For your blog to be in compliance with advertisers (and the FTC) there are a couple pages your site must have. These 2 must have pages are your privacy policy and the disclosure policy.
Privacy Policy
While this is a mandatory element for any site using Adsense (per terms and services of Google), it is also good policy for any site to let their readers know what the site policy is on gathering their information. The privacy policy is very easy to put together. In fact, there is a website where you can create a privacy policy and then just copy and paste it into your site.
Disclosure Statement
This one is relatively new, well the enforcement of it is relatively new. This is an FTC regulation. It basically means you need to be clear and transparent with your readers. You need to let them know if you’re getting free products to review (yes that does happen!!), or if you’re making a commission from affiliate links. While there was a lot of uproar just before this policy went into affect, it really is a good one (in my opinion). It makes being a legitimate blogger much easier. It allows your readers to make informed decisions ~ not only on your site, but all sites. It also helps shine light on the scam artists out there. The more and more people start seeing disclosure policies they’ll start noticing when they DON’T see them. I am quite certain the scammers have NOT gone back and put disclosure policies on their scam websites ~ so it will be easy to tell the difference between legitimate business people, and people trying to steal your money. At least that’s what I think.
So anyway. Creating a disclosure policy is just as simple as the privacy policy. You can create a disclosure policy here and then copy/paste it into your site. Some of the verbiage they use doesn’t seem to quite fit for some sites. It is a great place to start though, so use it as the base and add/edit anything you think you need.
At this point no one is really sure what level of disclosure will be necessary (whether you’ll need a disclosure next to every affiliate link) but the bare minimum to stay in compliance is definitely a site wide policy.
You also want to make sure your disclosure policy is easily seen ~ don’t hide it on a back page somewhere. I would add it to the navigation bar in your header, or in the pages section of your sidebar (if you have one) or in the footer of your site. Make sure people can see it.
About Page
This is a very important page on your blog. Most people use the about page as a place to tell people about themselves. I think this is probably NOT the best way to use this space. Your about page really should be about your site and what benefits the reader will get from being there.
So instead of telling your story on this page, I suggest you really think about your site and what you are offering. Think about what your readers will gain by becoming a regular reader of your site.Those are the things you want to include in your about page.
On this page you might also give people some instruction ~ how to best find the information they need or are looking for. Where to most easily access information. How to get updated information (joining rss feed/list) etc. Make it easy for your reader to have a good experience on your site.
While this page is about your site, you still need to connect with the reader. This is an excellent place to have a picture of yourself. Unless this is a business site it’s a good idea to have a casual picture of you in your real life. This is a great way to connect with people. If your site is about horses, why not put up a picture of you and your horse? This shows you are really interested in your topic.
There will be time to tell your story, so right now keep this page about your reader and their experience on your site.
Those are the three MUST have pages.
I’m going to encourage you to start one more page though.
Articles Page
This is something I’ve implemented relatively recently. It would have been much easier if I had started it from the beginning. 
The articles page is a place where you add your BEST content. You’re not adding every post you write, but just your best “pillar” content.
How you set your articles page is up to you. It’s pretty easy to add some headings and then put any articles related to that topic under it. All you have to do is create a link to the post on your blog.
I have found the articles page immensely helpful ~ because I have set it up to be an easy way to present information in chronological order. As much as I love blogs ~ when you’re trying to do things in order it can be tough because they publish the newest stuff on the top! My articles page allows me to go through an entire sequence of tutorials in the right order. I can also name them exactly what they are (instead of the catchy or kw related titles the actual blog post has).
It makes it really easy for me to send people to that page to find the information they are looking for, in the order they need it. The other benefit of an articles page is it will help keep people on your site. How long someone stays on your site and how many “pages” of your blog they read is known as the bounce rate. It’s not uncommon to have a very high bounce rate, where people come to your site, read the page they landed on and then click away. The articles page helps to keep them moving through your content. The more of your content they read, the more likely they are to come back to your site and become regular readers.
What if I only have a couple articles?
Go ahead and start your articles page anyway. Better to start now than to have to go back and sift through 300 posts to add to it. 
You can check out my articles page (and you can call it something else if you want) to see what I’m talking about. Another great example is Yaro Starak’s articles page. You can see he has incorporated his articles page in the sidebar. That’s totally custom, and I’m not saying you need custom, I’m talking about the layout of the posts and how he set that part up.
How do I do these pages?
You add pages, pretty much the same way you create posts. In your dashboard, instead of clicking add new under the post area you’ll need to click add new under that PAGES area. Once you’ve opened the page you’ll see the text editor just like in the posts section.
