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The Federal Trade Commission has issued new guidelines for bloggers governing how testimonials and disclosures are handled. For the most part, it’s a non-issue.
However, because I am an affiliate of several companies, I’m going to make some disclosures, right here and now:
Assume that every link on Website In A Weekend benefits me financially. This means that if I review a book, music, a service, or a product of any kind that I am going to be financially compensated.
The way the FTC guidelines are written, the actual truth is pretty much irrelevant. Consider me paid for everything I do, make your decision accordingly.
Even more, your visiting Website In A Weekend benefits me financially.
In fact, here on Website In A Weekend, everything I do, and everything you do, is expressly designed to funnel as much money into my pocket, as fast as possible.
This means that if you click on a link, any link, assume that I get paid for it.
If you click on an image, any image, assume I get paid for it.
If you buy something from me, there will be no testimonials concerning how effective that product may be. This part of the FTC ruling effectively destroys testimonials. It renders all testimonials suspect, even if they’re true.
If you send me a testimonial, the most I can accept is something like “Dave is a fun guy to work with. He makes me feel good, etc.” Publishing testimonials with claims for specific results puts me at odds with the FTC, as best as I can figure out.
Actually, this good news for me, because I now have even less reason to attempt to acquire testimonials.
Instead, I’m going to continue to give away even more really good free tutorials, and let people sort it out in the comments. It’s taken 9 months, and over 100 tutorials, but Website In A Weekend is now starting to get traction.
For the new version of my upcoming ebook, I’ll simply ask whether you liked reading it or not. Sure, it’s useful, and it might get you long term traffic results, but these guidelines really take the heat off of me. Due to guidelines from FTC, I’m not really allowed to report any specific results, so if you had fun reading it, let me know. If it’s no fun to read, ask for your full refund.
In the end, I don’t think these guidelines are going to change anything at all. Gullible and greedy people will still find a way to get ripped off, then complain about their stupidity.
You can’t con an honest man.
Lest you think this is totally tongue in cheek, please read the following links as well:
- Michael Fortin weighs in.
- Some questions from Ron Hogan.
- In depth examples from The Internet Patrol.
Some of these examples are amazing. If the FTC is serious, these guidelines will change all of advertising, at least for companies too small to lobby for exemption! - Here’s a spiffy disclosure generator.
- [November 7 2009]: John Chow states his (sponsored) disclosure policy. I love this guy! He’s got brass.
By the way, if you found this article useful, send an empty email to wp-weekend.ftc@aweber.com to get more useful tips, tricks, lessons on WordPress, news on security updates, etc. You’ll the get the cutting edge stuff a couple of times per month. It’s spam-free, privacy protected, yadda yadda yadda. You’ll have to confirm to get in; opting out later is an easy click. Just an empty email to wp-weekend.ftc@aweber.com does the trick.
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{ 22 comments }
From what I understand, if you have a testimonial that includes results, you have to disclaim the typical results. “Results not typical” is no longer enough. No the disclaimer has to be along the lines of “results not typical. Typical results are XXXX”.
Does it protect the consumer? Maybe. Does it make life a little harder for business people? A little. Maybe.
We can complain, or we can comply, and get on with it.
@Sean, if you can find Frank Kern’s blog post, he lays out what he got from his lawyer in a readable manner. The upshot seems to be that claiming any result at all leaves you liable for a judgement.
The truth is we won’t know for a while because the guidelines are vague. We’ll have to wait until FTC prosecutes a few people to find out where they’re going to draw the line.
If you got a copy of Suarez 7 Steps to Freedom, you can read about his experience with FDA. I believe this will play out in a similar way.
In the meantime, I can feel my pockets swelling as a result of you readers reading my stuff! Yahoo! I’m gonna be rich!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Programming Is “Actionary” Blogging Is “Reactionary”
This is pretty outrageous. I didn’t realize that it required regulation to that level. I was under the impression that you just had to disclose if you received any profit (be it monetary or otherwise) from the review/testimonial.
TV ads say “results may vary”. I’m not sure how they can regulate blogs anymore than they regulate TV. I would think at some point it starts to cross the line of breaking the first amendment.
Blake @ props blog´s last blog ..Donate to UGM for Thanksgiving and Get a Backlink from John Chow dot Com
@Blake, I’m purposely going to an extreme: I’m making the whole issue just go away for me by claiming it’s all paid and sponsored content.
For the malcontents looking to start a ruckus, well, I’ve already come clean.
For every one else using my content at no cost to themselves, they’re not even going to care.
Shoemoney or ProBlogger (can’t recall which) did the same thing about a month ago, stating that the whole site existed only to benefit him in every way.
It’s an overall win for me to take the extreme case. I don’t need to spend any more time thinking about it!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Programming Is “Actionary” Blogging Is “Reactionary”
Since no one knows for sure what level of depth the FTC really wants, I’m just going to wait until we get closer to the deadline (Dec. 1, 2009) to actually post anything about disclosures.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com´s last blog ..Permalinks are more important than you think!
Dave, I hate your captcha! I just lost a beautifully crafted comment that just got lost! RAWR!!!!
It was Shoemoney who added that disclaimer. I think it’s going to be the standard for bloggers soon.
I knew you were intentionally going overboard
Blake @ props blog´s last blog ..Donate to UGM for Thanksgiving and Get a Backlink from John Chow dot Com
@Blake,
I hate the Captcha too, but it’s the best of a bad lot. The others are worse.
However, it takes a *huge* load off of my moderation duties.
I’ve looked into other systems, of those, I like Disqus the best, but it doesn’t have CommentLuv enabled. Echo does have CommentLuv, but I really loathe the Echo interface. It’s very intrusive trying to get you to spew comments all over the place (twitter, facebook, etc.).
