10 Legal Issues every internet marketer or blogger needs to know

10 things every internet marketer should know
Arizona Internet Marketing Lawyer
1) Make sure you have a written business plan that outlines your goals, timeframe, funding sources, contingency plans, whether Cost Per Action (CPA) advertising is based on click, impression, or sale.
2) Form a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a C-Corp that elects subchapter S status.
3) For those involved with affiliate marketing, consider placing disclaimers before links to other advertisers sites for whom you have no direct relationship with or are unsure of the product being marketed.
4) Ensure that you receive the full benefits of copyright protection by placing a statement like "© of XYZ", with your name or company name in place of XYZ, at the bottom of every page of content on your site. Register your trademark or service mark with state and federal agencies. Make sure you are not infringing on anyone else's copyrights or trademarks.
5) If you are outsourcing any of your content writing, make sure that you have written contracts or agreements in place with those who you are outsourcing to that they are relinquishing and transferring any and all rights they have in the work they create to you.
6) Your site should have a Digital Millenium Copyright Act Notice that allows people to contact you, or your service provider, if they believe there is anything infringing on your site.
7) Know the difference between resale rights, master resale rights and private label rights.
8) Make sure that you hire an experienced arizona internet law attorney that is familiar with internet marketing issues to draft your contracts. Make sure that the provision in your contracts regarding where any disputes will be decided is in your favor.
9) If you are providing a testimonial (endorsement) for a product or service, it must be truthful and you must disclose any connection to the advertiser that might materially affect your credibility. Consider placing a statement at the footer of your webpage that states you are an authorized affiliate for any of the advertised products.
10) If visitors to your site are subscribing to certain services, consider using a double opt-in method of verifying their desire to subscribe. This means that the visitor will fill out certain information on your site, including their email address, and after they are finished an email will be sent to that account with a link that must be clicked on in order to confirm their desire to subscribe. Although this may decrease conversion rates, it could save you thousands in legal costs later on.
This list is not comprehensive. Please contact us to set up a consultation to discuss any further issues.

Many people use pen-names for products - are there any particular things that people should be aware of if using a pen name?

And as an associated question - how "ok" is it to use a photograph to go with the pen name - i.e. one that is not a picture of you (assuming you have permission to use the image of course)?]

Interesting question, and this kind of ties in with the FTC guidelines and blogging...or in this case "Flogging" (fake blogging). It is my opinion that it would be ok to use a pen name, or otherwise known as an "alias" or "pseudonym" for product, so long as it is not misrepresenting the advertisement, creating the existence of a potential misrepresentation, or stating a false fact. The "fact" is the key issue, as a fictional person cannot provide a "fact" about a product that he or she uses. They don't exist. Some of you may remember the walmart PR campaign that Edelman did a few years ago, where a couple traveling the US blogged about their walmart adventures. Just like them, the FTC and the media would nail you for making a claim as a fictional person about a fact. So it really depends on why you are doing it (to sell rather vs. conceal identity).

Some of you may remember the wal-mart incident about the couple that was traveling around the US "flogging" about their experiences. It's a no no. The European Union has also outlawed fake blogging insofar as it falsely represents oneself as a consumer of a product. This, however, would not necessarily affect blogs that are used for "satirical" purposes (i.e. the fake steve jobs blog).