There has been a lot of confusion and rumors about the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines that go into effect on December 1st 2009. It is your responsibility to ensure that you and your online business is FTC compliant. I am including a couple of resources in this post to help you accomplish this.
The first thing that you should do is download the new FTC guidelines below to become more familiar with each of the different sections. These new guidelines will effect all Bloggers, Advertisers, Advertisements, and Affiliates. The other area that the new Guidelines cover is also the Testimonials that you place on your blog or website.
You can download the New FTC Guidelines for Endorsements and Testimonials here!
Caroline McCarthy of Cnet gives this example of how the FTC guidelines apply to a blogger (or, in this example, a celebrity) on Face-book:
“[A] celebrity or other prominent figure with loads of friends on Face-book receives free hotel stays from Hotel Chain X in exchange for running Hotel Chain X ads on his or her blog. If that person then signs up as a Face-book fan of Hotel Chain X–which, remember, could mean that the person’s name can show up for his or her Face-book friends alongside Hotel Chain X display ads on the social network–he or she could be held liable by the FTC.”
The second step is to listen to a recorded call with well know Internet Marketer Jim Edwards and Mr. Cleveland with the FTC. The call is about 10 minutes long, and has some great information directly from the source (FTC). Listen to the call so that you are informed about the upcoming changes.
Q &A with FTC Re: Bloggers, Affiliates, Advertisers & More
Here is a quote from the FTC website:
“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service”.
These new guidelines will help with the growing problem of misleading practices, false claims, fraud, and fake testimonials. These will really help the consumer make a more informed decision if they want to purchase that persons products or services.
What are your thoughts about these new guidelines? Leave me a Comment! and let me know what changes you will be implementing to ensure that you will be FTC compliant !
To your success,
Jeffrey Martin
