It’s both exhilarating and nerve-wracking to put your content into the world. I wish we had started putting our content out even sooner than we did. We kept waiting and developing a long-term plan. Sometimes, it’s best to get moving with it. That said, there are a few items on the checklist to make sure are in good order to protect you and your blog.

1. Know your audience

You hear this over and over, but it’s true. You must know what your audience wants and who they are to be able to speak to them. Online business is a lot like building relationships in real life, connection is key.

2. Protect your content.

You can start with just having the proper copyright notice at the bottom of you blog. Look at the example at the bottom of our website: “© 2021 Drafted Legal, LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

3. Get an LLC

This is how you create a business that is separate (liability-wise) from you. It can still be your personal brand but get that liability protection. It’s not only professional but also the best bang for your buck you can get to protect you and your business.

4. Disclaimers

This depends on what you are writing about but highlight for people know that it’s general information and not customized to them. For example, if you are writing about nutrition, health, lifestyle or anything else, be sure to include somewhere that it’s not personalized advice. Or, if you have a legal blog, you should disclaim that it’s general legal information and show them to go to a lawyer for personalized legal advice (see our disclaimer at the bottom of the page).

5. Set expectations with your terms of service/use.

You should have a link on your website of your terms of use. This should include things like how they can attribute to you, how to contact you, what they can do with the content, etc.

6. Privacy policy

This is both for compliance and to set expectations. Tell them what you will and won’t do with their information if you collect it. Pro tip: don’t say that you’ll never ever sell (include a clause that you can sell it if you sell the business…this has prevented many a business sale).

7. Capture emails

Always have a way to capture email addresses. This is a cornerstone of many online businesses. This allows you to contact your audience at any time without the need for a third party (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, etc.). Facebook and Instagram recently went down. The email list is the ultimate backup for your business.

8. Have a call to action

Visitors on your website need to be directed on how to use your website and what to or read next. Once you get someone on your website, you want to be ready to nurture that relationship. You want to have an idea of what you want them to do next. If they like what you are writing, you want to keep them on your website.

Once you check these items off the list, it’s time to start publishing. And, contact info@draftedlegal.com for any help.