Disclaimer Website Forms are Within Your Reach

You’ve finally made the big plunge, and you got your first website up and running. Congratulations! It’s not an easy task. But did you remember when compiling your grand scheme to make it big on the web to include some very important pages? Do you have all the necessary disclaimer website forms?

Lawsuits Happen

I have a confession to make. I have actually been involved in a real class suit against a website! Don’t think it can’t happen to you.

I’m sure the service you are going to offer is on the up and up, but unfortunately all it takes is one or two complaints to the BBB and a few disgruntled customers for your whole business to be wiped off the web.

It is of the utmost importance to be transparent about your business practices from the start. You know what you are doing, but do your customers? Giving them full disclosure assures them that they are your number one priority. It just makes good business.

New laws put into effect just recently have given the FTC the authority to fine you thousands of dollars – just for not being clear to your customers what you are doing! This affects all affiliate marketers, and online business.

What can you do to protect yourself and the future of your business?

Be sure to add all the proper legal forms to your website.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Goodness, just getting the legal forms drafted up by a lawyer may cost more than what it cost to build your new site.

You need a solution that is going to give you full control over what is in your legal forms, and not cost an arm and a leg. And not some free forms you just found on the web – who knows how outdated those things are. Not to mention those free forms require you to link back to their site of origin. You are not only giving away a link to an unknown site, but you are going to have footprints on your forms that just will not look all too professional.

Legal Forms Generator Will Do It All

Using Attorney Mike Youngs Legal Forms Generator is going to give you the peace of mind that your forms cover everything you need them to.

The Legal Forms Generator is software you can install on your personal computer, and create legal forms for all your websites.

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Don’t let the FTC get you!

How Can I Get Legal Forms for My Website?

If you run a website on the internet, you really must include legal disclaimers. Legal Disclaimers can protect you from many kinds of legal problems that greedy or disgruntled users of the site could cause. Furthermore if you are running a US based website, or a website that deals with US businesses and customers you need to follow guidelines laid down by various federal agencies.

The important question of course though is, “Where can I get legal forms for my website?”. You may be tempted to simply copy a legal form from another website, but this could be a terrible idea. Legal disclosures on websites are often produced by lawyers and are used under license, and thus protected by copyright law. If you are found to have infringed a lawyers copyright it could end up costing you a lot of money! So if we ignore this option, there are three other common choices. You could hire an attorney of your own to produce your legal forms, you could use a legal form generator, or you could use one of thousands of pre-prepared free online legal forms. You should weigh each option up against the other and decide which is best for your particular website.

(1) You could hire an attorney specializing in internet law and have him draft up some legal forms for your website. This is of course a very expensive endeavor and only recommended if you are running a “serious” website making “serious” money. For 99% of webmasters using a legal form generator or a using free online legal forms will be a more sensible option. You can get perfectly good legal disclosures at a fraction of the cost of hiring a lawyer.

(2) You could use free legal forms which you can find online. There are a myriad of websites which offer free legal documents which may be suitable for your site. This is certainly a cost effective method of acquiring valid legal disclosures for your website, but please make sure that the legal forms you use are correct for YOUR site.

(3) You could use a legal form generator. If you do not know what this is exactly, it is a computer program into which you input the details of your website and business. The program will then automatically generates a series of legal forms for your website. This can be a good solution if you are a webmaster and have several or a lot of sites you wish to produce legal forms for. If you are using a reputable form generator you can be sure that the templates will have been produced by a lawyer and will be suitable for a wide range of websites.

As we have seen it is incredibly important for you to provide legal disclosures on your website and you need to make sure that the forms you do use are appropriate for your site. It is recommended that you first decide how many different websites you are going to need legal forms for, and then select the best option for your situation from the three above. Remember, do not try and ‘borrow’ your online legal forms from someone else’s website – it could get you in trouble!

Where and When do I need Legal Disclosures?

Since the early days of the internet it has always been prudent to include legal disclaimers on your website in the form of a Terms of Service Policy and a Privacy Policy in order to protect your business from legal action. With the introduction of the new FTC guidelines, to come into effect on December 1 2009, it is now imperative that internet business owners include an affiliate disclosure agreement on their website as well.

But website owners, especially those involved in online business, do not just operate websites. Most website owners also distribute information in other forms including, but not limited to reports which can be either free or paid and series of auto responder emails. It is important that you protect yourself from legal action which may be taken against you if you distribute information in these ways. You may worry that legal disclaimers will make your information seem less authoritative and consequently decrease sales, but when you weigh this against the possibility of having to deal with expensive legal bills you will realize that it is an easy choice to make. Legal disclaimers are vital.

