why you need legal documents – Wicked Retirement

* This post may contain affiliate links Protect your Blog with Legal Pages If you're just starting your blog you may think that you don't need legal pages. The reality is as you build and add to your blog it could very well turn into a business. You may have to cover your costs via google ads or affiliate marketing and as soon as you start making money regardless of how much you make, it's now a business. You do need to protect yourself as there are many ways people can take advantage of you and your blog. Simple disclosures will keep you out of trouble and protect your content from others. Note full disclosure (as I always do) there are affiliate links to Amiras products which are no extra cost to you should you decide to purchase these products. Who is Amira? Amira is a fellow blogger who helped me get my blog set up from a legal page perspective. She is a lawyer and now a fulltime blogger. Her legal experience and products help everyone with their blog to get it covered the way it should be to ensure you are protected. Amira now has a successful blog on goal setting and teaching people to become financially self-reliant with your own business. Amira has created a legal page package that everyone should have and shes made it easy to tailor to your specific blog regardless of the topic. So here are your 3 legal docs you need for your website 1) WHAT IS A DISCLAIMER AND WHY DO YOU NEED IT? A disclaimer on your website is a statement that serves to limit your legal liability for the content you publish. It informs the visitors and users of your website that all information on your website is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind (e.g. legal advice, tax advice, financial advice, real estate advice, health advice, and so forth). A disclaimer is often forgotten by bloggers, coaches, marketers, and online entrepreneurs resulting in legal liability when someone relies on the information you provide and expects the same results for instance. You need it just as much as your other legal pages- Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions because you need to protect yourself by informing the visitors and users of your website that there are limitations on what they can or cannot do with the information, products, and services you provide. Under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), you are required to disclose your affiliate relationships, the third party links you publish on your website, and your financial rewards, commissions, or incentives you receive when someone makes a purchase from your affiliate links. A disclaimer includes this information along with other disclosures to protect you from lawsuits. A disclaimer is another way to shield yourself from legal liability, and it’s always a wise idea to have one on your website sooner rather than later. A disclaimer is extremely important because it informs your visitors and users that all information and content on your website is for informational and educational purposes only. This is important to protect yourself from anyone filing a lawsuit claiming they relied on your information as legal advice. A disclaimer varies based on the type of business you have. If you don’t want to face a hefty penalty up to $11,000 and be sued by the FTC then please make sure you are following the rules! Additionally, if you publish yours or your customer’s income reports, testimonials, product reviews, and success results on your website as examples for others to see then you need the appropriate disclaimers in place letting people know these are just examples and that you are not promising the same results to them. Amira does offer these as part of her Disclaimer template along with 3 additional BONUSES here 2) WHAT IS A PRIVACY POLICY AND WHY DO YOU NEED IT? A Privacy Policy is a legal statement that informs the person using your website how you collect and use their personal information. You are required to disclose this information by law. A Privacy Policy is mandatory because you are gaining access to someone’s personal information that identifies them, and they have the right to know how you are collecting and using this information. This applies to the collection of emails through your email marketing service such as MailChimp, ConvertKit, etc. Every online business, blog, and website MUST have a privacy policy to protect themselves from liability and several state and federal laws require it. Make sure you have a Privacy Policy on your website! It is NOT optional. Many people operate for months without posting one on their website but it only takes one mishap to get you in legal trouble. More and more internet companies are being sued for violations of people’s privacy such as Facebook, Yahoo, Snapchat, Target, and others. Please note your Privacy Policy also needs to inform the visitors what information you will collect automatically such as the cookies and Google Analytics you use on your website to track visitors and analyze your website stats. You also need to ensure your compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act. Additionally, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you are required to inform visitors from the European Union about certain rights they are entitled to such as their right to request access or deletion of their personal data kept by your company. Amira sells a comprehensive Privacy Policy template for your website and online business so you don’t have to worry about the “legalese,” and have the peace of mind of knowing that these templates are drafted by a REAL lawyer instead of those free online privacy policy generators that fail to offer you the protection you need. Also, as part of her Privacy Policy Template, she provides FREE bonuses relating to the GDPR and Cookie Policy to help you stay in compliance with the law. I have reviewed the free templates floating around online and they are NOT comprehensive but people don’t realize that because they are not lawyers! So most people don’t realize how deficient these templates are or what language is missing in those free privacy policies until they get in trouble or face a legal issue. 3) WHAT ARE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND WHY DO YOU NEED THEM? Terms and Conditions (also known as Terms of Use or Terms of Service) are your website rules – what you permit and what you do not permit on your website. They encompass your Privacy Policy and Disclaimer and serve as an agreement between you and anyone that visits, uses, or purchases from your website. Terms and Conditions are extremely important on your website for various reasons such as 1) explaining your intellectual property rights to your content to protect your valuable content from copyright infringement and other legal issues, 2) your right to terminate anyone’s use of your website at your sole discretion, 3) your refund/exchange policies for the things you offer, 4) dispute resolution- where and how you will handle legal disputes if one arises, and much more! By having a comprehensive Terms and Conditions on your website, you limit your risk of liability for errors, omissions, and inaccuracies found in your content and also protect yourself legally from other issues related to the use of your website. Now you know why terms and conditions are so important in protecting your website and business! To help you get started, take a look at her Terms and Conditions template here. It’s best to get these legal policies out of the way as soon as possible, so you can move on to focusing on your business, making money, and your other creative endeavors (which is a lot more fun anyway!). There are so many things to consider and learn when starting a new blog, learning WordPress understanding plugins, importing photos, writing, creating new content it can be overwhelming but I still took care of all these legal pages before launching my blog! You can also get all your legal pages done within minutes with Amiras legal bundle. I have purchased them and use them on my site. For the price, you really can't go wrong knowing your hard work is protected. As well check our Amira's website at www.aselfguru.com. Check it out her site it's awesome. As always if you like this post or site please share. If you are interested in creating your blog (you should) Alex and Lauren at Create and Go have amazing affordable courses that will save you time and effort. They have a no BS approach, you learn from their mistakes and they are truthful in what it takes to be successful. All of my recommendations can be found on the Resources Page. I use them all and would not recommend them if I didn't use them myself. If you'd like to get in touch don't hesitate to reach out at theteam@wickedretirement.com I'll answer every question you have. thanks