Affiliate disclosures for those in the US - important infomation

byRobinMc1969

1.6K followers

9 years ago

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