How To Create Legal Pages To Protect Your Blog

How To legally protect your blog with key legal pages for blogs.

It can seem like the most daunting part of it all, but it's so important to legally protect your blog, website or online business. Having the right legal pages for your blog is just one vital step to protecting yourself from potential risks.

Learning how to blog legally will open up opportunities (monetization) and give you peace of mind. I sleep much easier now than I did before because of the steps I took to protect my blog legally.

For many years, I used a free Privacy document and a Disclosure that I had cobbled together from looking at other bloggers' legal pages. Bad me – this is a big no-no!

Blogging legally was my goal, but I just didn't have access to legal help that didn't cost an arm and a leg. But when I started building an email list, adding affiliate links and monetizing my blog, I knew it was high time to cover my ass legally.

It was time to add proper legal pages for my blog.

You should have legal pages from the moment you start your blog and officially launch it.

Blogging can be a risky business. Although it may seem the chances of being sued are low, you never know when you accidentally come across somebody who decides to sue you for a valid reason (we'll explore these some more below).

And nobody wants to be sued. Right? Of course, right!

This post is for anybody who is a hobby blogger, one dabbling in making it into a business, and those who are actively using a blog to promote their business, such as a coaching business.

Disclosure: I'm not a lawyer, nor is this legal advice. It's just information that I've found useful in protecting my blog that you may find helpful as well. This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through my links, I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclaimer for more information.

In this post, we'll explore four key ways to protect your blog legally. I'll also share my thoughts about my experience with the legal pages for blogs from A Self Guru – the popular Legal Bundle.

Best of all, learning how to blog legally is not going to be too difficult! I promise…

1. Have Your Legal Pages On Your Blog

The key way to legally protect your blog is to have three key legal pages:

Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
Terms & Conditions

We'll go through each of these and explain the details, but for now, let's understand why you need them.

Simply put, you need to have them on your blog (even before you officially launch – and if you don't have them with your current blog… what are you waiting for?) to comply with the laws, and to protect yourself and your blog from lawsuits.

| Related: How To Start A Blog The Right Way

So you think, why not copy somebody else's legal pages?

Hold on! That would be copyright infringement. No can do! This is not the way to blog legally.

You could try writing your own BUT, unless you're a lawyer, you won't include all the necessary information that protects you and your blog legally.

What's the solution? A little help from a blogger who's also a lawyer. Amira's (A Self Guru) Legal Bundle is the easiest (AND least expensive) way to add customizable legal pages for your blog. Amira is not only a blogger but also a REAL, practicing lawyer.

The Legal Bundle is the most cost-effective way to legally protect your blog by ensuring you have the three key legal documents on your site.

If I went to my lawyer (who's a lovely man, and always very helpful in legal matters), I would have to pay at least triple the amount for ONE of the pages by Amira.

I don't have over $3,000+ to cover the costs of getting my lawyer to write up these three important documents. Thank goodness for the much more affordable Legal Bundle from Amira.

She's prepared the bundle, which includes the Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms & Conditions, with bloggers and their budget in mind.

But first, back to why we need the legal pages for your blog in the first place.

Privacy Policy

One of the ways to legally protect your blog is to have a Privacy Policy in place. This important document tells the visitor to your site about how you collect and use their personal information. The law requires you to disclose this information.

Whether you have a blog, website or online business, you need to let people know how you are using their personal information. You can't bypass this – you open yourself up to the potential of being sued if you're missing this.

The Privacy Policy needs to cover several key points:

Compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act
Let your visitors from the (European Union) EU know about how personal data is collected due to the GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation, which came into effect a few years ago.
Information about how you collect emails through email marketing services (e.g., Mailerlite, etc.)

See why you need help via the Legal Bundle? Who wants to struggle in making sure you're covered for all of this?

Disclaimer

A second way to legally protect your blog is to have a Disclaimer page.

What does a Disclaimer do? It tells your readers what the limits are to what they can or can't do with the information, products, and services you share on your site. It's important to have this to ensure that you don't get sued by somebody claiming they used information from you or your blog as professional advice.

You see the little disclaimer at the top that claims I'm not a lawyer… this is to protect myself from anybody claiming that I've provided them legal advice.

Aside from noting any content on your site is not professional advice, a Disclaimer informs about affiliate programs and third-party links. It also informs about any financial income (commissions, payments) you get from purchases somebody makes from your affiliate links. This is also important to comply with the FTC and their strict rules.

Amira goes into greater detail on her A Self Guru blog. It's a worthwhile read if you're interested in learning more about Disclaimer pages.

Terms & Conditions

The Terms & Conditions page tells users about your website's rules. As Amira notes on her blog,

"They encompass your Privacy Policy and Disclaimer and serve as an agreement between you and anyone that visits, uses or purchases from your website."

Amira – A Self Guru

The Terms & Conditions cover your intellectual property rights, how you can terminate somebody's usage of your site at your own discretion, the intended age of site visitors, refund and exchange policies relating to your products, and resolution of disputes.

