There are some new FTC regulations that will go into effect in December, 2009 that are likely to affect you – if you have a blog or market any affiliate products in the U.S.
You can find the complete guidelines at: FTC Regs.
In general, it’s my understanding that:
1) If you endorse any product, and receive any form of payment for that endorsement, you need to disclose that fact – explicitly on your blog (or website). That includes free copies, commissions and compensation of any sort.
If you’re an affiliate, you need to disclose that you’ll receive a commission if people purchase via your affiliate link.
2) If you use testimonials – the claims must be provable, and if they include specific results, then “typical” results must also be clearly stated. You will also need to disclose if your friends wrote those testimonials.
You can probably do this through a general disclosure statement posted on your site like your Privacy statement, or you can do it for each and every link.
As an affiliate, you also need to validate that any promotional emails, etc. that you get from your affiliate program don’t violate any of these guidelines either. While the regs don’t specifically discuss emails, it’s likely that they will fall under the same guidelines.
While these are U.S. regulations, if you are located outside the U.S., but sell products within the U.S., it is likely that you would fall under these regs as well as U.S. companies.
Violations can result in fines up to $11,000 per violation.
In other words, when it comes to testimonials – be careful! If you can’t prove it, you probably don’t want to use it. And if you are an affiliate or a compensated endorser, disclose that fact!
PS: Here’s a good blog entry regarding this topic – check it out! Be Careful What You Promise.
NOTICE: I’m not a lawyer, and nothing in this post should be construed as legal advice. Please consult your own legal advisors.
Related Posts:
Tags: affiliate commissions, affiliate links, disclosure, Email Marketing, endorsements, FTC regs, FTC regulations, testimonials
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
[...] New FTC Regs – Affecting Bloggers & Affiliates « My Income … [...]
Online Money Coach…
The survey, conducted in the U. S., and five Western European countries, included more than 50,000 consumers, suggests that, in these six markets, providers can expect mobile data services to be adopted by more than a quarter of current non- users. It …
What a spectacular post! I did a kind of blogging for dummies over on one of the CPA Marketing forums and I believed it was too easy for them, but the amount of emails I got asking questions just like what you addressed was incredible. As young people today we have grown up with computers, but it’s easy to forget that even individuals just a few years older have not! Really good post!