No matter what kind of business you have, you need a website. And, there are certain things you need on your website to protect yourself and your business, legally. This article lays out the 4 legal pages you need on your website.
I’ve heard some people say that a website isn’t necessary, but I completely disagree. I don’t know about you, but as soon as I hear about a business one of the first things I do is check them out online.
If you’re working online, you can’t rely solely on social media and other platforms to build your business. You need a website of your own in case something happens with one of those platforms you want your audience to still be able to find you.
If you’re working offline, you still need a place for your customers to go find out more information about you and your business.
There are 4 legal pages you need on your website to protect your visitors and your business.
Legal pages you need on your website
There are two legal pages you need on your website that are required by law. The other two are not required, but are very important to protect your business.
Privacy Policy
There is no federal law requiring a Privacy Policy in the United States, but California has a law requiring one for all sites with visitors from California. Since you never know when someone from California could visit your site, a Privacy Policy is effectively required for all of them.
A Privacy Policy is a page on your site that tells visitors what information you collect from them, how you use that information, and how you store & protect that information. Check out this post to learn more about privacy policies and how to write one for your website.
Affiliate Disclosure
If you are receiving compensation from any third parties on your site, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires you to disclose this information. The FTC has a lot of great information on their website if you have more questions about whether you need to include an affiliate disclosure.
The definition of compensation is broad and includes things like affiliate relationships, sponsored content, free products, and even perks offered by the company for promoting them.
This disclosure needs to take place before any of the content that was compensated. For example, if you are making money as an affiliate by linking to products, you need to disclose this relationship before the link appears (or right next to it).
Check out this post to read more about affiliate disclosures and make sure you’re compliant.
Disclaimer
A website Disclaimer is not legally required, but it is an important part of protecting your business from liability. If someone follows your advice, uses one of your products, or is otherwise “injured” by your content, you want something saying you are not liable for this “injury”.
**When I say “injury” I don’t just mean physical injury. In the law, an “injury” can by physical, emotional, monetary, or some other way that a person was adversely affected.**
The type of website you have will determine the type of Disclaimer you need. For most sites, it is recommended to have a general Disclaimer page. But, if you are sharing certain types of content like financial, medical, legal, health, etc. you will also want to include a Disclaimer statement on every page.
To read more about what a disclaimer does and how to write one for your website, check out this post.
Terms of Use
Terms of Use is basically a contract governing what users of your site can and cannot do with your site. This includes things like how they can use and/or share your content, copyright protection, how you expect people interacting on your site to act, account information, payments, fees, and anything else relevant to someone’s use of your website.
You need a website for your business. To make sure you’re website is complying with the law and you’re protecting yourself, make sure you have these legal pages on your website. These aren’t an absolute protection from legal liability, but each of them will go a long way in protecting you and your business.
If you are using email marketing to promote your business, make sure you’re complying with the CAN-SPAM Act
Most mainstream email marketing companies force you to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, but the fines are up to $11,000 per offense so it’s important you understand what you need to comply. You can read more about the CAN-SPAM Act here.
You can create these pages yourself, but if you would prefer to purchase a lawyer-drafted template you can customize for your site, check out my template shop.
Disclaimer: This site, and all information contained herein or through communication with me, is intended as legal information only. I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney, so nothing on this site, nor any communication with me, shall create an attorney-client relationship. I am not liable for damages or losses based on any action taken, or inaction, based on the information contained on this site. All areas of the law are fact specific and there is no substitute for legal advice from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction who is familiar with the specific facts and circumstances of your situation.