I still vividly remember my earliest blogging days. Everything was totally overwhelming, and I had no clue what I was doing. I couldn’t figure out WordPress. My email service made no sense. Above all, I didn’t have the first clue how to legally protect my blog!
Guys, I sat on my blog for a whole month after I purchased my web hosting and domain name. I was so overwhelmed. Do you know what prevented me from hitting “publish” for all that time?
It wasn’t formatting, content creation, or fear of trolls and negativity.
I was beyond terrified of making legal mistakes with my blog. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to monetize, and I couldn’t figure out how to navigate creating all my legal pages and disclaimers.
That’s not to say I’m a blogging expert now. Not at all, but I’ve learned a lot along the way, and today, I want to share with you the one thing helped solve my blog legality issues and took me from totally confused to published blog in under one hour.
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Do You Really Need To Legally Protect Your Blog?
Yes, even if you blog for fun, you need certain legal pages. Here are a few reasons why you need to legally protect your blog.
- Legal pages on blogs are required by law.
Even if you only share with family, you’re still obligated to post legal pages. Your blog collects data from visitors, no matter why they are.
Your visitors have a legally protected right to know what happens to their data!
- You could face legal action without them.
Without the protection that legal pages provide, you could face fines, lawsuits, or even lose your blog.
Yes, even small blogs that don’t generate revenue can face legal action by not having the proper legal forms in place.
- Brands won’t touch you without them.
If you intend to apply for affiliate programs, ad campaigns or other income generating programs, you need legal forms to even be considered.
- It increases your credibility and trustworthiness.
If you want to be taken seriously by brands, other bloggers, and readers, legal pages are like a giant neon sign that shouts “I know what I’m doing, and I won’t screw you over!”.
People are more likely to trust and believe in you when you provide them with (their legally protected right to) information about how you use their private data.
The Pages You Need To Legally Protect Your Blog
There are 4 main types of legal documentation you’ll need to protect yourself and your blog.
- Privacy Policy
A privacy policy essentially explains to your readers what type of data your site collects and how it’s used.
Different states and countries have different privacy policy requirements. If you have readers from those place, then you are obligated to comply.
- Disclosure Policy
If you publish any content or insert ads with the intent of earning money, you must have a disclosure policy. This also applies if you receive free products or services in exchange for posting content.
Since this post will share a product with you, and I’ll receive a commission if you choose to purchase it, that is clearly stated in my disclosure above!
- Disclaimer Statements
Disclaimers are especially important if you ever post content intended to help others. These statements basically tell the reader that you deny any legal liability or responsibility for how they use your content.
- Terms of Service
This acts as a contract between you and your reader. It will explain vital info such as how your blog should be used, intended age of users, how legal issues will be resolved, and more.
How To Get These Legal Pages
This is the stressful part that nearly choked out the first sparks of my blog’s potential.
I’m not a lawyer, and I have no real background or education in law. Therefore, I don’t know the first thing about writing legal documents! I’m willing to be that many of you are in a similar position
So, what options to you have? Glad you asked!
- Write it yourself.
You could spend dozens of hours trying to research everything you need to know, and try to write your own legal documents like I initially did.
It was a massive headache and my household experienced both tears and extensive profanity. I pulled out the whole swear library trying to comprehend and apply what I read.
What’s worse, I came out of it with no legal documents.
- Use a free template.
Free templates do float around out there, but they’re very simplistic. Also, many of these freebies don’t have the proper language to fully protect you if you should face legal action or need to defend yourself.
- Hire a lawyer to draft your statements.
While this works, you’ll spend a fortune. Have you seen the going hourly rate for lawyers lately? Now, if you’ve got a lawyer friend who will write your legal pages pro bono, do that! But I’m guessing that’s not most of us.
- Purchase your legal pages from someone with experience in law, education, and blogging.
After a month of frustration, I finally did this. I wish I had done it way sooner! My blog went from a stressful nightmare to a legally protected reality in one hour.
Lucrezia Iapichino is a trained lawyer, blogger, university professor, co-founder of both Blogging for New Bloggers and TinyLoveBlog.com, and the saver of my sanity.
Her bundle has helped thousands of bloggers, myself included, quickly and easily create everything needed to get blogs legal.
These products broke down every single step in a way that was easy to understand and apply to my blog. If you can fill-in-the-blanks and use cut and paste, you can get your blog totally updated with everything needed to legally protect your blog.
Honestly, the only negative I’ve experienced is that it took me a whole hour instead of just 30 minutes to finalize all my pages! To be fair, technology isn’t even remotely my strength. Probably a good idea to start a blog, huh?
Great news! The Legal Bundle Value Pack (plus everything else in the store) is currently 40% off until 11/30/20 for Black Friday. That’s the cheapest price of the whole year! Get yours before time runs out with the code BLACKFRIDAY40.
The base package comes with these templates and instructions for the 4 major legal pages your blog needs.
- Privacy Policy Template and Walk-through
Meet the legal requirements for the GDPR and the CCPA, avoid legal action, and open the doors for money making opportunities.
