Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category
FTC & Bloggers…What Do They Want?
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
So what is with the FTC? Here is the context of their recent rulings. Basically in a nutshell… Big Brother will be watching come December 1, 2009.
Here is what I can’t understand… What makes the FTC think that they will be able to enforce these things being that they can’t enforce half of the other things that they want done… Like solicitation phone calls, and Do Not Call Lists? Search the web, and you will find a lot of people that feel the same way. Another brilliant move for our government.
Guess it is time to make sure my disclosure page is up to date.
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results.
The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.
The FTC said its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final guidelines, which had been expected. The guides are not binding law, but rather interpretations of law that hope to help advertisers comply with regulations. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could result in various sanctions including a lawsuit.
Testimonials have to spell out what consumers should expect to experience with their products. Previously, companies had just included disclaimers when results were out of the ordinary — such as a large weight loss — noting that the experience was not typical for all customers.
Testimonial advertisements can be effective for consumers since they show others talking about their experiences, giving hope to the consumer that they’ll have that experience too. But they are misleading to consumers if they don’t disclose what they should truly expect to experience, the commission said.
For bloggers, the FTC stopped short of specifying how they must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous,” no matter what form it will take.
Bloggers have long praised or panned products and services online. But what some consumers might not know is that many companies pay reviewers for their write-ups or give them free products such as toys or computers or trips to Disneyland. In contrast, at traditional journalism outlets, products borrowed for reviews generally have to be returned.
Before the FTC gave notice last November it was going to regulate such endorsements, blogs varied in the level of disclosures about these potential conflicts of interest.
The FTC’s proposal made many bloggers anxious. They said the scrutiny would make them nervous about posting even innocent comments.
To placate such fears, Cleland noted that the FTC’s enforcement priorities make it more likely an advertiser would be targeted for disclosure or testimonial violations than a blogger. The exception would be a blogger who runs a “substantial” operation that violates FTC rules and already received a warning, he said.
Existing FTC rules already banned deceptive and unfair business practices. The final guidelines aim to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging. Not since 1980 had the commission revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials.
Jack Gillis, a spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America, thinks the FTC doesn’t go far enough to protect consumers from unethical bloggers.
“Consumers are increasingly dependent on the Internet for purchase information,” he said. “There’s tremendous opportunity to steer consumers to the wrong direction.”
The consumer advocacy group said lack of disclosure is a big problem in blogs. To mainly crack down on companies that give out freebies or pay bloggers won’t always solve the problem. By going after bloggers as well, “you put far more pressure on them to behave properly,” Gillis said.
Cleland said a blogger who receives a freebie without the advertiser knowing would not violate FTC guidelines. For example, someone who gets a free bag of dog food as part of a promotion from a pet shop wouldn’t violate FTC guidelines if he writes about the product on his blog.
Blogger Linsey Krolik said she’s always disclosed any freebies she’s received on products she writes about, but has stepped up her efforts since last fall. She said she adds a notice at the end of a post, “very clear in italics or bold or something — this is the deal. It’s not kind of buried.”
As for testimonials, the new guidelines amount to changing the rules in the middle of the game, said Daniel Fabricant, interim executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association, a trade group for nutritional supplements and natural products manufacturers and retailers.
He said the new rules probably won’t change ads for his members, but it will leave them wondering what the FTC considers “typical” results. He said the FTC needs to define what those are.
“I don’t think they’ve done that,” he said. “The results you see in clinics are going to be in some degree different from what you see in the consumer.”
Some Things I Have Learned About Blogging
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009While I am in no way a PROFESSIONAL at this I have learned a lot of valuable information over the past few months. In that information I have learned that blogging is a PERMANENT record of how you feel. Within a short time of making a blog post your post makes its way into search engine cache files. What that means is that even if your blog goes down that the information is still out there for all to see.
Think of a blog like you would think of steel buildings. If it isn’t built correct from the ground up, then it will more than likely fail.
If you are new to blogging, or still have a sub standard blog name, then consider getting a domain name, and sometimes you may even want to get to work with someone that does hosting of blogs, kinda like I am running at MyBlogsHome.Com.
What I have learned is that when you have a problem with a company you need to try to resolve the matter on a civil level. What a company doesn’t want to see is bad publicity, but they also realize that some people are out for whatever FREE that they can get.
I have also learned that each person blogs in their own manner. Because something works for one blogger doesn’t mean it will work for another blogger.
I have been straight forward with each, and every company that I have contacted about blogging, and reviewing. I do all of the PR work for my wife on MomsBlogs4U.Com as well. We have gotten some really nice contacts in the process. We would like to get into reviewing some bigger things, but it all takes time. Make up a email that you can send out when you think of a company that you want to communicate with. Let them know your pagerank, unique visitors, and pageviews. Give them as much information as possible. The more you show, the more likely you are to get picked up.
Note… Google Adsense is nice if you have GREAT traffic. Don’t publicize that you want people to click on your ads. This is like theft. Advertisers pay good money for those ads, and if you are clicking them for “The Click Of It” then you are stealing their money.
Each blogger knows that there is no right, or wrong way to blog, or have their site. Most bloggers, like myself, watch what is going on, and make small changes over time to their format until it is exactly what their readers, and PR companies want.
I have a site called DisneyContestBlog.Com. I knew fully that Disney more than likely wouldn’t do anything with my site. Well, Disney isn’t just Disney. There are other companies out there that make items with Disney on them. Those companies are the ones that I have contacted, as they stand to gain some ground with my site. See… blogging is in the eye of the beholder.
Reviewing… Some companies will not give product without the understanding that the product must be returned. I have understood those terms, and even worked it that I will deal with that for the 1st time, but once the PR company can see what I can do they need to evaluate if I am in fact an asset.
Video reviews mean a lot. Even though some people don’t want to sit, and watch a video review you will find a good portion will, as they can see a person using an item, rather than just writing about it. This also shows them physically how something performs.
Contests / Giveaways can make your traffic. Bringing people to my site for the first 2 months wasn’t costly, but it did have a cost. I got some goods given to me, and I ran contests. Those 2 months are what brought my reader base to what can only be the start of something good.
I put up another blog strictly for video gaming. I have been posting information on GameBlogs4U.Com that I haven’t found any decent sources for as of yet. In the future video game companies, and such may want to work with me.
Basically each of our blogs has a unique niche. If you have to many things going on, then you can confuse people.
Hopefully this helps those that are looking into blogging.
Blogging Contests & Me
Saturday, June 6th, 2009I never did understand the big thing about blogging, and the contests on blogs when I first found out about blogging. I thought the prizes would be odds, and ends. Well, I was greatly disproven when I saw what some people were winning.
I got my blog up, and running. I gained a lot of my traffic because of my niche. I ran contests from the second month up, and they continue on almost monthly currently. Blogging is a great release from the reality of the real world when you need it. You could have the worst day in the world, but when you get home, and see that your blog got great comments, or you won a prize from a blog contest, then your mood will change.
I entered a contest over at TheDirtyShirt. I entered to win a Seagate Free Agent Theatre Player System. Thank you again TheDirtyShirt.
Final thoughts… Blogging can be relaxing, profitable, and very surprising.
