Protect Yourself And Your Blog With These Legal Templates
Starting a new blog is an exciting adventure. It’s a great way to share what you know as a hobby as well as to share information to and for businesses. No matter whether your blog is for fun or for profit, you need to make sure that you have legal protection in place for your online space. I’ve got some legal templates that will help you out.
Disclaimer: I have affiliate links in this post and I receive a commission on any purchases you make at no cost to you. It’s one of the ways I support my site.
I work as a Virtual Assistant (VA) and I’m constantly amazed at the number of my clients that do not use contracts for their legal protection. So, I choose to protect myself by having my own contracts because I don’t want to get sued by an angry client if something goes wrong. This legal bundle is an excellent way to get started with the main security features you need to have in place on your website to protect yourself from being sued. It happens – more than you know.
Wanna hear a CRAZY story? I had a guy hire me to help him with some Excel work. Great. He owned a good sized tax firm here in town, but he had a very complicated set up with his payroll. It was taking him HOURS to do every month. I took one look at it and figured out where I could save him a bunch of time. We Emailed back and forth a couple of times and set a pay rate and a schedule.
But then he gave me complete and unrestricted access to his ENTIRE FINANCIAL OPERATION. His balance sheet, his client list, all his payroll records for his employees, even his own pay. Did he ask me to sign a non-disclosure agreement or ANY type of contract? Nope! Did he ask me how I was going to manage access to all this highly confidential information. Nope! He didn’t even know my last name or address – how CRAZY is that??
I was floored! My first thought was – I’m never going to ask this guy to do MY TAXES if he hands out highly confidential information to complete strangers. On the other hand, he was paying his staff just ridiculous amounts of money, so I was thinking of getting him to hire me too!
In the end, he was kind of a jerk so I decided to part ways with him after a couple of weeks, but I did mention to him that he really needed to get some legal protection in place. If I had not been a very honest person, I could have really taken him to the cleaners! There are so many situations like this where you need clear guidelines and legal protection for your assets.
What Legal Protection Does every Blogger NEED?
Even if your blog is a hobby, there are three legal pages that you must have on your site: a GDPR/CCPA-compliant Privacy Policy page, a Disclaimer page, and a Terms & Conditions page. Don’t risk legal action from readers or other businesses by failing to have these three important pages on your site.
With this legal bundle, it’s easy to get these 3 basic templates and personalize them for your site. They’re very simple to use and customize for your site. It’s literally a plain text document with bright yellow fields where you need to put in your information. How easy is that? And each one comes with 3 useful bonuses from Amira Law.
Privacy Policy
A privacy policy page is required by law. It’s a statement that lets your visitors know how their personal information is handled. It doesn’t matter if your website isn’t profitable or if it’s only a hobby site, you must have a GDPR (European law) & CCPA (California law)-compliant privacy policy in place. There are certain items that must be included in your policy and these templates will walk you through those items.
Legal Disclaimer
A disclaimer page helps protect you from legal liability. It you are a hobbyist, it lets your visitors know that your content is for entertainment purposes. It helps protect you from being sued because someone tried your idea and it didn’t turn out right or caused some type of injury. Also if you are an affiliate for anyone, say Amazon, you need to make sure you are disclosing that relationship properly per the FTC.
Terms of Service / Terms and Conditions
This page is important because it’s a legal agreement between you and your readers. This is where you explain your rules and conditions and the consequences if they are violated. For instance, you are reinforcing your copyright and what the consequences are if someone steals your info. If you sell anything on your website, this is where you include your refund policy and how you will handle disputes. This template helps protect you by reducing the chances that someone will misunderstand what to expect when purchasing or when visiting your site.
There are also additional templates available for other more specialized uses:
- Freelancer/Independent Contractor Agreement
- Confidentiality Agreement – also known an Non-Disclosure agreement or NDA
- Guest Blogger Agreement – very helpful to have if you have guest bloggers (I’ve been burned!)
- Media Release Agreement – to safely use other people’s images, like in a roundup post
- Affiliate Agreement – Very important if you have affiliates to help sell your products
- Setting up an LLC Template – An LLC can be helpful to protect your personal bank accounts and home if you are sued
As a freelancer, I’ve found the Independent Contractor Agreement quite helpful. I had a few “tardy payers” in the early days of my business. Now I rarely have late payments because I have a contract that clearly states my payment terms and some pretty strict penalties for late payments.
You might be able to get these items off the internet for cheap or maybe even free, but you have no idea if they are legally compliant. With this bundle, you are assured that they are legal because they have been drafted by an actual lawyer – Amira Law of ASelfGuru.com. If you had these drafted by a lawyer just for yourself it would cost you much more than this pack of templates. Don’t take a chance of putting non-compliant policies on your website; get this pack of legal templates, with bonuses included!
Here are some other posts you may enjoy:
How to Use QuickBooks Online for Your Business
Blogging Platforms – WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace
WordPress Security – Protect Your Site from Hackers
Blogging resources I love and recommend:
SiteGround – I have four sites hosted through SiteGround and I’ve used them for years. They’re cheap and their customer service is AMAZING – very fast, very helpful. Learn more about SiteGround HERE.
Tailwind – I’ve been working with Tailwind for about five years. They are the pin scheduler of choice and it is jam-packed with great features. If you haven’t already, sign up for a FREE month of Tailwind HERE.
The Isabelle theme by Bluchic – is my favorite theme for WordPress websites. I’ve used it to build a bunch of different websites. It’s pretty, easy to customize, and really simple to use. It’s shown in a very pale pink, but I’ve done it in turquoise, emerald green, and navy/gold color schemes. For safety and security reasons, I will not ever use a free WordPress theme. This is the engine that powers and protects your website. Learn about the Isabelle theme HERE.
Legal Templates – You are required by law to have a certain package of legalese on your blog. You need to have copyright notices, privacy policies, and various other terms and conditions to protect yourself from being sued. The package I recommend is created by Amira Law – a lawyer who specializes in all aspects of blogging and internet business legalities. Learn more about these Legal Templates HERE.
Pinterest Resources – Pinterest is definitely my jam. I have an Ebook that is very affordable and is packed with helpful tips. OR, if you want a more personalized touch, I will do a Pinterest/Tailwind audit where I go over your account with a 30-point checklist and then set up a Zoom call with you to give you TONS of suggestions. Order the Ebook HERE and the Pinterest Audit HERE.
HIRE ME – I make a full-time living taking great care of my blogger peeps. I’ve done Pinterest Management for the last five years for dozens of clients. I set up mailing lists, automations and build pop-ups for people. I can also build you a new website pretty much for FREE. To learn more – go HERE.
This is useful, thanks. I didn’t know about all of these…
Thanks! I’m glad you found it helpful.