Sure, money is one of the reasons we’re in internet marketing. Even non-profits pay salaries and expenses.

But are you just in it for the money?

Or should there be more to your internet marketing and, if so, what should it be?

There’s been an interesting post on an internet marketing forum and, in a slightly different way, it asked the same question.

The thing is, most people arriving at your pages are basically thinking “what’s in for me?”

They don’t care much, if anything, about you.

And they mostly don’t care whether or not you make any money from the links or adverts they click whilst they’re on your site.

Younger audiences take the perpetual existence of advertising on YouTube, games, apps and everywhere else as the price they have to pay to get the content they want. To the extent that a lot of the younger generation won’t pay for most things as they can get them free so long as someone (preferably someone else) clicks on the ads often enough,

But that’s going off at a tangent…

So, back on track, if you’re just in it for the money, the money will probably “sense” that and probably won’t materialise.

Which is a bit new age and weird.

But it’s why a lot of law of attraction products suggest giving away (tithing) some of your income in order to attract more money. And why a lot of people report that it works, contrary to their initial response.

Without going deep into the various bits of logic behind that idea, suspend your disbelief for a while.

Let’s say you get to a web page that has obviously been put up because there’s money behind the keywords it’s targeting.

Plenty of those around – to the extent that your built in “radar” spots them as soon as you land on them.

The ads are in all the right hot-spots.

The ads are more prominent than the content (yup, that includes the forced commercials on YouTube and catch up TV).

The actual content on the page is secondary to the prime purpose, which is making money.

The page is treating you as someone to be squeezed until the pips squeak (that approach has come back to bite Tesco big time here in the UK).

Instinctively, you probably do your best to not click on the ads.

For no better reason than “because”.

Then, in contrast, you click on a page that was written by someone who cares about the subject and about you, the reader.

The content is engaging.

It isn’t “in your face” and it appreciates your point of view. Maybe it even takes your “side” and tells you how you can get the product cheaper or how they liked the product but found the marketing irritating and at odds with the product focus.

You’re being treated as important.

The page isn’t saying that outright – it doesn’t need to be that brash.

But it’s oozing that impression.

So you don’t mind clicking the occasional link or advert.

You might even go out of your way to purchase something as a “thank you”. I’ve done that before now and it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve done the same.

Which page do you think makes more money?

Although these are hypothetical examples because I’ve deliberately not given you specific pages, my guess is that the low key, non selly, page would win hands down.

Because it is going out of its way to not sell directly.

That’s how a lot of sales are happening now.

Sure, there are still salesmen doing test closes every few sentences. And, sure, they’re still doing OK.

But their counterparts who take a lower key approach are doing at least as well, often earning even more money, just by not following the herd.

Anything you can do to set yourself away from the herd stands out.

Maybe not to the extent of giving away neon shoe laces – and beware, that’s a very odd site and is potentially a time sink – but certainly to the extent of giving first (in our case, almost certainly giving valuable information) and receiving later.

When you start applying the idea of making money the secondary aim of your website you’ll find that things shift.

You might get a nicer class of customer.

You might sell more.

You might earn a higher reputation.

You’ll almost certainly sleep more soundly at night.

And you’ll become more relaxed about making the sale because you’ll be more confident that it will happen regardless of how nonchalant you appear to the outside world.

If you’re sceptical, that’s fine.

Give it a try anyway.

The next piece of content you create, chill and don’t try to cram sales pitches into every available pixel.

Just occasionally mention stuff like I do.

But only in context and only with the best interests of your readers at heart.

And see whether or not you get more money for the privilege.