Disclaimers lately became both a fashionable marketing trend and a buzz-word extraordinaire, simultaneously triggering the reaction of the two most important elements of the buzz marketing.
“Fashionable trend” in this case is not generated by curiosity or popularity. It’s generated by one of the most unpleasant yet effective “buying triggers” used in marketing – fear.
Of course FTC is not selling you anything, and it was probably not its particular intention to generate such unhealthy rush about the upcoming event (I’m talking about new FTC regulations that go into effect on December 01, 2009, more about these guidelines in a moment).
Nevertheless the trigger that did make this “law and order” event known almost instantly to millions of people in America, is the same that is used in many high-converting sales letters online. It’s a factor of fear (played as scarcity within internet marketing community).
If you want to read complete guidelines released by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, go here: New FTC Regulations
It’s a long read. So let me make it easier for you.
Short Version: You’re screwed.
These regulations influence every marketer, blogger, advertiser, website owner and operator in the world. And if you’re one of those, you should immediately take some action to comply with these regulations.
FTC says that regulations affect you only if you live in the US or promote your products and services to the US market. In reality, if you’re on the Internet, and are promoting something on your website, chances are pretty big that sooner or later somebody from the US will find it and buy it. Especially if you’re ranked high in the SERPs for your keywords.
Of course, if you live in another country, it will be more difficult to FTC to go after you, since international laws will probably complicate this process.
But if you live in the US, and especially if this is the first time you read about the upcoming FTC changes, you have no time to waste. If you want to know how to avoid a $11,000 wrist slap per each violation, read this post to see the easiest way to comply, and then immediately go and put all the legal stuff on your site.
Before I actually tell you what to do, let me follow the trend and throw at you my disclaimer. Ready? Here it is:
“I am a blogger and social marketer, not an attorney. So, nothing you read on this blog (and on this post in particular) or on any other of my numerous websites and blogs, could be considered a legal advice.
If you have legal questions about your specific situation you should seek advice from a qualified attorney.
Furthermore, any and all comments I make and reviews I write about various products and services, here or on any other blog, website, social network or any other source of information available in this universe, should be considered my opinion only.”
There you have it. It might sound a little ridiculous in some parts, but the sad reality is that the disclaimer I just showed you is a modified sample of only one legal document that you now have to put on every website and blog you own or operate. And there are tons of such documents.
It will take many hours of consultations with qualified attorney to put all your websites in compliance with new regulations. So if you have one and are ready to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees for legal consultations, go for it.
I, however, suggest another route. How about paying a one-time fee of less than $100, and get all the required legal documents? Well, there is such program, and a respected one at that.
All the documents are written by Internet Law Specialist, the attorney who specializes in Internet, copyright and contract law. What is even more important, you get a life-time updates, so when FTC rules changes, the documents are updated to reflect those modifications.
Go to AutoWebLawPro now, download all the legal documents you need, and put them immediately on your sites. Of course nobody knows at the moment if it will be enough to cover you from FTC. But hey, the attorney that actually specializes in this stuff, probably know much better than you and I, right?
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