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Disclosure Policy of The Michel Fortin Blog

Disclosure Policy of The Michel Fortin Blog

9838 150x150 Disclosure Policy of The Michel Fortin BlogI deeply value my read­ers and sub­scribers, as much as they value me, my exper­tise, and my rec­om­men­da­tions. For this rea­son, I try to be as open and forth­right as possible.

I’m a big fan of dis­clo­sure. I believe in it. While I will make every attempt to dis­close each time I make a rec­om­men­da­tion on this blog, some­times I can’t or I sim­ply for­get. So I’ve included an abbre­vi­ated form on the sidebar.

How­ever, in an effort to be as clear and can­did as pos­si­ble, I’d like to post a more com­plete ver­sion, which high­lights some of my rela­tion­ships, the ways I am com­pen­sated, as well as the results I some­times show­case on this blog.

Here they are…

  • I occa­sion­ally make rec­om­men­da­tions on this blog, which include links to help­ful resources for which I get some kind of com­pen­sa­tion. I either get a com­mis­sion for each sale, or receive some form of remu­ner­a­tion, either finan­cially or in kind.
  • How­ever, these rec­om­men­da­tions are based first and fore­most on their merit. I make them either because of their value, help­ful­ness, and qual­ity, or based on my direct or indi­rect knowl­edge of the author’s rep­u­ta­tion, track record, and level of exper­tise. No adver­tiser will ever influ­ence the con­tent on this blog.
  • Some affil­i­ate links are added auto­mat­i­cally with the help of soft­ware, which linki­fies spe­cific key­words within the con­tent dynam­i­cally. Oth­ers are added after the post is writ­ten. In other words, most affil­i­ate links are added inci­den­tally or subsequently.
  • Some links do not have any affil­i­a­tion or com­pen­sa­tion what­so­ever, but are included for the same rea­sons expressed above. In other words, I add them based on merit. If I find them help­ful and sus­pect that they may be of inter­est to my read­ers, I will include them, regard­less of com­pen­sa­tion or lack thereof.
  • With­out ques­tion, most tes­ti­mo­ni­als on this blog high­light pos­i­tive and some­times extra­or­di­nary out­comes achieved under unique cir­cum­stances. Typ­i­cal results are exceed­ingly dif­fi­cult to pre­dict or mea­sure, as all mar­kets, busi­nesses, motives, and results are unique. Yours will be no exception.
  • As with most train­ing pro­grams or infor­ma­tion prod­ucts, by their very nature all results are atyp­i­cal. Such pro­grams are not “one-​​size-​​fits-​​all” solu­tions as they teach a wide vari­ety of sys­tems and strate­gies. There­fore, it is impos­si­ble for any­one to pre­dict how, or even if, you will use the infor­ma­tion pro­vided in your spe­cific business.
  • As with every busi­ness ven­ture, there’s inher­ent risk. You even stand a chance to lose money. So please use dis­cre­tion when mak­ing a pur­chas­ing decision.
  • All tes­ti­mo­ni­als and case stud­ies are col­lected from peo­ple who have had per­sonal expe­ri­ence with our prod­ucts or ser­vices, and they have each sub­mit­ted their kind words will­ingly, and with­out direct finan­cial pay­ment or compensation.
  • In rare cases, such as with case stud­ies, some stu­dents have received sub­stan­tial dis­counts on our prod­ucts in exchange for their hon­est review.
  • Some endorse­ments are sent from pay­ing clients who have ini­tially hired us for our con­sult­ing ser­vices, and may not nec­es­sar­ily or directly reflect the spe­cific prod­ucts show­cased on this blog. Some have become friends or part­ners in var­i­ous ventures.
  • Some of my endorse­ments of other people’s prod­ucts are the result of receiv­ing a free review copy. In some cases, I may be an affil­i­ate. How­ever, I do not receive any direct finan­cial com­pen­sa­tion for mak­ing such endorse­ments, and I only pro­vide an hon­est review, whether as an affil­i­ate or not, if I feel the prod­uct has merit.

As for my relationships:

