Protect Yourself Before You Start a Contest - Part 6 of An Aud Life dot Com
Posted by: admin in make money onlineFirst of all I have to come right out and say that I am not a legal professional and any advice I give is not to be construed as anything other then my personal opinion.
Holding a contest can be very fun, it can get you good exposure and is a great way to interact with your readers… the problem is you can also get into a lot of trouble if you are not careful.
A lot of people do not realize how much at risk they are when it comes to their online business and if there are certain things that are not already in place, then holding any type of contest or giveaway can add fuel to a potentially HUGE fire.
Before you even consider announcing your contest, you want to make sure that you have a proper…
- privacy policy
- terms of use
…and if you do any ecommerce transactions (such as sell sponsor ads), then a…
- purchase agreement
Now I realize that some of you might not understand the need for this, after all…
Its Just My Little Blog!
Well I think you would be incredibly surprised to find out what seaming ‘harmless’ and often ’stupid’ little things have got people into HUGE trouble, simply because they did not have a clear privacy policy or terms of use. The way I look at it is why even play with the chance of this happening, take the time and make sure you protect yourself.
TIP –> I also highly recommend, if you have not already done so, that you incorporate your business. In the USA, the state of Nevada is very affordable to get incorporated in and they do not charge any state income tax. The cool thing is you do not even have to be a resident of the USA to do this in Nevada and the tax benefits PLUS the protection it provides is huge. This however is an entire different series of posts to get into.
A good example of how the documents can protect you is with minors. If you offer products, services or contests and someone under the age of 18 years of age participates this can be a potential legal nightmare, especially if you ask for any personal information. This is why on JohnCow I state very clear in the contest rules and it is stated in the privacy policy that anyone below the age of 18 is not permitted.
URGENT –> If your site targets anyone under the age of 18 you will want to understand very clearly the “Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPA)” and consult with a lawyer.
For any of you nay-sayer’s that think I am full of crap or too worried, all I can say is.. I Do Not Care!
It is your business… it is your blog…. it is your life. If you want to risk running a business and a contest without protecting yourself, its your decision… but I think it would be nuts.
NOTE –> These documents do not give you the right to make up rules that cheat or scam people. They are in place to protect you and your business, not to take advantage of others. I am sure I do not need to mention this but you never know.
Another important point is do not just copy and steal someone else’s documents from their site, for example here on JohnCow our documents are purchased through ‘Internet Law Compliance‘ and they are copyright protected. If you want to get the forms for free then there are free options available and if you type in “free privacy policy template” or “free terms of use template” you will find lots of options. Be careful with these though, if you are getting serious with your business, you will really want to consider doing this right. The nice thing about using ‘Internet Law Compliance‘ is they also have a lot of training material they provide you that is very eye opening.
So now I have a question for you… is your blog or web site protected?
In the next post I am going to cover setting up the rules of the contest and then we should be able to launch it at http://www.anaudlife.com!
- Part 1 - Planning Your Promotion Strategy
- Part 2 - Understanting the How and Where of Your Promotion Strategy
- Part 3 - Planning the Subscriber Traffic Strategy
- Part 4 - Planning a Contest to Get the Buzz Going
- Part 5 - Planning the Contest Criteria
- Part 6 - Protect Yourself Before You Start a Contest
Click Here Now to Download “How to Build a Business Not Just a Blog” for FREE and Learn the Right Way to Make Money Online! - Copyright JohnCow.com - All Rights Reserved
Entries (RSS)