Inc Reporting Paid Links To FTC

[Tay]

Inc.com has started reporting brands/companies/websites that they have found to have paid for links/content to be written on their platform. The FTC considers the advertiser (the brands/companies/websites) at fault not the platform (Inc.com) - basically the person would most likely bought the link and has the most to gain from link placement.

"It's a very clear violation of our ethics policy, and we will terminate our relationship with any columnist found to have done this," Inc.'s editor, Jim Ledbetter, told me when I asked him how we handle this kind of scam. "I don't have any reason to think that it has occurred more than a handful of times, but any behavior like this is a violation of the trust Inc. has with its readers."

"There are ways to police it," he added, "but I'd rather not make those public."

[..]

We believe brands going behind our back in this way is indeed deceptive, and Inc. has filed a formal complaint with the FTC concerning these practices. As for now, we'll continue to hew to our zero-tolerance policy for such shenanigans, and we'll continue to be vigilant in policing such infractions.
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Source: http://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/contributor-marketers-ftc.html

 

[built]

So what happens when its reported to the FTC?

 

[eliquid]

Guess those get on Forbes, Huffington Post, and similar services are now a target.

More and more reason to start looking to paid advertising instead of obtaining links for SEO...

 

[Future State]

It was only a matter of time, just like with Facebook and Twitter killing parody accounts built to sell sponsored posts. You can't bypass the gate keepers. Instagram is going to drop this bomb at some point too.

Best thing you can do is create a persona for your site or be a real person and sign up to contribute on all of these sites. Once you get in, start outsourcing and posting content regularly with the occasional link for yourself or a friend. Less is more for longevity/permanence.

 

[jäger]

Don't worry guys, it probably hasn't happened more than a handful of times. Tops. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)