Is It Time To Change Your Online Marketing? FTC Guidelines and Merchant Account Policies.

Over the last month or so there has been a lot of chatter about the “new” FTC rules concerning marketing and advertising. And just this last week I saw a couple of blog posts concerning guidelines from payment processing companies.

To start with I would suggest that you read these blogs, and the FTC rules. A lot of marketers seem to be upset with these things. The links are at the bottom of this post.

Although there are some things that I consider to be going a bit too far in these things, the way I look at it over all is that, if you are running your business in an ethical, and honest way, you really don’t have much to worry about. But it would be wise to take a look at these changes and guidelines as they are released so that you know what is going on and are prepared for any changes that my affect you and your business.

After reading through all of this, it’s my opinion that the ones being targeted here are the ones that are using deceitful practices that do harm the consumer.

Bottom line? If you’re working in the Network/Internet Marketing arena, the best practice is to be up front, honest and ethical. I’d be willing to bet that even those that use shady practices don’t like paying for something they did not authorize. Or to be scammed them selves. Although I’m sure that there are those out there who just don’t care. They are the ones that have only one thing on their mind. Money. They are just greedy in my opinion.

Either way, if these are the rules that we have to operate within, then it’s in our best interest to know about and understand them.

Having money and attaining your dreams and goals is not a bad thing. And there are plenty of honest, successful people out there that are willing to help others and share information. But keep this in mind. You see, it comes down to knowing and trusting the people you work with. That holds true for your customers as well. Most people will buy from someone they know and trust before they would a total stranger and sometimes, gladly pay more for what ever it is they are buying because of that trust. They know that if something goes wrong, they will be taken care of. Or they know they will get that extra attention that every one likes.

Treat your online business as though it were a typical brick and mortar business. Most things that apply to an offline business as far as general practices and principles also apply to an online business. I see a lot of people who don’t treat it as business and then wonder why they don’t succeed.

Being in business is all about providing a solution to a problem. Either by supplying a product or service. Being deceitful or dishonest isn’t going to go very far in helping someone. And once they find out what’s going on, and they usually do, you will loose that customer forever. Not to mention ruin whatever reputation you may have had.

A mentor of mine has a definition of marketing. “Marketing is the art and science of communicating, empowering, and building a relationship with another human being based on their needs. Not mine or yours.” If you build your business using this definition as a model, it will take you a long way towards achieving your success. And help you keep more loyal customers.

I think a lot of people are not sure what is going on with these so called new rules and practices that are being laid out. Don’t be afraid of the big bad wolf. Just play the game on his playing field. You can still be successful using the Internet.

Here are some links that will help you understand the guidelines and rules.

Best practices post 1
Best practices post 2 (Bill M has some links to the FTC documents so be sure to check those out as well.)
Interview with an Assistant Deputy at the FTC

Have a great day and an even better tomorrow!

Bill

P.S. I see that my friend Rex Harris has a blog post on the same subject. Check out his take on these rules and guidelines at: RexHarrisLive

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