There are a million and one reasons why your business needs to have a blog, from boosting your SEO through the roof to giving your customers more value to carving out a name for yourself as a thought leader. It’s all makes a huge amount of difference and could be the little thing that makes you stand out head and shoulders above your competition. The problem is, there’s more to blogging than just scribbling some thoughts down about your industry and what you offer, and one of those is the law.
If you have a business blog, it’s so important you stay on the right side of the law. Critical, in fact. Because nothing is worse for business than having the FTC ring your doorbell or having a hotshot lawyer send you a cease and desist letter.
Thankfully, keeping on the straight and narrow as a blog owner is one of the simplest niches within the realm of law. In fact, there are only a handful of things you need to know. So, without further ado, here are the basics of blogging law.
You Gotta Be Honest And Upfront
Of all the recent developments on the blog front, none is more important to wrap your head around than the need for you to be totally open with your readers when it comes to getting paid to use, promote, or review a product or service.
To do this, just make sure you label all your content information as clearly as possible, come clean about any affiliate relationships and, whatever you do, do not claim to be an objective third-party when you are not. It’s as simple as that.
Check out how to avoid legal issues in your business. Also, learn what this top blogger thinks about keeping your business blog out of legal trouble.
Protect Your Own Content Too
The aim of a blog is to write content that people want to read and pore over. The problem with that is, people are bound to steal the most compelling content and pop it on their own site. The same could go for you taking other content.
In either case, you might not know it’s illegal until you receive a letter from a DMCA takedown service provider. Even if there is a credit to your work and a link attached, you need to know that everything is protected – original copy, links, images, podcasts, videos, and code.
Here’s how you can start a blog from scratch and make a full-time income.
The Truth About Deep Linking
For those who don’t know, deep linking is where you write a blog post and then link to another website in that post, more specifically a page buried on that website, such as another blog post. Of course, this makes total sense because it allows the reader to click a link and go straight to relevant information, whether that be a statistic or an article or anything.
However, some people believe that deep linking is a form of trespassing. That said, it’s become such a normal SEO practice that you shouldn’t be concerned about anyone suing you for deep linking to their site, especially as it benefits their own Google ranking. In fact, it’s a good thing for all involved.
So, whether you do your own blogging or hire an epic freelance content writer, just make sure the laws are known and followed.