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The new FTC Rules Concerning Endorsements & Testimonials
by Chris Farrell

So I am getting a lot of questions Marilyn

(some from concerned folk) about the new FTC regulations.

Firstly — who are the FTC?

The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American.

Let me say this.

These new rules are good.

Unless you have something to hide.

Uncle Sam wants to make sure the old rules of fairness and transparency still apply.

That’s surely a good thing for us all of us.

As the web continues to grow and evolve – and remember it is still early days in this business — the FTC deem that changes need to be made to preserve a free and open Internet.

So what are these scary sounding changes?

Let me tell you.

OVERVIEW

There are two primary areas covered that could affect us.

They both affect affiliates who use testimonials – and/or reviewers/bloggers who recommend products.

* 1: Using Testimonials. The commission is now saying that advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the ‘results aren’t typical.’

* 2: Using Reviews and Endorsements. The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.

Let’s look at both in a bit more detail:

TESTIMONIALS: Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as’ typical’ – when that is not the case – will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.

But what does this actually mean?

Here’s a good example that is on Joel Comm’s blog.

Say you offer a product that helps people develop a marketing strategy for the internet. One person vigorously applies the system to a great product, makes $250,000 in the first month, and sends you a testimonial praising your genius.

That’s the truth – for that person.

Another person buys your product, and does a half-hearted implementation and makes $250.

That’s the truth too, but this person doesn’t bother to tell you the results or share their implementation strategy.

As a marketer, what do you communicate to potential customers?

Under the old rules, you could happily post the wonderful testimonial from the wildly successful (and true) customer and capture the aspirations of your potential customers.

All you had to do was post a clear and conspicuous disclaimer saying that the successful customer’s results were not typical.

This “results not typical” “safe harbor” is being removed.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT CHANGE GUYS!!!!!!!

New Rule: The Federal Trade Commission is changing its guide to eliminates advertisers’ ability to use statements like “Results may vary” as a safe-harbor disclosure that eliminates responsibility to substantiate claims.

This is what David Vladeck who is the head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection — has to say on this:

“In the FTC’s review of 300 ads, two-thirds used consumer testimonials. Few showed realistic claims, and disclosures of atypical results were flashed too quickly to read. ‘Results may vary’ does not adequately inform consumers that claims are outliers or extreme cases. They do not disclose results consumers should realistically expect. That is the main problem.”

Misuse has been especially prevalent in weight-loss products.

Vladeck says the revised guides do not bar use of disclaimers — they merely make advertisers responsible for ensuring that consumers are not misled by an ad in its entirety.

Of course, some advertisers are all mad and bent out of shape over this ruling, which is hardly surprising given how some online play fast and loose with the truth (anyone seen the RIDICULOUS Jeff Paul Infomercial for example…) (and don’t start me with Stores Online…)

A few have asked me about the testimonials on the Digi Camera Page.

After reviewing them just now — I see no danger for anyone.

None of the testimonials are making outlandish claims — they are all saying a similar thing — which is ‘I love the book’ sort of thing.

In fact — maybe in a strange premonition kind of way — I have always avoided using monetary testimonials from others that have used my products. Not because I don’t have any (I do) but because personally I don’t like them.

I am happy to use myself as an example — but I never liked marketers who would parade others and say ‘Mary made this using my product’.

I am happy when we hear and share success stories in the Forum — but as a testimonial for a product — I have always stayed away from this.

You will note that most of my testimonials for my products — Digi Camera Cash — Create Your First Website — various ebooks — membership site — tend to talk more of the the ‘human’ side of this business — me ‘getting on the phone and helping someone’ etc etc .

REVIEWS & ENDORSEMENTS for you Bloggers

Do you blog?

Are you trying to make money with your blog by promoting some company’s products or services? If so, you better be careful because the Federal Trade Commission has its eye on you.

The Federal Trade Commission announced that it’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials would be revised in relation to bloggers.

The new guidelines specified that bloggers making any representation of a product must disclose the material connections they (the presumed endorsers) share with the advertisers.

What this means is that, under the new guidelines, a blogger’s positive review of a product may qualify as an “endorsement” and that keeping a product after a review may qualify as “compensation.”