If you’re copy/pasting something make sure you click the little “html” tab and paste anything that has actual coding in it in there. This will ensure your coding works when you click back over to the visual editor.
Where will my pages show up?
This depends on your theme. If your theme has pages in the navigation bar they will show up across the top of your header (like the ones on this site). If your theme doesn’t have pages in the nav bar and they don’t show up anywhere else you’ll have to go into your widgets area and put the “pages” widget in the sidebar. This will make your pages show up in the sidebar. Where you want them to show up is up to you. It’s probably smart to have them above the fold (the top half of your site) so people can easily find them.
As time goes on you may find you have information/resources you want people to be able to easily find. You may find yourself creating additional pages to provide a quick and easy way for them to get to this information. That’s totally fine. Just keep in mind as you continue to create pages the more “stuff” you have on your site the harder it will be for people to find what you want them to see. Try to keep it simple and clean.
You may find it a good idea, once a year or so to go in and take a look at your site and see how you can clean it up. Everyone’s site looks so neat and clean in the beginning. As time goes on we find cool stuff we want to share, new affiliate programs we want to feature. Soon our sites have tons and tons of stuff which instead of making us MORE money actually has the opposite effect. The more people have to make decisions (what to click, what to look at, where to go) the less likely they will be to make any of those decision. (remember looking for themes? too many choices can lead to paralysis and that’s NOT what you want on your site.)
If you have any questions about creating or publishing your pages please ask in the comment section. This is the second task in this week’s challenge. If you’ve got your plugins done already when you get the pages up don’t forget to go back and add your link to say you finished this week’s blog challenge!
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These three pages are very essential for any blogger out there. The privacy policy is in almost all sites but then the disclosure one is what I have not seen on many. I think most people caused an uproar when this policy was made because they do not want their readers knowing so much. I also think that it is a very good policy. Awesome post.
Tim Ryan@ pelican marsh homes´s last [type] ..Jim Cramer Optimistic on FL Real Estate
Jackie, I am working on creating pages and content on my blog. BTW, I really like your concept of article page. I spend most of my time on your articles page when I’m at your site. Let me ask you a general question about content. How do you protect your content from being swiped? Do you copyright anything?
There’s really nothing you can do about it. It happens… and depending on the situation I may address it or I may not.
Hi Jackie,
Could you please tell me where I can take a look at your combination Privacy/Disclaimer Policy? I can’t find it on this page.
Thanks!
hover over the about link in the navigation bar and you’ll see “disclosure” click that.
Privacy posting is important and I appreciate the help in that area. Now I need some help getting wordpress to work.
Thanks for the help during our session the other day. I’m blogging now.
.-= Pat M´s last blog ..Wavemaster Training Bag updated Sun Mar 21 2010 9:02 pm CDT =-.
I generally create a sitemap but I do not create a page for it. I submit it to the search engines via the plugin. I use the articles page as a type of sitemap. I think the categories and articles page make it easier to find things than a sitemap ~ but you certainly can add a sitemap page if you like.
Google wants at least the plugin, and it is a good idea.
Do you think Google cares about the extra page though? Does anyone really know if they give extra props for making it a page or not?
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Would You Like a FREE Banner Ad Position? =-.
Hi Jackie!
Another very interesting and helpful article; I always learn something or get a different perspective. (I think you left the Contact page out of those noted in your article, just to see our response.)
I have read that most search engines appreciate having a sitemap page on your website (and as you get more volume to your website, your readers may appreciate using your sitemap, too). WordPress offers plugins that will generate a sitemap of your website for you.
Take care.
.-= Ken´s last blog ..Better Motivation =-.
Excellent post Jackie.
I love the disclaimer and privacy policy generators. I already have a very long disclaimer that Dave from Wealthy Affiiliate allowed others to use. But, I generated a privacy policy with google adsense (I had no idea you had to do this so thanks!) and I now finally have a privacy policy after 3.5 months, lol!
.-= Todd´s last blog ..4 of My Favorite Top Fruits for Beautiful Healthy Skin =-.
I don’t, but I bet you could go to any health related site and use their disclaimer as a starting place.
I’d also like to put up a disclaimer statement since my site is health related.
Any source you know of that I can copy & paste with confidence that all bases are covered leally?
Thanks again,
Lakshmi.
1. did you do the disclosure statement in a PAGE or a POST? It must be a page ~ once published on a page it will show up on YOUR top nav bar at the very top of your website with home and about.
Your bottom nav bar is for your categories and apparently you don’t have any posts published in categories that’s why it’s saying no categories ~ as soon as you create categories and publish posts in them they will appear in that nav bar.
