The 3 Most Important Parts of Your Blog

Starting a blog can be super overwhelming. There are so many things to include, and it’s hard to tell what the most important parts of your blog are.

Is it the name? The graphics? The content? The color scheme?

While all of these are important, none of them claim the title of the most important.

So, what 3 things are the most important parts of your blog?

The 3 Most Important Parts of Your Blog

I think we all agree that your content is really important. But if your blog gets shut down for breaking the law, your content doesn’t really matter, amirite? So, you better make sure your blog has these three things:

Privacy Policy

If you collect any sort of information from your readers, you’re going to need a Privacy Policy. You may be thinking “Sweet! I’m off the hook because I don’t have an email list or have any ads on my blog. Right?” Wrong.

Do you have comments enabled on your blog posts? That counts as collecting information. And even if you don’t enable comments, it’s a good idea to have a privacy policy just in case.

(PS Elle & Company Collaborative just had an awesome in-depth article about Privacy Policies that I encourage you to check out.)

Terms and Conditions

While Terms and Conditions (or Terms of Service) aren’t required, it’s a good idea to have them posted on your website. The Terms basically say that in exchange for the information provided on your blog, visitors won’t be assholes (or whatever you want the conditions to be).

Terms and Conditions are especially important if you start selling things on your blog, like courses, ebooks, or other products (digital or physical). They protect you against copyright infringement and other legal matters.

Affiliate Disclaimer

If you’re making money on your blog, you’re going to need an affiliate disclaimer. This states that if visitors click on links, you may receive reimbursement. This should cover things like Google Ads or other affiliate link programs you may belong to.

It’s also good to note that, while you may receive reimbursement, your opinions are 100% your own. (Unless they aren’t. But if they aren’t, this might be a sign of a bigger problem). That lets your readers know that they can still trust you, even though you’re making money off of your blog.

So… Where do I put these?

It’s important that there are links to these elements on every single page of your blog. So, I recommend the top menu or the footer. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you’ll notice links to those pages on my site.

Some people put them on one “Legal” page, but I prefer three separate pages. That part is up to you, as long as it’s linked on every page.

By the way, if you have no idea how to write them, feel free to take mine and edit them how you need. For example, you might need to change where it says “The laws of the State of Michigan” if that’s not where you live.

What questions do you have about these three elements to your blog? Let me know in the comments and I’d be happy to help!