Blog Ethics: Writing a Disclosure

Do you need to write a disclosure for your blog?

I’m not running a disclosure on my blog. I decided not to but changed my mind.

I am only running one paid ad in my sidebar. I don’t have a personal connection to the company the ad is from or the agency who pays me to run the ad. (Thank you to them however).

I do have three ad spots with ad exchange networks. I don’t count those as ads in the usual way. Any payment is very mimimal, not enough to buy a latte once a month. They are based on an exchange, not monetary compensation.

Also, I am not in the US so the FTC isn’t very relevant to me.

However, a disclosure is not all overkill, even for a blog like mine.

If you run posts which you were paid to write to endorse a product or service, you should write a disclosure. I don’t write these types of posts and could add that to a disclosure if I wanted to make it clear.

If you write book reviews, even if you are not paid in money, you should write a disclosure policy for your blog. Having free books from the publisher is payment of a sort. A disclosure would help your credibility as an unbiased reviewer.

You might write a disclosure note about linking to other sites and blogs. In a disclosure you can make it clear they are not paid links but freely linked of your own choice.

If you write a disclosure post it as a subpage in your blog. Or, run it with the post itself if you want to make it really clear with a paid post. You don’t have to leave a trail of neon breadcrumbs leading readers to your disclosure. It just has to be findable, which is a lot of leeway.

What should it say?

• Disclosure Policy.org
• ProBlogger: A Screamingly Effective Blog Disclosure Policy: How (and Why) to get One
• FreeBlogHelp: Meet the FTC Disclosure Requirement in Under a Minute

More Information:

• ReadWriteWeb: Blogging Ethics: When and What Should Bloggers Disclose?
• OJR: The Cost of Ethics: Influence Peddling in the Blogosphere

Here is the Disclosure I ended up writing:

In the Interest of Writing a Disclosure for Word Grrls.

First of all, I write my own posts. They are not promoting any business, product or service for payment. In the past I have considered offers but it never fails that the offer comes with far too many strings attached to be worthwhile.

If I write a review (of a book or anything else) it is my own opinion and will be as unbiased as I can manage to be. I’m not perfect. Don’t even have the desire to live up to all that being perfect would entail.

Sites and blogs I link to are by my own choice. They are not paid links. I don’t do link exchanges for pay.

In my sidebar I run one paid text ad and a few blog network ad exchanges such as CMF Ads. These are the only paid content in this blog. I do not have any personal connection to these, other than being a member and posting in the forums of CMF Ads.

End of Official Word Grrls Disclosure.

Word Grrls is my mad science experiment, my adventures with fame and world domination (politely). This is where I inspire people to create: invent mutations, cause change, bring colour into your world. Web writer since 1998. Find me on StumbleUpon , and Tumblr.