Is your WordPress website legally compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any laws, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose products or services you use or promote?
As digital business continues to grow at an extraordinary rate and the rules constantly change, it’s absolutely essential that you try to stay on top of what’s happening and ensure that your site remains legal, especially if your online presence is important in the success of your overall business strategy.
New laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for material gain, you will need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Better Business Bureau Website)
The introduction of new laws has legal implications for several business categories, including:
- Any kind of advertising, including Google AdWords
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creators
- Bloggers
- etc.
If there are no legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank or JVZoo will not let you list digital products for sale, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook will suspend your applications, and you won’t be allowed to promote various advertising or online marketing networks.
Plus, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to expensive litigation.
The purpose of this guide is to make you aware that your site(s) may be required to comply with various legalities according to laws that govern businesses online, the importance of complying with the terms of service of other providers whose products or services you may be advertising on your website, and that there are solutions for WordPress that can help your online properties become fully compliant, such as the tools discussed further below.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice on this website. You must carry out your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with all laws and regulations wherever your business is based.
Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important
Are you at risk? Consider what the implications to your business would be if these situations were to take place:
- A person has a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness workout.
- The skin care products you sell as an affiliate marketer gives a number of users skin rashes.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not defined what you plan to do with their details.
- Someone steals your content and publishes it on their website.
- There is no statement on your site making your visitors aware that you are promoting a product as an affiliate and could earn a financial benefit if visitors purchase through your link.
- You didn’t spell out the terms of your return policies.
- A visitor claims that your testimonials are misleading and decides to sue you because of it.
- You didn’t disclose that you were given a free copy in a product review.
- Your site contains adult content and you did not take appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged children.
Consider also the real examples of costly compliance breaches below:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information (including credit card info to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer copped a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% were in violation of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in violation of at least 3 of Google’s policies. Although the website owners could technically be sued by Google, more than likely what could happen, is that they would be issued cautions or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how you could easily become exposed to the risks of litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) or PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Marketer
- AdSense Publisher
- Product Marketer
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your digital presence complies with all laws and regulations governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Services - ToS, Policies, etc.
Big companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the importance of observing the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.
You are obligated to let your visitors know that your business complies with all necessary legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also required in most cases by most companies you will do business with.
Here are just some examples:
Google requires your site to display certain information if using many of their products and service. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Generating revenue with your WordPress sites using Google AdSense online advertising …
(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)
And even promoting your products or services through Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you plan to sell information-based products using merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you are required to add certain legal pages to your site before they will approve your products for sale …
(Policy requirements for selling through ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires you to include clear disclaimers and policy statements to visitors, especially when using product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Site Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As is already the case, this typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any kind of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business interests by making sure that your site complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
Various resources online provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide additional references and links to useful resources at the end of this article …
(Wording your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you plan to develop social networking applications that integrate with your website, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others require you to provide information about various legal pages …
(Apps that integrate with social networks also require compliance)
- If you are unsure as to whether or not you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote products or services online via affiliate marketing, or monetizing your pages with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or using Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts shut down.
- If you have ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)
What Legal Information Should You Add To Your Site To Be Legally Compliant?
If you suspect that your website is lacking in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and third-party providers, and help to avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):
- About Us Page
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms & Conditions
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the pages above, you may want to look into adding any of these pages where applicable:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products or services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Links Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides money-making advice)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Media Terms (if you allow users to download media on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the right type of disclosure is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Disclosure that informs visitors that you’re not receiving any type of compensation for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Informs users that you may receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and buy through your affiliate links.
- Sample/Review Copy – Lets readers be aware that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your readers know that you were compensated in some form to write the content.
