Affiliate Disclosure Statement Requirements straight from FTC

bykacalhoun

434 followers

Updated 9 years ago

Okay so I had one of my fellow bloggers post a question regarding having to put an affiliate disclosure statement on their site and I have searched and found several different explanations on what is required and where to put it. So I went straight to FTC.org and found out for myself.

Here they are:

I’m an affiliate marketer with links to an online retailer on my website. When people read what I’ve written about a particular product and then click on those links and buy something from the retailer, I earn a commission from the retailer. What do I have to disclose? Where should the disclosure be?

If you disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement.

In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate. When the review has a clear and conspicuous disclosure of your relationship and the reader can see both the review containing that disclosure and the link at the same time, readers have the information they need. You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” But if the product review containing the disclosure and the link are separated, readers may lose the connection.

As for where to place a disclosure, the guiding principle is that it has to be clear and conspicuous. The closer it is to your recommendation, the better. Putting disclosures in obscure places – for example, buried on an ABOUT US or GENERAL INFO page, behind a poorly labeled hyperlink or in a “terms of service” agreement – isn’t good enough. Neither is placing it below your review or below the link to the online retailer so readers would have to keep scrolling after they finish reading. Consumers should be able to notice the disclosure easily. They shouldn’t have to hunt for it.

Is “affiliate link” by itself an adequate disclosure? What about a “buy now” button?

Consumers might not understand that “affiliate link” means that the person placing the link is getting paid for purchases through the link. Similarly, a “buy now” button would not be adequate.

What if I’m including links to product marketers or to retailers as a convenience to my readers, but I’m not getting paid for them?

Then there isn’t anything to disclose.

Does this guidance about affiliate links apply to links in my product reviews on someone else’s website, to my user comments, and to my tweets?

Yes, the same guidance applies anytime you endorse a product and get paid through affiliate links.

It’s clear that what’s on my website is a paid advertisement, not my own endorsement or review of the product. Do I still have to disclose that I get a commission if people click through my website to buy the product?

If it’s clear that what’s on your site is a paid advertisement, you don’t have to make additional disclosures. Just remember that what’s clear to you may not be clear to everyone visiting your site, and the FTC evaluates ads from the perspective of reasonable consumers.

So what I got from this information was that it has to be visible at all times. It can not be in the footer because they feel that someone will click the link before they read the disclaimer.

You do not have to put it every post if you do it the way I have it set up. I put it in my sidebar by using a text widget and it stands out because it is at the top right under my follow me social media buttons.

You can write it out how you see fit, but what I have done is use the generator that I found on this blog post https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/dan-l/blog/easy-on...

It is located here http://affiliatezap.com/

You can check it out by going to http://kristenaskitchengadgets.com

I hope this helps anyone else having issues with this.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will try to help out if I can.

Update: Do not put it on your side bar because that particular HTML code they give you will stretch your page out and make everything on your site look smaller.

Update again: I found a perfect one that I put in a text widget at the top of my sidebar.

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