When it comes to starting a blog, there are so many things to consider.
What will your niche be? How will you get traffic? What type of content will you create? And what legal pages should you include on your site?
A lot of people overlook the importance of having legal pages on their blogs.
These legal pages help protect bloggers from being sued by readers or other companies for the content published on their site that could be deemed offensive or harmful in some way.
The Privacy Policy Page is one of the most important legal pages that your blog must have.
If you collect data from your readers, then you must have a privacy policy. This includes their names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other personally identifiable information (PII).
This page is required by law in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
It’s a legal document to inform readers about how you are going to use their personal information and also how they can opt out of sharing their data with third parties.
The reason why it is so important is that it helps users understand what they are getting into when they sign up for your newsletter or make a purchase in your store.
Asking for consent from users is also key — especially if you're collecting any sensitive data such as financial or health information.
You should make it clear in your policies that consent is required before submitting this kind of data to you and give them several options for opting out later if they decide not to share such information with you after all.
This should also include the use of cookies on your blog.
A cookie is a small text file, which is stored on your computer by the websites you visit or apps you use.
These cookies allow you to do things like keep track of your shopping cart, store preferences, and settings and remember what’s in your offline basket at an online retailer.
A website can create several types of cookies:
Session Cookies – This type of cookie only lasts for the duration of one browsing session and is deleted from your computer when you close all browser windows (or the browser itself).
Persistent Cookies – This type of cookie remains on your computer after you close all browser windows (or the browser itself). It disappears after a specified period set by its creator.
Your privacy policy should include:
What information does your site collect? This includes things like email addresses, user names, or any other contact info you may ask for from visitors to sign up for something or buy something off of your site.
How does this data get used? To provide services on your website (analytics, ads), collect payments, or communicate with visitors via email newsletters or other marketing campaigns.
Who sees it? Only authorized individuals who need to see it as part of their job responsibilities at your company (for example customer service representatives).
How do we protect this data? By using encryption where appropriate; storing data securely; limiting access to only those employees who have a legitimate business reason for accessing it — not just anyone within the organization — and ensuring that all employees follow our policies when dealing with customer personal data
A disclosure policy is a written statement that discloses the nature of any relationship between a blogger and a partner.
Bloggers need to have one because it can help protect them from accusations of conflict of interest, fraud, or bribery.
This also helps ensure compliance with FTC regulations, and protect both you and your visitors.
A Disclosures page should have details about any payments you receive from advertisers, sponsorships, or other relationships (these could be in the form of free products or services), as well as links to your privacy policy, terms of use, and terms of service (TOS).
This can also be a good place to list any outside partners that provide content on your blog—a disclosure helps reassure readers that there's nothing shady going on here!
Affiliate links are a great way to earn extra income from your blog. That said, you need to disclose this fact for legal purposes.
An affiliate link is a special URL that you can use on your blog or website to direct readers to another site and make money when people click through and purchase something there.
For example, if I was an Amazon affiliate, I could create a post about kitchen appliances and include an Amazon link that says something like “If you like what you see here, click here to buy one (or more) of these things!”
You simply create an account with the company whose product(s) you want to promote (in this case: Amazon).
Once signed up as an associate with them, they will assign credit codes specific only for use by their associates/bloggers/writers so that we as publishers can receive a commission on every sale made through our sites/blogs/pages, etc.
If you use affiliate links on your site, then you're legally required to tell readers about that when they visit.
An Affiliate Policy page should outline how affiliate sales work within the context of your site and include information about what constitutes an "affiliate link" so readers understand how their purchases will impact the way you earn money
So basically a good Affiliate Policy should contain:
A list of any affiliate links that are present on your blog, along with specific information about each program including the name of the program, when you joined, and where it's located.
A statement that you receive commissions for any sales referred from your blog (this is also known as associate revenue).
Your disclaimer is a statement that the information you provide is not meant to replace the advice of a medical professional. This legal page may be required by your website host, insurance company, and/or state law.
In addition to the above-listed reasons for having a disclaimer on your blog, it can also serve as protection against liability in case someone takes something you say out of context or misinterprets it.
If you’re writing about serious health issues like cancer or depression, then this could be especially important—but even if you’re talking about something like how to make homemade dog treats or which style of yoga pants work best for running marathons, having a disclaimer will help keep things clear for readers.
A copyright notice is a statement that informs the public that you, as the author of a work or creator of an intellectual property, own a copyright in your work.
It’s also meant to discourage others from copying your content without permission.
It's important to include this notice on all original content published on your blog, otherwise, other people could claim ownership over it—which could lead to some serious legal trouble down the road!
A Terms of Service is a legal contract between the website and its users.
It lets users know what they can and cannot do on your website, as well as how you will use their personal information.
Your Terms of Service should be brief and easy to understand, but also provide more detailed information if you feel it necessary (such as your policy on copyright infringement).
You must make sure that none of these terms contradict any part of your Privacy Policy or other legal documents such as Disclaimer pages or Copyright notices.
If you're a blogger, it's important to have a terms and conditions page. This is a legal agreement between you and your readers that explains how they can use your content.
For example, if you write about travel destinations or fashion trends on your blog, then the terms and conditions will include information about how those posts may be used by others.
Your terms and conditions page should also include contact information so that people can reach out to you if they have any questions or concerns about their rights as users of your site.
Bloggers should always be aware of their legal responsibilities. It’s not a catch-all, but these six pages will cover most of the basics for any blogger.
The key to staying on the right side of the law is to follow these guidelines and make sure that your content complies with all applicable laws.