As a general rule, you should bear in mind that you do not know who is going to be reading your information. There are all kinds of people on the internet who vary across the whole spectrum of different codes of morality, of intelligence and of simple “common sense”. In the offline world there have been countless numbers of cases of businesses being sued, or having other legal action taken against them for what, on the face of it, seem the most bizarre, unjustified or unworthy reasons. Even when businesses win these cases they often end up spending a lot of money in the process. The same problems can occur just as easily online as they do offline, so anyone who owns a business or even just offers information on the internet really needs to protect themselves.

No matter what manner you are distributing information on the internet, please use legal disclaimers to protect yourself. Whether it be a website, a report, or an email responder series please include legal disclaimers to protect you and your business. Some information you may wish to include is as follows:

- The information presented is for general information purposes
- You do not guarantee the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the   information
- The information should not be considered a substitute for professional advice.
- That you hold no liability for what the user of the information does with the information or the consequences of any such action.
- All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for accuracy, content or any implied or implicit purpose
-That if any legal proceedings are commenced they will take place in your locale, not that of the plaintiff.

In conclusion, be smart and protect yourself and your business. It is your livelihood and you should not take risks by eschewing legal disclaimers in the fear that they may discourage potential sales; the loss of a few sales would pale in comparison to fighting a legal battle against a disgruntled or greedy customer who wants more than just a refund. Whether you run a website, distribute a report, offer information in the form of an email responder series or deliver information in any other way always use legal disclaimers.

What Should be Covered in a Website’s Terms of Service?

If you are wondering why you need a Terms of Service (TOS) page on your website and just exactly what it should contain then you need to read this article. A TOS is extremely important for your webpage in order to protect you from possible legal consequences from a disgruntled user, or even worse, a money gabbing extortionist.

If you are selling or promoting something on your website and the consumer does not get the results they expect they may well try and sue you. If you are offering information and the reader somehow feels that they have been harmed or misled by it, they might sue you. If you are an affiliate for another website and the user does not like what that website sells them they may sue you for leading them there. A Terms Of Service page can help protect you against all of these situations.

What you will need in your TOS will depend on the purpose of your website, the information it offers, the actions users can take on the website, the information that is collected on the site, and the products you promote or sell. Some important things  that you may wish to have in a Terms of Service page are the following:

- The site is for general information only and may change without notice.
- That you do not guarantee any of the information on the website with regards to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, suitability or performance and that it may contain errors.
- That the reader of your site uses the information at their own risk and you will not be liable.
- That the material on the website is owned or licensed by you, is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced.
- That all trademarks mentioned on your website or acknowledged by the website.
- That unauthorized use of your website may be subject to claims for damages or may be a criminal offence.
- That you do not bear responsibility for any other websites linked to from your own.
- That if legal proceedings commence they will take place in your jurisdiction, not the plaintiffs.

You may well need other clauses depending on the purpose of your website. A quick glance at the Terms of Service on sites such as Yahoo or Facebook will show you just how lengthy these can be. Even though they are generally ignored by the user they should always be included to protect you from possible legal harm.

If you need a TOS for your website you should either consult a lawyer, use free online legal forms, or use a legal form generator. Whichever method you choose, just make sure you try and cover all your bases to protect both yourself and your business from possible legal consequences.

What are the new FTC requirements for Websites / Blogs?

FTC Requirements regarding Endorsements and Testimonials for Websites and Blogs

Effective December 1st 2009 the Federal Trade Commission has updated its guidelines with regards to endorsements and testimonials which appear on websites, blogs and other e-commerce sites. The guidelines were created after a three year consultation, review and publication period beginning in January 2007 and concluding in October of 2009. So what do these new guidelines mean for you and your website or blog?

The report rolled in at a of length 81 pages but there are two key things that internet marketers need to be aware of and act upon immediately if their websites are affected by the change in guidelines.

First of all you must disclose your relationship to any product on your web page from which you have received, or could receive gain in any form. If you were paid to write a review of a product, you have to disclose it. If you make a commission, or might make a commission, on a product reviewed, promoted or even mentioned on your website, you have to disclose it. If you received a stuffed toy in the mail from a company you mention on your website you should disclose it. Disclose any way in which you have gained, may gain or will gain a benefit from an outside company from your website or blog. This should include not just physical and monetary compensation, but also any discounts you may be liable to receive.

The second critical issue in the FTC’s report is with regards to testimonials and endorsements. In simple terms, if a testimonial is not a TYPICAL result, you must disclose what a TYPICAL result is. For example you may have a testimonial from Sally, 42, from Wisconsin who lost 50lb by following the Super-Eazy-Super-Diet which you are promoting. If this testimonial is true but MOST people who follow the diet do not lose 50lbs, then you must clearly state what the likely results are.