Jackie
For some reason the Disclosure page that I am trying to insert is not coming up on the top portion of my site like yours is. I thought that if we had navigation on the top that we would not have to pull over modules to the side bar. What am I doing incorrectly? how can I get the “No categories” to Read Disclosure?
.-= Theresa´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
Good advice on the contact page ~ yep I forgot that one.
And dang can you give me a minute. One of our next projects is going to cover the about me stuff.
Jackie
If the thoughts in my head, it’s gotta come out.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED: Theme Customization Part 3 – Banner Advertising NOT for Sale! =-.
Ack! You forgot the contact page! lol. I realize you put contact info in the about page, but a separate contact page is always advisable.
As Pooch mentioned, WP has a few policy plugins – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search.php?q=policy+page&sort=
Many bloggers actually have two About pages to satisfy both urges – about me/about this site.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED: Theme Customization Part 3 – Banner Advertising NOT for Sale! =-.
Great advice. I like the idea of starting an article page, I’m a fairly new blogger but I can see the point of starting it early rather than waiting and having to spend hours setting it up.
.-= PLANETwebfoot @Social Networking Software´s last blog ..3 Common Missteps in Social Networking =-.
Jackie
Great post re the About page – you must be a mind reader!
Only this morning, early, I thought perhaps I’d use photos of me riding ‘Middie’ (short for Midnight) in my page.
But I was going to write quite a lot about me, but I’ll follow your advice and write about what the site offers.
.-= Russell ´s last blog ..Horse hoof care ~ this is one of the primary responsibilities you have as a horse owner! =-.
Hi Jackie,
What happened to getting the A** Key whatever we were going to get from WordPress on Monday?
Best,
Lakshmi.
.-= Lakshmi´s last blog ..What is the importance of being physically fit? =-.
Hey Lakshi,
Please realize there are a few conversations going on at this site. The conversation you are following started many months ago so all the info you need is already on the site. If you need to know something go ahead and put it in the search box or look on the articles page. I entered API key in the search box and came up with a few posts. Here’s the one you’re probably looking for: http://internetmarketingformommies.com/configuring-your-wordpress-plugins/
You are a genius Jackie, it worked. I guess you are right, it is a small thing. For some reason I thought it mattered for SEO. In fact maybe it is better the way they have it in there as the pack was created that way.
what do you think?
It is in SEO plugin. The part right under the homepage keywords. It says rewrite titles with a check box and then the space to fill in the format for each thing, posts, pages, categories etc. That’s where you’ll need to make changes if you want them.
I am using a one of the elegant themes on Everyday life and they have much more in depth settings on that one. I click the button in the epanel there to make it show up the other way. I think most blogs do it the way this site is actually. I don’t really think it makes any difference one way or another ~ more small stuff. Just leave it and worry about the “big” stuff.
I wish that was it, it doesn’t work and I remember reading that with the Genesis theme, if you have the all in one seo pack, it overrides any settings that the SEO portion of the theme contains.
So all i can think is that it is in the actual All in one.. but I am at a loss. I noticed though that on this blog yours is backwards too, but on your everyday blog it is the right way …. and you are not using the genesis theme, maybe you have it set differently for both blogs?????
When working on my sites tonight I noticed that my page info tab in my tools says that this site uses cookies. It lists my site name and then several cookies that look like word press ones. I say on my site that I do not collect cookies.
Any one have any thoughts on this. Does all that new language about Google, darts etc. cover this.
.-= Debbie @flowingmiracles´s last blog ..A Fun Website To Visit =-.
Go to the Genesis settings in your dashboard ~ and click the SEO option. I believe it is the doctitle settings. Choose the opposite of what you have for the right/left option and see if that makes the change you want.
Hi Jackie,
So everything is done, but of course my site is now, so I have simply put up things that already work (like my twitter account) for testing purposes.
So it it really a proper site yet, but the frame work is there.
One thing I did notice that I can’t seem to fix is in the metatag at the top of the page, instead of listing my site name first and then the about page seecond.
For example it should say Low Calorie Healthy Living | About but instead it is the opposite way around, do you think it has something to do with the all in one seo pack?
Any thoughts would be great thanks : )
Hey Jackie,
You are now my favorite blog to follow. I see you combine your privacy and disclosure into one post page. I am going to follow your lead that this is OK.
I like the articles idea. Never thought of that.
.-= Debbie @flowingmiracles´s last blog ..A Fun Website To Visit =-.
Thanks, Jackie. This really helped me more than you know. I was totally lost as to how we set these policies up and how to write them. The whole process only took about 5-10 minutes. This weekly blog challenge is really helping me to get going on my blog.
