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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?
What if boils down to, is if you are endorsing or promoting a product with an affiliate link attached to it, you need to let the reader know you will be compensated by the product owner. In a nutshell the general public must be informed by you that you will be compensated either by a gift or by money from the product owner should the consumer purchase from your link based on your endorsement. In other words, you may want to attach a little note saying, “This is my affiliate link, if you buy this product after clicking on this link I will be compensated” You get the idea. Talk to your lawyer to get the right answers on what the best option is. I am not giving any legal advice here as I am certainly not a lawyer. “Um, yes this is a disclaimer.”
This new ruling goes into effect on Dec. 1st, 2009. You are not in a bad situation here and should consider that this could help you by eliminating the bad guys out there that are not honest. What can hurt you is if you don’t comply.
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 put together on of the best articles out there on this one. do a google search for his name and you will find tons of his posts. 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.
Alrighty then, I’ll see you in the forums!
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This post was written by plrpro on October 16, 2009
