Buckabyte.com: A New Spin on a Million Dollar Idea

The website, Buckabyte.com, opened its virtual doors for business in mid-December of 2005. Buckabyte.com adapted a simple business model based on the success of a new breed of internet marketing websites who sell ad space by the pixel. Their strategy is simple, and it works.

Web pages are divided into pixels, the tiny dots on your computer screen. These pixels are then sold as internet “real estate” to place ads which link to other websites. This dollar-per-pixel concept was originated on Alex Tew’s milliondollarhomepage.com, and has ultimately yielded him his target goal of $1,000,000.

Within weeks of the launch of milliondollarhomepage.com, similar websites began cropping up everywhere. Each of these websites attempts to capture the success of the originator’s. Most are flagrant rip-offs, while others employ various gimmicks to peddle their ad space. They all, however, have one thing in common… the pixel. Each of the websites are pushing pixels as the basic unit of measurement for the internet.

This similarity within the sea of copycat websites did not go unnoticed by Michael Frans, a Tucson, AZ web and graphic designer. Michael recognized that the true unit of measurement in the digital world was the “bit”, not the pixel. While a pixel measures the dots on a computer screen, the bit is the most basic measurement of the digital data itself. Bits are small, too small in fact to market in an effective way, Michael realized. He took a look at the next largest unit, the byte, which is composed of 8 bits and is easier to manage from a marketing standpoint. “I realized I could use the same basic marketing principles used by the ‘pixel-pushers’, but sell ad space by the byte instead,” says Michael Frans. “It’s something no one else is doing, so I’m hoping it’s enough of a departure to be a success.”

The Buckabyte.com concept is also a way for advertisers to control the costs of their ads. “With pixel-based sites, the advertiser is locked into the cost per pixel. When you buy ads by the byte, you can control the cost of the ads. The lower the byte size, the cheaper the ad,” states Michael. Ad space is sold at a dollar per byte, a reasonable cost according to Michael. “Buying ad space by the byte can cost less than half as much as the pixel sites charge. The smallest ad dimensions allowable are 10x10 pixels. With some basic knowledge, an ad designer can get this size ad down to a file size of 50 bytes. That’s only 50 bucks. Plus we never charge more than $1000 for an ad, even if it’s over 1000 bytes. It really gives the cost control to the advertiser.”

Michael says that Buckabyte.com is guaranteed to be active on the internet for a minimum of five years, until December 16, 2010, “Even if someone pays the maximum $1000 for an ad, that’s still only 55 cents per day. Good luck getting a deal like that anywhere else on the internet!” One company, Regole Design, decided to take a chance on placing the first ad on Buckabyte.com. The ad is 287 bytes, according to the websites “testimonial” page, stating "We had a 48% increase in traffic to our site in the first day after placing our ad. Not bad for a $287 ad that will be on the internet for five years!"