- Terms and Conditions Template
Establish the rules and expectations for your blog from the start.
- Disclaimers Template
Clearly explain the purpose of your content and avoid legal liability.
- Disclosures Template
Comply with FTC guidelines, avoid SEO penalties, and establish transparency with your audience.
- Lifetime access to current and future versions of all these templates.
I’ve been blogging for less than a year, and in that time, laws and policies have already changed. The Legal Value Bundle Pack has you covered because it’s updated as the laws are amended. Since you’ve got lifetime access, you’ll always be covered.
This alone will legally protect your blog at a fraction of the cost of hiring a lawyer to draft up your legal pages. Right now, Lucretia has also tacked on several free bonuses to sweeten the deal.
Additional Bonuses
- Cookie Policy Template
Instantly create a detailed, GDPR compliant cookie policy.
- Specific Requirements Under the GDPR + No Follow Links Bonus Modules
Get set up to meet GDPR, FTC, and Google requirements.
- Access to the Blogging for New Bloggers private Facebook page.
you get access to a huge community of bloggers just like you where you can ask questions and build community.
Still Not Sure?
I get that because I was really unsure as well. It feels counter-intuitive to spend money on a product for your blog if it’s not earning revenue yet.
Remember, though, it’s very difficult to monetize without the proper legal protection, and the consequences could be very costly!
To help with some of that anxiety, Lucrezia offers a 30 day money back guarantee. If you don’t like her products, then you can request a refund.
On top of that, she offers the option to pay up front or set up a payment plan to help spread out the cost.
You can also check out these free courses if you want to get a feel for what to expect with her products and courses. They may help you decide if you’re still on the fence.
- Legally Blogs Legal Course for Bloggers
- Pinterest for New Bloggers
- Blogging for New Bloggers Fast Track
Final Thoughts On Legally Protecting Your Blog
Trying to navigate how to legally protect your blog is overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you’ve been struggling to get your legal pages updated or simply avoiding them in hopes that it doesn’t come back to bite you, the Legal Value Bundle Pack can get your blog running and legally protected before nap time ends or your lunch break is over.
Just fill in the blanks, copy and paste, and hit publish!
Do you have your legal pages all set up? Let us know!
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Hi! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from
an established blog. Is it very difficult to set up your
own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast.
I’m thinking about making my own but I’m not sure where to start.
Do you have any tips or suggestions? Many thanks
This is a really good idea with a bundle to forewarn new bloggers that there are these boilerplate clauses needed on their website before they even go.live with their website to prevent any ramifications!
One of the best investments that a blogger can make early in the blogging process is to purchase legal page templates from a known and trusted lawyer. It’s important to acknowledge what we do and don’t ‘know’ – recognize your strengths and areas of expertise as well as the areas that we would be better outsourcing. Legal contracts are more than just writing your intentions for your site. Lacking the full legal knowledge necessary, you can easily leave loopholes that can result in legal trouble down the road. It really comes down to the question of which is the better financial choice for you – investing in your pages now or paying for legal fees resulting from legal trouble down the road? I’ll choose the safer (and legal) option!
I prefer the safer option, too. If you’ve got the means or connections to do it for free, by all means do! This was the best route for me!
I’m glad!
This information will help me
Seriously, thank you for posting this. I’m a newbie blogger and I have some legal papers on my blog but they are quite simplistic because they’re free, so I’ve been contemplating maybe purchasing one that’s more accurate and detailed. This was very helpful!
I tried to go the free route at first, too. But it made me too nervous. (Not saying they’re bad. Some people swear by their free pages, and that’s great!) I was lucky enough to grab one of these pages in a resource bundle and liked it so much, I bought the rest! Glad be of help!
Excellent piece! I definitely needed this information. It explained things very well and practically !
Glad was helpful to you!
Perfect overview for someone new to blogging! It’s nice to know there are many options to make sure your blog is compliant, whether you do it all yourself, or pay an expert.
Thank you!
Very beneficial information in this post! Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you found it helpful!
I still need to get the legal side of my blog sorted! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome!
This is such an important post! Arguably not the most exciting side of blogging but crucial all the same!
Definitely not glamorous and exciting, but I don’t think I want to risk all the excitement of not having them!
I really need to do this. I haven’t really set up the proper legal pages on my blog yet. Mainly because I have no idea how. So this was really informative. Thank you so much for sharing. I will have to do this once I have enough money saved up!
I couldn’t figure it out either! This took all the stress out. Worth it, I think, if you can manage the cost!
Very helpful post. Thank you for sharing this. Although I already have those pages set up, I’ll def keep this post in mind for new bloggers that are having trouble setting up their legal pages.
Thank you!
This sounds great for anyone struggling with what they need to know, especially for newbies x
Sophie
It definitely helped my when I was just starting out!
Great information! The awesome folks who helped me with my website and blog already took care of these important legal pages for me. I’m grateful I choose a great organization to work with. This is good to know because not all businesses who help you create your web presence are the same. Your post is a good reminder that people should ask for these types of legal web pages to be included if they aren’t already. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you liked it!
This was super informative – thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome!