When establishing an online business presence, it is important to understand your risks and make sure you abide by the law.

Written agreements with developers or consultants hired to build your online presence can help to avoid disputes about unclear responsibilities or work involved, completion dates, ownership of software and content, and licensing.

You must provide customers with standard policies (which are easy to access online) that address your product, online content, liability, privacy, purchase terms, process for sales and returns, and customer feedback or complaints processes.

Be aware that third-party platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, are likely to have a very broad licence to use anything you post for their own purposes, and their rules for using these platforms can change at any time. Read terms and conditions, privacy policies, and important user information.

Consumer protection laws in Australia also govern social media, so don't make statements online about your products or services that you wouldn't in traditional forms of advertising. This extends to posts or comments made by your users or followers. Have a clear moderation policy and remove any posts that may be false, misleading or deceptive as soon as you become aware of them.

When sharing or linking content or using images, consider intellectual property (IP) law. Protect your IP rights by watermarking images and when using someone else's content, be sure to get the owner's permission.

by Jaye Smale