Blogging might not be your day job, but your posts are reaching folks from 9 – 5 and beyond. Traffic is picking up, referral links are rolling in. Heck, folks are actually using your contact form. Looks like you’re gonna need a blog content disclaimer.

A good disclaimer doesn’t require a lawyer, you simply need to post some thoughtful language that conveys your blog’s purpose, content ownership and what you intend to do with the information you’re collecting on your readers. Blog Herald provides some great samples here.

For about two years now, I’ve had in my footer a disclaimer that reads:  This is the personal blog of Margie Maddux Newman. The opinions, random thoughts, industry rants and emotions expressed here belong to her alone and are not those of her employer, husband, family or tea-cup poodle.

Today, with FlackRabbit’s rising traffic, the addition of guest bloggers, and due to the fact that more of you are using the contact form, this site now has a full legal page. On that page, you’ll find:

• my content disclaimer: states that the opinions expressed here are mine unless written by a guest blogger, in which case, those views are not those of this gal nor other blog contributors.
• my timeliness statement: I started this blog in 2006, so some of the older posts may no longer contain accurate information, nor represent my opinion today.
• my privacy policy: explains what I do/don’t do with the contact information you share with me when you comment on this blog or use the comment form. Basically, I reserve the right to add you to my email list, if I ever create such a thing. But I’ll never sell your info/spam you and I’ll always allow you to opt-out of future emails.

Even if you’ve just started a blog that you (wrongly) assume no one reads, I still highly recommend you add some sort of disclaimer language. If anything, it shows you have full confidence in your content and tells future employers you are smart enough to try and keep your pixel passion from becoming a liability.

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.