Hyperlinks are an important part of any press release. They lead readers to your website, where you can convert them into paying customers.

There is one big caveat with press release links: Don’t include affiliate codes. Doing so can saddle you and anyone who publishes the release with an $11,000 fine levied by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. (Regulators in the U.K. and other countries respond similarly.)

Here’s the deal: FTC regulations require disclosure of financial relationships created by “sponsored content.” Any editorial-type material that contains revenue-generating links is classified as sponsored content. Product and service reviews, endorsements, “advertorial,” opinion pieces and, in some situations, press releases all fall under that umbrella.

In 2009, under the unfair and deceptive trade practices section of the FTC Act, the FTC began requiring websites to disclose sponsor relationships. The commission has required such disclosures from print and broadcast media for decades. In 2013, the regulations were expanded to include social media, mobile websites and videos published on platforms like YouTube.

The FTC’s rules require digital publishers, including blog, to disclose when they review products they received for free; when they receive compensation in the form of money, products or services in exchange for posting about a product or company; and when links in editorial-like copy provide affiliate revenue. The amount and type of the exchange are irrelevant. If the FTC believes readers might be unaware the publisher has something to gain by directing traffic to a sponsor’s business, the FTC can fine both the publisher and the sponsor.

How does this affect you? For one thing, submitting PRs that contain affiliate links is a waste of your time. Some websites that publish press releases as a service to the community disallow live links, so the only way to lead readers to your site is to include a text link they can copy and paste. Readers are unlikely to copy and paste a long link of any kind, much less one that clearly bears an affiliate or tracking code. Other publishers employ systems that strip links they identify as containing possible affiliate or tracking codes. In both cases, the publishers are protecting themselves from the potential hassle of convincing an FTC investigator they have no financial relationship with the entity that submitted the PR.

And don’t try to sneak through with shortened links or links that otherwise attempt to obscure affiliate and tracking codes. It’s unlikely you’ll fool anyone. If you do manage to slip through with an obfuscated link and the publisher subsequently finds itself in the FTC’s sights, you and your business will not be regarded fondly going forward.

The purpose of a press release is to get positive exposure for your company, not to generate revenue directly. Don’t risk FTC scrutiny or a rupture in good media relations by making a completely avoidable mistake.

Image © Maksym Yemelyanov