This is the condensed transcript from MasonWorld Episode 033, where I tackled a question that genuinely kept me up at night. Is it ethical to make money with internet marketing, especially when part of what you teach is how to make money online? I have updated this discussion for 2026, because the tension between helping people and profiting from that help is still one of the most important conversations in our industry.
The Question That Keeps Coming Up
It started with a comment on Pat Flynn's income report. Someone accused Pat of being disingenuous, of selling hope disguised as education. I chimed in on the conversation and defended Pat because I knew him personally and had watched him operate with genuine integrity. I left my phone number on the blog for anyone who wanted to discuss it further.
Someone from the Southern Hemisphere reached out and made a thoughtful argument. His point was that Pat's massive affiliate income was not some happy accident of helping people. It was the result of a carefully constructed business. And since the vast majority of Pat's audience would never achieve similar results, calling it anything other than a money-making operation was misleading.
I understood his perspective. And I think it deserves a serious answer.
Doing Good and Making Money Are Not Mutually Exclusive
There is a belief, sometimes conscious and sometimes not, that you are either doing good in the world or making money. If you are making money, something must be wrong. I picked this concept up from a book called The Millionaire Mind, and it resonated with what I was observing in the online marketing world.
Here is what I believe. Money is a tool. It does not build hospitals, feed people, or fund education on its own, but it makes all of those things possible. If you provide genuine value and someone willingly pays you for that value, there is nothing unethical happening. That is how every transaction in the economy works, from buying groceries to hiring a plumber.
The ethical problem is not making money. The ethical problem is making money through deception, false promises, or exploitation. Those are very different things.
What Affiliate Marketing Actually Is
At its core, affiliate marketing is straightforward. You match buyers with products. You find people who need something, you recommend a product that solves their problem, and you earn a commission when they purchase. That is the entire business model.
The five pillars of building an affiliate business are simple. Pick a niche topic you care about. Build a website that adds real value around that topic. Find quality products to recommend. Drive traffic through search engines and other channels. Capture email addresses so you can continue serving your audience over time.
None of that is inherently unethical. The ethics depend entirely on how you execute it.
The Transparency Standard
What separates ethical internet marketers from the predatory ones comes down to transparency. Are you honest about what you are promoting and why? Do you disclose affiliate relationships? Do you set realistic expectations? Do you recommend products you actually use and believe in?
In 2026, the FTC has made disclosure requirements crystal clear. The platforms themselves enforce transparency through updated terms of service. And audiences have become sophisticated enough to spot inauthenticity almost immediately. The market is self-correcting toward honesty, which is exactly what the industry needs.
Content Quality Is the Real Differentiator
In the original episode, I shared a clip from Cliff Ravenscraft at the Catholic New Media Conference where he said content is king and challenged creators to make content so valuable that people would feel guilty not sharing it. That advice has only become more relevant.
Google's Helpful Content Update and E-E-A-T framework have formalized what Cliff was saying in 2012. If your content genuinely helps people, search engines will reward it. If your content exists only to funnel people toward affiliate links, it will not survive. The algorithm has become an ethics enforcer, pushing the entire industry toward more valuable, more honest content.
The Bottom Line
Yes, it is OK to make money online. Yes, it is OK to make money teaching others how to make money online. The standard is not whether you earn income, but whether you earn it honestly, transparently, and by creating genuine value for the people you serve.
If you are wrestling with this question, that is actually a good sign. It means you care about doing the right thing. Channel that concern into building a business you can be proud of, one that helps real people solve real problems, and let the income follow from the value you create.
Listen and Subscribe
Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or subscribe at latenightim.com/internet-marketing-podcast/.
