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Press
The
popular Freemason Web Log the “Masonic Traveler” made a
feature post about this site. Here
is a copy of it:
I stumbled on to this by accident,
just perusing Technorati's postings on Freemasonry
today.
The concept here is to sell pixels, in this instance for Troy,
Missouri, DeMolay so they can raise
funds to make the trip to State Conclave.
The presentation is a page with spaces that people can buy to sponsor them
with their purchase. The sponsor then gets to display an icon of their
choosing. It's great idea and a lot of fun. The
end results are these wonderful quilts of icons patchworked
and arranged helter skelter filled with hot
links.
I commend the Troy DeMolay for
their work on this and look forward to my own sponsorship.
Great work to everyone involved.
And, if you are a member of the Masonic community, I suggest purchasing a
space of your own for your website or Masonic Lodge!
Support Masonic youth groups with an ad on "A Million Pixels US"
 DeMolay is an organization dedicated
to preparing young men to lead successful, happy, and productive lives.
Basing its approach on timeless principles and practical, hands-on
experience, DeMolay opens doors for young men
aged 12 to 21 by developing the civic awareness, personal responsibility
and leadership skills vitally needed in society today. DeMolay
combines this serious mission with a fun approach that builds important
bonds of friendship among members in more than 1,000 chapters worldwide.
DeMolay alumni include Walt Disney, John Wayne,
Walter Cronkite, football Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton, legendary Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne, news anchor David Goodnow and many
others. Each has spoken eloquently of the life-changing benefit gained from
their involvement in DeMolay.
Brother
John Ratcliff of Lake Saint Louis,
Missouri, is Chapter Dad for the Troy, Missouri, DeMolay. As a fundraiser for the group, he
has set up AMillionPixels.us.
Mary and the Widow's Son urge you to support this DeMolay
chapter by buying a pixel ad on Brother John's site.
Here's more about the concept, from John's blog AMillionPixels.blogspot.com:
I’m
sure you have heard by now about the guy who sold a million pixels on the
Internet for a dollar a pixel and, yep, he made a million bucks. Good for
him. And, perhaps, you have heard about the guy who sold a million pixels
on the internet for a penny a pixel and made a cool ten-grand. Good for him
too.
This got me thinking, could I use this same approach as a fundraising
opportunity for my son’s youth group? I checked out these other sites and
the first thing I noticed is that they are really ugly. It is also clear
that fairly random people bought advertising on the sites just because it
was part of a fad.
However, there can only be so many "million pixel" sites before
the idea loses its appeal. In fact, when I investigated getting a URL
reserved for a site it was obvious I wasn’t the only one who had this idea.
In fact, there are now thousands of "million pixel" websites out
there competing for your pixel dollars. It has even created a whole new
class of internet advertising called "pixel ads."
 One
advantage of pixel ads is that it is a neat way to browse a lot of sites
from a single portal. That said, I think it would help if the links were
all related by some theme instead of this random mish-mash of marketing
mania found on these other sites.
I concluded there should be some basic requirements set for a new pixel-ad
site that would have any chance of success in this crowded market. Here is
what I came up with:
All money goes to charity. I’m not trying to line my own pockets. Every
link purchased is a donation to a worthy cause.
Each time someone donates to "A Million Pixels US" they not only
get acknowledged for their generous contribution but they will also know
exactly where their money goes. Every single penny raised will be reported
and every penny spent documented on this public website. For example,
currently my son’s youth group is trying to raise money so they can attend
the annual State convention in May. We need at least $2,000 to send the
entire chapter. If we are lucky enough to raise more money than we need for
State Conclave then we will donate it to the other Masonic Youth groups in
our area, including Rainbow for Girls and Jobs Daughters, as well as
supporting own charities.
We will not accept links that are inappropriate or do not match the general
theme of the site. This means there will be no ads for weight-loss,
internet gambling, or any other inappropriate material. We will accept
links to the following kinds of Masonic-themed sites:
- Personal
weblogs of Master Masons
- Links
to Masonic-themed message forums
- Masonic
Blue Lodge sites
- Shrine
sites
- Eastern
Star Sites
- Rainbow
Sites
- DeMolay sites
- Masonic
magazines or books
- Scottish
Rite
- York Rite
- Job's
Daughters
- Amaranth
- White
Shrine
- Shrine
Circus
- Masonic
Buildings/Facilities
- Masonic-themed
photographs or histories
- Grand
Lodge sites
- Commercial
sites selling Masonic supplies
- Anything
else deemed appropriate, such as links to non-Masonic themed weblogs, appropriate discussion forums, and vanity
links to photo-albums
To make
the site visually appealing, the graphics real-estate being sold will be
negative space on an attractive image that helps sell the theme of the
charity. Since my charity is Masonic Youth groups I used a classic image of
the "Square and Compass" as the background theme.
Image space is pre-divided. Effectively turning it into a
"subdivision" where you buy a specific piece of image
real-estate. Allmost all space that is being sold
is in square blocks (except for a few rectangular plots) that are an even
multiple of 10 pixels on a side.
The million pixels (of which we are selling about 500,000) is subdivided
into 201 plots; ranging from $4 for a 20x20 pixel square to $100 for a
100x100 pixel spot. For every $10 you donate you will receive an additional
free "micro-link" that will be hidden somewhere in the image.
Here are the plots available for sale.
- $100 :
(100x100) 13 plots offered, 10 bonus micro links with each
- $81 :
(90x90) 5 plots, 9 micro-links
- $64 :
(80x80) 5 plots, 6 micro-links
- $50 :
(100x50) 32 plots available, 5 micro-links
- $49:
(70x70) 1 plot, 5 micro-links
- $36:
(60x60) 10 plots, 4 micro-links
- $25:
(50x50) 7 plots, 3 micro-links
- $16 :
(40x40) 20 plots, 2 micro-links
- $9:
(30x30) 32 plots, 1 micro-link
- $4:
(20x20) 77 plots, no micro-link offered.
All
plots sold include, for free, a one pixel border all of the way around the
edge to help distinguish your ad from its neighbors. We are not selling all
"one million pixels." We are, in fact, only selling about half of
that, at a penny a pixel. The rest is reserved for the original background
artwork or for free bonus micro-links.
Since my charity is Masonic Youth Groups (DeMolay,
Job’s Daughters, and Rainbow for Girls), I want to engage the very active
online Masonic community. Freemasons are, by nature, generous. We give
frequently to many charities within our own lodges and area. However, there
is another Freemason community out there which is bound, not by individual
lodge, but by Weblogs and discussion forums.
Here, with the click of a mouse button, a brother Master Mason can donate a
few dollars to a worthy charity and receive a link to their blog, forum, or lodge website.
View or
donate: See the million pixels page
Photo: Alex Ratcliff being installed as Chaplain of Troy DeMolay
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