So again — what is this actually saying?

New Rule: It’s saying that if you get money for something — then say so.

I think this is TERRIFIC news.

How many times have we Google a review of a product — we find a review site/blog — it gives the products a great review — and then a ‘click here to buy’ link.

Of course the review is going to be good — there is an affiliate link for it on the page!!!

For this reason alone I do not like Review sites.

I always like to say if I use affiliate links — in fact in many of my videos on this site where I recommend aweber I purposely say in the video that the link ‘below the video is my affiliate link’. Full Disclosure!

( please click here for an example of me doing this)

So bloggers have to now come clean and disclose payments for reviews.

This won’t be hard for me to comply with, since very few people send me free stuff…

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By Marilyn Parmelee

When designing your primary objective is to have the visitors to your site enjoy their visit enough to want to stay. You want them to have a great experience. In order for that to happen, there are three things you must do: make your website easy to navigate, have a great design, and make the loading time fast. No one will stay on a site that takes forever to load.

First, you must make your website easy to navigate. Keep in mind who your audience is and put yourself in their place. They shouldn’t have to hunt for your toolbar. Keep it in this same place on each page. Never make them search for the information they’re after. Make it easy to find. Keep hyperlinks to a minimum. No more than three. Your hyperlinks should open in a new page, so that they can easily go back to the previous page.

Second is your website design. Again, put yourself in your visitor’s place and keep it simple. You want your audience to enjoy their experience. Keep loading time short. Some say that each web page should be different, but I don’t agree. You don’t want them wondering if they’ve somehow been sent to a different site. Keep the same look and feel to each page. Have your navigation bar in the same place, and use the same header on each page. Keep balance between text and images on the page. Play with the site while you’re building it to make sure images are well placed and fit the text. Your text size and the type of fonts (Tahoma, Verdana and Georgia test well) you use should be relevant to the importance of the subject. Look at your page. Have others look at it and give you feedback.

Third, page loading time is important. You don’t want your visitors leaving, because it takes too long for the page to load. Although many people are now using broadband, there are still those who use dial-up internet connections. We have to keep them in mind as well. We want to make everyone’s experience a good one. Text loads quickly, but where you can make a difference is in the images that you use. Use an editing software (IrfanView is free and easy to use.) to reduce the image size without losing quality. Because we want to have enough images to attract our visitors and we don’t want to slow down the loading time, using image editing software is going to be one of your favorite tools.

In designing your site, keep these three things in mind and you’ll be on your way to a great site. For more frugal and free ways to build your business and your website go to: http://www.frugalebizproducts.com

Marilyn Parmelee is a published author, pastor and internet marketer. She helps author’s, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence. To find out more go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee http://EzineArticles.com/?3-Secrets-to-Designing-Your-Website&id=272955

By Marilyn Parmelee

The first thing you must do before you build your website is to determine who your target audience is. In doing so, you will build a site that will result in loyal visitors that will come back to your site over and over again.

It’s important that you know what your niche is, as it helps determine who will be visiting your site. You need to take into consideration the characteristics of your audience, so do your best to answer the following questions:
How old is your target audience likely to be?

What is their education level?

Are they computer savvy?

What kind of work do they do? Are they in a particular profession or a job?

What is their belief system?

What do they do in their spare time? What are their hobbies?

Are they married or single?

Do they have children?

What is their emotional state going to be when they reach your site?

What are they looking for when they get to your site?

Try to build a composite of what your visitor’s life looks like. The more specific you get, the easier it will be to plan your site.

Let me give you an example. I’ve determined that the average visitor to one of my sites is around thirty-five to fifty years old. They are not technologically savvy. They are starting a new online business or non-profit organization. They are frustrated because they have limited funds to spend to get a website up and running.

They’ve looked and looked online, but have been unable to find what they need. So, I’ve made my site simple to navigate. There is no “flash and dazzle.” That isn’t what my audience is looking for. They want clear concise answers. I offer products that are frugal or free. It helps my audience to get their website up and running quickly.

You need to do the same for your site. What niche are you in? What is your audience like? Once you’ve determined that, you will be able to build a site that your audience will love and come back to again and again.

