Ghost Written Blogs, E-books, And Articles Discussed – Securities Industry And The SEC

Should professionals and small business people hire others to write their blog posts? I’d say no, because it is an issue of trust. You see, your readers believe you are writing those blog posts or articles, and if you didn’t write them, then you are in a way tricking them, and that could be considered false advertising or fraudulent marketing. Okay, I see you already disagree with this notion, as you realize you cannot possibly write all those blogs, articles, and eBooks, you have a business to run.
Sure, I understand your concerns, truly I do, and yet, why not simply not put your name on the articles, blogs, or eBooks in that case? Did you know that in many securities industry-sub-sectors it is actually against the law to have something on your website which you did not write and yet it has your name on it, or it would readily be assumed that you wrote it; for instance; financial planners, stockbrokers, insurance investment sellers, etc. – SEC rules and regulations will not allow someone to put their name on an online article, blog, email newsletter article, eBook on investments, etc. or any communication to potential clients or current ones.
Their thinking is that you are the expert and if someone else is writing your stuff, you are misrepresenting yourself, and pretending to be something that you are not. You know what? As much as I cannot stand government bureaucrat regulators, I actually agree with the SEC on this point. If someone has a small business blog, and they are a registered investment advisor or licensed by the SEC or in many cases state regulated securities, this sort of thing is NOT allowed, and you could use your license for it. Beware.
As an online article author with 20,000 articles written (no PLR, ghostly, or derivative generated articles) I have often written content for others. Since, I’d hate to be party to a lawsuit or legal action by a regulator, even if I was hired by someone who is registered and didn’t know the law, I am personally concerned about this. The Ghosters, and the Bloggers should realize this to, and know the rules and use discretion early and often.
Ghost Writing has been going on a long time, it’s doubtful it will stop, and online we should expect it to grow. I’d just hope you understand how serious all this is and use your best judgment in the matter, so, please consider all this.