LOS ANGELES: A blogger who reviews a product - but leaves out whether he got a payment, high-value gift or free vacation to write the review - could run afoul of new United States federal regulations on advertising.

The blogger rules, announced on Monday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are part of revisions to the agency’s Guides Concerning The Use Of Endorsements And Testimonials In Advertising. The last time these guides were revised was in 1980. At that time, there was no such thing as a blogger or social media.

‘The post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement,’ said the agency in a news release. ‘Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.’

There is nothing in the rules, which go into effect on Dec 1, that specifies how the disclosure must be made.

‘That’s left up to the endorser,’ said Mr Richard Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s division of advertising practices. ‘It can be a banner, part of the review. The only requirement is that it be clear and conspicuous.’

The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter.

The move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print.

Sites like Twitter and Facebook, as well as blogs, have offered companies new opportunities to pitch products with endorsements that carry a veneer of authenticity because they seem to be straight from the mouth of an individual consumer.

A spokesman for Singapore’s Media Development Authority said the agency would ‘take into consideration the requirement for disclosure rules for bloggers’, but declined to elaborate further.

Popular food blogger Leslie Tay ‘fully endorses’ the FTC regulation.

‘Honesty is the best policy. Bloggers should always declare any conflicts of interest upfront,’ said Dr Tay, who already declares that the food is sponsored by a restaurant as part of his review.

LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, NEW YORK TIMES

Source: Straits TImes (subscribers only)

Hi everyone,

It’s been a while since I last blogged because I was busy with some other projects that my way unexpectedly. But that doesn’t mean I have forgotten about this blog, or Internet Marketing in general.

In this post, I’m going to share with you how I managed to get a blog ranked number one in Google search results using Twitter in LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!

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Dear readers,

Barack Obama is officially elected the 44th president of United States!

When two political powers clash in a contest to be the most powerful man in the nation, it takes a huge amount of effort to come up top.

Marketers around the world has got to give credit to Obama and his team for the brilliant use of the Internet to give themselves to promote their campaign. This is probably the best case study ever, demostrating the power of the Internet in international marketing.

Here are some examples of how Obama used the Internet to propel himself into presidency, reinventing the way campaigns are run with modern tools.

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Dear readers,

Let’s face it. Nobody is indispensible to companies!

In such times of uncertainty where even giant corporations suffer in a sea of red in the stock market and dark clouds cover the economy, one has to make contingency plans and create escape routes.

So what are you going to do, should your company collapse or if the top management decides that you are redundant and gives you the sack?

Instead of looking at making money for the short-term, I always advocate to aim at sustainability. That is, having long-term money making plans.

Here’s what I may do for the next three months if I get retrenched.

Expanding clientel in my Webhosting Business
I’ve been running a webhosting business for the past two years and revenue has been consistent. It’s high time that I focus on expanding my clientel to generate more revenue for the business.

Make more money online
My approach to internet marketing has always been passive. Build well-designed websites with good ad placements, that are more or less self-generating in terms of content and visitors. With little or no work needed, passive amounts of income would pay for my bills. With more time in, I could take on a more active approach.

Turn my hobbies into cash cows
Having always been interested in photography, I’ve always been thinking of taking up a full-time photographer role. Having little flair for designing, I’ve also been accepting long-term content management jobs for both static and flash websites.

Yup, so that’s pretty much me. What are your plans?

Dear readers,

With the current financial crisis at hand, the last thing Internet Marketers around the world would like to see is a decline in their online profits.

Yesterday, I logged in to my Adsense account to check the amount paid for the clicks generated last month only to realise that the exchange rate between USD and SGD was stated 1.000 : 1!

I googled to check if I was the only ‘victim’ and it seems that other Adsense account holders are also experiencing the similiar problems. Could you imagine the look on the faces of Adsense account holders in India where USD$1 is paid as INR 1 Rs!

I do hope that this is truly a bug and that Google could clarify on this as soon as possible.

I just got back from this month’s Subscribers Night, the first in 2008 by the way. Having networked with many people from different backgrounds is sure fun.

If you’re at Subscribers Night and noticed that I was carrying two copies of Secrets of Ebay Millionaires, I’d probably have mentioned to you that I’m trying to get them autographed by Ben and Stuart and giving a copy away on my blog as a contest prize.

Feel free to give me a holler by leaving a comment at the end of this blog and I’ll check out your websites and see if there’s anything I can help.

Cheers!

Photo by: Zamzara

Dear readers,

What’s the first thing you must do when you start a new blog?

To me, being unique is the key. So I would say, differentiating yourself from the rest of the bloggers in your niche.

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Dear readers,

This morning, a mail came in from TextLinkAds asking me to approve an ad. Turns out, an ad space was on my behalf, to a currency trading website for $5 per month.

Nice little red packet don’t you think?

Dear readers,

Alvin Phang on GatherSuccess.com is giving away 28 free copies of Atomic Blogging Theme version 3.0 this Lunar New Year.

What I like about this theme is that it is very clean and does most of the technical work for the blogger. Here are some of the features that I like about this theme.

Widget Enabled Header Boxes
It’s starting to be a trend for internet marketers to use header boxes to promote new posts, articles, promotions, giveaways, etc. This theme is widget enabled so you do not have to edit the pages in the theme to have the header boxes. You can simply edit the widgets.

Integrated Social Buttons
This theme is also integrated with social buttons so you do not have to insert your own, or install a wordpress plugin just for it.

Integrated Auto Related Posts Widgets
This feature displays related blog posts and encourages your readers to visit other related posts in your blog. Usually if you want to have this feature on your blog, you have to install a wordpress plugin.

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Dear readers,

The anticipated book, Secrets of EBay Millionaires, by Dr. Benjamin Marc Wee has just been launched. I’ve just grabbed my copy from Kinokuniya. The book focuses on the mindset and techniques. It’s like the blueprint to making money on EBay.

Along with the book, is a ticket that entitles you to attend a foundation education workshop by Dr. Benjamin Marc Wee. I heard stocks are running out soon so grab your copy while it lasts!

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