For more information on building your website go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com

Marilyn Parmelee is a published author, pastor and internet marketer. She helps author’s, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence. To find out more go to http://www.frugalebizproducts.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Parmelee http://EzineArticles.com/?The-One-Thing-You-Must-Do-Before-You-Build-Your-Website&id=2728679

web building, web design, websites

Check this out -  Here’s why. I am personally a part of this membership site. I have found nothing better on line. After you become a member and find out how great and useful it is to your business, you can become an affiliate to it. So check it out. Looking costs only your time.

You will discover Chris Farrell Membership a combination of information, inspiration and motivation.

• techniques, tactics and strategies to start, improve or grow your online business.

• website contains hundreds of how-to articles, ideas, resources, software downloads, video tutorials and much more.

Click Here

For a membership of just $4.95 for the first 14 days, and then $27 per month after these 14 days, you get uninterrupted access to the private, members only area. This includes:
* Free Unlimited Platinum Web Hosting: Unlimited Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Domain Names. Value $9.95/month PER DOMAIN.

* Free Immediate Access To Create Your First Website By 3:45 This Afternoon…the VIDEOS! This 43 video course – spanning over 6 hours – has helped thousands start successfully online. The course sells for $67 (and sells well) but is yours FREE.

* Free Techie Help – Value $50/hour.

* Free Access To The Lively DISCUSSION FORUM – moderated by Chris Farrell.

* 24 hour Video-On-Demand. Have a question? Ask Chris – and get a personalized video answer within 24 hours.

And just too much to mention here. Go check it out. It costs nothing to look.

Click Here

By Michael A McCord

OK, you’ve done the “forum thing”, you’ve done the “downloading” thing and you’ve done the “throwing away the rubbish I don’t need thing”. So what next. Well this depends on what it is you want to do online.

If you want to sell other people’s products for a commission, you can do that. Sites like Clickbank can help you out there. You browse through the site looking under different headings until you find the products you would be interested in promoting. Following the on screen instructions, you sign up for an account and using your account name, you create what is known as a Hoplink. This link is used in your promotions and when someone buys the product from the vendor, the commission is sent to the account in the Hoplink, i.e. your account.

It all sounds so simple and you will see literally thousands of ads telling you that Mr X made $25000 in a month, Mrs Y made $10000 in her first week and someone else made so much money, they can’t find numbers high enough to tell you and will have to invent a brand new type of mathematics just so it all makes sense. So everything looks rosy in the garden. What you never, or at least, rarely see, is the fact that to promote the products, you have to have someone to promote them to. Without a list of prospects, looking to buy, at your disposal, you can promote products until the cows amble past on their way home, but if no-one sees the item on your own site, or a site you have been given as part of an affiliate deal, then there simply is no market. After about a week of logging on to see who has bought and how much you are making, you may notice a few tumbleweeds slowly making their way across the site, a very depressing state of affairs.

List building is a specialist area all of its own and I will cover that in a future article.

Another route to take is getting your own web presence and promoting your own product, or a product that you have the rights to sell, or give away. (What! I hear you say, Give Away! I’m here to make a living fool, not compete with Charities!) Be calm. Chill. As you will see in an upcoming article, giving leads to receiving, again and again.

Getting your own website used to be an area only ever ventured into by the internet version of Indiana Jones or James Bond. It was a place full of completely alien practices and languages, and all out of reach to the man in the street, or indeed, the man in the spare bedroom , banging away at the keyboard.

I can remember starting out with computers that had to be hand coded using endless pages of gibberish to achieve the moving of a small square from one side of the screen to the other where…gasp!, it changed colour before your very eyes, (your very tired eyes). These days, you can get free software that will guide you through each step and give decent results, and if you have made the right connections in your forum activities, you will have people to help you when it goes adrift, (and it will). The biggest secret to building a website is this.

Don’t Give Up.

You may feel like giving up, in fact you will definitely feel it, but the satisfaction you will get from seeing your own site, live on the web, is almost as good as the birth of your firstborn.

