Website Terms and Conditions - Boring, Scary and Essential
What are Website Terms and Conditions?
First you should define what I mean by 'website terms and conditions' ;.Often called 'terms of use' or 'terms of service', these documents set out what is expected of website visitors and usually include various disclaimers and legal notices. Some also contain a privacy policy, which deals with how a website will treat information provided by users. But because privacy policies are another topic themselves, in this post . I will refer to everything but the privacy policy.
What should they include?
What should enter in the terms of for a website will really depend on what type of website it is. Obviously the needs will be different for a simple blog versus a major commercial site. While there is a lot of stuff which will be optional, a number of things which should arguably be included for all websites. So here is an index of most of the key points it is worthwhile including if you happen to need to draft up terms of use for your website:
a statement that people using the website will be bound by the terms of service (so they are effective);
a disclaimer and limitation of liability statement (to reduce the risk that visitors definately will sue the website and blogsite owner);
a statement which discusses links return and forth external sites, and whether affiliate links can be used;
a clause which identifies the local law applicable in determining any click here disputes under the terms of use (always good to make a home ground advantage);
a paragraph regarding the conduct of visitors in the exact location (something that encourages people to play fair and discourages online shenanigans); and
a statement outlining the intellectual property arrangements, and permitted uses of website materials.
There are not any doubt plenty of other things which will also must included when drafting the terms of service for your blog or website. But this list is the right place to get started.
Website Terms and Conditions Templates
Now could very well be wondering if it would easier to just download some terms of use from somewhere. Well, some quick Googling does reveal a few templates, but it really is tricky to discover which one to use as they can vary quite a bit in what they do. Even then, you should make sure that the template you use matches your website. This may require some customization, or at worst merging a few different agreements templates.
The real problem is finding a starting point for, particularly because drafting website fine print will be really overwhelming. So in preparing the terms of use for one of my websites I decided to help simplify things. In order to see which of the free website terms and conditions templates I recommend, then please visit my blog at http://affiliateplayground.net/blogging/website-terms-and-conditions-templates/. Get started today and you'll have the agreements finished for your website and blogsite before you know it.