Things are a changing
The Federal Trade Commission has listed new regulations and this will be changing the way affiliates and product owners alike do business.
Now before we start I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. Nothing here is to be considered legal information. Consult your own attorney to be safe before applying anything mentioned here.
You can see the latest information from them at their site here .
This look like something that will be a quagmire and those that follow the rules will be at a disadvantage to those that ignore them. Yes the FTC won’t catch them all but the fines are stiff if you mess up so it aint worth the chance at least for this old bald guy.
The biggest things are testimonials with specific results. You can no longer get away with results not typical but have to put what the average purchasers results have been. Beings the average person does absolutely squat can you guess what that will be?
Next they went after the bloggers and there are some that they definitely should go after. The first part is easy. They want you to disclose if you got compensated whether it was a payment or free product to make your review.
The questionable part is does this apply to all affiliate links in your blog? Does it apply to the banners on your sidebar? Not a lot of clarity in the information they have sent out but…
At $11,000 a pop I surely don’t want to be the test case.
So as confusion on these rules reigns it will be interesting to see how people adapt.
Here are a couple posts I recommend you check out to get more information.
Frank Kern –> New FTC Thing Is A Bigger Deal Than You Might Think
Michel Fortin –> Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?
After reading those and the FTC notice and checking any of the marketing forums you will find that it is definitely an interesting time.
Why did I want to live in interesting times? Hmmmm
About the author
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Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses PLR to enter various niches profitably. |
Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don't personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Yes, interesting times…. Seems hard to implement… Internationally… Will see what how the (first) test cases develop. Certainly there is need for more clarification.
Fred
.-= Fred Lotgering´s last blog ..Golf Niche Success Bundle =-.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Just getting the drift of this and it is interesting to listen to what is coming out. There will be a number of people with their own opinion but as you say I too do not want to be a test case. Will be paying close attention to this.
.-= Andre Arnett´s last blog ..How To Prepare For Your Opt-In Newsletter =-.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
This is just another thing that online marketers will have to adapt to, and I am ok with that. The only ones that really have to worry are those that are not doing business in the right way.
.-= Joel Osborne´s last blog ..Free Content: The Winner Is… =-.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
[...] Finally be aware of the new FTC rules for promoting things on your blog. I addressed this on this post Things They Are A Changing. [...]
October 10th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Andy Beard has a plugin designed for this exact purpose. I think the laws in the EU have had more stringent requirements on disclosure for a while now. I wasn’t that interested in the plugin before, being a US guy, but now I’m taking another look at it.
.-= Dane Morgan | Experimental Blogger ´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
[...] Things are a changing [...]