MANAGE: Legal

Understanding the agreements, responsibilities and protections behind your business

Running an online business involves agreements with customers, suppliers and the people you work with. You may also need to protect your brand, manage permissions for content and understand the requirements that apply to your activities. Start with what your business actually does, then identify the documents, tools or professional help that would be useful.

Start with your business activities

Consider how you earn money, what you provide and who you work with. Selling downloadable products raises different questions from providing a service, running a membership community or shipping physical goods. Working with clients or contractors may also involve agreeing who owns the finished work and how it can be used.

Your location and the places where you do business matter too. Before choosing a service or template, check which countries or regions it covers and whether it suits your type of business. A familiar document title does not guarantee that its contents fit your circumstances.

Choose the area you need help with

  • Compliance: Explore resources and tools for understanding relevant obligations, organising tasks and keeping track of changes that may affect your business.
  • Contracts: Find services for preparing, managing and signing agreements. Consider the work involved, payment terms, responsibilities and what happens if plans change.
  • IP Protection: Explore ways to protect and manage your business name, brand and creative work, alongside the permissions and licences needed when using work created by others.

For tools that operate directly on your website, such as cookie consent and privacy notice services, visit Site Building. The sections below focus on the wider legal needs of running the business.

Understand what a service actually provides

A document library, an electronic signing service and access to a legal professional serve different purposes. A signing tool helps people complete an agreement, but does not establish whether its terms are suitable. A template can give you a useful starting point, provided its questions and wording reflect the arrangement you intend to make.

Read the scope of any included support. Check whether you receive general information, answers to specific questions, a document review or help preparing an agreement. More involved work may carry a separate fee. Where an agreement is unusual, the consequences are significant or a dispute has arisen, consider whether professional advice would be more useful than working through a template alone.

Compare the full cost and commitment

Some services charge for individual documents or tasks, while others use subscriptions. Check renewal terms, minimum commitments and whether professional help is included or charged separately. Registration fees and other third-party costs may also sit outside the advertised price.

Free information can help you understand the questions to ask before paying. Choose a service around the work you need to complete, rather than the number of templates or features available.

Keep useful records as your business changes

Store completed agreements, permissions and related correspondence somewhere you can find them again. Keep track of the version agreed, who signed it and any renewal or review dates. Revisit your documents when your products, working arrangements or business activities change.

You do not need to solve every possible legal question before making progress. Start with the activities you are undertaking now and use the sections below to explore the relevant options.

How we classify our listings

Each listing carries a label showing the level of work behind it. Inclusion in the directory does not, by itself, mean we have tested or recommend a tool.

  • ✓ Personally tested — We have used the product ourselves. Any accompanying review explains what we tried and the limits of that experience.
  • ◇ Research reviewed — We have examined product information and relevant research in more depth, without claiming first-hand use.
  • ○ Directory listing — An introduction based on available information. No hands-on testing or in-depth review is implied.

Use the descriptions to identify options worth exploring, then check the provider’s current features, prices and terms against your own requirements.