How to Blog Legally in 2026: The Ultimate Blogger’s Guide

GDPR? FTC? ADA? If you had asked me what these acronyms meant when I started blogging, I couldn’t have told you. But not knowing legal information related to your blog doesn’t exclude you from legal consequences. You’re at risk of a lawsuit or a fine if you aren’t legally compliant, so it’s better to know what is required of you and your blog from the beginning. So this blog post reviews what you need to do to blog legally in 2026. If you aren’t compliant with this checklist I’m going to give you, don’t panic. Just fix it.

Now listen here, before we get started, you need to know that I’m a nurse, not a lawyer. This blog post is strictly educational, to help out other bloggers, and it does not constitute legal advice. For that, you need to consult with an actual attorney. 

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them, I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.  See my disclaimer page for more information.

Have Updated Policies on Your Website

The first stop for setting up your blog legally is to make sure you include the necessary legal pages on your website. This includes a terms and conditions page, a privacy policy, a disclosure and disclaimer (especially if you share advice, like medical or financial advice, etc.). Not only that, but you need to link to these legal pages on every page of your website, so it is easily accessible. People shouldn’t have to root around on your website to find these legal pages. I recommend just linking to them in your footer. Let’s look at each of these policies in more detail.

• Terms and Conditions (also called Terms of Use): this page details how users can (and can’t) use the content on your website. It sets boundaries so visitors know the expectations of interacting with your website, protects your written content from being misused, and limits liability related to site use. It also defines acceptable (and unacceptable!) behavior. In short, your terms of use page protects you.

• Privacy Policy: On the other hand, a privacy policy protects them, your website’s visitors. If you collect visitor information on your website (and you do if you use tools like Google Analytics, collect email addresses with opt-ins, contact forms and use cookies or other tracking tools, etc.), you MUST have a privacy policy. This policy needs to clearly explain what information you collect, how it’s going to be used, how it’s stored and what rights users have regarding this information. A privacy policy also gives you credibility as a blogger, because people are more likely to engage with your content when you are upfront about how their data is handled.

• Disclaimer: If you give advice in your blog, especially about medical, financial, or legal topics, you need a disclaimer to protect yourself from liability. A disclaimer protects you and you business from potential legal issues by informing users of any limitations or risks associated with your content. In other words, if someone takes your content and uses it incorrectly or hurts themselves in the process, you’re not liable with a disclaimer. I think it’s a good idea to have one of these, no matter what kind content you have on your website. Paying for a disclaimer will always be cheaper than legal action against you.

• Disclosure: Under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), if you fail to disclose gifted, paid or sponsored collaborations with brands, you could get yourself in some deep financial shit. This includes disclosing affiliate marketing links. As you will notice with that, I have a disclosure policy on my website, but I also disclose that I may earn commission from affiliate purchases at the beginning of every single blog post I write. A disclosure lets your readers know about your monetary and material relationships. If you belong to an affiliate program, display paid advertisements on your website, publish sponsored posts or accept free products to review, you need a disclosure.

Now with all of these necessary legal pages, slapping some free policy that you got from a policy generator onto your website is worthless as far as protecting you legally. And just copying and pasting a policy off someone else’s website is a violation of intellectual property rules. So don’t do that either.

I recommend purchasing legal templates written by an actual attorney if you want these legal documents to do you any good, as far as protecting you from liability. I purchased my legal templates from Amber Gilormo at The Boutique Lawyer. Her templates are downright the most affordable that I have found anywhere. Another good option is the legal templates from Paige Griffith at The Legal Paige.

Don’t Use Copyrighted Images Without a License

You see a photo you like when you are scrolling on Pinterest or Google, so you save it to use it on your own website. Is this okay to do? Nope. And just because you link to the image’s author/original source, doesn’t mean you’re covered to use it. Images on the web, unless otherwise specified, should be considered copyrighted work. So how do you add images to your blog legally?

You can get a license to use an image from the owner (only the image author or a representative authorized by the author to license images and grant photo usage rights on their behalf, can offer an image license). Now listen here, I am going to tell you about two types of common licenses for image use, but you should always check if any additional terms and conditions apply to using it. For example, some licenses may grant you use of the image, but might prevent you from modifying it. Once again, ignorance is not a valid excuse when it comes to making sure you blog legally.

• Commercial License: This type of license requires payment to use. Images available under a commercial license are used to sell and promote products, services, business websites and ideas. I really like the membership Elevae offers for an extended use commercial license of their images. And if you take a look at their work, you’ll agree that their beautiful images are worth the price.

• Creative Commons License: This type of license is free to use and allows the author to set parameters of image use, without having to authorize these permissions on an individual basis. There are seven different types of Creative Commons licenses, that range from free public domain to more restricted use. Common websites that offer Creative Commons licensed photos include Unsplash, Pexels, Flickr, and Pixabay. Some Creative Commons licenses require attribution, some of them don’t allow for commercial gain. So it’s important that you review what type of free images you are using and see their specific permissions.

