Is Your Blog Legal and How Do You Know?
I opened up my blog stats recently and saw traffic coming in from another blog. Cool, right?!
Nestled in the middle of a round up post, the author of this blog had taken photos from my site and posted them on their blog with a link to my original post… without my permission. Not so cool.
I’ve made the same mistake and maybe you have to. But now I know, you cannot take and use someone else’s content without permission. Not only is it stealing their work, it’s illegal. 😳
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase I will receive a commission from the sale.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Just key lessons I’ve learned over my years as a blogger that I want to pass on to you.
Is Your Blog Legal and How Do You Know?
I have to admit that for the longest time I thought I could DIY the important blog stuff. The legal stuff… And I was almost there. But, in the back of my mind I had this nagging fear. Is my blog legal?
Was I fully and properly protected? Just how do you know your blog is legal?
Three quick tips to help get and keep your blog legal:
1. Create your own unique content.
Create your own unique content. You own what you create! So best practice is to create your own content.
You own the words you write and publish. You also own the photos you take and publish. While it may seem obvious, many bloggers make this mistake. You cannot copy someone else’s words or images.
A common example of this is round up posts. While a round up post are a high traffic posts (hence their popularity), many bloggers grab photos and think that they can simply link to the original blog or website as attribution. This is untrue.
If you didn’t create it you don’t have the right to publish it. You need to obtain written permission or the rights to post and share it.
Tip: Do your research on plagiarism and copyright infringement so that you are clear on how to avoid both.
If you are going to use someone else’s content, be sure to have written permission as well as give them credit for their work if required.
What about Stock Photography?
There are tons of amazing free stock photography sites out there. In fact, I rounded up my top ten in this post: 10 Stock Photography Sites You Need To Check Out Now.
I definitely recommend using photos and videos from free stock photography sites. Just be sure to take the time to read the terms and conditions on these sites so you are clear on exactly how you can use the photos.
Many of these sites allow you to use the photos royalty free on your website, social media and even products! However, you need to be clear on personal and commercial rights and whether you have permission to use them in products you create to sell.
2. Disclose Your Affiliates
If you are using affiliate marketing, be sure to include an affiliate disclosure in your post and on social media.
This is regulated by the FTC and not disclosing affiliates is a big no no. Do not try to hide your affiliate relationship, be open and honest about it with your readers.
Your messaging should be clear and direct. You need to disclose early in your post, before any affiliate links appear.
Bottom line, make is obvious to your readers that the post contains affiliate links and that by clicking on those links you earn a commission if they make a purchase.
For example, since I’m an affiliate for A Self Guru, you may have noticed my disclaimer at the beginning of this post and below you will see where I have linked to her 3 legal templates.
3. Have your Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions in place.
I decided that DIYing the legal end of blogging wasn’t worth the risk or the worry.
Every website should have a Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions. But, how could I know for sure that I’d done them right?
My friend, Amira at aselfguru.com is a lawyer and a blogger who has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs with their legal pages!
She works full-time as a lawyer and has been working with business owners and entrepreneurs, like you and me, for more than 8 years helping them protect their online businesses legally!
I follow her blog, signed up for her newsletter and purchased her Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions legal templates.
For me it was such a relief to take all the guess work out of these important legal pages on my website.
A Legal Bundle that eliminates the DIY
I’m so glad I found her and her Legal Bundle, which is trusted by so many bloggers like me! Her Legal Bundle comes with 3 legal templates you must have on your blog + 9 additional bonuses!
Here are the 3 legal templates it comes with:
1. Privacy Policy Template
2. Disclaimer Template
3. Terms and Conditions Template
Are your policies in place?
As promised in less than 30 minutes I had my Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, and Disclaimer ready to go and on my website.
I cannot tell you the difference peace of mind it makes knowing you’ve protected yourself and your blog.
Thankfully, Amira, had everything I needed to get my blog set up with all the technical legal jargon that protects me.
Knowing I had my Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, and Disclaimer in place on my blog gave me the full confidence to inform this blogger they needed to remove my photos from their site.
Are you confident your blog is legal? I’m so confident I became an affiliate! Use my affiliate link and check out Amira’s Legal Bundle here.
xoxo Naomi
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