What you need on your website to make it legal
Every business has a legal aspect. The on-line space is no different. You need to be aware of what you need on your website to make it legal.
How do you know what your need to make your website legal?
Disclosure: I am NOT an attorney. Always seek legal guidance if you are unclear or uncertain of any area regarding your business. This post will provide information only and is not legal advice.
Put aside the idea that you get to work from your local coffee shop, spend more time with your family and make your own hours. Until you have these legal pieces in place, you should not run an on-line business.
I created a quick list of those of you that love to be organized. This list will help you make sure that you are on the right track and have everything in place!
The other thing to have in place is your insurance coverage as a health provider, you absolutely want liability insurance in place.
PAGES YOU NEED TO MAKE YOU WEBSITE LEGAL
A few pages that you want to consider to make your website legal are:
- Privacy Policy
- Disclosure Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Cookie
There are other legal forms that you may need depending on what you offer and your website. If you plan on working with a VA (Virtual assistant for example you will want a contract agreement. You may want to have sponsored posts (great way to make some extra cash), in which case you will need a sponsored post contract.
If you decide to guest post which is a fantastic way to gain back links, then you will need a guest posting agreement.
You cannot set up LLC in Canada but if in States or anywhere else you may require a document for that as well and can access that from a lawyer and even purchase a template on-line. The key is making sure you are getting templates from a reputable lawyer that knows what they are doing.
RELATED INFORMATION THAT YOU MAY FIND USEFUL: How To Become An Online Health Coach
DOES EVERYONE NEED LEGAL PAGES?
Before you publish your website, you should have the 3 most important pages set up. The three are Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions and Disclaimer. You cannot copy and paste someone else’s pages as that would be copyright and end you up in trouble.
I don’t recommend that you write your own either. There are free places where you can download templates but unless you are a lawyer, you really cannot be sure that you have included everything needed or even written it properly.
If you cannot afford to pay for a lawyer, which to be honest most start up business’s can’t, you can find lawyers on-line that sell templates and that can be a good starting point for you.
I did a pile of research trying to find the right on-line templates to recommend to my students at Health Coach Creator. I finally found Mariam Tsaturyan and you can see her available templates on her site.. Mariam is a lawyer but also a blogger so she understand the on-line space. She also has knowledge of the health aspects required for health coaches and wording needed.
If you do purchase from Mariam, you will receive an e-mail from her with the key language that you need to add to make it effective for your exact needs. If you still need more you can work with her to customize even further!
HOW TO COMMUNICATE POLICIES TO YOUR READER
You show your reader your various policies and procedure via pages that attach to each page of your site.
You can do this by having hidden pages on your site with your policies written on them. Then linking your policies in the footer of each page on your site. You will see some website add these page links to the top of there pages but I recommend the footer.
The idea for each legal page is to inform your reader of your intent, what you share, how you share it and how your site works etc
PRIVACY POLICY
Basically, a privacy policy tells the reader how you use the information that you obtain from them. If they fill out a form or opt-in for example, the policy will let them know where that info goes and what you do with it. You legally have to let the person reading the information on your site what you will use their information for; make sure you have this. Do you plan on sending them e-mails with offers and information etc?
The policy will also share what platforms that you will use their information on, such as Kartra or Mailerlite etc. If you purchase templates from a reputable lawyer than you will know that they are also in compliance with CAN-SPAM ACT and also GDPR compliant.
DISCLAIMER POLICY
A disclaimer essentially says that you wrote with good intent and can help reduce legal liability of your content. The privacy policy should include a few things: affiliate links such as Amazon and any wording that Amazon requires (make sure you check for any specific wording that needs to be added as your affiliate agreement and add that here).
If your post for example has affiliate links then you must legally state that at the beginning of your post so that they reader can see it before reading the content. Being an affiliate means that you make money when someone buys something that you have recommended. If you create a blog post and wish to share it on social media you must post it on the social media platform as well.
If you are sponsored to write a post than you must state that as well. Even if you are given a product in exchange, you must still indicate that it is a sponsored post.
The disclaimer also shares that you are not a doctor or regulated professional (unless of course you are but if you are not, you want to state that). You want to make sure that you are fully open and state you are not providing any legal advice, diagnosis, financial advice etc
Your disclaimer helps protect your blog regarding any products and/or services.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The rules that you have around your sire/blog. The terms and conditions explain to the reader what you allow and don’t allow within your own site. Basically, when a reader comes on your site they are agreeing to your terms and conditions.
Within your terms and conditions you can list your refund policies, how you handle legal issues should they come about, copyright infringement etc.
Again, best to use done for you templates that can be customized to your needs by a reputable lawyer or meet with a lawyer to have these drawn up for you.
COOKIE LAW
Cookies law, although a funny name is for your UK visitors. You will see this pop up and the bottom or top of websites asking the reader to agree. You can use a plug in to add the cookie law to your WordPress site.
You can purchase these template at Mariam’s shop, customize them, add them to the footer of your website and feel assured that you have the right policies in place.
Make sure you have your policies in place before you start working with clients!
HOW TO ADD POLICIES TO YOUR WEBSITE
If you are using WordPress and I highly recommend that you do. I wasted a ton of time with other platforms. WordPress can feel overwhelming at first but it gets easy!
- All you have to do is go to the left sidebar on your WordPress site.
- Click on Appearance.
- Then click on Manage Location.
CONCLUSION
You need to have liability insurance to protect yourself as well as have the proper policies on your website before you can begin working with clients or your are putting yourself and your business at risk.
Then, make sure that you have the 3 most important policies in place on each page of your website. Speak to a lawyer if you aren’t sure.
If you found this article helpful, please drop me a comment and let me know!
