Successful Policies
Policies on a site are very important for your safety, as well as the safety of your readers. All of your policies should be written in a style that fits with you and your site. Since most of these policies will be designed specifically for you, every policy page will, and should be, unique. Channel your content, your site’s purpose, and your style and personality, into your policy page. Here are a few things to consider when writing policies:
Legal requirements (varies by country)
Personality & style
Relevant policies
Short versus long
Understandable terms
Voice & tone
Legal Requirements
Different countries may require certain policies be included on your site. Be sure to research what is necessary for your website policy page in your country.
Personality & Style
It is important to continue your style of writing into your policy page, as you do with your other content. Some people choose to keep their policies fun, quirky, rude, abrasive, or professional. Sometimes adding in images, video, and relatable content can be very helpful to keep the reader’s attention.
Relevant Policies
Not every policy is necessary on your website. Use your best judgment to decide on the appropriate policies to include on your page. If you have a simple site that doesn’t allow comments, obviously there will be no need to have a comment policy. It is up to your discretion which policies to include on your site. Just in case you aren’t familiar with what each of these policies include, we shall go through the various policies later in this article.
Short Versus Long
With web writing, usually less is more. Sometimes there may be a lot of rules or guidelines that need to be detailed out. You need to determine where your policy should be reduced or expanded upon.
Understandable Terms
Not every reader has researched policy pages and the terms that may go along with them. It is important for your readers to be able to understand your policies; otherwise they may just disregard it and not even read it. Write in simple terms, and have a structured layout.
Voice & Tone
It is very important to maintain authority when writing your policy page. The most successful policy pages balance authority with readability. Try to write policies that are fun, easy to read, but still create a sense of authority. Determine which narrative point of view to use, first, second, or third person, or use a combination. Since these Policies are for readers, second person seems to be the most commonly used.
Types Of Policies
There are a few basic policies you can include on your site:
Copyright
Comment
Contributors
Disclosure
Liability/Disclaimer
Privacy
Copyright Policies
Whether or not you have a copyright policy stated, your original content is still protected regardless! Copyright policies are created to better protect your content, whether it is pictures, video, text, audio, etc. When you write your own copyright policy, your readers will know how they are allowed to distribute your content. Some people choose to have their content as public domain, while others wish certain content not be distributed at all. You can also require citations, link backs, permissions, and you can even require compensation if you define fair use first. You can decide what can be done with various types of content. Rhonda Hurwitz gives three simple steps on Blog Copyright: How to Protect and Deter Misuse of Your Work!
Add copyright notice to footers
Decide on “Terms of Use”
Detail out your copyright
Comment Policies
This policy is used to give guidelines for readers when they wish to make comments. A comment policy lets readers know what they are responsible for, and what you are responsible for. Decide what will be allowed for your site and what you won’t tolerate. Lorelle Vanfossen gives some things to consider in her article Does Your Blog Have a Comments Policy.
Swearing, cussing, inappropriate comments
Images, videos, and links
Spam commenters (intentional or not)
Ability to moderate, block, delete comments
Contributor Policies
If your site ever has guest bloggers or submission, contributor policy will become an essential part of this process. You probably have a set way of doing things on your site. It is helpful for you, as well as your guest blogger, to have guidelines available. You may choose to require a certain style of writing, or length of post, topic, etc. You may also want to be specific about the process of guest posting. This could be a process such as contacting you, setting up publish dates, draft period, editing period, and final publish.
Disclosure Policies
Disclosure policies let your readers know whether or not your content is affiliated with a company, brand, or person. Sometimes bloggers will be paid to review or endorse products. It is always a good idea to be upfront and honest with your readers if you may be influenced by outside companies. This is a good way to build trust.
Liability/Disclaimer Policies
Disclaimer Policies are used to let the reader know the purpose of your site. It also tells your readers what you are, and are not, liable for. They can also be used to inform readers that, although you did your best to find the most accurate and up-to-date information, sometimes the content may be incorrect. Lorelle gives even more information of this type of policy in her article Writing a Blog Disclaimer.
Content validity & accuracy
External links
Images, files, programs, etc.
International & cultural laws
Liability of damages & harm
Opinion pieces and personal views
Protection from commenters/bloggers
Responsibility of own content
Privacy Policies
If you collect any sort of information on your site, this policy is important for readers. Privacy policies inform readers of what their personal information will be used for. Sometimes sites will have contact forms that ask for name, email address, or other contact info. Readers may be anxious to know that their personal information will not be made public. If your site or blog is hosted on a content management system, such as WordPress, you may want to include some information about their privacy policy as well as your own.
Keep Improving
Remember, your policies are not set in stone! You can choose to remove, edit, and improve upon your policies at any time. They are here for you and your reader’s protection, and can be updated whenever you see fit.
