In this technological era, the importance of having a good website has incredibly increased. It has been estimated that about 97% of the consumers hunt for businesses online. So, if your business doesn’t have a website through which consumers can find out and view your products, you are losing out on a number of profitable opportunities.
When you are planning out your website, keep in mind to abide by the legal rules or else there can be disputes in the future. Here are some of the best ways following which you can build an effective legal proof website for your business.
-
Lock your domain
When starting a business website, the first step is to select a domain name, i.e. the URL which will be used to access your website. Since they are unique you would have to find out a name which has not been taken already and a good domain name is short and easy to remember.
Along with registering your business on Google or any other platform, register it on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well. Although it is not necessary, applying for federal trademark protection for your domain is also a good practice.
-
Employ a Designer
In order to have a professional-looking, attractive website you must employ a web designer or developer. Most of the professional web designers will require you to sign a Web Design Contract and in case they don’t, you must ask for a contract as a record for your business.
The contract will install a deadline for the development work and will set an estimate for the cost. In case the work is not done in the said time, you can present the contract as proof.
-
Develop a Privacy Policy
If your website requires your customers to enter their personal information such as their name, email address and phone number, a proper privacy policy is a must. The policy will briefly state the information you are collecting, who all have access to that information and what is its intended use.
In case you get sued at some point in your business, a clear-cut privacy policy will determine that you clearly mentioned the policy to your customers and also that the policy was carried out carefully.
-
Carefully draft your Terms & Conditions
You must draft specific terms & conditions for your website which will totally depend on the nature of your website. For example, if you carry out sales through your website, then your terms & conditions will state how you will handle the returns and goods lost after shipping cases.
Since the terms & conditions are specific to your website, it is a good practice to consult an attorney about what should be covered in it.
-
Use Intellectual property with caution
While including images, logos or designs on your website which you don’t own, you must exercise some cautions. There are many copyright protections which if not used wisely can put you in major trouble in the future.
If you wish to use some creative work that you don’t own, seeking permission from the owner will be a better policy. You can use a Copyright License Agreement to get written permission. This will support your case in case a dispute arises.
-
Supervise your employees and users
Since your employees are the ones who will gather the content to be posted on your website, you must closely monitor their activity and make sure it is according to the company’s norms.
If you have a forum in which users can also put content, then you must have a disclaimer in the terms & conditions for your website in which you state that you are in no way responsible for any user-generated content.
-
Keep a record of everything
Your website will contain dynamic elements. It will present a platform where business communications occur. Recording these elements and communications has become crucial these days as they can be presented as proof in legal matters. Archiving everything is a must from the legal perspective. You will get to know everything about web archiving here.
These are some of the points you must keep in mind while laying out the design of your legal proof website. This will help you dodge all the legal trouble and keep your future secure.