Do I Need Insurance For My Business?
Insurance to most people is not a fun topic to talk about and to some people, they associate it with negativity. Insurance is one of those things where you hate having to pay for it when you don’t ever use it but are so thankful for having it when you do need to use it. Everybody knows that they need to have insurance personally, whether it’s for their vehicles or home, but what about their business?
Is there a law that says you have to have business insurance?
In most situations, you will need to have certain types of insurance in place so that you are abiding by the law. If you are planning to hire employees, you must have workers compensation insurance as well as unemployment insurance.
If you have business vehicles, like any vehicle on the road, you will need to have insurance for it.
The majority of the liability insurance that a small business owner would need can be purchased through a General Liability policy. This type of policy will include coverage for non-employee injuries, damage you cause to someone else’s property, advertising mistakes, and the common lawsuits that pop up with everyday business activities. A General Liability Policy isn’t technically required, but not having it can put you at high risk if something were to happen.
What is included in a Business Owners Policy?
Do I need to know HTML to edit my website?
You don’t necessarily need to know HTML to edit your website, especially in WordPress. But if you know HTML, it is a big help. In fact, coders don’t need to code all the time when it comes to WordPress.
Here is the thing; WordPress has gone extra miles to ensure website development is easy. Most of the WordPress features like text, colors, menu and customizable themes are immediately available for selection with just a click.
Although building or editing a WordPress website without coding skill is feasible, you will be limited by the options and features built into the plugins and theme you use. But how would you do it if you need some functionality that doesn’t come with your plugins? Or your theme is not as beautiful as you want? Or you’d like some features of the theme to show up in another place?
If you have no coding skills, you still have 3 options:
#1. Leave your website the way it is
With this easy option, you don’t need to make any effort. But it can be frustrating seeing something you can’t adjust on your website.
#2. Hire a developer to edit the website for you
Depending on what you are editing, it will cost you some money.
#3. Learn coding to create what you desire
You need to put effort into learning how to code, but the return on investment will be great. You will be able to satisfactorily edit your website and add any twist you want to it.
So what do you need to edit your website?
Minimum coding skills
When you need to edit anything on your website, especially when it has to do with the look of your website, there are 3 basic types of code, which includes:
- HTML: Used to tell the browser what to display.
- CSS: Used to tell the browser how to display the website content.
- PHP: Used in querying your database.
Can you edit your website without HTML knowledge?
You have plugin option, even though you still can’ do many things without HTML. Plugins are software that integrates with WordPress theme to add features. For instance, Contact form plugin adds a contact form to wherever you want to add it to on your website. This requires no coding knowledge.
So with or without coding knowledge, you can edit your website.” alt=”” width=”492″ height=”399″ />
A Business Owner’s Policy (aka BOP Policy) will bundle liability with property coverage.
- Property insurance – covers buildings and contents owned by the company.
- Business interruption insurance – covers the loss of income resulting from a fire or other catastrophe that disrupts the operation of the business. It can also include the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.
- Liability protection – covers your company’s legal responsibility for the harm it may cause to others. This harm is a result of things that you and your employees do or fail to do in your business operations that may cause bodily injury or property damage due to defective products, faulty installations and errors in services provided.
These kinds of insurances are not likely to come with a BOP:
- Professional liability: Some professionals need to protect themselves against claims that they did not perform their duties properly. Medical professionals may need malpractice insurance. Finance professionals might have to buy errors and omissions coverage. A BOP usually won’t come with this kind of protection.
- Cyber insurance: Today’s companies value digital information. They also value the security of customers’ information. Cyber insurance protects businesses against data breaches or the loss of computer systems.
- Business car: A company’s cars have to have insurance against liability or property loss. Personal insurance isn’t usually enough. A company may need business car insurance too.
- Employee benefits: A BOP won’t usually contain workers’ compensation or health insurance either. Employee benefits must usually come separately.
Other coverages that are not required, but should be considered.
- Life Insurance – This is typically used to protect your family in the event you pass away so that your family can take care of themselves without having to worry about your income not being there anymore. But Life Insurance plays a big roll in a lot of businesses. It can be used to have on yourself as the owner or “key person” to be used either for the loss of specific knowledge which may require the company to hire someone else or help with the loss of production while the business is trying to get back on its feet. This is usually known as a Key Man Policy.
- Umbrella Insurance – If the cost of a claim exceeds the limits of a business’s underlying primary insurance policies, Commercial Umbrella Insurance extends liability coverage for an additional layer of insurance to further protect business assets.
All in all, you will need to make sure you do your research to find out exactly what you should do. You should consult with a business insurance agent so they can show you your options.
Looking for additional information on business insurance, needing to ask questions, and/or purchase insurance? Click the following link to visit the Hiscox website. Hiscox is America’s #1 Online Small Business Insurer.