Reviews by Cole » marketing http://reviewsbycole.com Food, Health and Beauty, Technology and Pet Reviews + Giveaways! Wed, 23 May 2012 07:06:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The FTC and Me http://reviewsbycole.com/2009/11/the-ftc-and-me/ http://reviewsbycole.com/2009/11/the-ftc-and-me/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:55:53 +0000 Cole http://reviewsbycole.com/?p=957 It seems like a lot of folks are up in arms at the announcement that FTC is going to look at blog advertisements (including product and service reviews) as a form of marketing/PR efforts and, as such, has decided to implement some guidelines about how those should be done, you know, ethically. I have never been worried because I’ve only ever done one review one Reviews by Cole which was for a free product (also, I solicited the creator, not the other way around), all of my reviews are (sometimes painfully) honest anyway and none of my paid blogging qualifies as reviewing but lately I’ve been seeking out ways I can bring new reviews and giveaways to my visitors.

In fact, I’ve been joining blogger-PR networking sites in hopes that I can become more awesome. I’ve joined SheBlogs, BlogHer, Blog Friendly PR (forums) and The Product Review Place to put out feelers for companies who might like to work with me. I’ve made contact with 3 companies (CSN Stores, Skin Free and Arm & Hammer) that will be providing me with product in exchange for review and I hope that number increases as it allows for this site to be better than evar, really!

And yet, I’m still not worried about the FTC coming after lil ol’ me. For the record, they do not intend to seek out individual bloggers but rather the companies who are promoting sleazy PR moves. You can read more about how the FTC guidelines may or may not blog you at Marketing Roadmaps (the author breaks down the guidelines in a way everyone can understand!) and you can read more about sponsorship on Reviews by Cole on my brand new Sponsorship FAQ page (which is also linked in the sidebar).

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