What’s the real cost of your membership site? (S5E155)

Legal Road Map®: copyright, trademark and business law info for online entrepreneurs

Membership sites and online communities are some of the most popular business models in the online world. They allow your business (and consistent revenue) to grow quickly and reach more people without necessarily adding more work to your plate.

But to anyone who’s ever seen a discussion around social issues turn ugly, or found your own resources pop up on someone else’s site, you know that there are lots of things that can go wrong in the membership site/ online community business model if you don’t set up the right legal protections.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

• How to avoid legal issues by making good business decisions when you’re getting started
• Best practices for where to include your Terms of Use (TOU) on your website
• What term you should NOT include in your TOU -- to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of when it comes to refunds
• How your TOU can help you address social justice issues like BLM
• What to consider if you have volunteer mentors or moderators in your community or membership
• Whether you should protect your content by registering your copyrights

BONUS: If you’re starting something new, or this episode has spotlighted areas of your business that have you worried, now is a great time to make sure your business is in good shape legally. Download our free How to Write Your Own Contracts checklist to make sure your business has solid contracts in place at www.awbfirm.com/podcast155!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Contract template store: www.awbfirm.com/contract-templates

Episodes about employees vs. independent contractors: www.awbfirm.com/podcast37, www.awbfirm.com/podcast144

Membership or Online Community template bundle: https://awbfirm.com/collections/all/products/membership-online-community-bundle

This podcast is information, not legal advice specific to your situation.