Now is the time to get your website working for you

Do you remember the million dollar homepage? A student was trying to think of ways of raising enough funds to see him through university to save him from getting a part-time job that would interfere with the time needed to carry out his studies. He envisioned a web page with an area 1000 by 1000 pixels in size. He then intended to sell each pixel for a dollar.

The buyer could, for example, buy an area of 10 by 10 pixels for a hundred dollars and they would have a permanent advert for their business.

What a clever idea - but it was a one time idea

If you go to the million dollar homepage you will see all the original adverts are still there. However, many of those links are now broken. SO many of the adverts were for other pixel selling websites. You see, when the success of his idea was realised, many people tried to jump on the bandwagon. They thought that selling pixels on websites had taken off and they wanted in on the action.

However, they were definitely wrong. Alex Tew's idea worked because it was new and unique. The act of buying pixels on any old website is just ridiculous. Buying them from the million dollar homepage made perfect sense because it was a unique idea that had captured the imagination of the Internet public. It is an historic website and there are therefore enough visitors to justify the price of one dollar per pixel.

Being second is the same as being last

So many of us who run our own businesses spend too much time trying to run the business and we forget about the important aspects of marketing in general and our websites in particular.

Your website is the window through which the public sees your business and its importance can not be over-stated. It is something which you should cherish and update on a regular basis. Try thinking of new ideas and information to put on there.

I am not suggesting you might come up with an idea as unique as the million dollar homepage but I am suggesting that by constantly updating your website you will be doing things before your competitors. This time round YOU will be the first and that is how you will separate yourself from the competition.