What does the recent FTC announcement mean for a humble, professional, freebie-accepting, affiliate-pimping, mostly-broke blogger eking out pennies or flats of free soda per post?
It means you need to write a blog disclosure policy.
What if you have nothing to disclose? (Pity the fool who has nothing to disclose.)
No matter. Write one anyways. A blog disclosure policy is an opportunity to demonstrate your character. It is an opportunity to sell your character and even your soul.
Because what else have you got to offer, really?
Your blog disclosure policy is a vehicle for soul-selling, storyselling, storytelling, and maybe even making some cold hard cash – even if you’re not there yet.
You’re A Blogger. Act Like One and Sell Us a Story.
If you’re a problogger, or you want to be, then you’re probably in the business of “content marketing.”
This might mean that you pimp out your online products with landing pages and direct-mail-ish sales letters that “hammers the reader with red headlines, yellow highlighting, and aggressive copy that grips the reader like a terrier shaking a squirrel“.
Sonia Simone calls this marketing with a harpoon. It is targeted, deadly-effective, and you’ve only got one shot at it.
Still, since you’re a blogger, you’re probably doing something different (at least most of the time). As Sonia Simone goes on to say, you’re probably marketing with a net. A friendly, supportive net:
Great content creates a high level of trust and rapport, and educates your potential client about all the benefits of doing business with you.
You might hold onto that prospect for three days or three years before he decides to buy. It doesn’t really matter. As long as you keep delivering value, that person will stick with you and stay tuned in to your message. And when he’s ready to buy, he’s yours.
Did you catch that? Trust, rapport, value, your message…those are some pretty revealing and high-bar keywords.
If you are blogging, you really are selling yourself. Your soul. You’re not just storytelling. You’re storyselling.
Your disclosure policy is one more page – one more place for your reader to get to know and like you – in your online diary.
