Affiliate disclosures for those in the US - important infomation
When I originally went through the training here, I understood that it was enough to have a separate page with the affiliate disclosure for my site.
But yesterday I came to understand that that is not really enough - at least not for US sites. You can read what the FTC states here: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/gu...,but briefly put these are the main points:
- You must always disclose that there is a relationship between you and the company that you are affiliated with.
- You can say something to the effect of “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” It is better not to just say "affiliate link," as your readers may not make the connection between the the affiliate link and the purchase or not understand what that means.
- The disclosure and the affiliate link must be on the same page. I.e. the reader shouldn't have to click around on your site in order to find the disclosure.
- The disclosure should be before the affiliate link, not below it. Again, readers shouldn't have to hunt for it - it should be easy to find.
- The disclosure should stand out, and not be hidden as a tiny font. It needs to be at least the same size as the font on the rest of the page. You may also want to make it stand out by making it bold, italicizing, changing the color or all of these.
I didn't realise that the disclosure needs to be before the affiliate link. Maybe others are aware of it, but it seemed important enough to share. :)
Happy promoting!
Robin
Recent Comments
9
Just came across this with someone else sharing on another page, I saw a site the other day which had a little disclosure paragraph in the right sidebar, like the second widget down so it was "above the fold" and pretty evident... I'm sure you can't speak to whether or not that's good enough, but what would your thoughts be?
It's then on every page, most likely above an affiliate link, and would stand out as it's own block of text there on the page...
Thoughts?
I was really liking it all down in the footer...)-; Looks like I'm making room for them up in the menu again. Now... putting the affiliate disclosure before the product links... that's gonna be a bugger!!!
Thanks Robin, thanks alot!!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(-;
Randy
I agree about it being a bugger to have the affiliate disclosure before the link.
The person who was talking to me about this includes a line below the title of every post. But it doesn't show up in the google description. She coded it in. But being as I don't know anything about code, I couldn't follow that part...
Any other ideas?
Robin
Oh Robin, that's a great idea! I'm thinkin' I saw a site with the same thing about 2 days ago. I remember thinkin' to myself that it might be a little overkill but yet it was done nicely. Wishin' I could remember where I saw that...)-:
Definitely let ya' know if I happen across anything!
Randy
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Thanks