Pixel advertising is a recent addition to the world of online advertising. Pixel advertising sites have a mainpage laid out entirely in a grid/ block pattern. These blocks are pixels, and advertisers buy space on that page for their hyperlinked image. The page is usually divided into 10 by 10 pixels, but advertisers can buy larger or smaller. Rates are commensurate with pixels occupied by the advertisement.

This trend started with one website, called "Million Dollar Webpage." It was basically an expertly marketed gimmick developed by a young entrepreneur in the US. The page got a lot of publicity because of its novelty, and the owner quickly did earn his million dollars from it (atleast). From that idea, several publishers and businesses tried to jump into the game. Many have failed, but pixel advertising constitutes a strong presence on the internet.

The success or failure of a pixel advertising site typically boils down to the page's Google page ranking. Obviously advertisers want to place their ads where they will be seen, so only pages with high Google PRs will do well in this market. Sites that have higher page rank are spidered by Google's robots more often and placed higher in search results, so more web surfers will see them.

Therein lies the difficulty, though. The actual construction of a pixel site is relatively easy. There are even free scripts that you can use to do it. The real challenge is building your site's page rank so that advertisers will want to spend money to advertise there. The intricacies of Search Engine Optimization are another story all together, but it suffices to say that increasing your Google page rank is not easy.

Pixel advertising sites usually start off pixel prices relatively low and gradually increase price as their page popularity increases. An effective technique for new sites is to give away some free advertising space to large, reputable companies in order to build credibility. As your site becomes more popular, you can dial back on the free space.

Trends in advertising ebb and flow as quickly as anything on the internet. In the broader scope of things, pixel advertising may seem like an upstart fad that will lose momentum and eventually die. That may be true, but for the moment, pixel advertisers do comprise a noticeable area of the internet and should not be discounted as an avenue for marketing promotion.