Michel Fortin SEO Consulting - Latest Comments in Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Curtman40 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 02:01:44 -0000

The question is how long will it be before everyone understand the new law ?? and what happens to the html code that is already in place....

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

belotenia — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:47:17 -0000

Hi Guys, I've found this interesting! Check it out! http://www.worldprelaunch.c...

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Michel Fortin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:29:58 -0000

My good friend Jim Edwards grilled FTC Director Richard Cleland on the new laws coming into effect on December 1st. Absolutely golden information...

http://jimedwards.s3.amazon...

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Dare — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:31:02 -0000

I'm not gonna believe even lawyers now..lol

http://raven-seo-tools.com/...

So affiliate links are OK as long as you don't publish affiliate links in your every 1st post lol

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

George — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:37:37 -0000

The FTC already is being sued because of the differences in their Internet regulations vs. what they require of offline media. There's even a facebook group dedicated to abolishing the FTC...

http://www.abolishftc.com/

I personally don't think the new interpretation of the current regulations is going to be that big of a deal for most online marketers... but I AM NOT A LAWYER AND DON'T PLAY ONE ON TV. NOTHING I SAY SHOULD BE TAKEN AS LEGAL ADVICE...

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Mike — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:35:26 -0000

I think 1 million rogue affilates should get every person in trouble even themselves, so someone could stand up and hire a good lawyer to point out to the FTC just how ridiculous their new policies are.

Man, this is a huge cluster****.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

dillon_affiliate — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:01:57 -0000

No way its the end, its the beginning of a new era. I love how things are changing for the better for people doing the RIGHT thing and becoming harder for those doing the wrong thing. The cream is rising to the top.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

JamesHolmesOnline — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:11:50 -0000

Michel - Consider this my non-paid endorsement that this blog post and comment stream should be mandatory reading for all affiliate product creators and affiliate marketers. As so often is the case with legislation, how is this going to be enforced (man power and budget) and what are the unintended consequences?

It seems a bit of a challenging year for affiliate marketers with the State sales tax issues (in selected states) and the new endorsement rules as discussed, the landscape has certainly changed. My advice is to recognize that the sky is not falling; however, I become concerned by any threat to free markets and entrepreneurship in principle.

Excellent post!

James
http://Twitter.com/AskJames...

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

omnistarva — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:32:45 -0000

Hi Michel,

Great article.
It made a lot of things clear.
I have been in the marketing field for about an year
and most of the things mentioned in the post are new to me.
Good Luck
Mark Robinson
http://www.osiaffiliate.com

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

jasonsparker — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:07:27 -0000

Thanks for going into detail about being liable for your own affiliates. That's great info to know.

Also, if you have some rogue affiliate like you said, the 3 step process is breath of fresh air.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Franck Silvestre — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:34:18 -0000

Thank you, I'm going to read it now. My last read for today..

Franck

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

michael_webster — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:34:37 -0000

Michel, you are correct. If a marketer doesn't have studies and information which would describe the typical consumer performance or history, then the typical disclaimer will be ineffective.

Since most marketers are collecting this information, the use of the disclaimer should trigger two things. First, the consumer should ask for evidence about the typical consumer's history with the product, and flee when it is not forthcoming. Second, the consumer should then report to the FTC that marketer was a) using a disclaimer and b) did not have the relevant history or evidence.

One thing that will probably slow down the FTC's reach is that these guidelines are formulated by a different division within the FTC than the division which would typically regulate affiliate marketers, or business opportunity sellers.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

michael_webster — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:27:55 -0000

It would not be the CRTC that would be following the FTC's lead, it would be the Competition Bureau.

As to whether the FTC can regulate you effectively, being in Canada but having a US audience, I suggest that you take a look at the long line of telemarketing cases brought against Canadian scammers whose targets were Americans. The FTC took jurisdiction.

The FTC, like all regulatory agencies, is complaint driven. You would have notice about these complaints long before the FTC a) ever heard of them or b) acted upon them.

Affiliate programs in the future will be run more like franchises and less like independent contractors since the liability to the trade mark holder is joint for misleading advertising.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Michel Fortin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:11:33 -0000

Attorney Mike Young published this FTC special report, and puts it into plain language. I like it. At the end, he even offers an "affiliate disclosure compliance form," which he sells. I'm in no way affiliated, and I recommend this report.

http://mikeyounglaw.com/ftc...

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Franck Silvestre — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:07:59 -0000

Thanks for the link, and I am thinking about the same thing, I mean getting affiliates to promote via free stuff, and getting the leads.

Franck

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

norene — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:18:36 -0000

Thanks for the clarification, Michael. It is important to keep on top of such things and I appreciate you sorting it all out for us. -Norene

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

sharie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:35:39 -0000

It seems, as per usual, the game of the day is legislation to the lowest common denominator. And when those with or without good intentions enact these things,
if a side-effect is that they makes lots of money--well, hey, so much the better, right?!

