Bloggers, Affiliates, the FTC and Disclosure

[Linda Buquet]

Affiliate link disclosure is a hotly debated topic. Well now it looks like the FTC is planning to regulate disclosure, as well as false or exaggerated claims.

FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments - Washington Post

"New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest."

Conflict of interest as explained in the Post story includes payment, gifts and even freebies given in exchange for a blog post, recommendation or review. The article is focused primarily on blogs but I assume sites would be held accountable too.

So like it or not, it looks like affiliate links are going to need to be disclosed.

Today Brian Clark at CopyBlogger wrote a dynamite post about how to turn ugly link disclosures into an actual selling benefit. It's a excellent read filled with info you'll need to deal with the upcoming FTC guidelines.

How to Turn Affiliate Marketing Disclosure Into a Selling Point

Other good coverage:

Proposed FTC Guidelines & How They Affect Affiliates & Bloggers

FTC Going After Bloggers = Epic Fail

[MzJme]

Thanks Linda...I seen this on Twitter earlier and read the post, but hadn't had time to really research it. I logged on here to ask and you already had it posted. Once Again, THANKS