One of the worst situations you can find yourself in as a website owner is to receive a notice of legal action as a result of having broken the law.
Your website must comply with a wide range of laws and regulations, some of which you may probably not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring serious financial costs, but also the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your business reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this post, we look at a simple and easy-to-install WordPress solution that can help make your site fully compliant in minutes.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
As the cybersphere continues to grow at breakneck speed and the rules of the game keep changing, it’s vitally important to stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your website or blog remains compliant, especially if your online presence is a fundamental aspect of your overall business strategy.
Without legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank will not let you list your digital products on their network, PayPal may close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook and many other social sites could suspend your applications, and you will not be allowed into most leading advertising and affiliate marketing networks.
If your digital presence is not compliant, you could also end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
At the very least, if your digital presence is not in compliance, expect visitor trust and confidence in your business to seriously diminish.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies!)
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on our website.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to many legal requirements in accordance with mandatory laws that govern your business,
- How important it is to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be promoting or using in your website, and
- There are inexpensive solutions that can help your business become compliant, such as the tool that we discuss below.
If your website falls short in aspects of compliance, below we review a simple WordPress plugin that you should know more about.
Today We Review …
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your web presence …
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Compliance Bar Plugin
Benefits Of Using Compliance Bar Plugin
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your website or blog compliant:
Ready To Use In Very Little Time
Compliance Bar installs like any regular plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Easily Editable Templates
Easily edit the default compliance page templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu using the WordPress WYSIWYG editor.
Dedicated 24/7 Plugin Support
The plugin develop provides a dedicated support team to help you if you experience any problems.
Additional benefits of this plugin include:
- Customized Templates: The plugin creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not complicated to use and an entire library of training videos is provided.
- Can Be Used In All Countries: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the default legal page templates provided in the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin anywhere in the world.
- Use For All Niches: If your website is driven by WordPress, you can use the plugin for all website purposes. Select only the types of disclaimers that suit your specific business model (e.g. affiliate or CPA marketing, business services, AdSense, AdWords, adult, medical, etc) and leave out any that you don’t need.
Compliance Bar Features
Compliance Bar offers many features to WordPress users. Here are just some:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Ready to start using in no time.
- Display Attractive Icon Bar – Display links to your compliance pages using attractive icons that can be placed anywhere in your page. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Show Sensitive Information – If you plan to publish content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult-related, etc.), you can display pop-ups that require users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If you do business in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must be aware of EU compliance requirements. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying your users and covering your site from non-compliance issues.
- Records & Stores IP Addresses – The plugin can record your visitors’ IP address for reference, just in case someone accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims otherwise.
- Shortcode Driven – Compliance Bar uses shortcodes to populate compliance pages with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your website, (even in the pop-ups).
- Mobile Friendly – The plugin has settings for displaying on mobile devices and can display mobile optimized icons automatically based on visitor web browsers.
Plugin Features – Details
Once the plugin is installed, you have access to a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured.
Let’s briefly review these settings …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this section where your business information can be entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Registered Address,” “Company Phone Number,” “Company Registration Number,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Business Name,” “Company Phone Number,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Page – Image source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar uses shortcodes to populate and display the information from your User Profile fields in your page templates …
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been entered into the profile fields, users can then access the other plugin section.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” area includes a list of all of your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Below is the full list of templates made available by the Compliance Bar plugin last time we checked their site:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure Statement
- Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Contact Us
- Copyright/DCMA Notice
- Disclaimer
- Double Dart Cookies
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- FTC Statement
- Legal Disclaimer
- Linking Policy
- Medical Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Returns/Refund Policy
- Support
- Terms
- Terms & Conditions
- Testimonial Disclosure
- Adult Content Disclosure
Creating legal pages for your website or blog is a simple process. Just select the checkboxes next to the pages you want to create and click the “Save” button in the “Compliance Pages” screen …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added to your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin is installed with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The icons are customizable. You can purchase additional icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your site’s design …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Page Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Page Templates
You can customize and delete your compliance disclaimer templates from the “Compliance Pages” tab, just like any typical WordPress page …
(Compliance Bar: Edit Legal Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes
- Editing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin indicates if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. legal pages created before installing the plugin).
Compliance Bar
You have various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, selecting which pages to include an icon for in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your main page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, and more …
(Compliance Bar Screen: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to display different disclaimers on different pages, or to cover different uses in different sections of your website.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the front page of your website, even if you are using particular theme frameworks (like Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile devices, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have configured your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your legal through a visually attractive icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to feature the compliance icons …
PopUps
If you plan to publish content that should be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult, etc.), the plugin can display popups that force users to accept your site’s terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” area gives you complete control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Image source: plugin documentation)
You can create more than one Pop Up for different pages, or to cover different uses in different sections of your site …
You can also specify a delay time if you don’t want the Pop Ups to display as soon as visitors arrive, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time period, and even record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Screen: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If your business is based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you need to be aware of EU Cookie law …
The plugin lets you customize the settings for compliance with EU Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Section: Manage Settings – Image source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” screen, lists all of your legal templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” screen, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin update notifications …
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials plugin users have published about Compliance Bar:
“1000% Highly Recommend This” Anthony La Rocca – Founder (Hustle Marketing)
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”If you are like me, you maybe have quite a few WordPress sites, all needing attention and most importantly, all needing to be on the right side of the law! I’ve tried several legal pages plugins and in pretty much every case, they let me down. They simply cause more work than they solve.To me, the answer should be simple. It should work and it should let me get on with building my site. After all, I know I NEED to do this stuff, but hey, I don’t really WANT to! So, for me, I don’t want those plugins that cause more work than they solve. Simple eh? Well now it is because Anton & John have just created this baby that is the answer to my needs. The Compliance Bar Plugin does what I need it to do then lets me get on with my empire building…Perfect!” Tony Grant (Portfolio Sports)
Plugin Tips
Below are some extra ways to use Compliance Bar:
- Protect against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Display compliance icons only on specific pages.
- Reduce refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you publish content that is inappropriate for minors on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Compliance Bar Plugin Support
Plugin Developers provide users with a dedicated support team to assist users with anything they need. Users also get access to full video training manuals.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your version of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 business hours (Monday to Friday), your cost of purchase will be refunded in double.
Plugin Pricing
- Single License Edition – Install the plugin on a single site. Price = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business Licensing – Can be installed on twenty-five domains that you own. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional Licensing – Can be installed on multiple of your own sites. Install the plugin on all client sites for payment or part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Note: The cost of purchasing Compliance Bar Plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin retails for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price: Compliance Bar Plugin
Additional Info
Legal Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers assert on their website that all legal page templates have been reviewed and approved by a leading lawyer. Nonetheless, we highly recommend that you get professional advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
Get The Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-powered websites. We recommend downloading and installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar Plugin – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice on this website. 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 wherever your business is based.
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