These days, having a blog is practically a requirement for any business or individual with an online presence. But just because you have a blog doesn’t mean that you can start publishing whatever you want, whenever you want. In fact, there are certain types of content and behavior that could get you into hot water if you’re not careful.
To avoid any legal or reputation problems down the road, it’s important to have a well-written Terms and Conditions page for your blog that spells out what is and is not allowed. Not sure how to get started? Follow these five steps:
1. Define what you will and will not publish.
The first step in creating your Terms and Conditions page is to decide what types of content you will allow on your blog. This will usually be dictated by the overall purpose and tone of your blog. For example, if you’re running a professional blog about accounting, you probably won’t want to allow profanity or off-topic comments. On the other hand, if you’re running a personal blog about your daily life, you may be more lenient with what you allow.
Some things to consider:
-Will you allow profanity?
-Will you allow off-topic comments?
-What types of content will you not allow? (For example, hate speech, sexually explicit material, etc.)
2. Decide on the rules for submissions.
Once you’ve decided what types of content you will allow on your blog, you need to set some guidelines for how that content is submitted. For example, will you accept submissions from anyone? Or only from people who are registered users of your site? Will you allow people to submit anonymously?
Some things to consider:
-Who will be allowed to submit content?
-How will submissions be made? (For example, via a web form, email, etc.)
-Will submissions be anonymous?
3. Choose how you will handle copyright and ownership of submitted materials.
Another important consideration is how you will handle copyright and ownership of submitted materials. Will you claim ownership of all submitted materials? Or will the copyright remain with the author?
Some things to consider:
-Who will own the copyright for submitted materials?
-Can submissions be used in other ways (for example, can you republish them in a print anthology)?
-Will you require that submitted materials be original works?
-Will you allow people to submit previously published material?
4. Establish guidelines for user-generated content.
If you allow people to post comments or otherwise contribute user-generated content to your blog, you need to establish some guidelines for what is and is not allowed. For example, will you allow people to post anonymously? Will you moderate comments before they are published?
Some things to consider:
-Will comments be moderated before they are published?
-What types of comments will be allowed? (For example, profanity, off-topic comments, etc.)
-Will people be allowed to post anonymously?
5. Put it all in writing!
Once you’ve decided on the rules for your blog, it’s time to put everything in writing. This doesn’t have to be a lengthy document—a few paragraphs should suffice. But it is important to be clear and concise so that there is no confusion about what is and is not allowed.