In the past you could get away with, “Results not typical” but this is no longer the case. You now need to write exactly what results the ‘average consumer’ can expect. In this case you might have to say, “The average dieter following this program will lose 2lbs”, or whatever the correct average is. You must state what a typical consumer can expect from the product, not rely on testimonials from atypical consumers. Yes it is hard to know what a typical consumer can expect, but it seems that the FTC does not care about that. They are saying that testimonials have to be matched with a report of typical results and it is up to anyone running a blog or website to make sure they do their best to follow these rules, no matter the difficulties.

A further point to bear in mind if you are the publisher of a product, and not just an affiliate, is that you can be held liable for misrepresentations made by your affiliates. You are expected to monitor people who are paid to promote your product and, in the words of the FTC, “take steps necessary to halt the continued publication of deceptive representations when they are discovered.” Time will tell how stringent the FTC will be in holding publishers accountable for their affiliates. It will be interesting to see how major players such as Clickbank, which is effectively a retailer, will be with affiliates who have web pages which contravene the FTC guidelines.

If you are promoting products as an affiliate it is likely that the publishers of products (the sensible ones at least), will explain how they want you to disclose your relationship. As they are ‘on the hook’ as much as you as a promoter of products it is in their best interest to make sure that their affiliates are following the new FTC guidelines. In order to be safe though, you should make your relationship to the products you promote clear as soon as possible on your blog or website. So far most web pages are creating a ‘disclosure’ page on their site which explains their relationship to publishers and any compensation they have received or are liable to receive. As the FTC hasn’t explicitly stated how disclosures should be made on web pages, this appears to be the current best solution.

The new FTC rules are stringent, and many would say over the top. At the moment we have to rely on the guidelines the FTC have published, but over time we will also be able to see just how they go about enforcing the rules and adjust accordingly. Further announcements may be made, or case law established as the FTC begins to enforce these rules after December 1st. For the time being website and blog owners are urged to protect themselves by disclosing all their affiliate relationships, and either avoid using testimonials or publish “average expected results” alongside any testimonials that are used.

Can You Trust Free Legal Forms Online?

Living in the 21st century with the internet at our fingertips ready to answer our every request for information we are truly both blessed and cursed with the sheer amount of legal advice and legal forms on offer at absolutely no charge. In a matter of seconds we can find a website willing to deliver us a legal form for any of thousands of different situations at no cost. There are however, as with everything in life, both benefits and drawbacks of using free legal forms.

For those of us on a limited budget (and aren’t we all!) the fact that we can get legal forms delivered to us for free is a massive benefit. Twenty years ago we would have had to hire an expensive attorney to produce a legal document tailored to our needs at great expense in terms of both the time it would take us and the financial outlay. However now not only can we find the legal forms we need online in seconds, there is a limitless supply of them as well.

Another great benefit of using online free legal is that you can alter them to suit our own specific needs. Although we can use the ’stock’ forms as provided by the sites, we can also add or remove clauses as needed to suit our specific situation. As we all live unique lives and end up in unique situations the fact that these forms can easily be modified is a key benefit.

There are however some factors you need to be aware of when using free legal forms online. You need to check that they are:

(1) Accurate – Was the legal form actually written by a lawyer and is it a properly formatted legal document? Furthermore, is the form up to date? Not only are laws being made and amended all the time, they are also reinterpreted by judges on a constant basis. If your legal form is out of date or inaccurate it may not be valid or may even make you liable for the very things you were trying to avoid by using a legal document in the first place!

(2) Valid in the jurisdiction in which you live – Laws are made on both federal and state levels in the USA and so it is important to make sure that the free legal forms you use are valid in the area in which you live. A document that is legal in California may not be in New York, for example.

(3) Understood by you – Do you understand the legal form you are using? If you do not understand the document which you are using then you may end up in the very situation you were trying to avoid by using a legal document in the first place. It is important that you understand exactly what the legalese contained in the document means.

(4) Will you be giving away “link juice?” When you use forms on your websites that have been taken from elsewhere on the web, typically you will be required to leave links in tact that go back to the origin of the document. This can possibly affect your search engine rankings, not to mention visitors who actually read the form will see your forms have not been professionally drawn up. Overall this can be bad for SEO and bad for the overall image of your business.

So as we have seen the birth of the internet has gifted us with a great way to save both time and money with the opportunity to download free legal forms. However you do need to be aware of exactly what the legal forms you use mean and whether they are accurate and valid in your jurisdiction. The many options for free legal forms are a boon but you must exercise careful judgement when deciding which to trust.