I finally hit a threshold.
I see alot of people’s blogs every week through our memberships and give a lot of advice to affiliate marketers as to how to grow their income and so on. So I KNOW first hand how many people HAVEN’T yet implemented anything like the changes the FTC recommended late last year for affiliate marketers.
(If you missed my post on the FTC updates at the time when they happened or still don’t know what they are – check here.)
Furthermore, I know how much of a pain it is to get a proper disclaimer done for your affiliate blogs, particularly if you don’t have a lot of time or money available.
So what I’ve done is this…
I knocked up a very quick, very brief, side bar widget “mini disclaimer” that is generic enough that any affiliate marketer can upload it to their sites without trouble. Having it on your website can contribute to your compliance with the new FTC regulations without you having to spend a fortune to do so.
This is what it looks like:
Before you use it though, I have to give you MY disclaimers that you MUST read, before doing so.
1. Obviously I am not a legal professional and this disclaimer is not constructed by a legal professional. As such it does not take into consideration anything to do with your website. Of course, I make no guarantee that this will clear you of liability based on the new FTC guidelines.
2. Having this on your website DOES NOT mean you will be in full compliance with the new guidelines.
3. This is not to be seen or used to REPLACE a full and proper disclaimer.
If you read that and now you’re wondering “What is this even good for then?, the answer is:
If you’re currently doing NOTHING, this MIGHT get you out of SOME of the trouble you could find yourself in at the hands of the FTC.
We know they have been very unspecific as to exactly HOW they want affiliates to disclose their relationships and WHERE, so for now, something is better than nothing.
Furthermore, the benefit of this is that I have written a disclosure that I think will minimize the hit that such a statement could make to your click through and conversion rates.
Bottom line, think of it as the first step to your full compliance.
Here is the link to download the images. You can choose the colour that fits best with your blog’s theme from the zip file at this link. If that link doesn’t work, try the RAR version at this link.
And below is the video on how to implement the disclaimer image as a widget to your WP blog’s sidebar. You’ll notice that my Windows is currently in Spanish but don’t worry – it won’t affect your ability to understand what I’m doing on the video 
Oh and I was in the middle of a terrible cold at the time so again, excuse me for that!
Enjoy!
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I’m not sure whether it’s just my problem or what, but I can’t seem to open the zip file. I’m using 7-zip and it says it can’t open the file as an archive.
Sorry Alex, I updated that link and provided an alternative, both of which seem to be working now. Let me know if you still have trouble.
Andrew
Hey Andrew, the links work now. Thanks and congrats on your engagement!
Congraculationson your engagement and many thanks for the gift disclaimer image
Thanks very much for that and congratulations on your forthcoming nuptuals
This is a great little addition for peace of mind – but personally I’m not too worried about the Yanks and their FTC rules and regulations. If you just make a living at affiliate marketing you’re too small fry for them to bother with. If your banking millions you can afford lawyers to tie up and bog down any challenges till your cold and buried. And .. f you don’t live in the USA – f**k ‘em. The Yanks might to try and boss and frighten the entire world but it’s water off a ducks back to me.
Thanks Andrew, I’ve been looking for something like this disclaimer.
Congrats on your engagement. Hope your marriage works out as good as mine has.
Karl
Hi Andrew, Congratulations on your engagement! and many thanks for the disclaimer image!
When I use the code for the widget text, the image was shown but when I use the same code with “, nothing was displayed. Kindly advise. Thanks.
Oops, the message body doesn’t seem to show the html code I was trying to illustrate. What I mean is when I used the code img src with the disclaimer-free choice of image, the image was shown but when I replaced that with the choice pale yellow color, nothing was displayed. Kindly advise.
Hi Andrew,
~ I wish you both the best of everything!
Congrats on your engagement! Brave girl…..
Thanks for the good info as always
Congrats on the engagement. (Your lady has scored a Big-Time winner, for sure!
)
It’s a shame the idea of making a few bucks becomes so legalistic.
(Does a car dealership now have to make the same type of disclosures? Or every retail shop that is online?)
Let’s keep it real simple (KISS) (Stupid being the key phrase in these circumstances)
Hey, thanks for visiting Acme Widgets! Please be warned, if you buy something from here, we might make some money off of you! We don’t necessarily make, or own everything offered here! Buyer Beware!
Thanks Andrew, I have just put some affilate links on a site and had forgotten all about the wretched compliance thing. This will come in very handy!
Also congrats on your engagement!
Wendy
Hey Andrew
I have placed a small disclaimer in the footer of every page on my sites, as well as provided more on a specific TOS page, how much more is needed. I guess anything we can do to improve our credibility and provide transparency to our readers is a good thing. Thanks for providing this to your readers, it is appreciated.
Thanks, Andrew. This will help us to comply with the FTC rules. Congrats on your engagement!