Is your website compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any rules or regulations, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you are promoting or selling?
Internet laws are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who markets, sells or promotes goods and services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not protect someone from taking legal action against you.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for material gain, then you need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the US-based BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The new laws affect various business categories, including:
- Any form of advertising, like Google AdWords or AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
If your website does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal could suspend your account, Facebook will suspend your applications, and you will not be allowed into a number of advertising or affiliate marketing networks.
Plus, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.
The purpose of this guide is to help make you aware that your website(s) may be subject to certain legal requirements, the importance of complying with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose services or products you may be using on your site, and that there are solutions for WordPress site owners that can help your website become fully compliant, such as the tools that we list further below.
Does Your Website Comply With The Law?
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website. As previously stated, this article is designed only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal policies in accordance with the laws governing your business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you promote
Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important
Are you at risk? Consider what would happen to your business if any of the following were to take place:
- A customer suffers a heart attack after purchasing your online fitness workout.
- The skin cream you promote as an affiliate gives someone who purchases from your link an allergic reaction.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not clearly spelled out what you plan to do with their details.
- Someone steals content from your site and puts it up on their own website.
- There is no statement on your website informing your site visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you are promoting and may earn an affiliate commission if visitors buy using your link.
- You haven’t spelled out the conditions of your refund and return policies.
- Your visitors claim the testimonials on your site are all fake and decide to sue you.
- You did not disclose that you have received a free copy in your product review.
- Your site publishes adult-related content and you haven’t taken appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged children.
Consider too the actual examples of costly compliance breaches below:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information (including credit card info to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, he is now required to provide a copy of the judgement to everyone they do business with for the next 20 years — including employees.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape UIDs. Many internet marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independent study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were in violation of at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in violation of at least three 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 to the Google program with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming exposed to non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
- Multilevel Marketer
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdSense Publisher
- Niche Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online
You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your digital presence remains fully compliant with the law.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.
Compliance with third-party companies terms and policies is important.
You must let your site visitors know that your business complies will all laws and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you will do business with online.
For example:
Google requires your site to display legal information when using many of their products. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Generating revenue with your blogs using Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)
Or promoting your services or products via Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you plan to sell digital products using merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add a number of legal pages to your website before your products can be approved for sale …
(Policy requirements for vendors using ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to display clear disclaimers and statements on your website, especially if you plan to use product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
New FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply
FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many sites are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any type of business 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 ensuring that your website complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
There are many sites that can provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. See our additional resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Social Media Apps Also Have Compliance Requirements
If you plan to create apps for your site, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others require you to provide access to your legal pages …
(Social networking apps also require compliance)
- If you are not sure whether or not you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote anything online as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or driving visitors to your site with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
Common Legal Pages You Should Include In Your Site
If your website or blog is falling short in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your site will help your site stay out of trouble with many regulatory agencies and external service providers, and avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms Of Use
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the above, you may want to look into adding any of these pages if applicable:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general health or medical information)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Video/Audio Terms Of Use (e.g. if you allow users to download media on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding the correct type of disclosure is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs visitors that you’re not being paid for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Lets your visitors know that you may receive compensation if they buy through your affiliate links.
- Sample/Review Copy – Lets visitors know that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product or service.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that informs readers that you have been compensated in some way to write the content.
- Third Party Advertising – Informs your 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 WordPress Website
Ideally, you should have your lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once these have been done, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Uploading Legal Pages To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend adding a legals directory to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder using FTP …
(Upload legal pages to your web server using FTP)
You can then easily add a link to your legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu feature …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are fully up-to-date and clearly accessible to all site visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your sidebar (or place them in the footer section of your site) so that visitors can access legal information from all your pages …
(Display links to legal information to users on all of your site’s pages)
To learn more about adding links to pages on your WP sidebar, refer to this tutorial:
Use Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can find downloadable attorney-prepared website forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting websites like the ones listed below:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
Go here for more info:
Alternatively, you can purchase a package of cut and paste website legal templates drafted by attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Page Templates)
These legal pages were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your web pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Forms include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance
- Privacy Policy: Google, etc.
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use: includes inter- & intra-page redundancy, Contra Proferentem provision, reservation of rights, and exclusive social media admonition.
You can either create a new page on your website for every legal form you want added to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload these to your web server as described earlier.
For more details, go here:
WordPress Plugins – Legal Pages
As well as using legal templates, you can simplify things using a plugin.
Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider installing a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages …
WP Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a very low-priced and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will help make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your site much easier and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages plugin:
- Pre-written Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in around 3 minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit all legal pages like every other page on your website.
- Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your WordPress pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content when published.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other WP page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks only when user agrees to your legal terms.
- Additional Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear inside your main navigation section …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to view, create and edit your legal pages from the admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings)
You have the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, review sites, AdSense sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Page type menu)
Choose from several built-in legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages – Built-In Legal 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
Visit this site to learn more this powerful plugin:
Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin with over 20 customizable legal page templates for your online business …
Learn more about this plugin here:
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 & Conditions
- Earnings Disclaimer
(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress – 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 license allows you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell).
To learn more, go here:
If using the services of a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing at least some kind of basic legal protection on your site until you can afford a lawyer.
We want your business to be safe!
Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (for FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-prepared legal content, or plugins - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator lets you quickly generate basic legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to make sure that your site is compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate how business online is done and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) for third-party services and products that you may be promoting or selling online. Your digital presence must comply with a whole range of regulations, some of which you may not even be aware of.
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?
Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.
References And Resources
Here is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your website to stay compliant and meet its legal obligations:
- 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
- US Patent and Trademark Office
- US Copyright Office
Additionally …
- Google Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- 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 why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add legal pages to your website or blog.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now