Every blog needs a disclaimer because you don’t want to be legally held responsible for anything you publish on your blog. It protects you from lawsuits.
By having a disclaimer, you “disclaim” or “deny” liability for the content you publish on your blog. For example, my legal disclaimer above which makes it clear that none of this information can be construed as legal advice or that I’m not liable for how you use this information.
Tailor your disclaimer to your specific niche and business and it can help protect you from these lawsuits and save a lot of stress down the road.
A Disclaimer also protects you from other issues such as the accuracy and completeness of the content you publish. Not everything you publish will be up to date or accurate at all times. Information changes rapidly and you don’t want to be responsible for any inaccuracies found in the content of your blog.
some of the basic things you should include in your disclaimer:
- No advice – it should be clear that you are not offering any kind of professional advice on your blog. This needs to be tailored to your niche. But it should be clear that you encourage your visitors to consult a professional in the specific area.
- Limitation of Liability – you should have appropriate provisions in place to protect you from all kinds of legal liabilities arising from your content and also from any third party links that you publish on your website.
- Additional Disclaimers – these could be earnings disclaimers, product review disclaimers, sponsored posts disclaimer, etc. Basically any additional disclaimers that are needed based on the type of content you publish on your blog.
- Affiliate Disclosures – as mentioned above, a Disclaimer usually includes all your affiliate disclosures as needed under the FTC. You are required to comply with the FTC regulations and you can read more about them here.