Disclosure Policy {updated July 2014}
Like most people I like trying new things and I love to review different products on my blog that I feel add value to my life and or to my readers. From time to time, companies will send me products to try, sometimes discounted price and sometimes free of cost, which I feature to share my opinion with my readers. If I purchased the product, I will not necessarily state that in the post.
Reviews
Whenever I review or refer to a product that was provided to me, I will make it clear in the post. I provide not only details of how I received the product, but I often link to the company itself. My reviews are honest, and if done at the request of a company, rest assured that the compensation of cash or product does not have any bearing on the content. If I do not like a product, I will either not review it on the blog, or I will state the reasons why I don’t like it.
From time to time, I do accept sponsored posts, for which I am paid in cash or other compensation. When I do that, I make it clear in the post that I partnered with a company and include a link to this policy.
General Review Policy
- All product review and giveaway blog posts are clearly marked as such, in accordance with the latest FTC regulations, and compliant with Google’s best practices. I will make it clear in the post that a product was given to me and provide details of how I received the product.
- I only feature products that I think add value to my life or my readers’. I reserve the right to refuse to review a product which doesn’t fit within my blog content, creates a conflict of interest, or doesn’t meet my personal quality, value, or safety standards.
- I run product giveaways alongside my reviews and require that provisions are made to send whatever it is that I’m asked to review, to a reader when randomly selected.
- I don’t accept requests for pre-written or random sponsored posts. The only products I am willing to feature on my blog are ones with which I am personally familiar. My reviews are honest and I write the feature from my personal point of view.
- I will not alter my content or language used on my blog to suit a product. All review requests must fit with the context of my blog.
- All reviews are promoted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as other sites or social media venues, as I deem necessary. This is no different than my other blog posts.
- Sponsored social media posts will contain the hastags #ad to comply with FTC regulations
- All sponsored giveaways are linked back to the product pages and social media links.
- Seasonal or other promotional giveaways follow the same guidelines.
Affiliate Links
I also do use affiliate links and banners across my website. While I always try to make it as clear as possible, it is possible that when you click a link or a banner on my site, I may get a small commission or other compensation. The only things you’ll see me link to or recommend are products or services I’ve tried or used myself, and if you choose to click through but prefer not to use my affiliate tag, simply remove that from the web address before completing your purchase.
Questions? Please contact me or refer to the FTC’s ruling on blogger disclosure:
More legal speak:
This policy is valid from 20th July 2015
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Di Hickman
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
Product Review & Giveaway Details
I accept review requests for products related to yoga, health, and plant based nutrition. My readers are predominantly female, typically between the ages of 22 to 55. My blogs are content-focused so I only feature products periodically (once a week at most). My posting schedule has a queue of about 2-3 weeks, so it’s always a good idea to contact me early for time-sensitive promotions. All new review requests are scheduled accordingly and I only confirm review dates after receipt of samples.
Please contact me with as much detail as possible, after you’ve read and agreed to the terms in my general policy and you are ready to send a new, full-size/complete product to me and a giveaway drawing winner. I do not accept sample-sized products or partial coupons for full-size products, and I do not return products sent to me. I respond to all email requests, usually within a day.
Privacy Policy
I allow third party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit my Web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g. click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice visit the NAI at http://www.networkadvertising.org. To opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices.