Jim Edwards, the author if the 7dayebook and many other informational products, recently interviewed Rich Cleland, Assistant Deputy at The Federal Trade Commission, and asked him to clarify some of the “new” regulations bloggers should be concerned about when it comes to affiliate commissions and reviews.
Noticed I put the word new in quotes; that’s because as Mr. Cleland puts it, these are not “new” regulations at all, but rather clarification on existing ones.
If you’re a blogger and you advertise banners in your sidebar, do paid book and product reviews, use testimonials as an advertising tool, and make money in any other way related to affiliate commissions, you need to provide adequate disclosures and testimonial follow-ups.
You can watch a replay of the webinar by visiting Jim’s I Gotta Tell You blog. The webinar is a bit long and I know most bloggers probably won’t sit through the entire interview. But maybe its for reasons like those that problogger David Risley wrote his article, Are Bloggers Just Crappy Business People?
Blogging is not always fun, nor is it only about writing articles and signing up for affiliate programs. It takes work and if you’re serious about making money with your blog, you also need to know a few rules and regulations you should abide by. In my opinion, anyone serious about making money in their industry needs to spend at least a little time keeping themselves educated in their trade.
Ok, enough pep talk. Go watch the video now and feel free to come back here and leave a comment for discussion.
Related posts:
- New Regulations For USA Bloggers May Be Around The Corner
- Blogging For Money: What's The Best Way To Make A Profit?
- John’s Top 5 Crash and Burn Blogger Mistakes Which Keep You Poor
- Choosing The Best Kind Of Affiliate Marketing For Your Website
- A-List Bloggers & Everyday Bloggers, They Do Things Differently
December 16th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Hi John – I need to check this out. I’ve been out of the loop so much this year that I don’t fully understand these regulations.
If we recommend affiliate products in a post – do we have to mention that it’s an affiliate product, or can we just put a link to a disclaimer at the end. It all seems so confusing.
December 17th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Well being that you’re from England, you don’t need to be as concerned with this as much as Americans do – since the FTC is a USA agency. However, Mr. Cleland did mention in the interview that if you’re selling products which comes from an American company (as many affiliates do), then the FTC could put pressure on the American company to tell their affiliates they need to add the proper disclosures.
The thing about it is, the FTC really doesn’t have any enforcing power, but you never know what might change and you don’t want to be on their hit list.
Basically, from what Mr. Cleland said, what the FTC primarily wants to see is that a customer or visitor to your website has a clear vision that when they click on this link here or that link over there, that they are understanding that YOU make a commission in some way should they follow that link and make a purchase.
They just want people to “know what’s going on” – and that’s basically the deal.
From what he said, USA sites should definitely have a disclosure somewhere should they be selling affiliate products. Furthermore, they would much prefer that just below or after an affiliate link that there is some kind of disclosure statement (like I have in my sidebar just below the RoboForm ad).
It can definitely make your content sound a little choppy. I mean, people cry about how writing for search engines impedes on their writing style, imagine now having to add affiliate disclosures!
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