That spring energy is officially here and we are LOVING everything that the creatives and fellow entrepreneurs in our community are coming up with. If you are in the process of launching a new business, a new brand, or a new website, this blog post is for you! At Legally Set, we know how easy it is to get caught up in the exciting parts of a launch. Choosing your brand colors, working with a website designer, spending way too much time on Creative Market. We know you have a big vision and it’s fun to explore it.
At Legally Set, we want to support your wildest dreams. But, we also want to make sure you are legally set (and you protect the money you are sure to make). Today, we are going to share 3 documents you NEED before you launch your website. We know it’s a little less exciting than brand colors but do you know what IS exciting? Knowing that you are protected and feeling reassured that nobody can take away your hard earned cash money.
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Terms and Conditions for your Website, Digital Product, or Online Course
A website terms and conditions (also called terms of use or terms of service) is one of the most important documents to have on your site. We have a few different terms and conditions templates here at Legally Set, depending on your website goals!
Drafted to cover various kinds of entrepreneurs and website owners (bloggers, service based businesses, etc). Our General website terms and conditions are perfect for companies and/or creatives that do not carry out transactions on their website.
- Acceptance of Terms
- Rules of Use
- User Rights
- Company Rights
- Intellectual Property
- Affiliates
- Third party links
- Testimonials
- Dispute Resolution
- Limitation of Liability
Listen, we know how appealing it is to launch a course. Who doesn’t want passive income? But too many entrepreneurs are jumping into creating a course without making sure they are legit. Although a good starting point, don’t rely on free advice on the internet (maybe that’s how you ended up here?). Our Online Course Terms and Conditions template includes information you are often required to provide when selling an online course (listed below). Don’t spend hundreds of dollars on a course platform without protecting your investment with solid online course terms and conditions.
- Terms of Use of Website
- Payment Terms
- Refunds
- Intellectual Property
- Limitation of Liability
In case we haven’t made it clear enough yet, if you launch a new website that is selling something online, you need to protect yourself.
- Terms of Use of Website
- Payment Terms
- Refunds
- Intellectual Property
- Limitation of Liability
2) Privacy Policy
Once you have your analytics and tracking softwares in place, you are most likely going to be required to have a privacy policy. After all, you will be collecting data from your visitors and although your intentions are to use that information to improve the user experience (and yes, probably sell more of your product or service), you need to provide information on what data is collected and how it will be used. Our GDPR-compliant Privacy Policy template outlines what type of date you collect, why you collect it and how you handle the data. Although you might think your business is “too small” to be worried about legalities like this, you DO NOT want to make that mistake. Fines can behuge. We know you work hard for your money so let’s keep it in your bank account.
3) Disclaimer Policy
When you launch your new website, we know you are going to share it with the world. Which is why it is so important to make sure you have a disclaimer policy. You want to market the best parts of your business but as far as the court is concerned, there is lots of room for liability. Our website disclaimer policy is designed to help you avoid legal liability in many situations. To give you an idea, some clauses included are:
- Professional Advice Disclaimer
- Earnings Disclaimer
- Guarantee Disclaimer
- Warranty Disclaimer
- Third Party Links Disclaimer
- Fair Use Disclaimer
- Views of Others Disclaimer
- Responsibility Disclaimer
Making Sure your New Website is Legally Legit
Once you have these 3 documents in place, your website is MUCH closer to being legally legit. If we could give you a bonus piece of advice, it would be to shop our contract templates to protect your business even further (you can search by type of contract or industry - whatever is easier!). If you are launching a business, make sure you also take advantage of the free resources we have here. We know you’ll love the free Business Launch Checklist!