Yesterday the FTC announced that they were going to start requiring disclosure of compensation for people posting information about products that they have received for free or are getting paid to review. Don’t take what I am going to say as legal advice but from what I have read, if you get a product for free, post an affiliate link, or have a financial incentive to talk about a product or service then you will need to make a disclaimer that you are being compensated with product or money for posting an article, review, mini-site, tweet, and other digital media. This is going to impact many online business models, but in the end I think that it will be great for genuine businesses that provide amazing value for their clients. There is a great article on PC World that goes into more detail about the rules and who it affects.

My Experiences with Information Marketing

What initially scared me about marketing products online was that most of the information I initially found was junk. Many of the products I bought were crap. The products were filled with public domain materials, spyware laden software, and undisclosed affiliate links for other products and services that contained the “secret” to making money online.

For three years I tried to distance myself from marketers and their products and their secrets. Then I happened to listen to an interview that Jonathan Fields posted on his website with Naomi Dunford of ittybiz.com. At first I thought, “Oh no . . . another sleazy internet marketer.”

Then I read her blog and the blogs of one of the people she coached. It was different from the crap most internet marketers posted. At times it was filled with pitches for her and other’s products, but it was not sleazy and filled with over hyped promises. It was far more transparent and that is going to make the difference in the coming years for all business owners.

Disclosure and why it will be great for your business

With the new disclosure rules being enacted by the FTC, marketers are going to have to be more transparent in their blogs, e-mails, tweets, and other methods of marketing products. This can be beneficial to people that provide great products, because it will make their marketing more open and transparent. I believe the rule changes will make it much more difficult to push people towards high pressure sales pages and put the burden on developing authentic relationships with potential customers and affiliates.

The changes also open up many new ways for you to be creative in your marketing.  It gives you an opportunity to be up front with your clients and tell them how you benefit when they use a product that they recommend. I think you will see many more lines in blogs like, “The link that follows is an affiliate link, so when you buy the product you support my site.”
This is good, because it lets people know that you are supported as an affiliate, through review products, and the services others give you for promoting their products.

The burden is now on you. Are you going to view these rule changes as a hindrance to your business, or will you find a creative way to promote products and services with full disclosure?

Let me know in the comments if you are ready for the rule changes or scared to death that it will kill your business.

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