Thanks
EXCELLENT POST! I have been concerned ever since the FCC announced they were going to crack down – I wasn’t sure how this would affect online marketing/selling!
Ok…kinda off subject (didn’t know where to ask this) – but how can you tell who signed up for your RSS feed? I’m such a newbie
.-= Julie´s last blog ..Happy St. Patrick’s Day! =-.
Hey thanks for the great post. I am fairly new to blogging and i’m just doing a little reading around the subject before setting up my blog properly so it’s good to find someone sharing some useful information who has experience in the area.
Thanks!
Hi Jackie, this post was so helpful. Thank you. Do all of the 3 must have pages have to be on a seperate page or can they be on one page? Does it matter how small the print is?
Thanks again. I really enjoy your blog. Pam
.-= Pam´s last blog ..Hello world! =-.
Hi Pam,
I imagine you could probably get away with having your privacy and disclosure info on the same page, but I wouldn’t want to put my about stuff on that page. You WANT people to read your about page, and a LOT of people do. You don’t want to mix that in with all the legal mumbo jumbo.
The font will be the same as any other font on your site. We’re not trying to make people read the fine print here, we’re being OPEN! And disclosing what our policies are.
Jackie, thanks for this alarming post emphasizing the prominence of privacy policy and the disclosure statement. Till date, I considered them as least important. But you have given solid reasons justifying its importance. Besides that I am glad that you gave us the link to the privacy policy generator. That would definitely help newbies like me to get started. Kudos. This is my first time here and I am glad for landing up.
Hey Benjamin.
Not sure I’d call it an alarming post.
It’s just basic business stuff you need on your blog to cover yourself.
Hi Jackie,
I am using Squidoo for my campaigns and I noticed that they already display a privacy policy. Do I still need to add another one?
Thanks!!
.-= Jon´s last blog ..Herbal Sleep Aids – Natures Sleeping Remedy updated Tue Mar 9 2010 12:54 pm CST =-.
I’d say the squidoo policy is fine. I’ve never added a privacy policy to a lens ~ because I don’t own the site. Only squidoo can say what their policy is regarding privacy.
Hi Jackie
Another great post. As I have not yet done my privacy policy, I will do it tonight. After reading your advice about what to put on your “About” page, I think I should go and make some changes there as well.
Can I still add my site to the challenge? I was thinking it is maybe too old to add it, but since I am going to do some of the things you set in the challenge, maybe?
.-= Elsie@Kids Party Ideas´s last blog ..Choosing a Party Theme Based on Your Kid’s Star Sign =-.
Anyone that’s taking action on creating a blog or making their blog better is welcome! I’d be glad to have you come play with us!!
Thanks for the very valuable information Jackie. The disclosure thing is very confusing. It seems like the FTC is aiming at bloggers, but what if you just have a website that has affiliate links? I don’t accept advertising, sponsorships, gifts, but I do use affiliate links in my blog. My choice, my recommendations not influenced by anyone other than myself….bla, bla, bla…. Of course, why else do most people blog or make websites…for the most part to make money…..
Anyway, I realize you are not an attorney…but the FTC sure makes this very confusing…
It is not just for bloggers. These rules are the same for anyone selling things ~ even ads on tv. You may have noticed how the disclaimers have changed on tv ads since the date these new rules went into affect. So whether you are a blog or not your site should have a disclosure policy on it. That’s my opinion. I’m not a lawyer etc etc.
Hi Jackie,
I was wondering if there is anyone else on this challenge that is like me and starting a brand new blog.
If so, I wanted to see what your advice or their technique is to adding the article section. As it is brand new, I haven’t even written a post yet. Just been setting up the blog step by step per this challenge and playing around with the appearance and plugins and widgets.
thanks all
Content creation will be part of the challenge next week. Maybe wait a couple weeks, but start sooner than later. It’s much easier to go in and add one new post than to go back and dig through a hundred posts to find the ones you want to feature.
Jackie:
Nice post. I had not yet created a disclosure policy. I had been putting it off. My thinking was, I am a very small fish and as long as I disclose my affiliate links I should be okay.
But thanks to you I went ahead and created a disclosure policy from the link you posted and now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
I have not created a articles page yet either. I think it will take a little more work plus my blog is only a 1-1/2 old.
- Rick
.-= Rick Byrd @ MarketingWithRick.com´s last blog ..7 Link Building No-No’s for Bloggers =-.
Hey jackie…great post. This can really help out new bloggers. I’ve been reading for blog for awhile but never commented on anything
There is a free plugin you can d/l the automatically creates a policy page for you. Just search on wordpress for it.
-lee
.-= The Perfect Pooch´s last blog ..Positive Experiences With Your Dog Training =-.