I’m very likely going to change out the popup optin form. I don’t like that either, but it works. I’d like to get a better one.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
aksimet has worked pretty well for me. I don’t think I’ve had a single spam comment pass since I installed it. Plus i read all my comments. I’d rather take time to delete two or three bad comments every once n a while vs. losing comments
Why are you sticking with comment luv? I use it, but I haven’t seen many top alexa 30000 blogs using it…
Blake @ props blog´s last blog ..Donate to UGM for Thanksgiving and Get a Backlink from John Chow dot Com
@Blake –
Two things got comments going here: CommentLuv and Subscribe to Comments.
CommentLuv is relatively new (I think) compared to most top 30,000 blogs we read. Most of those blogs don’t need it anyway, they’re getting tons of traffic and lots of comments.
On the other hand, a bunch of sites in the “up and coming” category seem to be using CommentLuv extensively. Like you, for example!
Echo (nee JS-Kit) is using CommentLuv.
Wait and see. I bet you Intense Debate and Disqus will have something similar very soon. At least as an option.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
I would like to make a comment but …
First I would like to make a disclaimer – leaving this comment will be financially beneficial to me. Reading your blog benefits me financially as well. In fact, so does turning on my computer, so does looking at the screen …
So, anyway …
…
I forgot what I was going to say.
Anna´s last blog ..How to Handle RSS Scrapers Who Copy or Steal Your Content
@Anna –
I can feel the $$$ pouring into my pockets as I type.
It’s all so stupid So very, very stupid.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
After seeing your response, my next email says:
[Product X} – Makes You At Least $1,000 Per Month
“The Shockingly Simple System That Can Make You At Least $1,000 Per Month Without A Website Or A Product Of Your Own”
…But we\’ll make you a promise – stick with it, hear us out…
And we guarantee you\’ll be glad you did.”
So, all I have to do is take these people to court and say “I listened to them, I heard them out, and I wasn’t glad about it. They broke their promise. I want a million dollars.”
You see? This is how to REALLY get rich quick …
Anna´s last blog ..How to Handle RSS Scrapers Who Copy or Steal Your Content
@Anna you’re welcome to every penny in my grossly overdrawn checking account. Bonus: you can have my maxed out credit cards too. Bofem!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
I will wait till you finish getting rich with all these blog comments …
Anna´s last blog ..How to Handle RSS Scrapers Who Copy or Steal Your Content
Re: commentluv
It’s great. I’ve installed it on the blogs I’ve got going now. I will never leave home without it again.
The more I think about this though, the more it just really doesn’t matter. This doesn’t impact our ability to pump out quality content and products, and let people know how they might benefit from them.
It is kinda silly to have to disclose affiliate links though. “There might be business involved with business? Whodanode?”
Sean´s last blog ..What is an Edition of Prints?
@Anna… you can start holding your breath… right… now.
@Sean, yeah, while I understand the gist of what the FTC is trying to do is a Good Thing, it’s so vague it could interpreted very broadly. As Michel Fortin noted, all it takes is one regulator with a little gas pain, and a bad precedent gets set.
By the way, there, good buddy, howzit getting along with those 101s? =) You gonna have something to show us anytime soon? Should I start holding my breath?
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
I think it’s pretty extreme to penalize normal reviews and such but I think it might be on the right lines to preventing the huge amount of bloggers who will say anything about a product just as long as you buy it through their link, it’s a shame that the rule makers seem to know so little about real blogging and real bloggers.
re: commentluv
I am working on a intense debate version of commentluv at the moment since Echo/jskit started charging 12$ a year for their system which is a joke considering the support tickets I get every day from their users, many who are just using it so they can get commentluv on the blogspot platform!
Should be ready in a few weeks.
Andy Bailey´s last blog ..New Premium Themes
I just want to make sure that no one gets in trouble with the FTC so I want to officially disclose that I’m making Dave money by adding comments to his site.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com´s last blog ..Top 5 myths of blogging for money
@Dr. W
Don’t you worry about holding your breath. A lot of stuff is rolling off the presses. I’ll have a lot of stuff this weekend to show you.
Sean´s last blog ..What is a woodblock print?
Love your post and approach to the disclosure issue, Dave. But why cave on the testimonial thing so quickly. I’ve already started to think up some possible formulations that could be appended to any (honest) testimonials to make them FTC legal again, see here:
http://alexschleber.posterous.com/coaches-with-testimonials-on-their-websites-m
Alex Schleber´s last blog ..Key excerpt from: 10 Things You Must Do to Earn Your Audience’s Trust + my footnote
@Alex, thanks, my intention was to both disclose and to stir up the pot a little bit. Looks like that worked out!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..New Obsessions — Opportunities and whimsy abound in stagnant economies
@Andy Bailey – Echo, JS-Kit really torqs me off. I posted a mini-complaint on my twitter feed. I mean, I *want* to like it, but I don’t know any way to get through to them. As far as I’m concerned, CommentLuv is worth the $12 they want. Way more worth it!
BTW, you ended up in my spam queue… not sure why…
Looking forward to more releases of CommentLuv. I think you are solving a problem in commenting that desperately needs solving.
The current “received opinion” is that one must not link one’s URL field into anything other than the top level of the site, except in the vanishingly small case you actually wrote something that might contribute to the conversation. You can even see an article today on “MWP” blog asserting this very notion (I really like that blog, so I won’t annoy them with a link; Insiders, I’ll point it out).
Since I do write such things, all such huffing has always annoyed me. CommentLuv very neatly sidesteps all that self-righteousness.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..What To Do When You Have Too Much To Do
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