You’ve probably heard by now that the Federal Trade Commission announced new rules yesterday regarding disclosure of freebies and financial interests by bloggers.
But what does that mean to you when it kicks in on December 1, 2009?
I am fortunate to be a part of a secret cabal, and I heard about the new rules early on from Dan Murray, Internet Marketing Strategist and Founder of Ravenwood Marketing, Inc.
There was a lot of discussion about the new FTC rule, and Tim Carter, nationally-syndicated newspaper column Ask the Builder and the founder of AskTheBuilder.com shared his disclosure policy.
I read through that disclosure policy and grabbed some elements to add to my own disclosure policy, which is now linked from the bottom of all of my blog posts on the site and in the RSS feeds.
Now please note that if you choose to be “inspired” by either of these policies, you should do so at your own risk. Neither of us claim to be lawyers or anything like that. We’re just trying to do what’s right here.
I am hoping to get some direction from affiliate programs and networks, but I’ve only gotten information on the FTC issue from ShareASale, so far.
When I was logging into my affiliate account with ShareASale earlier, I saw a notice reading “New FTC Rules surrounding sponsored blogs, tweets, reviews … Important read: – click here to view ShareASale Blog.”
I’ll keep an eye out for more news from affiliate programs and networks.