Is your website or blog legally protected?
If not, you could be taking an unnecessary risk.
As more and more of our daily activities continue to be moved online, so our reliance upon a digital world increases. More businesses are doing more business virtually in 2021 than ever before.
As of this year (currently 2021), there are an astonishing number of websites, blogs and internet users out there in cyberspace! According to a stats-filled article on websitehostingrating.com:
As of January 2021, there were over 1.83 billion websites on the Internet.
And:
More than 5,760,000 blog posts are published on the Internet every single day.
One caveat to this that I would like to add: there are also a pretty high number of websites that are not currently active and in use. That being said, whatever the exact figure is, it is mind-boggling to think about how many individuals and companies have a website – and in many cases, a blog as well. And of course the number of websites and blogs is expected to keep on increasing in the coming years.
Along with increased online use comes the possibility of increased risk, both from a security standpoint and a from legal standpoint.
Anyone who has ever created or maintained a website, blog, app or even a social media account knows what a huge investment in time, money, effort and knowledge goes into that process.
It is very important to protect your investment by creating and linking to at least a few absolutely essential legal pages.
It is recommended that (at a minimum) you should protect your online presence with the following 3 legal pages:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Disclaimer
It took me a good long time after first starting my business before I realized how important it is to include some essential legal documentation to protect my online presence. It dawned on me one day while going through one of the courses created by Alex and Lauren of Create and Go. At one point during one of their courses they mentioned their Facebook group for bloggers, so I checked it out and joined the group. One of the Facebook posts I read was by a business lawyer and coach, online entrepreneur and 6-figure blogger named Amira Irfan.
I was intrigued by Amira and so decided to learn more about her. I really liked her style, bluntness and honesty (and also liked the fact that she went to law school in my state, Connecticut!) – and I figured I could learn a thing or two from this woman.
After reading over her website ASelfGuru.com and learning more about her business and blog, I soon subscribed to her email list. I was eager to dive into the resulting welcome email that included a free legal guide and video lesson (both are excellent).
Then, responding to a question she posed in one of her email newsletters, I emailed Amira – and she emailed me back right away! I was surprised to receive such a quick response, and she seemed quite caring and personable.
Making the decision to be safe – rather than sorry:
With my newfound realization that I needed to do something to protect my online assets from a legal standpoint, I really didn’t want to waste time and take my chances with free legal templates. The risk was too great for my taste. With a free legal page template, you never know what important legal language and provisions you might be missing – which could potentially open you up to a lawsuit. Not to mention the fact that many of the so-called “free” templates actually make you pay for the wording that would cover you and your business for things like the GDPR provisions and California Online Privacy Act (CalOPPA). They can lead you down a rabbit hole and waste your time.
If you’d like to learn more about the GDPR, Hacker Noon has a good article on its platform that explains what GDPR is and why it’s important: https://hackernoon.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-gdpr-explained-8e336a1987ea
And (for more current info) Smashing Magazine goes into great detail in its in-depth articled titled State Of GDPR In 2021: Key Updates And What They Mean. The author outlines and defines various terms and provisions, including the The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
How to Quickly, Easily and Affordably Protect Your Blog/Website Legally
Anyone who does business online should become familiar with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) influencer guidelines for bloggers and others who interact with customers in an online environment.
Then, after fortifying yourself with such knowledge, it’s time to take some preventative action.
Enter the Starter Legal Bundle.
The Starter Legal Bundle includes the 3 essential legal pages that I mentioned near the beginning of this article:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Disclaimer
It also includes several wonderful bonuses, such as the following – at no extra cost:
(Note: the provisions for compliance with the CCPA and GDPR are included in Amira’s Privacy Policy template.)
- GDPR Email Marketing Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- Cookie Policy
- Third-Party Links Disclaimer
- Sponsored Posts Disclaimer
- Mandatory Arbitration Clause
- Lawful Use of Website Clause
- Testimonials & Product Review Disclaimer
These templates are a great deal, especially when the alternatives are:
— risking getting sued,
— having to constantly worry about this legal stuff,
— spending up to thousands in legal fees for another lawyer’s services and legal contracts,
— relying on shoddy, incomplete and unprofessional free legal contracts found somewhere on the internet.
At ASelfGuru, the prices, bundles and packages are very affordable and reasonable, if not downright generous, so I went ahead and purchased her Starter Legal Bundle.
I was actually (very) pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was for me to change a few words here and there to customize these templates, and it was quite painless to get them up on my blog. It took me maybe 30 minutes or so, but only because I read nearly every word on all 3 templates.
Once you have these pages lightly tweaked and ready to go, a good place to link to them is from down in your footer area; that way they are there in plain sight and easy to access while not intruding upon the rest of your page content and imagery. The footer area is where I chose to link to my essential legal pages.
Note: in addition to already being quite reasonably priced, Amira also offers coupons and discounts, free access to a community of support and free lifetime updates.
Peace of Mind
Since I set up my legal pages, as I go through my daily activities running my business and working on this blog, from time to time I have thoughts pop into my head like “oh wait a minute I need to mention this in my legal pages. I need a comment policy, I should protect my content, etc.” Or thoughts such as “wait a minute – I need to make sure I’m CCPA and GDPR compliant.” But then I breathe a sigh of relief after realizing – “hey, those are already included in the three ASelfGuru legal templates… cool!”
I was impressed by the clear, detailed instructions for setting up my blog’s legal pages. And the personalized support and response time to my questions was excellent!
It is such a great feeling to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that these templates were carefully crafted by a trusted, experienced lawyer, who is actually still active full-time in her profession. I am not a lawyer myself, so none of what I have written in this post constitutes actual legal advice. (I will leave that to professional lawyers like Amira!)
However, this post does outline my real, honest experiences with this subject.
So, what are you waiting for? Protect your online assets and your business today with these legal templates! : )
Thank you so much for visiting the blog! Please share this article if you like it, and please check out this article to learn about more essential ingredients to include in your blog or website.