My Experience With The Legal Bundle

There are several reasons why I've chosen and recommend A Self Guru's Legal Bundle, and why you may want to too:

I knew I needed to legally protect my blog but it was overwhelming to do so on my own
I'm not a lawyer but she is, and she knows her stuff when it comes to protecting yourself legally while blogging. She uses them on her own site.
It takes the guesswork and hours of pulling my hair out trying to figure out the intricacies of legal pages for blogs
It's super easy to customize to your own blog/business niche
What a fantastic deal! It doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and it comes with 9 amazing bonuses (worth over $1000!!) and access to a private Facebook support group
Once you've purchased it, you can use the pages on any of the websites and blogs you own

A small investment in purchasing the Legal Bundle can save you thousands down the line, in case you get sued!

Remember: you can't just copy the pages and use them on your own site. These are protected under copyright laws.

2. Create Your Own Original Content

I still see many bloggers doing this. Including several who have copied THIS blog post and been caught doing it.

One way to legally protect your blog and yourself from being sued is to create original work. What you learned in school about plagiarism applies to blogging and real-life as well.

I've never had anybody copy my work, but I have heard from other bloggers who had complete blog posts duplicated by others. It's never pleasant to see somebody achieving success based on YOUR work.

It's so important to blog legally by creating original content.

The moment you create your work, it's protected in the US (Copyright.gov site).

In Canada, you the author of the blog, are the owner of the blog. An author of a blog post is the owner of the blog post. The Food Bloggers of Canada has a great write-up of the Canadian copyright laws for bloggers.

With original content, you are not only protecting yourself legally but also being genuine.

Cheating is never satisfying in the end, and you can potentially lose followers if it gets out that you're stealing from other blogs. And bloggers talk. You can potentially be blacklisted by brands if they hear about any scandals related to plagiarism.

Be you. Be legal.

| Related: 50+ Sources Of Inspiration For Fresh Blog Content

3. When Using Others' Work, Seek Permission & Provide Credit

Another key way of legally protecting your blog is to make sure you aren't stealing from others. If for any reason you need to use somebody's content, photos… anything that's not yours, it's always good to ask if you can use it.

In many cases, bloggers will be happy to let you use the content as long as it links back to their site (a do-follow link) and includes their name. Giving credit where credit is due is key to keeping you from becoming a plagiarist and breaking the law.

Ask them how they want to be credited and follow through.

Here's an example of content that you might need to use from another blogger:

You attend an event where other bloggers are in attendance. One of them takes a photo you'd like to use on your site or social media.

Send them an email or message to ask if you can use it on your site or social media accounts and how they would like to be credited.

Here's an additional tip: ALWAYS keep a copy of the approval in your files in case the blogger forgets and accuses you of using their photo without permission. I've seen it happen.

Blogging legally typing — *Ask permission and provide credit – always! Photo credit: Monika Grabowska,* **Kaboompics**

4. Use Copyright-Free Photos

Speaking of photos, always use copyright-free photos! Although you may be tempted to "borrow" a photo from Google images, you need to be aware that they may be copyright photos.

You may also think if another blogger is using a photo then it's copyright-free. But that may not be the case and if you use it, you'll be doing something illegal.

One of the key ways to protect your blog legally is to always ensure you seek them from reputable stock photography companies.

They offer copyright-free photos either with paid options or free stock photos (where usually all that's required is crediting the photographer).

I'm stressing reputable sites because a few years ago, there was a "stock photo" site that was lifting photos from bloggers' sites (via Google) and passing them off as copyright-free.

Not only was it stealing bloggers' original photos, but also using potentially sharing out copyright photos from professional photographers.

To be on the safe side and blog legally, work with paid stock photography sites as they ensure they have permission from photographers.

PRO TIP: When using stock photos, always read the fine print. Find out if you need to credit the photographer.

| Related: 50+ Resources & Tools For Bloggers Including Stock Photo Sites

To Recap

So that's it! Four easy and effective ways to legally protect your blog.

Create your own content: don't plagiarize
Ask for permission to use other's content and credit them (and link back to them if possible)
Use stock photos – select, reputable free stock photography sites, and paid stock photo site
Most importantly, add your Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms & Conditions pages

The first three things you'll need to keep doing to blog legally. The last thing you do once and only update as needed.

Having a legally protected blog is one of the most important things any blogger can have – and we all want to reduce any risks associated with a growing, successful money-making blog.

By implementing these four points, you'll be on your way! I know I'm resting much easier knowing I blog legally.

Important Tip For Coaching Services

If you're providing coaching services and using a blog or website to promote them, you also need legal pages.

In addition to this, you should have a coaching agreement in place. Read more about why you should have a customizable coaching agreement template if you're working with clients.

Read this starting a coaching business checklist with all the key steps you need to take before you launch it.

QUESTION: What is the thing that you worry about most when it comes to legally protect your blog?

Feature photo credit: Monika Grabowska, Kaboompics

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About Margaret

Margaret Bourne is a blog coach, content creator and experienced PR and marketing professional. She helps aspiring bloggers transform their blogs into successful online businesses. Founder of Suburban Tourist, a lifestyle blog, she enjoys sharing not only blogging tips but also inspirational lifestyle stories.