Blogging Basics: 5 Rules And Policies You Should Know About
March 15, 2013
Topics: Blog, Blogging Tips
© Ivelin Radkov – Fotolia.com
The world of online publishing brings a variety of written and unwritten policies/rules of ethics that apply to bloggers in every niche.
Below are five rules to follow in order to stay out of legal trouble and not get blacklisted by the community.
- Always disclose. If you are not sure how FTC disclosure works, get your questions answered here and here.
- Pay attention to copyright laws. Always give credit where credit is due. If you take a snippet, quote, paragraph, etc from another blog, be sure to credit to your source. You do not want to be accused of plagiarism, always make it a point to cite your sources.
- Understanding the use of images. Images are protected copyright laws just as words are. In order to use an image on your blog, you need permission to use the by either paying for them or requiring you to credit the source or anything else dictated by the owner of the image.
- Do not become a spammer. This is an unbreakable unwritten rule in the blogosphere. Do not bombard others with your ’stuff’. Overly self-promoting yourself will only get you a lousy reputation on the social web. The key to building and growing your online reputation is to indirectly self promote your work.
- Create your own blog policy. Your blog, your space, your rules. Put policies in place that will protect you and your work. Having a comment policy will define the types of statements made on your site. Also, if you have advertising programs, networks, etc, it is essential to have a privacy policy (as some collect information on those who visit your site) that will notify your readers of any information collected from them and are shared with third parties.
Keep in mind, policies are set to protect you, the content creator, your brand and those visiting your site. Always provide full disclosure and protect your work.
Jessie Nuez a native New Yorker covering stories that focus on mobile and personal technologies. When You can find Jessie writing for her site Hecho Para Mama. Follow her on Twitter @JessieNuez.
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Monique
YES!! Thank you for writing this!!
Monique recently posted..Join Me for the P&G Orgullosa “Skirts Only” Twitter Party
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