  • I own The Suc­cess Doc­tor, Inc., a copy­writ­ing agency and mar­ket­ing con­sul­tancy, oper­ated by part­ners Andy and Shawn Cat­si­manes. Many of our copy­writ­ers own and oper­ate their own free­lance copy­writ­ing and con­sult­ing busi­nesses, as well as pro­duce their own prod­ucts to which I have links on this blog.
  • My wife, Sylvie Fortin, and I own The Licorice Group, LLC, mak­ers of a vari­ety of train­ing and mul­ti­me­dia prod­ucts, such as Suc­cess Chef Uni­ver­sity, Mar­ket­ing E.S.P., The List Whis­perer, The Copy Doc­tor, In Your PJs, Mar­keters Board, and many others.
  • My wife owns and oper­ates Worka​holic​s4Hire​.com, Inc., a project man­age­ment, cus­tomer sup­port, and free­lance out­sourc­ing firm spe­cial­iz­ing in Inter­net mar­ket­ing and online busi­nesses. We share many of the same clients between our companies.
  • Many of my tes­ti­mo­ni­als come from pay­ing clients, who have com­pen­sated me for my ser­vices and with whom I was instru­men­tal in achiev­ing many of the results show­cased on this blog, includ­ing but not lim­ited to: Armand Morin, Simon Grabowski, Frank Kern, John Reese, Stephen Pierce, Kirt Chris­tensen, Ken Cal­houn, and many oth­ers. Some of these indi­vid­u­als are now friends or part­ners in var­i­ous ventures.
  • The major­ity of my web­sites, includ­ing this blog, are hosted on a ded­i­cated server at Pair​.com. The major­ity of my domain names are reg­is­tered through GoDaddy​.com, with which my wife and I are autho­rized resellers.
  • I am sent numer­ous books, infor­ma­tion prod­ucts, train­ing pro­grams, CDs, DVDs, and access to mem­ber­ship web­sites to review. If I choose to review them and post them on this blog, I’ll only review the ones I like or the ones I sus­pect you might like.
  • Ads on this blog are for my own prod­ucts, prod­ucts my wife and I authored (either jointly or sep­a­rately), or prod­ucts of which I am an affil­i­ate or reseller. I do not sell, rent, or exchange ads or text links from third-​​party adver­tis­ers on this blog.
  • In the case of prod­ucts of which I am an affil­i­ate or reseller, they are selected because I pur­chased the prod­ucts myself, I was involved in their cre­ation, or I know their authors, and because I believe these prod­ucts to be use­ful to my readers.

I will add more as I revise this blog post. It may be almost com­plete, but I believe this is a start in being open and can­did so that you, dear reader, fully under­stand where I’m com­ing from and what’s involved when fol­low­ing any of my rec­om­men­da­tions on this blog.

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This post was written on Sunday, October 11th, 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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  • sethsimonds
    "Remember, all mar kets, busi nesses, motives, and results are different. Yours will be no excep tion. As with every endeavor, there’s inher ent risk. You even stand a chance to lose money. So please use dis cre tion when mak ing a pur chas ing decision."

    THAT cuts to the heart of the issue. We have an entire generation of bloggers who have been instructed to use an authoritative voice and speak emphatically about the products, services, etc. that they wish to sell.

    I think you've done a good job here. Bases covered. The question is, now that you've got an expressed policy, will you be targeted for an audit over a blog that discloses to a lesser degree?

    That said, I'm betting your tip jar won't fare as well if you keep it below the disclosure policy. =)
  • Maybe. Either that or the tip jar might fare better, if people appreciate candor and authenticity. ;)
  • jodejong
    That's a fine disclosure, IMO, but will it make the FTC happy? It should, but I fear they aren't interested in making it easy nor allowing an explanation to suffice.
  • jbillh
    Yeah, this FTC crap is getting rediculous!
  • If you're writing copy for Morin, Reese, Kern, etc. disclosing can only help you!

    As a little guy - ok, I'm a wannabe! - I've done the same sort of disclosure already. I recommend it as an exercise. It's actually really cool to list out all your business relationships.

    For any of you also just starting out, I think these rules are going to be very good for us small fry beginners. While we may be unimpeachably honest now, having a strong boundary on what's acceptable and what's not helps keep us that way.

    Michel, thanks for writing up, I'm using it as a model for my final disclosure policy.
  • Ching-ching!

    Telling people what you do and how you do it is cool Michel and you've covered your own ass here just in case the FTC get more than 100 complaints about you, which appears to be the "radar" moment for them, so good on you.

    I still wouldn't be the slightest bit concerned about the new FTC regulations as they mean absolutely nothing at all until someone screws up, and they get a barrage of complaints, but covering your own ass, especially after the last article, probably makes sense.

    Nothing I've seen last week, or this week, is going to persuade me that it hasn't just been some big carry-on over nothing. If you're going to be the controversial one though, and write big headlines about it, you're probably doing the right thing by making your intentions clear ;-)

    It will all be forgotten next month anyway, so business as usual...

    ~ Paul
  • Ah, but writing headlines to get people to read your copy is the point behind headlines, anyway. That's copywriting. Did I ever tell you that, er, I'm a copywriter?

    ;)
  • Yeah, I know mate. I was one of your first ever clients, probably more than a decade ago now, but you know as well as I do that the first rule of copywriting is to be believable.

    As my old mate GH said "when you forget the real truth and start believing your own truth, that's when you run into trouble".

    So be newsworthy, be controversial, wear your pants on your head if you like if it will grab people's attention, but when someone comes along and asks WHY you've got your pants on your head you need to be able to give them undeniable proof about why wearing your pants on your head is so much more practical than wearing them on your butt.

    I've got no problem with being controversial as a copywriter, but in the words of Ali G. we need to "keep it real" too :-)
  • Then let's agree to disagree. Because my title was a question, not a statement. You're making it sound as if the headline was misleading. I still believe it wasn't. But I respect your opinion and appreciate it.
  • No, no, I didn't say that. I've got every respect for you and your work Michel. I've read everything you've ever written on here, and in lots of other places too, for what must honestly have been a decade. I love your stuff.

    I'll just be very, very surprised if this is a game changer. It won't be, that's pretty much guaranteed. You've been controversial about it, but it's not going to change anything. The FTC would need to bring another million staff onboard just to touch the sides and that simply isn't going to happen.