You did this.
You are The Webmaster.
You have only just started, my friend.
Don’t like the colour? Change it.
Want a flashing doo-dad? Put one in.
Want moving pictures? No problem.
Want a life sized 3D hand coming out of the monitor to pat you on the back? In your dreams.

But seriously, you are now coming to the stage where you are in control, and can do these things, (except the hand), and you can take pride in the fact that you are already way ahead of most of the people in the world.

That is worth repeating-you are already way ahead of most of the people in the world. Because you are taking action.

In Newbie article 4, we’ll talk about list building and what to sell on your website.

Bye for now.

Michael McCord:
For a FREE eBook for newbies on building your first website, go to http://www.sucsessful.com
No sales page, no fluff, just a download.

Helping newbies any way I can, because we have ALL been there and it can be LONELY.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.
David Rockefeller (1915 – )

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_A_McCord

By Michael A McCord

Ok, you’ve been to the forums, you’ve scanned all the posts, all the replies, followed the links down all the rabbit holes….what now?

Well, you are probably suffering a well known condition that affects both newbies and seasoned Internet Marketers and it can be summed up as:

Information Overload

This is a place we all get to. All you have to do now is sort out the wheat from the chaff….. Easier said than done my friend.

You suddenly remember the 17 articles, eBooks, and other stuff you have dropped onto your hard drive. Which ones are relevant? Which should I follow? I’ll open this one…no this one. Perhaps I’ll open all of them at once. After all it’s about time I proved to my wife/husband/partner/cat that I CAN multitask.

So now you can’t see your desktop. Can’t see half of the open files because they are hidden behind OTHER open files. You’re confused, you have a sudden headache, your eyes have started to work independently. You close everything down and go back to Solitaire, have another coffee, perhaps go to the TV and watch something relaxing.

OK, have a break, settle down and relax, there is an answer. Go back to the forum you liked best. The forum where people cared about each other and helped each other. The forum where questions were answered without the sarcasm sometimes found in some forums.

Log in and ask for advice. Let them know what your problem is and, if they are the type of people I deal with, you will have your answers. Someone there will have come across the same articles etc. you are looking at and may take the position of mentor, offering help to get you over the problem.

After a short time, you wonder what all the fuss was about. You have cut the articles and eBooks down to a manageable number and finally you’re getting somewhere. Take it easy, read the stuff you have kept, make notes, put an action plan together. Take relevant sections from the files you are looking at and put them into a notepad file. After a while, you will have a condensed list of things you can put together that won’t overwhelm you.

I hope this helps.

OK, I’ve said enough for now, I’ll get back to you soon.

Michael McCord :
For a FREE eBook for newbies on building your first website, go to http://www.sucsessful.com

Helping newbies any way I can, because we have ALL been there and it can be LONELY.

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.

David Rockefeller (1915 – )

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_A_McCord

I recently received this email: (though edited to protect their privacy)

I have to ask you another question – after I tell you all these details.  I cannot focus on one task and follow it through to completion – like your suggestion for my first website.  I actually made notes about how I would do it.  But I eventually looked at the hundreds of emails I get and something attracted me and that led somewhere else and then I’ve spent all my time after supper on anything but what I wanted to do.  Morning comes and back to the job, come home and start over.  There are just so many things that look and sound so interesting.

Many of the emails I get originated at the giveaway events.  And then I get “my friend xxxxx is giving away this how to ebook” or whatever it is, and I get pulled that way, and another stream of email comes.  The bed in our guest room is covered with printed reports that I read as I can.

Finally to the question(s).  Did you have this situation?  Were you able to break yourself away from it?  Am I wasting my time – should I concentrate on just _____________and do something – anything at all – just do something?

I told myself it would be good to get all the emails to learn how others do it; and have to examples of what must be autoresponder email series.  I’ve read posts where some said “I unsubscribed myself from all those emails except for _____________” after they found the one person whom they thought they could follow.

I’m sure this sounds like rambling blather but I’m really wondering what to do to just get started.  I’ve read enough to know how to set up a site.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for caring enough to write.  I appreciate your time.

So in case you’re having the same problem, here is my response:

I’m going to try and answer your questions intelligently. To that end, I printed off your email so I won’t miss anything! Hope I manage it.

