Important Legal Rules & Guidelines All Mommy Bloggers Need To Know
Whether you’ve been doing this a decade or just getting started, I bet you didn’t know all of these legal blog requirements!
Blogging is something that pretty much anyone can do. It is easy once you get the hang of it and it can be a great way to make money from home while raising little ones.
However, too many bloggers are getting into legal trouble because they weren’t aware these rules and guidelines. I’m here to keep those pesky lawyers fees and fines in your wallet where they belong!
Please note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission if you choose to make a purchase through one of my links at no extra cost to you.
Privacy Policy
First of all, you must have a privacy policy on your site.
The privacy policy law is applicable to sites that have contact forms, subscription options, shopping carts, or any other form of analytics software. Your privacy policy must include how you store and how you will use any data you plan to collect and legally protect you from being sued.
Terms and Conditions
These are things you have to have on your website from the very beginning. A lawyer cannot do much if you get sued because you added your terms of use when it was too late! Your terms of service should include the following explanations:
- What is considered lawful use of your blog
- Your refund and exchange policies for any products and services you sell
- Where and how you will resolve any legal disputes
- Your copyright policy
Copyright
Copyright is a federal law that protects creators from their work being stolen. You have the option to register your work with the copyright office in Washington D.C., if you want to file lawsuits or claim damages.
However, it is not mandatory, as you automatically receive protection when you publish original work. It is recommended that you include a copyright notice on your site stating any plagarism will be penalized whether you register it or not.
If someone copies your work, but you do not want to go through the hassle of a lawsuit you can do these two things to get it removed:
- Send a cease and desist letter or email to the infringer demanding the removal of your original work.
- Send a Digital Millennium Copyright Act Takedown notice to the infringer’s internet hosting company for action to be taken against them.
In the same way you are protected from anyone stealing your work, you can also be penalized for stealing someone else’s work. Be original or be sued!
Email Newsletters Should Only be ‘Opt In’
Any emails saved on your database legally has to have given permission for you to contact them in any way. Regardless of if you are selling them a service or not, they have to ‘opt in’ to your email list. This means if you are offering a freebie, you have to explicitly state that by submitting their email, they are consenting to receiving your marketing emails. People also have to have the option to unsubscribe at any time which must be included in every email.
Additionally, your contact info, including your address must be included in every email. I know this seems scary for bloggers and freelancers who don’t want the world having their address, but it may be in your best interest to open a P.O. box or use a mailing address you are comfortable with.
Accessibility isn’t an option
Your site should be accessible for audio readers, which pretty much just means it needs to include alt tags on any images/media. Also, if all images and media were removed from your site, would it still be readable? Keep this in mind as well because it’s important that your site can be viewed and read as pure HTML without a CSS stylesheet if needed.
Defamation
If you write a false statement about someone and it negatively impacts their reputation, they can sue you for libel! This means no writing badly about competitors to ruin their credibility. Even freedom of speech has its limits.
Disclaimer
The purpose of the disclaimer is to protect the blogger from legal liability. This prevents them from being sued for any information provided on the blog. It should always be clear that you are providing opinions and not giving professional advice.
There are disclaimer templates that you can get online if you are unsure how to write it.
Disclosure
Be sure to include an affiliate link disclosure if you plan to use affiliate links anywhere on your website. If you are writing a sponsored post, that also needs to specifically be stated.
A disclosure can protect you from liability with the sites you link to as an affiliate or collab partner. You obviously don’t want to be held responsible for something another site posts just because you recommend a particular product they sell.
There are disclosure templates that you can get online if you are unsure how to write it.
Taxes
Income from blogs are not taxed. This means, if you do not want Uncle Sam coming to knock on your door, you are going to have to run him his money! Make sure you are putting aside 30% of your income and putting it into a savings account for tax season.
The good thing is being a business owner comes with some deductibles. The bad thing is its a lot of responsibility to keep up with and can be overwhelming in the beginning. Be sure your tax preparer has experience with self employed clients!
All in All
There is quite a bit of legal hooplah that goes into blogging. Which of these rules surprised you? I would love to hear about it in the comments.
If you learned something from this article, you should check out my Monetizing Motherhood Through Blogging ebook. It’s a step by step guide with everything you need to know for monetizing your mom blog!
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