Dealing With FTC Rules For Bloggers

Since it is December and the new FTC rules for bloggers have taken effect, I have been looking for the easiest way to make everything compliant.  I know that it’s probably a long shot that the FTC would ever take an interest in my blog, but better safe than sorry, since I found a pretty easy way to do it.  Of course you could write your own custom disclosure like Shoemoney does, but who wants to take the 15 minutes to write it…CMP.lyThat’s where CMP.ly comes in.  They have created a simple way to add the proper disclosure to your page, similar to the URL shorteners that you know and love.  CMP.ly is totally free, and there are 5 levels of their standard disclosure, as well as a custom one that you can create if you want to sign up for an account and take the time to do it.  For most people though, the standard ones will work fine.  They are:

  • CMP.ly/0 – No Connection, Unpaid, My Own Opinions (Legit post)
  • CMP.ly/1 – Based Upon a Review Copy (Review copies plz?)
  • CMP.ly/2 – Given a Sample (Sample of what?)
  • CMP.ly/3 – Paid Post (Zac Johnson’s favorite)
  • CMP.ly/4 – Employee/Shareholder/Business Relationship (Matt Cutts’ favorite)
  • CMP.ly/5 – Affiliate Marketing Links (My favorite)

So it might not be the sexiest thing to spend an hour doing, adding these links to all your blog posts.  But it’s not that much work and it’s definitely not worth it to get busted by the FTC in case some young buck in the department is trying to make a name for himself by taking down the evil affiliate bloggers that are polluting the online world for all the rest of us. (/sarcasm)