Posts Tagged ‘ftc’

Disclaimer Website Forms are Within Your Reach

You’ve finally made the big plunge, and you got your first website up and running. Congratulations! It’s not an easy task. But did you remember when compiling your grand scheme to make it big on the web to include some very important pages? Do you have all the necessary disclaimer website forms?

Lawsuits Happen

I have a confession to make. I have actually been involved in a real class suit against a website! Don’t think it can’t happen to you.

I’m sure the service you are going to offer is on the up and up, but unfortunately all it takes is one or two complaints to the BBB and a few disgruntled customers for your whole business to be wiped off the web.

It is of the utmost importance to be transparent about your business practices from the start. You know what you are doing, but do your customers? Giving them full disclosure assures them that they are your number one priority. It just makes good business.

New laws put into effect just recently have given the FTC the authority to fine you thousands of dollars – just for not being clear to your customers what you are doing! This affects all affiliate marketers, and online business.

What can you do to protect yourself and the future of your business?

Be sure to add all the proper legal forms to your website.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Goodness, just getting the legal forms drafted up by a lawyer may cost more than what it cost to build your new site.

You need a solution that is going to give you full control over what is in your legal forms, and not cost an arm and a leg. And not some free forms you just found on the web – who knows how outdated those things are. Not to mention those free forms require you to link back to their site of origin. You are not only giving away a link to an unknown site, but you are going to have footprints on your forms that just will not look all too professional.

Legal Forms Generator Will Do It All

Using Attorney Mike Youngs Legal Forms Generator is going to give you the peace of mind that your forms cover everything you need them to.

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Don’t let the FTC get you!

Where and When do I need Legal Disclosures?

Since the early days of the internet it has always been prudent to include legal disclaimers on your website in the form of a Terms of Service Policy and a Privacy Policy in order to protect your business from legal action. With the introduction of the new FTC guidelines, to come into effect on December 1 2009, it is now imperative that internet business owners include an affiliate disclosure agreement on their website as well.

But website owners, especially those involved in online business, do not just operate websites. Most website owners also distribute information in other forms including, but not limited to reports which can be either free or paid and series of auto responder emails. It is important that you protect yourself from legal action which may be taken against you if you distribute information in these ways. You may worry that legal disclaimers will make your information seem less authoritative and consequently decrease sales, but when you weigh this against the possibility of having to deal with expensive legal bills you will realize that it is an easy choice to make. Legal disclaimers are vital.

As a general rule, you should bear in mind that you do not know who is going to be reading your information. There are all kinds of people on the internet who vary across the whole spectrum of different codes of morality, of intelligence and of simple “common sense”. In the offline world there have been countless numbers of cases of businesses being sued, or having other legal action taken against them for what, on the face of it, seem the most bizarre, unjustified or unworthy reasons. Even when businesses win these cases they often end up spending a lot of money in the process. The same problems can occur just as easily online as they do offline, so anyone who owns a business or even just offers information on the internet really needs to protect themselves.

No matter what manner you are distributing information on the internet, please use legal disclaimers to protect yourself. Whether it be a website, a report, or an email responder series please include legal disclaimers to protect you and your business. Some information you may wish to include is as follows:

- The information presented is for general information purposes
- You do not guarantee the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the   information
- The information should not be considered a substitute for professional advice.
- That you hold no liability for what the user of the information does with the information or the consequences of any such action.
- All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for accuracy, content or any implied or implicit purpose
-That if any legal proceedings are commenced they will take place in your locale, not that of the plaintiff.

In conclusion, be smart and protect yourself and your business. It is your livelihood and you should not take risks by eschewing legal disclaimers in the fear that they may discourage potential sales; the loss of a few sales would pale in comparison to fighting a legal battle against a disgruntled or greedy customer who wants more than just a refund. Whether you run a website, distribute a report, offer information in the form of an email responder series or deliver information in any other way always use legal disclaimers.

What are the new FTC requirements for Websites / Blogs?

FTC Requirements regarding Endorsements and Testimonials for Websites and Blogs

Effective December 1st 2009 the Federal Trade Commission has updated its guidelines with regards to endorsements and testimonials which appear on websites, blogs and other e-commerce sites. The guidelines were created after a three year consultation, review and publication period beginning in January 2007 and concluding in October of 2009. So what do these new guidelines mean for you and your website or blog?

The report rolled in at a of length 81 pages but there are two key things that internet marketers need to be aware of and act upon immediately if their websites are affected by the change in guidelines.

First of all you must disclose your relationship to any product on your web page from which you have received, or could receive gain in any form. If you were paid to write a review of a product, you have to disclose it. If you make a commission, or might make a commission, on a product reviewed, promoted or even mentioned on your website, you have to disclose it. If you received a stuffed toy in the mail from a company you mention on your website you should disclose it. Disclose any way in which you have gained, may gain or will gain a benefit from an outside company from your website or blog. This should include not just physical and monetary compensation, but also any discounts you may be liable to receive.

The second critical issue in the FTC’s report is with regards to testimonials and endorsements. In simple terms, if a testimonial is not a TYPICAL result, you must disclose what a TYPICAL result is. For example you may have a testimonial from Sally, 42, from Wisconsin who lost 50lb by following the Super-Eazy-Super-Diet which you are promoting. If this testimonial is true but MOST people who follow the diet do not lose 50lbs, then you must clearly state what the likely results are.

In the past you could get away with, “Results not typical” but this is no longer the case. You now need to write exactly what results the ‘average consumer’ can expect. In this case you might have to say, “The average dieter following this program will lose 2lbs”, or whatever the correct average is. You must state what a typical consumer can expect from the product, not rely on testimonials from atypical consumers. Yes it is hard to know what a typical consumer can expect, but it seems that the FTC does not care about that. They are saying that testimonials have to be matched with a report of typical results and it is up to anyone running a blog or website to make sure they do their best to follow these rules, no matter the difficulties.

A further point to bear in mind if you are the publisher of a product, and not just an affiliate, is that you can be held liable for misrepresentations made by your affiliates. You are expected to monitor people who are paid to promote your product and, in the words of the FTC, “take steps necessary to halt the continued publication of deceptive representations when they are discovered.” Time will tell how stringent the FTC will be in holding publishers accountable for their affiliates. It will be interesting to see how major players such as Clickbank, which is effectively a retailer, will be with affiliates who have web pages which contravene the FTC guidelines.

If you are promoting products as an affiliate it is likely that the publishers of products (the sensible ones at least), will explain how they want you to disclose your relationship. As they are ‘on the hook’ as much as you as a promoter of products it is in their best interest to make sure that their affiliates are following the new FTC guidelines. In order to be safe though, you should make your relationship to the products you promote clear as soon as possible on your blog or website. So far most web pages are creating a ‘disclosure’ page on their site which explains their relationship to publishers and any compensation they have received or are liable to receive. As the FTC hasn’t explicitly stated how disclosures should be made on web pages, this appears to be the current best solution.

The new FTC rules are stringent, and many would say over the top. At the moment we have to rely on the guidelines the FTC have published, but over time we will also be able to see just how they go about enforcing the rules and adjust accordingly. Further announcements may be made, or case law established as the FTC begins to enforce these rules after December 1st. For the time being website and blog owners are urged to protect themselves by disclosing all their affiliate relationships, and either avoid using testimonials or publish “average expected results” alongside any testimonials that are used.