The general rule of thumb when using images on your blog/website/social media/whatever, is that you check the license for terms of use. If it is unclear or you can’t find a license, don’t use the photo.

Include a Valid Postal Address in Your Email Marketing

In an effort to reduce spammy email marketing to consumers, the CAN-SPAM Act was created by the FTC. This law applies to all commercial emails. There are several facets of the CAN-SPAM Act that you need to follow, but one of them is telling recipients where you’re located. It can be your current street address, but it doesn’t have to be. And honestly, I would recommend that it’s not, so randoms don’t know where you live.

I got a cheap virtual post office box in my town for $9.99/month for the very purpose of staying compliant with the law, while still maintaining my privacy. If you have Kit (formerly Convertkit) as your email marketing platform, you can use their address, instead of your own. I use Flodesk, which does not allow me to use their address, so I got the P.O. box.

Comply with Privacy and Data Laws to Blog Legally

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a law that protects the data of citizens of the European Union, and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) protects California resident’s data. If you process information from anyone that lives in the EU or CA, you have a responsibility to be compliant with these laws. And since you have no control over who uses your site, it means this law pretty much applies to every website. So, how do you stay complaint?

• Post clear policies on your website
  • Privacy Policy: Again, this details data you collect, why you collect it, who you share it with and how long you retain it. Check to make sure your privacy policy is GDPR and CCPA compliant. You also need to link to this privacy policy so it is easily accessible to users (like in your website footer), and anytime you ask for personal information (like I link to my privacy policy from my Thrivecart checkout).
  • Cookie Policy: Disclose the use of cookies (if you have ads or affiliate links on your website, or use Google Analytics, you’re using cookies and you need to have this policy), and explain how visitors can manage and disable them.
• Manage consent and tracking
  • Consent must be freely given (so a pre-checked consent box doesn’t count as consent. Silence doesn’t work for you here, either), specific and informed. Ensure that your contact/opt-in forms include a clear, UNCHECKED box to acknowledge your privacy policy before they submit their data.
  • Display a cookie banner on your website to give visitors the option to accept or customize the use of cookie tracking.
  • With both email marketing consent and cookie tracking, you must make it as easy to unsubscribe/deactivate cookies as it is to implement them. In your emails, this includes adding a clear, easy-to-find unsubscribe button in every email.
  • Review your plugins and third-party services to make sure the data they collect is compliant with GDPR and CCPA.

Blog Legally by Making Your Website Accessible

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requires that your website comply with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), which ensures your text, images and videos can be easily accessed and understood by everyone. Failing to meet compliance with WCAG can result in a lawsuit against you. Let’s just…not. Okay? Here’s how to blog legally by making your blog accessible:

1. Add alt text to every image so screen readers can interpret your visual content (this is also a way to improve your SEO too, so naturally add a targeted keyword in your description). Also add captions and video transcription to your video content.
2. Ensure text has high contrast against the background, so it is easily readable.
3. Use logical heading structure and sequencing for paragraphs and tables, to ensure clarity for screen readers
4. The text used for links needs to be descriptive of where the link leads to. For example, use link text like “Learn more about font pairing here“, instead of just “click here”.
5. Clearly label form fields for screen readers. I recommend using a reputable tool to check your compliance with accessibility, because not all compliance checkers are the same. SiteImprove is a tool that you can use to check your compliance score with accessibility. Run your site through this tool to check your compliance.

Don’t Infringe on Anyone’s Trademark

Before you come up with a business name, you need to check with USPTO’s  (United States Patent and Trademark Office) Trademark Database to make sure someone else hasn’t already claimed that business name for their own.  If you choose a similar business name that someone has already trademarked and they believe you have infringed on their trademark (this can mean your trademark and their trademark may be similar in sound, appearance, or commercial impression), they can file a lawsuit against you in either state or federal court. Not only that, but you’ll have to change every single asset that you have so that the trademark infringement is not on there anymore. The thought of doing all this work and losing all this money is so gross. Just check for similar trademarks beforehand and avoid all that mess. 

I’ve seen recommendations for hiring an attorney to do a more thorough trademark search to make sure you don’t infringe on someone else, or to file your own trademark. Is it best practice to hire an attorney? Yes. I say you can never go wrong for hiring an attorney for legal matters, especially if you just don’t know that much about the law like I do. But is it required to hire an attorney? No. So do with that information what you will.

I know this legal crap isn’t what people are talking about when they say “I want to start a blog!” But if you learned anything from this blog post, it’s that ignorance is not bliss when it comes to trying to blog legally. None of this has to be overwhelming. You just need to know what is required, get the right tools in place and keep moving.

The bloggers who get in trouble are the ones that either didn’t know this stuff existed, or knew and ignored it. You’re officially in neither one of those camps. So here’s your action plan:

1. Get your legal pages from an actual attorney-written template
2. Get a P.O. Box or virtual address for your email marketing
3. Run your site through a credible accessibility checker
4. Search the USPTO database before you fall in love with your business name.

That’s it. That’s the checklist. Now go do it.