There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who have enough money to take the convenient road, and those who have enough time to take the free road.
I am almost always the kind of person to take the free road, even if it means a TON of googling and DIY-ing.
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When I was just starting this blog,
I was so excited that I jumped right into designing, brainstorming, and general day-dreaming that I completely forgot that there are rules on the internet.
I was describing to a friend all my awesome blogging dreams when she asked me “What about all those scary laws and stuff? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sued if you blog wrong?”
My heart sank a little.
Dang it!
I totally overlooked some of the most vital parts of starting a blog, (or any website for that matter), the legalities.
When you blog for money, it is no longer just a hobby! This is number 9 on my “10 blogging myths new bloggers should ignore” post!
I was slightly discouraged but thought to myself “If other moms can do this, than so can I!” So I got to researching.
And researching.
And researching.
It turns out, there’s some scary stories out there. And even though it’s a relatively small percentage of people who ‘get in trouble’, I didn’t want to be that person.
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
To start the blog, I just wanted the bare minimum information I needed to protect myself and my hobby/business. I decided that as a good first step, I needed to set up my legal pages.
Legal pages are some of the most basic things you need to include on your blog to protect you and your readers.
I didn’t want to risk getting them wrong by DIYing them, but there wasn’t a lot of information that I was willing to trust out there.
Sure, there were plenty of free legal page templates, but because I knew nothing about what was supposed to be included on a website’s legal pages, I didn’t know how to double check to make sure the free templates had everything I needed.
I discovered that WordPress has some handy instructions on the “Privacy” section to help you create your Privacy Policy page, but I wanted something more custom, and I also wanted more legal pages than just a privacy policy. (I also have a Disclaimer page and a Terms & Conditions page.)
Next, I read some example legal pages from websites I like to see if they were something I could just slap together. They weren’t.
I finally decided that I didn’t want to DIY this project. It was hard to admit, but sometimes the long google-ing road just isn’t the road I want to risk taking.
So, I started searching for an inexpensive paid option for legal page services. Luckily, I found several. The frugal side of me was happy that although I was spending money on an unforeseen necessity, I could still price shop.
FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
The few legal page templates and contracts I was interested in were all written by lawyers, two were written by lawyer-bloggers, and all of them were supposed to be easy to use. But it quickly became clear to me that only ONE was the right fit for me, and that was the Legal Bundle by Amira at A Self Guru.
I was SO impressed by her sales page, in fact I was nerding out a little bit about it. I love long-form sales pages because I WILL NOT BUY SOMETHING unless I KNOW what I am getting into.
She had quotes. She had pictures. She had testimonials, coupons, and pretty designs. I read almost every word. Her prices were very competitive. It looked like she stood behind her product, and it really looked like something I wanted to try.
Who gets excited about ads for legal templates?..
Well, hers worked.
So I jumped in, and I couldn’t be happier.
The templates are easy to download, easy to fill out and use, and come packed with information and some special bonuses as well.
Amira’s legal store has a lot to offer, and I think I will be back for more. (Actually, I really HOPE I am back for more, because that means my blog-business will be expanding! I can’t wait to use her guest blogger agreements when I start guest-posting.)
If you are considering starting a blog, don’t be scared. You can totally figure it out! I highly recommend using the legal templates to assist you on your journey, they were a HUGE sigh of relief for me, they made it so quick and easy to get back to blog-day-dreaming.
Before you go, I want to say this:
These templates were the right fit for me, but they may not be the right fit for you if:
- You want to start a blog without investing ANY money
- You are willing to take legal risks
- You are certain you can DIY these important pages
If any of those points apply to you, then after checking out the templates for yourself, maybe you will decide to pass.
That fine, you have to be the one in charge of your own website.
But if you are anything like me, then I would highly recommend investing in yourself and protecting your hobby.
What questions do you have about The Legal Templates?
