Disclosure Policies

Last Updated On: March 9, 2020

Protecting our credibility and your trust

At ASecureLife, we pride ourselves on our reviews. To keep our services free, we do accept affiliate commissions through some of our links and affiliate relationships.

So what is an affiliate relationship? Let’s say we write an article about VPNs. We may review a number of different services, outlining the pros and cons of each as derived from our research and customer feedback. Once the article is written, we will link to all services on the page, regardless of their ranked position. By following these links you can visit the merchants’ websites to learn more about them, their product, or service, or you can purchase or sign up for the service. This referral (if linked to a participating affiliate partner) is tracked by the receiving website, and if it converts through to a lead or sale, we receive a commission. If the referral is not linked to a participating affiliate partner, we do not receive a commission, but you, as the consumer, can still purchase or sign up for the service.

Our research process

So how do we decide what to write about? Our writers will write on a variety of topics that we think will either be interesting or useful to readers. These articles might be in the form of a review, a tutorial, a list of tips, a ranked list of recommendations based on in-depth research, or a piece of interesting, newsworthy content. We also consider topics based on visitor requests. Unlike many of our competitors, however, we adhere to an internal policy that requires our writers and researchers to research a product or service before writing a review or giving an opinion.

At times, companies may reach out to us to ask for a review of their product. If our preliminary research into the product proves that it might be worthwhile to our readers, we may decide to write a review of the product. We do not, however, accept free product in exchange for reviews. Our policy is to purchase the product or service on our own so that we can avoid potential conflicts of interest and keep our reviews unbiased. At times, if we have an existing affiliate relationship, we may accept updated or new equipment free of charge with the understanding that it will not influence our independent evaluation of the product or impact its position in any rankings on the site

How we rank products/services

We evaluate all products and services with a few things in mind. First, we determine if it is a reliable, safe product. Then we review how well it would work for its target customer or audience. Then we evaluate how the product or service stacks up against other similar products or services available to customers. Then we make our recommendation, recognizing that not every product is the right choice for every person.

When we rank, review, or recommend products or services, our writers and editors adhere to a rigorous research process. We evaluate each product or service based on criteria that are pertinent to each product or service type (for example, identity theft protection, home security, or security cameras). To gather our information we may do some or all of the following:

  • We evaluate the customer service of the product or service by looking at user reviews from our site, other user reviews sites, social media networks, and e-commerce sites.
  • We engage with the company, service, or product on a consumer basis, participating in the customer experience, going through sales calls or processes, and using customer support or help tutorials to experience the customer service for ourselves.
  • We purchase and then use the product or service, putting it through tests and trials to determine its performance.
  • We investigate the product’s advertised tech specs and performance claims and put those claims up against real user experiences and performance in our testing.
  • We engage with the company’s social media and online community to listen to what customers are saying about the product.

We then regularly evaluate new products and re-evaluate existing products to keep our recommendations as up-to-date as possible.

Compensation disclosure

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) issued new guidelines (“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising“) on December 1, 2009 that change the federal guidelines for the use of testimonials and endorsements for the first time since 1980. In March 2013, the FTC issued a more specific set of guidelines (“Dot Com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising”) to set legal parameters for digital advertisers to abide by.

What’s the main goal of these guidelines? To ensure that endorsements reflect the endorser’s honest opinion. An endorsement is defined as an advertising message of any type that consumers are likely to perceive as representing the opinion of someone other than the sponsoring advertiser. The guidelines are designed to protect you, as the consumer, and enable you to make an informed and unbiased purchasing decision.

This Compensation Disclosure has been provided for your protection and to fully disclose any relationship between this sites product or service recommendations and the owners of those product or services. It is always recommended that before you purchase products or services on the Internet, including those on this website, you conduct your own research and exercise due diligence.

The owner of this website is required by law to inform you that a relationship exists between this website and the products or services it reviews, recommends or promotes.

1. Material affiliation

It is advisable to assume that any mention of a product or service on this website is made because there exists, unless otherwise stated, a material connection between the product or service providers and this website. It should be understood that any recommendation made by the owner of this site for any product or service has been made in good faith. These recommendations reflect the fact that the owner has either tried the product or service or has extensively researched it and can give an honest opinion to the merit of the product or service. When any website makes any recommendation of a product or service it is advisable to assume the possibility of a material connection or relationship with the owners of those products or services.

2. Product/Service partiality.

Due to the material connection between the owner of this website and the owners of the products or services recommended here, it must be understood that affiliate compensation may affect whether or not a product or service is featured on the site. We strive to make certain these relationships do not affect how we review a product or service or our honest evaluation of that product or service. We also often feature products and services on our site from owners and companies with whom we do not have affiliate relationships. However, regardless of whether the owner of this website has or will receive compensation from product or service owners, it should be understood that there is the potential for a material connection between a product and service owner and the owner of this website.

Before entering into any agreement or purchasing any product or service from the providers featured on this website from this website, it is advisable to understand the potential partiality of the website owner due to possible compensation from such providers. You should perform your own research and exercise due diligence prior to purchasing products or services from any website.

3. Compensation

The owner of this website may receive compensation for recommendations made in reference to the products or services on this website. This compensation could exist without any action from a website visitor. Should you purchase a product or service that was recommended by this website, it is understood that some form of compensation might be made to the website owner. For example, if you click on an affiliate link at this website and then make a purchase of the recommended product or service, the website owner may receive compensation.

4. This compensation disclosure statement

The compensation disclosure statement has been made to inform you of the possibility that a material connection between a product or service mentioned, reviewed or recommended by this website and the product or service owner exists and that compensation to the website owner may be made should you purchase such a product or service. Every effort has been made to provide true and accurate statements in regards to any and all products or services mentioned, reviewed or recommended by this website.

Should you have any questions, comments or concerns and would like to receive an answer or ask a question prior to purchasing any product or service mentioned on this website please contact us.