You may be wondering whether you need a terms and conditions agreement for your blog.
A terms and conditions agreement (also known as a terms of service agreement) serves many purposes, and as a blog owner, several are especially useful to you. All blogs should have one, especially if your site allows comments, has user accounts, or sells any products. Here’s what it should include.
Use of Website
This clause lays out the specific terms for using your blog: that it’s for lawful purposes only, that access doesn’t grant any right to use or sell your content, and that you may monitor behaviour on your website to enforce the agreement.
Prohibited Use
This is your opportunity to list behaviours that won’t be tolerated: disrupting your website or servers, harassment, abuse or violence in any form, misrepresentation, or interfering with another person’s use of the website, among other examples.
User Comments
Most bloggers encourage feedback and comments, and a terms and conditions agreement helps minimise the legal risks that come with them. Comments may contain copyrighted material that infringes copyright law, so include a clause requiring users to warrant that they own the intellectual property rights (or have sufficient rights) to post the content. You should also make clear that user comments don’t represent your views and aren’t endorsed by you.
Accounts
If your blog has user accounts, add a clause covering their use: that the user is responsible for the security and confidentiality of their password and account details, that they’ll notify you of any unauthorised use, and (if applicable) any details around signing up via a third-party service like Facebook or Google.
Your Content
You’ve spent a lot of time creating content for your blog, so it’s worth protecting. Include a clause stating that all content, aside from user-generated content, is your exclusive property, and that reproducing, copying, distributing, or modifying it isn’t permitted without your written consent.
Intellectual Property Rights
Include a clause protecting your intellectual property, covering words, information, graphics, design, and logos, and letting users know it’s protected under copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
Limitations of Liability
An important clause for any website, this removes responsibility from you for use of your site: explaining that you’re not liable for damage to a user’s equipment, or other damages arising from their use of your website. Readers are advised to stop using your website if they have any problem with it or its content.
Links to and from Your Blog
It’s worth including clauses covering both links to your blog from other sites, and links from your blog to third-party sites. You may want to state that any site linking to yours warrants it doesn’t contain harmful, pornographic, hateful, or abusive material, and that linking gives the other site no rights over yours. Make clear you’re not responsible for the trustworthiness of external sites your users click through to, and that they should evaluate a third-party site’s trustworthiness before sharing any personal information.
Minimum Age Requirement
In line with COPPA and the GDPR, it’s worth including a minimum age clause: stating your blog is for those 13 and older in the US, and 16 and older in the EU. By agreeing to your terms, users represent that they meet this requirement.
Jurisdiction and Governing Law
It’s important to identify which laws your blog falls under, since any claims relating to its use will be governed by them.
Refund Policy
If you sell any products, digital or physical, a refund policy is a must. Whether or not you offer refunds or exchanges, your terms and conditions should state your policy clearly.
Benefits of Having a Terms and Conditions Agreement on Your Blog
Trust
A terms and conditions agreement gives users access to the rules governing your website, what’s expected of them, and what they can expect from you (like your refund policy and rules of conduct), that transparency builds trust.
Protect Your Content
Clauses covering “Your Content” and “Intellectual Property Rights” go a long way toward protecting your work from being stolen or misused.
Prevent Abuse
Clauses like “Use of Website,” “Prohibited Use,” and “User Comments” set clear expectations for user behaviour, and make it easier to take action if something like defamatory content, abusive comments, or an attempted malware attack occurs.
Limit Your Liability
As a legally binding contract between you and your users, a terms and conditions agreement reduces the chances of legal action against you, and the Limitation of Liability clause makes clear you’re not responsible for errors in content or damage to a user or their property.
Conclusion
Having a terms and conditions agreement on your blog protects your work and makes things simpler for both you and your users, by setting out clear rules and guidelines. Our terms and conditions generator is highly customisable and includes all the clauses you’ll need to cover your blog.
The information in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any matter, and does not create a lawyer-client relationship.
