"Websites are not about making an easy sale or quick buck. Websites are about expanding."

Do you have a personal website? Be honest. How about a blog? Does the company you work for have a website or a blog?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you need to know something very valuable. You need to know that websites are not about making an easy sale or quick buck. Websites are about expanding. Expanding through the web can be extremely important to you and/or your business, if done right.

Too many people are online wondering "how can I make money overnight?" or, "how can I make more money through my website?" and - while these questions have even crossed my mind at times - this is frame of mind webmasters and bloggers should avoid.

Websites have never been about financial growth.

The internet was made so that people could easily network, research, and communicate. As technology advanced and the internet grew people started to realize that they could make money through selling products or services online. Yet, even as online sales began to grow, people were more interested in the networking, researching, and communication aspects of the web.

Websites like Amazon.com - where money seems to be a priority - have implemented networking, social features into the website. Why? Because that's what appeals to people more than anything else.

Websites that focus on community and networking - like YouTube and Myspace - practically sprung up in the night and now are getting more traffic than major online websites such as Google. Websites have never been about financial growth, they have always been about networking, socialization, communication, research, and expanding one's own network.

Why it's important to realize websites are about expanding.

Your website, your company's website, or your blog, is important to you for one reason: it allows you or your business to expand. Websites allow you to reach a massive audience, billions of people have access to you and whatever you want to say. If you understand this, you can take advantage of it.

Instead of writing great copy on your blog or website to convince a handful of people to buy your service or product, write about how why your website is different than any other (even if it's not) and convince your site visitors to frequently visit. The payoff will be much higher, and you'll find yourself in a situation where your personal network expands beyond expectations.

By expanding yourself or your company through the internet you are reaching an audience that is larger than any other in the world. You are opening millions of doors everyday by communicating with your site visitors. If you focus on a sale, you risk scaring your site visitors away. But understanding the expanding aspects of the web, and working to network with your visitors, will give you major advantages over other websites.