ROCKFUSE » Content Writing http://www.rockfuse.com/blog Tips and Resources for Bloggers, Internet Marketers and Entrepreneurs Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:27:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 FTC cracks down on Flogs and false advertisments http://www.rockfuse.com/blog/ftc-cracks-down-on-flogs-and-false-advertisments http://www.rockfuse.com/blog/ftc-cracks-down-on-flogs-and-false-advertisments#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:52:14 +0000 admin http://www.rockfuse.com/blog/?p=995 Ahh to me its a sign of relief.  To long I have seen scam after scam ripping innocent consumers out of their money and giving the honest internet entrepreneur a black eye.  Now the FTC is implementing tough new standards online and will be cracking down once the new rules are activated.

The FTC  are going after the fake testimonial, paid endorsements  and fake blogs or flogs websites.  Last year Oprah and crew strongly protested that their names were being used illegally to scam people of out of their money for items such as acai berry and other such health items.  Now the FTC steps in and hopefully will stem some of these problematic website. read all the new rules here

So what exactly is the FTC targeting ? There are a few issues that the FTC has and it mostly pertains to paid endorsements and fake customer reviews.   There are many flogs out there right now claiming that a company website or blog is an individuals personal blog and endorsement while in reality it is just a marketing scheme with sometimes real and sometimes made up individuals who are getting paid for the endorsement without disclosing the payment the viewer.   Lets say I write a website on how I got ripped using acai berry.  I write up a whole fake review of the product how I got ripped and make it look like I actually used the product and Im a real person.  Then also on that page I have fake testimonial from other users who used the product and got ripped also.  Then finally I might also have a celebrity endorsement that was never given.  All three examples are problems and no longer will be allowed to be used unless clearly stated that you are 1 getting paid for the endorsement and 2 those were not actually customers but made up examples of what could happen when you use the product.  The celebrity endorsement thing cannot fly anyway unless they actually give you permission to use their name on your page.

Another thing that the FTC will be clamping down on are result claims.  For instance you no longer can state you can make 10000 a month using this product.  You can say I made 10000 last month using this product as long as it is true.   You also should disclose that those are not typical results and results may vary from person to person and company to company .   I lost 100 lbs on this diet , stating this though even true may not be a typical experience and should be noted.

In conclusion you should really read the new guidelines and follow best practices when advertising .  If something is not true then you should not publish it.  I always found being honest you make a lot more money in the long run then running a scam on a few people.

tell me what you think .
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