Posts Tagged ftc

Legacy Learning Affiliate Tools Section

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Pay Per Click (PPC) on April 15th, 2010

Quick post since a lot of affiliates have asked me about it.

Have you checked out the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Tools Section? If not, you should.

In it you will find ShareASale Video Tutorials, an article and news archive, keywords for Pay Per Click, FTC disclosure guidelines, content for your site, an archive of our Affiliate Insider Newsletter, course demographics, and more!

It is updated frequently and you can follow us on Twitter or stay tuned here for updates.

I hope the tools help you!

affiliate insider, demographics, ftc, Pay Per Click (PPC), shareasale, twitter

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Using FTC Guidelines to Your Advantage

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Legal Matters on March 30th, 2010

Linda Buquet had a great post yesterday about using the new FTC Guidelines to your advantage.

You can read it here.

I cannot really add anything to her post other to point you to a few of our posts on the subject:

Funny FTC Disclosures

FTC Disclosure Tips

New FTC Regulations Impact Review Sites

ftc, linda buquet

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Funny FTC Disclosures

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Fun Stuff on December 7th, 2009

As I have mentioned to many of you on the phone or elsewhere (and here in my FTC Disclosure Tips post), the new FTC disclosure rules are actually a great way to make a sale pitch and be a funny.

Here are some of the funniest FTC disclosures that I have found…so far.

John Chow:

“I make money from every post I put on this blog. If I?m not making money from every blog post, then it was an oversight on my part and it will be corrected soon…Just because I get paid to blog, tweet, wear T-shirts, etc. does NOT mean I will give you or your company a positive review, blog post or endorsement. As a matter of fact, chances are pretty high that I might slam you.”

James Jones:

And in the spirit of full disclosure (and future FTC regulations) I must state that I, James J. Jones, will earn a commission if you buy through the above link. Shocking I know! Damn evil capitalism is what you can blame it on. That and corporate greed. And George Bush (the young one not the older one who jumps out of airplanes ? we like him.)

So, if you don?t want to line my pockets you can use the ?non-commissionable? link below instead. Both the links are the same. Except the one above is nice and shiny and comes with the bonuses mentioned. The one below is sort of dull and worn out. And it doesn?t have any bonuses. But if you use the one below you will do so knowing that you are not contributing to the evil which is capitalism. (and I?ll probably still send you the bonuses anyway because I?m not gonna check)

Dirty Old Non-Commissionable Link

Oh, and if you use the non-commissionable link you may get warts. Not threatening you with a voodoo spell or anything like that. Just saying.

Or you could use some of these FTC Disclosures from Louis Gray:

affiliate disclosure, ftc

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FTC Disclosure Tips

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on October 12th, 2009

As I expected after I posted last week about “New FTC Regulations Impact Review Sites,” I have been getting questions about what affiliates need to do to comply with the new FTC regulations.

There is no shortage of Tweets, blog posts, forum posts, or other commentary on the subject, but I did want to address what you need to do.

First, don’t panic.? It is MY opinion (and my opinion only) that this is not that big of a deal.? It is not armageddon for affiliates.? It can actually be a good thing for you…see #2 below.

Second, compliance is pretty simple.

So what do you need to do?

Read the FTC’s report - it’s 81 pages long, but you need to read it.
Write a disclosure page.? DisclosureReport.org is a good place to use for making a simple one.? It is the lazy affiliate’s way to make a disclosure and I don’t really recommend it.? What I do recommend is using your disclosure statement as a selling point, while, of course, complying with the rules.? Be confident in writing your disclosure.? There is nothing to be ashamed of.? Copyblogger has some great tips for doing this in this post.
Put this disclosure on your site and link to it from every page.

So far, as I can tell, that is just about it.? Yeah, it is that simple.

I will be posting more on this as I learn more.? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts as well

affiliate disclosure, ftc, paid sponsorships, review sites

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New FTC Regulations Impact Review Sites

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on October 6th, 2009

Effective December 1 of this year, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) will begin heavily regulating review sites, paid sponsorships, blogging, and what kind of hair products I use (the last one is a joke).

They recently released a report about these new rules and regulations. It is quite a read (81 pages of boring government junk), but it is worth knowing the details.

One alarming note: Reviewers face fines up to $11,000 if they fail to properly disclose endorsements or paid posts.

I am hoping to have time this week and next to read through all of it and keep up with the discussion on Twitter and the forums.

I also want to hear from you!? What are your thoughts on this pending regulation?? How does it impact the way that you will layout your site?? How will it effect your social media strategies? (the report includes regulations on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

It is unclear (to me so far at least) exactly how this will impact our affiliates, but if nothing else, it is the beginning of something that could greatly impact what you do every day.