he has decided to postpone his return to college, at least until next Fall. Don't see anything wrong with that myself.
I know some people have bad-mouthed him because he has decided to postpone his return to college, at least until next Fall. Don't see anything wrong with that myself.
The problem may be that he said the money was required to finance his way through uni. If he does not use it for that it may be seen as taking money under false pretences.
Having said that, he does not need to return to college at all with a +$1M account. He has now great ideas to be converted into money, and seemingly is able to do so. I think that he can get another $1M by selling the site in question provided that he acts quickly before the public interest fades out!
He solicited the money by telling people that it was to fund his college studies. If he does not go to college that would be false pretences.
It would only be false pretences if he never intended to go to college in the first place. The Google snippet for his site says "Aspiring entrepreneur seeks to raise substantial funds to pay for a college education by selling off pixels for $1 each." Now that he has the money he can change his mind, or go to college in 10 years, or set up his own college, or use it to pay for someone else's college education, etc etc.
Anyway, I doubt if people who bought pixels did so as a charitable gesture. More of a worry would be that the site has been down for a few days.
Incidentally I have just discovered that the site is down because of a DDOS attack ...
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