Odds are that most of you reading this blog, including myself, starting our very first website without the intention of making money. I made awful looking fansites on Geocities and Angelfire back in the mid 90s. I did it for fun, for the challenge, and the love of the content. I had no idea people were making money online and never would have thought that some day I’d be one of those people. However, things change. We move on from making sites just for fun and move to making sites that can grow a business and bring in cash flow.

So that’s the question I’m asking you today… Is it all about the money?

As I look through my network of sites (in the side column on my blog), I do not see any sites on there that I’ve built just for fun. There aren’t any sites on that list that I don’t plan to monetize. There aren’t any sites on that list that aren’t for sale. The only exception I can think of is my blog, but really… I have monetized it by selling sponsored links and honestly, if someone offered me a boat load of money for it, I would sell. I hate to say it, but by the looks of it… it is all about the money.

Sure I’m not the only one? How about you… how many of the websites you own don’t produce a dime of revenue? How many of the websites that you own do you do it purely for the love of it? How many websites on your list are not for sale?

Things change. 10 years ago, people made websites for fun. They reviewed products because they liked to, not because they were making money for it. They made fan sites because they like the person, not so they can get 10 cent clicks on it.

I’m not saying all this is a bad thing, I just think it’s important not to forget why we are in this business and what brought us here. Feel free to comment if you have a website that you maintain solely for fun. I’ll gladly check it out. If you’re all about the money, that’s cool too.