Now, as another "real-live newbie," I'm only assuming that putting up a landing page (obviously) including testimonials in general (i.e. expected results, as in 'we expect you'll benefit from this information and get rid of xxx problem or we wouldn't have wasted our time and yours explaining it to you' or whatever), if not specific cases, with a link to the actual vendor's sales page (where they presumably include testimonials) is the same as a blogger who features particular products for compensation...right??? :)

Talk about clear as mud...maybe I shoulda been a lawyer too...;)

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Will — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:06:21 -0000

Thanks for the update Michel. It has certainly made things a lot clearer. I won't be in a rush to shut down any of my affiliate programs. I think education is the key here. We need to spend a little more time on educating our affiliates on the right way to promote our products.

There will always be affiliates who go a little too far with their promotions. Having said that they are certainly in the minority. This will help to weed out and educate those people on the correct and ethical way of doing things.

I'm glad they have made it clear that there will be warnings issued before prosecution. This is the fairest way to do things and gives us product owners a chance to rid ourselves of any rogue affiliates. We can't be expected to keep an eye on every promotion our affiliates create.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Steve Davies — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:22:17 -0000

Great article as usual, Michel.

One thing you talk about (that I haven't heard yet from others) is how the FTC could potentially come after the owners of these affiliate programs and not just the affiliates.

It's obvious that lawyers had their hands in writing this new ruling... hence, going after the deep pockets.

When I first heard of this, I was quick to assume that "any" links on a blog where an affiliate gets paid would be under the same scrutiny (ie. Google adsense links)... where one doesn't disclose getting paid for visitors clicking on your links.

BTW - Does the FTC cover Canadain bloggers/marketers... just wondering. ;0)

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Gary Simpson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:38:57 -0000

Hi Michel, Interesting article and lots of interesting comments. I couldn't read them all. Read a few and just skimmed the rest.

Where I live in Perth, Western Australia we have a select group of prize d*ckh*ads who cause misery to everyone and every thing. The response to this by our successive Governments is to restrict and control everything. Effectively, what this amounts to is that NOBODY now can conduct their life WITHOUT transgressing some idiotic law virtually every day. In essence, the deeds of a few have disrupted the lives of the masses.

To give an example, we recently had a situation where a man playfully hit his wife with a pillow. It was witnessed by somebody who reported it to the Police. The Police then charged the husband with assault despite the wife pleading with them not to. It just went on and on to the nth degree of ridiculousness.

The FTC have to have some control but what I predict is that once the regulations come in, the lawyers will then take over and start nailing every shingle in place so that doing anything on the internet will require the knowledge and application of as much legislation as we are bound by in tax laws. It will become unmanageable. I hope not but all these lawyer graduates coming out of universities have to have something to do. More lawyers = more laws = more litigation = more money for lawyers.

Taking this a step further, maybe Google can be drawn into EVERY misdemeanour by virtue of it being the biggest player presiding over almost everything on the Internet - ie just keep marching up the line machine-gunning every target until Google is reached. And Google has lots of money!

[DISCLAIMER; The purported author of this comment may or may not have made these statements. If said statements are acted upon by any individual then the purported author gives no guarantee or even implies that there is a guarantee that the said individual will achieve any result whether implied or not.]

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Guest — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:14:58 -0000

Personally I'm going to take down all my testimonials and suspend my affiliate program until I see precedent case law, examples of what the FTC means *exactly* about all of this (Frank Kern has a lot of good insights on his blog too btw on this topic). I think "better safe than sorry" is prudent given we all collectively don't know the extent and scope of this.

I think it's a great move by the FTC, to require more disclosure and authenticity. Some marketers will try and squeak by and avoid it (big mistake), the ethical ones like a few of us will play ball by the rules and respect the regulations. I think compliance and TRANSPARENCY and DISCLOSURE among 'who's getting paid by who, to endorse what", is a good thing, and long overdue, fwiw. Our customers deserve it.

The right response for me at least, is to continue staying squeaky-clean with everything and let the product quality speak for itself.

Like working with Michel, a genuine authentic world-class resource who's been instrumental in my success (thanks, Michel!), it's important to focus on working relationships with credible AUTHENTIC experts. Thanks Michel for providing such a great role model (even from back in 2000 w/your posts at Corey's sites), you're one of the best things about doing business right on the internet, the top resource in my opinion.

Ken Ca|houn

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Ronak Shah — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:57:31 -0000

What if an affiliate if not from the US of A?

Look, what people outside the US of A do on the internet cannot be regulated by the FTC. So, what do you think will be the impact on affiliate marketers across the globe living outside the United States?

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Michel Fortin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:14:52 -0000

I don't think so, either. That's why I posted an update at the end of article, from a recent clarification the FTC made.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

George — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:27:34 -0000

Michel,

There are so many sites out there, both big and small, that use case studies... could the FTC potentially go after all of them?

That would just be bad for the economy in general. I can't imagine that is their plan.

Re: Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?

Roosevelt Cooper — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:25:51 -0000

Hi Michel,

Just had a conversation with one of my attorneys regarding the regulations. I am not going to give legal advice here. All I will do is tell you what I'm going to be doing based upon that conversation...

1) If I receive or have the potential to receive anything in value, whether it's money, a free course, whatever, I am going to disclose it. Adsense ads, affiliate links, anything and it doesn't matter whether its on my blog, facebook, twitter, whatever it's getting disclosed.

2) I'm not using any performance based testimonials anymore in my marketing.

3) I will still allow affiliates. The parent company has always been responsible for what their affiliates do even before this policy so I see no reason why I would need to do anything different in that area.