Blog Audit Challenge 2021
Welcome back for another month of challenges for the Blog Audit Challenge 2021! I hope you did well with the January challenges. Remember to link up your progress in the January Linky.
Each month we'll concentrate on a different area of our blogs.
The Challenges:
January- The Competition
February- Legal Aspects
March- Branding
April- Internal Links
May- External Links
June- SEO
July- Content Promotion
August- Technical Errors
September- Readability
October- Follow Options
November- Security
December- Know Your Stats
Monthly link ups
In order to keep us all on track, and give us a way to see each others progress, I'll be hosting link ups on the first Saturday of every month where participants can share their links and discuss their progress.
#BlogAuditChallenge2021
February Challenges
Our focus for February is on legal aspects.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. The information in this post is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice in any way. I am not liable for any damages resulting from using the information in this article. Please consult a lawyer for advice on your unique situation.
You might also like: The Ultimate Guide for Book Bloggers
The February challenges:
Legal requirements are constantly being updated so even if you already have legal pages on your blog it's a good idea to review them and make sure they are up to date with the current requirements.
1. Check for disclosure statements on your blog posts
Disclosures statements are a legal requirement on blogs. If you post affiliate links, sponsored posts, or if you were compensated for your content about products that you received free of charge, you will need to include a disclosure statement on that blog post.
The disclosure statement should be positioned clearly at the top of the blog post, or right next to the affiliate link.
An example of a disclosure statement I use often in my blog posts is this one:
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning, I get a commission if you purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.
2. Create/Update your Disclaimer page
A disclaimer is a written statement that says you're not responsible for certain actions, problems, or outcomes. This is a must have element for any blog.
Disclaimer Generator has a great post about blog disclaimers for more information, and they offer a free disclaimer template.
3. Create/Update your Privacy Policy page
If you allow comments on your blog, use Google Analytics, have a contact form on your blog, use social media plugins that track users, use a newsletter sign up, or allow people to register on your blog then you need a privacy page on your site. Basically anything that collects personal information means you are required by law to state your privacy policy on your site.
The EU's GDPR regulation requires you to disclose any information you collect about European citizens and residents through your Privacy Policy.
If your content is viewed in America you'll also need to consider adding information for the CCPA and The CalOPPA. Terms Feed does a great overview of both in their article CCPA versus CalOPPA.
Not sure what to include in your privacy policy? Check out this article at Privacy Policies for a good overview.
You may also find this free privacy policy template useful.
4. Create/Update your Terms and Conditions page
If you sell goods or services on your site you really should have a terms and conditions page.
Terms Feed advise to include a T&C page on your blog even if you don't sell goods or services. Better safe than sorry.
Don't want to set up separate pages for each? Not a problem. I personally have one page for all of the legal disclaimers for this site. The important thing is that the information is on your site.
Don't forget to promote your participation in the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 by using the following graphic in any blog posts you do connected with the challenge along with a link back to this site.
Save the Date:
The monthly link up post for sharing your February progress will be on 6th March. The March challenges will be posted on 1st March.
You might also like: Quick Tips About Blogging From Book Bloggers
Blog Audit
Blog Audit Challenge
Blog Audit Challenge 2021
blogging
blogging legally
disclaimers
disclosures
Jo Linsdell
Legal Disclaimers
Privacy Policy
terms and conditions
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1 comments
Out of curiosity.. Instead of having a disclosure on every post is it okay to have that discloser as a widget on the sidebar? It's easily visible when someone is reading my posts.
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