Disclosure policy? What’s that and why is a page on the blog devoted to it?
The FTC has ruled that bloggers tell you, dear reader, if they’re accepting money or free products through any form of advertising. Some bloggers are making big bucks. Like five and six figures!! What a dream job, huh? Well, maybe not so much. Blogging is hard work. You’d be amazed at how long it takes to see a blog post start to finish. And, for a lot of us, it costs money to blog. We pay for our domain name and our little space on the web. Many pay for blog design and other services. Those are those really great looking blogs you love to go to. Some consider blogging their job and work it more than any full time they’ve ever had and loving it more than any job they’ve ever had.
Where does my little blog fit in with all this? I’m somewhere in between. On the bottom rung of the ladder, actually. I would absolutely love to make a five or six figure living off my blogs. I will admit to making four figures, though. Something along the lines of $10.56 a year give or take a dollar or two. Obviously, I’d love to ramp up my income. My main expenses are my domain name and web space and a few other things here and there. But I’m cheap. I work with free things as much as possible. Because I don’t make enough off the blog to pay for those things! Yet.
But I feel weird making money off my friends and if you read my blog, or you have bought something from me, I consider you a friend. I’m a friendly person. You’re either a friend, a friendly acquaintance or an enemy. I don’t acknowledge that I have any enemies, — AND DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THEM, SO SHUSH! — so you must be a friend of some kind. Still, no matter how weird I feel and how badly I suck at self promotion, there is the need to make money. To do things like eat and pay bills, ya know?
One more thing for those who are unfamiliar with affiliate links. I stand to make a token amount if you click on an ad, sometimes you have to buy something, sometimes just clicking puts a few cents in my pocket. I’ll never know who clicked or what they bought or if they bought. You can click on an Amazon link for a decorating book, but buy a… um… risque, embarrassing item, and I’ll never know. Won’t know you clicked and won’t know you bought anything.
So without further adieu:
To comply with the FTC ruling over bloggers getting paid to write stuff, I submit the following disclosure policy. If you’re reading my blog, you should assume that:
1. If you use the search bar that says, “Google”, I’ll make a few cents off that search. Thank you for using it. It takes awhile, but eventually a few cents add up to a few dollars.
2. If you click on one of the Google ads, like the one above this article, I stand to make a few more cents. Thank you for clicking. It takes awhile, but a few cents eventually add up to a few dollars.
3. If you click on a link to eBay and buy something within the next day or two, anything at all, and don’t worry, I won’t know what you buy, I’ll make a few cents. Thank you for clicking. It takes awhile, but eventually a few cents adds up to a few dollars.
4. If you click on an Amazon link and buy something, anything at all, within the next day or two, and don’t worry, I won’t know what you buy, I’ll make a few cents. Thank you for clicking. It takes awhile, but eventually a few cents adds up to a few dollars.
6. There might be other ads on the site, say in the sidebar, for a company I think you’d like. (I wouldn’t advertise anything I didn’t like myself.) In order for me to make any cents or dollars, you’d probably have to buy something from them, but sometimes, just clicking will help me out with a few cents. Thank you for clicking. It takes awhile, but eventually a few cents adds up to a few dollars.
5. I’ve not got past the few cents level yet, but in the future, I might get paid to talk about something and make a few dollars. Thank you for reading and clicking. It takes awhile, but eventually a few dollars adds up to a more dollars.
6. Perhaps, someday, a company will give me a free product to review. I’ll give my honest opinion and either keep or give away the product.
So if you don’t want someone making money off you, then don’t click on a link, basically on any blog. If you are happy to help someone out, then click anything you like, but I’d say don’t go in and get click happy just to help out a friend. That would be frowned upon.
Thanks for reading!
Wanda