“I cannot focus on one task and follow it through to completion.”

Stop trying to learn everything you need to know at once. First, learn to build pages. Once you have that down, then move on. Without a website, you have NO business. Without a business you make NO money.  That’s why knowing how to build a web page must be first and foremost in your quest for an online business.

Here’s some suggestions (though you’ll have to make it fit you and your lifestyle):

• Take all your ebooks you’ve printed and stack them together in groups: listbuilding, salespages, etc.

• Put them away until you actually need them.

• The ones on your hard drive, put on disc, label and save for later.

• Remove yourself from lists, except the one’s your really getting help from. Choose three or four that you really listen to, the one’s that compliment what you’re learning from the main person you listen to (Hope I’m one).  I listen to three. Chris Farrell, Rodger Hyatt, and Matt LaClear. Why? Because they have all taken the time to respond when I had questions and needed help.

If you don’t want to unsubscribe, then move them all to a different email address that you will check once a week, or once a month . Trust me, they’ll still be there.

• YES just concentrate on what Chris is teaching. When you get that down, then you can move on. Really.

• If you think you’ve read enough to put up a site, do it! After all, it’s read (or watch) pause, do. It’s fun. I still treat it like a game so if I mess up, I’m not too heartbroken.

• If you get stuck, say so. Post it on the forum, email me, or skype me (marilyn808). You can do it.

Next I think it’s important that you schedule your time. This is what I do, our time situations are different, but I hope it gives you some ideas. By the way I use stickies, (download them free)  just in case my time or day changes. As a pastor, I never know when things will change and it helps to have my to do list moveable and keeps me on track.

• Every Monday is my planning day. I decide what I need to learn and what I want to accomplish that week.

• Tuesdays: Write articles for blogs. Load them and schedule date for them to be posted.

• Wednesdays: Write emails for autoresponder. Load and schedule date for them to be sent out. (this includes giveaway events coming up etc.)

• Thursdays: Website, what needs to be added, deleted, or updated.

• Fridays: Projects: writing ebooks, articles, learning how to make videos, etc.

• Saturdays: off (for online work)

• Sundays: off (for online work)

Mornings:

• 5 min. on CF forum

• 5-15 min. checking on emails from subscribers and and answering questions

• 5 min. check stats

• 1 hour studying what I need to learn next

• 45 min. doing

continue the process with what I’m doing that day
Afternoons:

• same

I hope this is some help to you. I know our situations are different. My evenings are always up in the air so I never plan for those, I just choose a sticky from the pile that’s on top and do that. I have them in the order of importance, so the most important gets done first.

Marilyn Parmelee
online pastor, marketer and teacher
http://www.frugalebizproducts.com
http://www.hearinggodsite.com

Hey Guys,

If you are targeting the “Make Money” niche, and want to help out your customers… I have just what you need! I found this the other day, and I wanted to let you know about it.

Before I get into what the offer is, I want to first say that most profitable sub-niche in internet marketing is targeting the new crowd, newbies. There is so many new people coming into this market, and they are looking for easy, and useful information for them to get started with.

So that brings me to the NewbieChecklist w/ PLR, its great package that offers everything you need to start building a list of buyers, and target the newbies.

I am going to let the video explain the deal…

Affiliate Video Brander

This is a perfect package to help out newbies, because its so simple. I am not kidding when I tell you that its so much easier to learn from a simple checklist than a long drawn out ebook… So give your customers what they want with these checklists.

You can easily brand them and put out as your own, and start helping your clients and customers out…

With these checklists you can…

• Add them to your exsiting product and INSTANTLY increase the value and effectiveness of your product. Your customers will thank you for it!
• ReBrand them and sell them in a neat little bundle like this with Resale Rights and start earning an extra income on the side without effort!
• E-mail your list for a quick (huge) turn-around for your purchase price, infact you are start making a HUGE return right now!
• Add this to your membership site, and help out your customers while adding huge value… without effort!
• Create an entire new product based around these checklist, and create a new revenue model easily!
• Use them as a simple coahcing program. Every week they get a new checklist, and person coaching…
• The options are endless!