Welcome to part 5 of the Road to Profitable Blogging series: 8 crucial steps to make your blog protected and professional.

I assume you have already started your blog and gotten it customized. If you haven’t check out the previous parts of the series.

Alright, so this will probably be the most boring part of the series. But, I promise you the information I share with you here will prevent many problems that would otherwise cost you a lot of money, cause headaches and stress.

This section will focus on protecting your blog from as much legal liability and danger as possible which in turn will help your blog’s professionalism.

Don’t let this section scare you or make you nervous when it comes to your blogging career. When you take proper steps to make your blog protected and professional, your risk is incredibly minimized.  To give you a sneak peek, one of those steps is having disclaimers. Disclaimers are used to protect yourself and your blog from a specific and potential legal liability. As an example, let me give you a little disclaimer for this post:

In the name of full transparency, I wanted to make clear that this post does not replace the advice you’d get from legal counsel. This post doesn’t constitute legal advice and is for informational purposes only. I am not liable or responsible for any damages resulting from or related to your use of the information in this post. Some links in this post are affiliate links that may compensate the Luster Lexicon if you make a purchase through those links at no additional cost to you.

See how it works? You’ve probably seen disclaimers if you’ve spent any time on the internet or interacting with businesses. They are incredibly important. Anyway, let’s proceed to the 8 crucial steps you need to make your blog protected and professional.

This post contains affiliate links. Please read the terms of use for more info.

8 crucial steps you need to make your blog protected and professional

Privacy Policy

You’ve probably seen a tab labeled “Privacy” or “Privacy Policy” on the footers of various websites and either wondered what it was, or never clicked it in the first place. They may not be the most exciting thing to read in the world, but the Privacy Policy a must-have document for bloggers and website owners.

But in case you don’t know what a privacy policy actually is, let me explain it for you.

What is a privacy policy?

A privacy policy is a legal document that discloses how you collect, manage, store, and use data from people who visit your blog. This data refers to a visitor’s personal information or any information that could be used to identify a visitor.

Examples of this data include but aren’t limited to a visitor’s name, mailing address, phone number, date of birth, credit card information, IP address, e-mail address, and more.

As a profitable blogger in the making, most of your monetization methods will involve collecting data from your visitors and fans. Let’s say someone buys a product from you. In order to complete the purchase, they are going to give you the majority of the aforementioned personal information. How that data is used must be disclosed.

Even if you aren’t monetizing your blog right away, there are other ways you are collecting user information. For example, when somebody subscribes to your mailing list, they are giving you their name and e-mail address at a minimum. The same goes for comments. When a comment is left, you will be able to see that commenters IP address, name, and usually e-mail address. If you use Google Analytics on your blog (which you should as I explain in this post towards the bottom), then you will be collecting a visitor’s personal information through cookies. These are all things you must disclose.

Why do you need a privacy policy for a blog?

You need to have a privacy policy on your blog for two reasons.

First, it shows transparency to your visitors and therefore increases trust.

Secondly, it gives you a solid form of legal protection in the court of law. I must also mention that there are several laws around the world that require you to have a privacy policy.  A few of those laws include the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act ( COPPA). So, having a privacy policy is essentially mandatory.

When it comes to creating a privacy policy, you have several options.

Option #1. Try to make it yourself. I do not recommend this. You will end up wasting a lot of time doing it and still not even do it right. Having an incomplete privacy policy can expose you to legal holes and lawsuits.

Option #2. For a one-time fee, enlist the help of a qualified legal professional to draft a personalized Privacy Policy.  Though this is a recommend route to take, it can be pretty expensive.

Option #3. Use a customized template created by a qualified legal professional. After Option #2, this is your best choice. A customized template will cost you a lot less, save you time, and you will still get a Privacy Policy that is pretty dang good. Now if you do a Google search, you will find that there’s a bunch of templates out there. In my experience, most of them are either overpriced or too out of date. However, I found a template in particular that is fairly priced and is fully customizable. That template would be the Privacy Policy Template by Amira of ASelfHelpGuru.com. She is a licensed attorney who specializes in helping bloggers like us get legal! She also makes sure the template is up-to-date with the latest legal requirements for a privacy policy. Click here to get the template.

Terms of Use

The Privacy Policy isn’t the only document you need to protect your blog from legal liability. You must also have a Terms of Use.

What is the Terms of Use of a website?

Simply put, the Terms of Use is the agreement and body of rules between you and your website visitors for what is allowed and not allowed. Some of those rules include but aren’t limited to: if your blog is suited for audiences under 18 or not, how you will resolve legal disputes and where, what constitutes legal use of your website, rules for form and comment submissions, etc.

You may see the Terms of Use referred to as other names such as: Terms of Service, Terms and Conditions, Terms of Use and Service, Terms and Conditions of Use, or simply just Terms. They are usually located in the footer of a website next to the privacy policy.

The Terms of Use affords you legal protection in case any issue(s) arises between you and visitors. And, if you happened to get sued, the Terms of Use is one of your main lines of defenses. A good Terms of Use and a bad Terms of Use can mean the difference between taking a big financial loss after a lawsuit, and not. It’s vitally important to have a Terms of Use that’s done right and protects you from as much legal liability as possible.

How can I make a Terms of Use?

Like the Privacy Policy, you have three options. Have a qualified legal professional make one for you (recommended by expensive), do it yourself (not recommended), or purchase a customized template created by a qualified legal professional.

The most time-effective and efficient way to make a Terms of Use is to purchase a customized template. I recommend the template by Amira of ASelfHelpGuru.com which you can find here.

Legal Disclaimers

To go above and beyond in making your blog protected, you need Legal Disclaimers.

