5 FTC Disclosure Strategies for your Blog

Scott,
Could you talk more about disclosing affiliate relationships to meet the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules for blogger disclosure?
How would you do that tastefully (ha ha)?
Marie
Click Millionaires Member

SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER

Hi Marie,
So far there have been no legal tests of what these FTC rules and regulations actually require of bloggers.  This means that there are still a lot of questions about how to disclose paid endorsements, gifts/compensation received, and affiliate relationships to comply with the new FTC guidelines.

Here are 5 ways that may help you comply with the new FTC blogger disclosure rules:

• Fine print at the bottom of each page is the traditional way to disclose things in the print world, and that can apply online, too.
• Many blogs today have separate pages that list all in one place the details of the companies that they work with and are compensated by. To comply with the FTC guidelines, the bloggers then include links to this page whenever it's appropriate on their blog.
• I also add a disclosure tag to posts on my blog that include affiliate links. As you can see below it says "this post contains sponsored info".  That tag links to a page that includes more details and also links to more legalese.
• You can also simply state your affiliation or receipt of compensation outright where ever it's appropriate.  To do this lately I've been seeing more people either:
  • Add a small amount of text in their posts after each affiliate link. It usually looks something like this: [affiliate link]. 
  • Or work the disclosure directly into the copy by saying something like "I'm an affiliate of Company X because I love their products" or "I'll get a small commission if you buy using this link".  

Since a real standard has not yet been developed on how to comply with FTC disclosure guidelines for compensation, endorsements, and sponsorships for blogs, you might try using several of these approaches concurrently like I often do.

Honesty is the best policy, as they say!

Scott Fox

p.s.  Of course this is not legal advice.  You should check with qualified counsel to develop appropriate FTC disclosure strategies for your online business.

UPDATE: See this helpful article from the Wall Street Journal which offers an update on the FTC's approach to enforcing the new blogging disclosure rules.

What FTC disclosure strategies have you seen or been using yourself? 
Please share your suggestions in the Comments below!

Comments

[Tara Jacobsen - Marketing Artfully]

How Fun - I just wrote a post about how my disclosures are getting out of hand...:) Any thoughts about the hazard of ranking well for a consistent disclosure at the bottom of each page if you do the same one over and over?

PS - I included a link back to this post in case someone wanted real information about FTC Disclosure info!

[Scott Fox, Click Millionaire]

Hi Tara,
Great minds think alike they say!

Theoretically you could rank well just for your disclosures if they dominated your pages. But as ong as you don't include them in page, post, file, or image titles or bold them or have others start linking to them, I expect you'll be okay.

Thanks for linking back to ScottFox.com.