Friday, June 17, 2011

Words of Wisdom for Bloggers

So I'm guessing most of you reading this have blogged yourself. How weird does that sound? Blogged. Blogging. Say the words over and over and they start to sound like a made-up language. Not long ago there would have been no mental connection with any form of "blog," but the rend has grown so fast that is part of most people's vocabulary (just not Word's or T9's). Blogging has become so commonplace that it is now an industry -- and with that comes liability.

Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, advises bloggers on some of the liabilities and how to avoid trouble. Her first word of wisdom? Disclosure. Whenever you have a "material relationship" with an organization you need to make the public aware of it. So any time a company sponsors you, gives you a product, etc. and it ends up in your blog, tell all your readers about your relationship with the organization.

The next words of wisdom are to give typical results. We've all seen thousands of commercials for diet pills and other products that advertise extreme results, but then in tiny print at the bottom say "results not typical." While this might be acceptable for television advertising, this is not okay in the blogging world. You need to report the standard results of the product being reviewed.

The last piece of advice, for now, is to protect your personal assets by starting an LLC or incorporation of your blog. This means that, on the off-chance you do get pinned with a lawsuit, only assets of your corporation or LLC will be at risk and your personal assets will be safe and sound.

Many wise teachers told me this catchy phrase: "when in doubt, leave it out." While this is applicable to commas, think the opposite with blog content. If there is a question of whether what you wrote crosses the lines of the law, put in the extra details that will prevent any trouble.

To read more on blogging tips, click here!