What Bloggers Must do Now to Comply With FTC Regulations
12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
On October 5th, 2009 the FTC published and released to the public its final revisions on guides governing endorsements and testimonials.
What does this means for the Bloggers of the world that have affiliate links on their sites?
So, If are promoting a product by endorsing it you will have to state that you get paid by the product owner if purchase is from your affiliate link. Its pretty simple, the readers that come to your site will now be informed by you that you will be compensated if they buy from your link. I will more than likely give it like this, “Thaks for checking this out, just an FYI, if you buy from my link here, I will get a little commission so I’ll just say Thanks in advance. I have read tons of posts on this and almost all of them suggest getting legal advice. I am in no way, shape or form giving out legal advice. I am not an attourney and have no legal background. “Of course this is a disclaimer.”
This new ruling goes into effect on Dec. 1st, 2009. It is not a horrible situation for the blogging community that keeps it real. What may be bad for you is if you do not follow the new guidelines.
David Goldman, staff writer for CNN Money notes in his article released on October 6th, that the existing rules carry a fine as high as $11,000 if product endorsers and reviewers don’t comply.
Frank Kern also did a bang up job writing an article post about this. you can googe his name and find all sorts of stuff he writes about. In his post he reveals some pretty in depth content from pal that is a lawyer.
So, do yourself a favor and go to the Federal Trade Commission site and read the entire article.
Personally, I think it is great for bloggers that are truthful and want to give great content to help consumers make informed decision on a purchase. I truely am sold on the fact that this will help the good guy out there and weed out the deceptive marketers and give our customers a warm fuzzy felling again about buying online.
Cheers!
