I think 2010 is the year to watch. With the FTC rules coming into play on the 1 December 2009 are we going to see the death of E-books? Or are we going to see a rise in the number of people in Internet Marketing.
Successful gurus have so many products out there and only time will tell whether they will be forced to remove those testimonials from their pages where people claim “I made $500 using this system by Mr X”.
Are we going to see innovative ways to market your product in Internet Marketing?
Only time will tell..
November 17th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Hi
My first time to your blog… pretty nice . I have a question for you though , why do you use just your page number instead of an SEO title ? Just curious as I am listening to your SEO Reborn videos at the moment , nice job on them by the way.
I think there will be a few changes in internet marketing , for the better I hope . Maybe a little less hype and bs , the two things I dislike about the internet .
One thing is certain , there will be a lot of product launches telling us how to market in this new era . I have seen a couple of them already and there will be a lot more to come .
Personally I am moving away from the dot com and starting to go more with the dot ca [ Canada ] the FTC can’t tell me what to do up here !
Even if I do use dot coms , what gives the FTC the right to tell a Canadian what to do , the US doesn’t own the dot com world , they just think they do . The United States has it’s own domain extension , dot US .
It could take awhile for all this to be sorted out.
Hey I just noticed , my comment is longer than your post !
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:53 am
Imraan, you mean to say that many of the IMs use fake testimonials?
I suppose they are using the true ones.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Any e-book that does not contain testimonials or celebrity endorsement that are false would be safe from the new FTC guidelines.
Otherwise, as long as you can back up your testimonials, proving that they were neither fictitious, paid endorsements (without notification on the materials where present), and that the results are generally attainable through full use of the material or product, you should be fine.
Where you will have problems is if you are using fake testimonials, Celebrity endorsements that don’t mention that they were paid to endorse the product or service (if they were paid), or paid endorsements that don’t mention that they were paid ro traded for.
Also – as quoted from the FTC website,
“The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law intended to help advertisers comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act; they are not binding law themselves. In any law enforcement action challenging the allegedly deceptive use of testimonials or endorsements, the Commission would have the burden of proving that the challenged conduct violates the FTC Act.”
In other words, even if the FTC does have a problem with what you are presenting, they still have to prove that what you were doing broke their laws in court – at least, that is what they are stating on their site.
Best not to go there though – Frank Kern has an interesting story on his Blog regarding an FTC battle he was embroiled in that crushed his business silly. Of course, Frank knows how to make money and was back on his feet in no time, but many may not be as resourceful or fortunate after an FTC tussle.
Being Canadian, I too am not worried about FTC regulations a whole lot. What I do concern myself with is running my business honestly and fairly. If everyone else does the same, we will all be better off.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I really don’t know how many changes this new FTC guidelines will bring in Internet Markting.
As every little IM Entrepreneur I’m a little preoccupied for two reasons :
1) I have a review blog from about 1 year and half.
2) I have a selling page of a product with 2 testimonials.
3) I planned to launch a new course just on st Decembre (that will be a lucky day or the end of my business)
I’m from Italy, so I don’t know really if they can pick me or not, but I have .com only.
The bad thing is that some people is making money also on that thing, telling they have solution to never be took in examination.
Anyway I’m a little preoccupied, so I’m preparing the following pages to add to my website :
- Earnings Disclaimers
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
- Disclaimer
I hope they can be useful.
But you can stay sure of a thing.
Less people will sell e-books, more money we can do !
Thanks for all your points of view and Goodbye.
Alessandro Zamboni
November 30th, 2009 at 3:12 am
For those interested in a little light reading, the FTC has created a PDF of the new rules and regs…this is a direct link:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf
Anyone worried about these new rules needs to simply read this document and follow the guidelines.
It is only 12 pages and clearly supported by examples. If you are an internet marketer, this is a must read. A relatively easy one considering the source.
Enjoy?
November 30th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Death of ebooks? No, there are other ways to sell ebooks
Most successful internet marketers will probably provide a testimonal terms/disclaimer, unless they can not prove their claims.
I think more people will enter internet marketing, but to provide services. There are already innovative ways to market your product in Internet Marketing..as time goes on even more will be available.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:26 am
The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law intended to help advertisers comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act; they are not binding law themselves. In any law enforcement action challenging the allegedly deceptive use of testimonials or endorsements, the Commission would have the burden of proving that the challenged conduct violates the FTC Act.”