Blogger’s Quick Guide to Contracts and Agreements

A contract is an agreement between two parties which creates mutual obligations to be performed by each party. Any business/financial agreement needs a contract to help avoid any disagreements in the future and help build a smooth business relationship.

Bloggers and freelancers can sometimes be involved in small business transactions that may seem insignificant in nature and because of the informality of social media, we can sometimes forget the need for a written contract. This guide will help outline the importance of a contract.

Read more about contracts here

Contracts Define Expectations

When pursuing any type of business deal, there is a lot of discussion that goes into it, this includes verbal and written communication between the parties. You may agree verbally on specific details such as benefits, payment plans etc, but when it is time for execution, you can find yourself lost with no evidence to hold on to. The written contract should be your evidence in the financial relationship. 

“But it’s my friend, it’s fine”

This one comes up a lot. The harsh reality is that even when you deal with friends in a business transaction, you can still disagree on things even after you enter into an agreement which can cause tension between the parties. 

It’s best to be clear and transparent at the start of the business relationship and have a formal agreement to set out what us expected from both parties and to stop any confusion in the future. 

Talking about money

No one really likes talking about money, especially when dealing with freelancers, bloggers and startups, they may overlook mentioning payment details because of the difference in the bargaining power.  This happens a lot when dealing with businesses who are also friends or family.

Here’s what you need to think about regarding payment:

Who will pay you?

What will I get paid? In what currency? 

When will I get paid?

How will I get paid?( Cash, Cheque, bank transfer, in product?)

What will happen if one of you fails to perform their obligations as to part of the agreement?

Things to keep an eye out for

Written contracts set out the extent of the arrangement between the parties. It helps outline the payment method, the length of the agreement, who is involved in the arrangement, the owner of the copyrights of the content etc. 

Click here to learn more about Copyrights

Companies contact bloggers for paid promotions because they want to reach their audience through social media advertising and its very important to outline your arrangement in a contract. For example, you may agree to do a promotional post on your page for company X. Is this going to be a post? A video? A story? Who will be tagged? Will it be a regular thing?  Are you allowed to do promotional posts for their rivals? If not, for how long?

Contracts protect the interests of both parties

Never delay a contract– as a smaller scale blogger/freelancer you may feel that contracts are too formal or that you don’t need them for a small transaction. It is however rare that you come across agreements without any disputes, so it’s best to be clear and transparent with a contract.

Stay Professional! – It actually gives a better impression of your work and it makes you look more organized and focused and a better business partner.

Legal Protection- this means that if one party fails to comply with part of the contract you can claim against them and cover your rights. This is harder to do with a verbal agreement. 

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