Jack Yoest has gotten a mere 16 hits from the $100 he invested.

Granted: it's just a 10-pixel by 10-pixel square (find the "tabmarks" ad in the right-center; go down seven ads from the "m"; it's the small face to the left of the yellow-on-black "Dubai"), he wasn't one of the first to buy, a larger ad probably gets disproportionally more hits and a tiny face isn't the most eye-catching graphic. Then again, he did luck out by having an arrow pointing at him (the ad to its left).

Still, $100 for 16 clicks ain't shit. You could get several times that by printing up JoeGrossberg.com t-shirts and handing them out during the morning rush hour; if Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion isn't full of crap, I guarantee you that they'll feel obliged to at least visit the site. (Never mind that they might share the story with coworkers or the off chance that they'll actually wear the shirt and pique people's interest.)

Meanwhile, the guy who had the great (for him) idea is made in the shade: "To have the job offers and approaches from investors — the whole thing is kind of surreal. I'm still in a state of disbelief.". Not customers, mind you, but investors. People who want to buy into a gimmicky collage of banner ads. Wow.

My advice to Tew: take the investment, now. Put the job offers on hold until you graduate.

My advice to everyone whose work involves the online world: read the Bubble 2.0 blog.

update James (comments) points me to an advertiser who did get their money's worth out of the million dollar homepage.

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