If you read the opening statement of this post, you saw a portion that began with “In the name of full transparency…” This is what’s known as a Legal Disclaimer or Disclaimer that I made just for this post.

What is a Legal Disclaimer?

In addition to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, a Legal Disclaimer (or just Disclaimer) protects you and your blog from specific legal liabilities and lawsuits.

You can display your disclaimers in your blog posts, footer, and even in your Terms of Use. I recommend having a separate section dedicated to your disclaimers in the footer section for easier viewing for your visitors.

A few examples of when to use a Disclaimer

Since you’re going to be a profitable blogger, you will most likely be featuring affiliate products which require their own disclaimer posted in every blog post and in a separate page the clearly outlines them. That way you are shielded from any potential issue arising from a third-party’s content that you never published. You may also use disclaimers to let your visitors know that your website is for informational and/or entertainment purposes only and that you’re not giving professional advice in an area(s). If a visitor requires that, they must seek out a licensed professional in the area(s) of need.

If you’re looking for a quality customizable disclaimer that’s hand-crafted by a licensed attorney, click here.

Copyright Notice

The legal protection affixed to a creative work is known as Copyright. Having copyright on your creative work such as a blog post, book, music, piece of art, etc., prevents others from stealing your work and claiming it as their own. Copyright also allows you to profit off your creative work as well as allocate certain rights and protections to anyone else you allow to use your work for a specific purpose(s) like making a derivative work.

Did you know that your creative work is automatically copyrighted the moment you produce it?

So when you create work such as a blog post, for example, you don’t have to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office for this protection (although it is necessary in the court of law against copyright infringement). That’s the great thing about copyright. However, some people are unaware of this fact. Because they may or may not know a work is copyrighted, this is where having a copyright notice can let the visitors of your blog know.

Making a copyright notice is simple. You essentially create a line of text that has four pieces of information within it and put it under the footer of your website. Those pieces of information are: copyright symbol ©, publication year, the owner’s name or business name, and a statement of copyright (the simplest one simply being All Rights Reserved). To give you an example, here’s the copyright notice used for the Luster Lexicon © Copyright 2019 | Luster Lexicon | All Rights Reserved |.

Seems simple enough, right?  That’s because it is!

Copyright Infringement

Of course, there are some bad eggs out there who still may steal your work and use it like it’s their own. This is known as copyright infringement.

So, what can you do about copyright infringement?

You should take the following steps.

The first step you can try is simply sending the infringer(s) an e-mail politely asking them to remove your copyright material and/or stop distributing it. As I mentioned earlier, some people may not know about copyright protection, so it’s worth taking this simple route first.

If they refuse or take no action, move on to the next step. Send them a cease and desist letter. This shows the infringer that you mean business and are prepared to protect your work by any means necessary. Usually, this will get the infringer(s) to stop and that’ll be the end of it.

Do you need a free and effective cease and desist letter, click here.

If they still don’t stop infringing, then you need to send a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice to the hosting company that is hosting the website(s) where the infringement is taking place.

To carry out a DMCA takedown notice, you have two official methods to choose from on the DMCA’s website which you can find here.

If absolutely none of this works, your final step will be to hire an attorney, register your copyright, and file a lawsuit against the infringer(s). Do keep in mind that lawsuits are long and expensive, so it’s always better to resolve the infringement with the other steps first!

Website Security

Keeping your WordPress blog secure is an absolute must and something you should not skimp on. As WordPress’ popularity increases year-by-year, so does the attention it gets from hackers. This is why you need to take steps to protect yourself. Some of those steps include having a WordPress security plugin such as Wordfence or Sucuri. You don’t need to use both. Remember, as I mentioned in this post, the fewer plugins you need to use the better.

WPbeginner has created an excellent article that goes into greater detail for ensuring your blog is safe and secure from any danger. When I first created the Luster Lexicon, I found that this was the best resource on WordPress security, and I still refer back to it to this day. You can view the article here.

Create a backup of your blog

Backing up your blog is absolutely essential in the event something goes wrong or you make edits to your website that you want to revert back.

The easiest way to backup your blog is to use a plugin and send the backups to remote storage. The plugin I recommend is called UpdraftPlus. It has the highest amount of reviews in the Plugins marketplace and is incredibly easy to use. You can even restore your blog to a previous state in a matter of minutes, all with the click of a button.

To find UpdraftPlus, simply go to the plugins section of your admin dashboard, click Add New, search for Updraftplus in the search box, and click to “install” to install and activate it.

Contact page

The contact page, as the name implies, is the main area where your visitors can easily reach you. Here you can include direct links to your social media accounts as well as a contact form that visitors can use to send you inquires that are sent straight to your e-mail inbox.

I recommend using Contact Form 7 to make your contact form.  It’s a free plugin, integrates with most themes, and it’s easy to use.  Plus, the very name of the plugin is a dead giveaway, isn’t it?!

Anyway. You can find it under Plugins -> Add New in your admin dashboard.

About page

Your about page is where visitors and anyone else can learn about you, why you created the blog, and what your blog aims to do.

An about page can be as short or as long as you’d like, but it’s better to be succinct. As an example, the about page for the Luster Lexicon is only a few paragraphs.

When creating your about page, include a photo of you so that readers know who’s behind the curtain so to speak. Be straight to the point with facts about yourself and your blog including qualifications and what you’ve already accomplished.

Don’t get too caught up with making it perfect. Your about page will likely change over time as you become a more experienced blogger and grow your brand. Just have fun with it and keep it simple!

That’s it for part 5 of the Road to Profitable Blogging series. Next, we will be tackling the anatomy of an attention-grabbing blog post.