As you know, new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines went into effect on December 1, 2009. These guidelines are a revised set of rules that apply to online marketers and govern what marketers can and cannot say when they’re marketing, endorsing a product or even writing a blog post.
According to these new guidelines there’s a requirement that online marketers and bloggers MUST disclose any “compensation” received in exchange for an endorsement of a product in a post that they publish or from any links within the post.
The big question is “HOW DO I COMPLY?” That’s a good question and we have at least a partial answer for you.
**NOTE: The information provided here is NOT legal advice. What follows is simply information provided for your use and at your discretion.**
On the Disclosure Policy.org website there is a FREE TOOL that you can use to generate a disclosure statement that should put you in compliance with the new FTC disclosure guidelines.
You answer six multiple choice questions about your blog after which a disclosure statement for your blog is generated.
You simply copy and paste this disclosure statement onto a new page on your website that is titled “Disclosure” (or something similar) and add a link to that page to each blog post or other post that falls under the guidelines.
It’s worth mentioning here that the FTC doesn’t have any system in place to monitor or enforce the new disclosure guidelines.
However, it is ALWAYS in your best interest to abide by the law and we strongly recommend that you comply.
