Creating an Online Course and building your Online Presence comes with a lot of risks. You want to be able to scale your Brand without the headache and struggles -and that’s why it is necessary to take simple, yet proactive steps from day one to legally protect your Online Business and yourself.
There’s one thing you need to ask yourself if you really want to dive into creating an Online Course and becoming a successful Creative Entrepreneur: Am I creating content legally?
I am not a lawyer, so what I am about to write is not a professional recommendation, it is simply a logical advice from one passionate Entrepreneur to another (YOU):
My advice is to make your Online presence (website, blog, online course, social media) compliant from day one.
So if you are still a beginner, and have no clue what all the things are that you need to look out for, I promise not to overwhelm you with all the details, but to simply start with Three Legal Templates you need for your Online Course.
Let’s get started =)
There are a lot of things we need to keep in mind when starting our Online Business.
One of them is making sure that our whole brand is compliant to the laws of our country and that we are not breaking any rules. We don’t want to get in trouble before our business is even up and running.
I used to think that I would need to hire a private lawyer in order to get everything set up 100% safe and compliant-but I was wondering how I was supposed to afford the money to pay for a lawyer.
Most small business owners start with a small budget, and I am sure that you have similar struggles, you might have also been thinking that you’ll invest in a lawyer once your Business is making enough money.
Did you know that you can use legal templates that are drafted by a business lawyer for a fraction of the cost of a lawyer? I had no clue, until I found a blog post and realised that these templates would help me create the important legal pages in a matter of minutes!
You don’t have the patience to read the whole blog post?
>>>Then check out some amazing done-for-you legal templates here to have an idea how you can save time and money!>>>
Does your Website have these three important legal pages?
Even if you have never spoken to a lawyer, you need to understand quite early in your Business journey, that everyone who has a page online needs to protect themselves from the law.
Whether you are a hobby blogger , active on social media or are planning to start a website to run your Online Business, you do need to have legal pages to protect yourself from lawsuits and fines.
I live in Germany and I have noticed that many German Content Creators even have a privacy policy in their Instagram LinkinBio or their Youtube Description Box. Is that just a German law?
I honestly don’t know, but when I see the big boys and girls do something, I really open my eyes and make sure I am not the only one missing out on something… if you know what I’m saying.
So if you’d have to guess which three legal protections you need on your site, which ones would that be?
Well, you can go to your favorite Websites and scroll down to the footer of their Page to see what pages they mention there!
You’ll see that they all have a privacy policy page, a disclaimer page and terms of conditions.
In all the online courses that I am enrolled in (on different platforms like Podia, Teachable, Thinkific), I was curious to see if the instructors had a privacy policy.
On Podia I saw that the privacy policy is connected to Podia and doesn’t refer to the content of the creator. So I wonder how a content creator can make sure their offers are fully GDPR compliant?
Example:
The picture below shows a screenshot of Pinteresting Strategies, (which is a very recommendable course btw) and it’s hosted on Podia.
When I click on that specific tab, it leads to Podias privacy policy, that looks like this:
On Teachable, an instructor can upload their own Privacy Policy and Terms of Conditions, which is why I truly feel safe to use Teachable as my chosen Online Course Hosting Platform.
Below is an example of Videoschoolonline on Teachable (these pages can easily be integrated into Teachable.
You can click on their website and check out how the pages are integrated into Teachable directly.
You might also like:
The Best Resources for your Online Business
But what exactly is a Privacy Policy?
A privacy policy is a document that explains how an organization handles any customer, client or employee information gathered in its operations.
We are also not allowed to simply copy and paste someone else’s privacy policy that we find online, because from what I understand, it is copyrighted as well.
Incase you have never looked through someones Privacy Policy before and want to know how a done-for-you template could benefit you, make sure to check out this page.
What exactly is a Disclaimer?
A disclaimer is a document in which a company or website owner tries to limit or exclude liability.
Even if you are not making any money yet, this is still one of the blog legal pages you need from day one.
For every aspiring Entrepreneur and Course Creator who is worried how to have the right Disclaimer for their Brand, I can truly recommend to have a look at this done for you templates by Aselfguru.com
Amira is a lawyer and her explanation of why you’ll need a Disclaimer Page will be so much better than mine =)
What is meant by Terms and Conditions?
A terms and conditions agreement outlines the website administrator’s rules regarding user behavior and provides information about the actions the website administrator can and will perform.
Essentially, your terms and conditions text is a contract between your website and its users.
Once again, who can explain it better than a professional lawyer?
For those of you that are just getting started with their business and want to use ready made templates, instead of investing in an expensive lawyer that will help you to customize your legal pages, you can check out Aselfgurus amazing template here.
At this point you might be tempted to simply look for FREE legal pages (because the reality is that you WILL find free templates online).
Is that really how you want to start your Business? With free stuff that you found on a random page?
❌Free stuff doesn’t give you the proper protection you need for your blog and business.❌
You will want to make sure that your legal pages contain GDPR and CCPA information, contain all the disclaimers you need, and that they are written by a lawyer!
What are the best Legal Templates?
For everyone who really wants to be on the safe side, I recommend you to look at A Safe Gurus Services.
Amira (A Self Guru) is a lawyer that has built an empire by creating easy-to-use legal templates for all of your online needs!
The reason why I am mentioning Amiras services here is because I believe that she has beautiful, numerous offers for new Creative Entrepreneurs and Course Creators and the best prices! She is a lawyer that knows her game!
Amira always offers discounts to make sure her products are affordable for every Small Business Owner. On her page you will find individual templates or also bundles.
She has individual offers for Bloggers, Freelancers, Individual Contractors ad so much more- simply check out her page, because she has an offer for everything you didn’t even know you needed, seriously!
If you are on a very tight budget you could start with one template and then come back to her page and gradually purchase all the templates of your choice that will make you feel like your business is no longer at risk.
The Starter Legal Bundle comes with the 3 main Legal Page Templates
The Starter Bundle contains the 3 must-have legal pages that we spoke about above, plus 9 bonuses.
This bundle contains everything that Creative Entrepreneurs, Bloggers and Course Creators need to get started, which is a Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms and Conditions.
👉🏽 Get the Legal Bundle for BLOGGERS
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the three most important legal pages you need to protect your website and general online presence.
If you still want to read more about the importance of a privacy policy, terms and conditions and a disclosure, you can read a very clear description made by Neilpatel.com
Bonus: Tips to Get Your Company GDPR Compliant
A tiny request: If you liked this post about legal templates, please share this?
I know most people don’t share because they feel that us bloggers don’t need their “tiny” social share. But the truth is that every share counts…
I am building this blog piece by piece, one small share at a time, and try to share as much value as I can. So thank you so much for your support, one “tiny share” can make a big difference!.
A share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog, it’s also a great feedback to know I am sharing value with my dream audience.
Some humble suggestions:
– Pin it! (I mostly have several Pins to choose from!)
– Share it to your favorite blog + biz Facebook group
– Tweet it!
Thank you so much!
🌞Anike
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Let me know in the comments what you think about the legal templates that I recommended. Have you heard of them before? For all of you that had a Website already: How did you make sure your page was compliant? I am curious
These are on my list to get as a brand new blogger. Will for sure have them by the time I monetize. Thanks for explaining all of this!
Glad you found my post helpful Susan! Greetings, Anike