    Good for headlines, but will it change anything... well, no. If it strangely did, and all of a sudden bloggers were imprisoned, then I'll wear my pants on my own head, print your face on my T-shirt, and stick it on YouTube for you ;-)
  • Ah, gotcha. And yes, I agree, which is why I posted the update. There's a new one today I like a lot, and you might like it too...

    Why I’m Not Worried About the FTC
    http://ff.im/-9H4zu
  • Yep, ditto. And ditto'd again!
  • Great post! You deserve a coffee break! (PayPal)Transaction ID: 0EJ60722HS854264B
    (PS: Can't see anything you've missed disclosing, that is anybody elses business except maybe your wife's and tax preparer's...).
  • Thank you so much!
  • Wow, Michel This is a great post and very informative. I have been doing research on this whole FTC thing for days and you have really helped me understand it with this post and the others you wrote.

    BTW, I just bought you a cup of coffee, PP: 4EV49833G9494925H
  • Thank you so much!
  • anneholmes
    Michel,

    Great job as usual!

    All of us need to determine how we are going to respond to the new FTC ruling, and it appears to me -- not that I am an attorney -- that your new disclosure policy addresses all issues head-in. I predict that my sharing your actions you are leading all marketers toward a way to protect ourselves while still using testimonials in our marketing efforts!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Anne
  • anneholmes
    Great job as usual Michel! You really burned the midnight oil to get this out so fast!
  • lorrainegrula
    Hi Michael.
    I think you have done an excellent job here and set a great example. What you have sounds very comprehensive. I think the majority of people will react favorably, even if the policy is posted next to the tip jar. I think it does give you more credibility that people will appreciate. Now I say that based on already knowing and trusting you. Cynical gal that I am, I might not fully believe you recommend based on merit only just by reading the disclosure policy. I have known more than one instance of such disclosure policies being nothing but feel-good crapola. (You ever read such a thing from a stock analyst?) But that's me. You have absolutely done the right thing.
    Thanks and happy birthday! 29 are we?
    Lorraine
  • kencalhoun
    Another key area of concern is exactly what compliant disclosure translates to in terms of font size and placement; eg in an affiliate email can the affiliate's relationship be put in the disclaimer text at the bottom of the email, or does it have to come up right under the affiliate link? Or for that matter does having posted a single blog notice constitute enough disclosure, or does it need to be in an ever-permanent place on the site, such as near or next to an ad?

    Since this looks like the 'death of performance based testimonials', what alternatives are acceptable and in compliance? Just the "I loved your course" types of generic ones, that don't have the power of specificity?

    With so many regulations and details to work out, it seems that caution and compliance are critical to get right; hopefully more clarity will emerge re examples (sample web pages from the ftc of compliant vs noncompliant copy would be great). It'll be interesting to see what's acceptable vs what's not, I hope we get more examples from the powers that be prior to Dec 1st to help with compliance. I'm a big fan of being fully compliant; more guidance would be helpful so we can all do the right thing, during this important, permanent transition and new way of working with each other. And all the examples you've all posted, eg amazon affiliates, clickbank/cj impact, the rest of it -- should be interesting to see how everyone manages it.

    -k
  • Michel,

    I have to say, while you don't know me at all, I have been following your writing for years, in your ezine and now, periodically, through your blog.

    And I've finally stepped up to make a comment, because your full disclosure policy really struck a chord with me. I think if everyone would just put forth a disclosure policy of sorts, we'd have less misunderstandings or we would have less incorrect assumptions.

    Which brings me to a humorous thought....maybe a disclosure such as yours, can be redone to be included prior to dating or getting married?? LOL

    Seriously, thanks for this post. I already re-tweeted, mainly because I want to have it in my Tweets for later bookmarking, but also because it's some good info!

    Happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving too! (I was born in Vancouver, BC, but raised in Vancouver, Washington USA). :-D

    Ed Bisquera
    Follow me on Twitter @edbisquera
  • All regulation is useless!

    Those it tries to "prevent" simply find a way round it and everyone else gets caught up with another layer of bureaucratic rules to comply with - and to what end?

    Is there anybody left who doesn't understand that a link to a sales page may well be an affiliate link?

    And frankly who cares if it is?

    If I read an article by someone I respect and there's a link to a product I like I'd prefer it if that person got a cut of the cake.

    But, anything can be turned to the advantage of the wise. Full disclosure can & should be used cleverly as you've done here Michel. Use the rules to explain your positioning and in the main honesty will prevail over the shady. Some people won't like it for sure but that's their loss. Those who don't click an affiliate link because of disclosure are almost certainly those who would try to change the link to their own anyway.

    Now if only Sylvie had taken Ed Bisquera's advice prior to dating - Homer may not be in the state he is right now :) lol.
  • Hi Michel-

    I was inspired by your post and have updated the disclaimer on my article directory in light of the new FTC rules as well.

    It would be interesting to know for sites that RECEIVE content, if we have to do say anything special. I think I've covered all bases, but would love to hear your feedback. Thanks!

    Terri
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