- Third Party Advertising – Informs visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring website publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
Adding Legal Content To Your Site
Ideally, you should consult your lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this prepared, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Uploading Legal Web Pages To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in typical web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory via FTP …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your server and upload pages using FTP)
You can then add a link to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to visitors. You can add these to your sidebar menu (or the footer of your website) so that visitors have access to legal information from all your pages …
(Display legal information to users on all of your site’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar using widgets here:
Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can find downloadable attorney-drafted internet forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting websites like the ones listed below:
Find Legal Forms
(FindLegalForms.com – Attorney-drafted legal forms)
To learn more, visit this website:
Alternatively, you can purchase a package of cut & paste website legal templates created by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
These templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a simple quick search and replace to add your own business details, then pasted into your pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Form Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance
- Privacy Policy: Google, etc.
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new WordPress page for every legal form you want to add to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload the pages to your server as described previously.
For more details, go here:
Plugins – Legal Pages
In addition to using copy & paste legal templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.
Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress users that you should check out:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin
(WP Legal Pages)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider choosing a plugin like WP Legal Pages …
This plugin is not free, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you loads of headaches.
Some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages plugin are:
- Pre-written Legal Templates – Over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the legal pages you will need in around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like any other page on your website.
- Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to any of your pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when you publish.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed when user agrees to your terms.
- New Features – More features are being added to this plugin with every new version.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will display inside your dashboard menu section …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)
This allows you to create, view and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Area)
With WP Legal Pages, you have the option of creating legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites with products, affiliate websites, Amazon sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages – Page type menu)
Choose from a number of pre-configured legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Built-In Templates)
Legal page templates include:
- Terms of Use (Users are forced to agree to Terms and Conditions before using site)
- Linking Policy
- External Links Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Refund Policy
- Affiliate Disclosure
- Privacy Policy
- Affiliate Agreement
- Facebook Privacy Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- Antispam Policy
- DoubleClick DART Cookies Policy
- Disclaimer Template
- FTC Disclosure Statement Template
- Medical Disclaimer Template
- Testimonials Disclosure – As per FTC guidelines
- Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Template
- DMCA Policy Template
- California Privacy Rights Policy Template
- Digital Goods Refund Policy Template
- COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Policy Template
- Blog Comments Policy Template
- Newsletter Subscription Policy and Disclaimer Template
- FTC Disclaimer Widget
To learn more this plugin, go here:
Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar Plugin is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your website …
More info:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro)
This plugin lets you easily install professionally-written legal pages such as:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance
- Privacy Policy
- Social Media Disclosure
- Medical Disclaimer
- Terms of Use
- Earnings Disclaimer
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin – Professionally-written legal forms)
Additionally:
- Drag & Drop FTC Disclaimer Widget: Add an FTC Disclaimer to any WordPress sidebar or widget area.
- Customizable EU Cookie Compliance Bar: Display an EU cookie compliance bar if you are getting traffic from the EU and your sites use cookies.
With just one-click you can install almost all of the legal pages your site needs and these professionally written legal pages can be created in your theme and/or as a standalone page outside of your theme.
The plugin developers secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them into a plugin that can be installed quickly on any WordPress powered site. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).
Go here for more details:
If using the services of lawyers to create your legal pages is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford legal services.
We want your business to be legally safe!
Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (for FREE!), or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-written legal forms, or plugins - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software lets you quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you are making money online, you need to ensure that your website complies with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online and any terms of service and guidelines of third-party products and services that you may be promoting or offering online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws designed to protect consumer rights, you’re breaking the law.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of suffering both financial losses and the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with the law concerning your specific business.
Additional Information
Here is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your website to stay compliant and meet legal requirements and guidelines:
- FTC Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- Federal Trade Commission Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
- FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
- Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program
- Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising
- Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act
- CAN-SPAM Act Guide
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
- FTC Regulatory Review Web Page
- FTC Rules and Guides Currently Under Review
- The Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force – Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework
- FTC Staff Report: Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising
- FTC Final Guides Governing Endorsements and Testimonials
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- US Copyright Office
Additionally …
- Google Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- Google AdSense Help – Required Content
- Google AdWords – Information Collection And Use
- Google AdWords Help – What to include in your privacy policy for remarketing
- ClickBank – Creating Your First Product
- Facebook Platform Policies
Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website or blog using inexpensive resources and solutions.
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com