Why is it Important to Disclose your Affiliate Relationship? Having a game plan as a blogger also means knowing when to be able to adapt your plans for whatever reason.
Blogging Ethics And Affiliate Relationship:
Case in point, I had intended to continue with the series having a game plan today, but because of a question being asked on the Megatraffick.TK forum. I have decided to answer Dorothy Sander’s question here. Dorothy by the way, is a very cool lady who owns the Blog Aging Abundantly. She is a great writer who will either inspire you or will give you food for thought. That by the way was my plug for Dorothy and my disclosure is ” I am not getting paid to say nice things about Aging Abundantly and my association with Dorothy and her blog comes from just liking her/it“
Danny Brown recently discussed the interesting topic of disclosure on his blog, as talked about by many people.
MegaTraffic:
Yesterday on MegaTraffic ( a ning forum that I like going to). I posted about Danny Brown’s post titled “Why Affiliate Vendors Need to Start Taking the Rap“. ” To me it was a very important post not just to bloggers but also the vendors. Who should be telling their affiliates to make sure they disclose what they are doing.
In that forum, Dorothy wrote: “I have a question: Why is it important to disclose your an affiliate relationship?“
It was such a good question that I decided to answer it here, rather than on the actual forum. Funny enough, back in 2008, I had written a post on the very topic of disclosures on Success BlogNet, which I then updated last November (2010). The title “Disclosure Policy – A Tool – A Necessity!” emphasizes the importance of the post, but it does not adequately address Dorothy’s crucial question “why?”
Blogging Life:
So here is my answer Dorothy ( long and drawn out – lol, but I got there). To me it is important to disclose what you are doing because it gives you credibility. It gives you authenticity and it shows that you are being transparent in all that you do in your blogging life. In plain and simple language it is all about ethics and being professional.
Whitney Hoffman provided a great explanation about what all this means to you. Dorothy, and to everyone else who is blogging on her blog Reading Whitney on Oct 6, 2009.
This is a longish post by the way, but a MUST-read to fully understand the scope and the meaning to understanding endorsements and disclosure.
Bloggers can no longer go around saying this or that, getting paid for it, or receiving gifts without saying anything, according to what she says. We need to be and act as professionals just like any big-time company.
“The whole point of having FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials is to try to ensure truth in advertising. So that if the typical consumer sees an ad on TV.
When you become an affiliate in any way, then just do the right thing, disclose, disclose….DISCLOSE!
Have I explained well enough… Do any of you have any questions?
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