Category: Website Planning

Is your WordPress website legal? Do you know if your site is breaking the law, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose services or products you are endorsing or offering?

As the digital economy continues to grow at an extraordinary rate and rules constantly change, it’s vitally important to try and stay on top of what’s happening and ensure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if having an online presence is a fundamental aspect of your overall business strategy.

New laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you promote anything on your site for commercial gain, you must follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory agencies, such as the US-based Better Business Bureau (BBB). Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Better Business Bureau Website)

These laws affect various online business activities, including:

• Any type of advertising, e.g. Google AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creation
• Blogging
• etc.

If your site does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo will not approve your digital products on their network, PayPal could shut down your account, Facebook could disapprove your applications, and you won’t be allowed to enroll in a number of advertising or affiliate marketing networks.

If your digital presence is not compliant, you could face a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

This guide explains why it’s important to have a legally compliant website and shows you inexpensive solutions to help make your website legally compliant.

Is Your Website Or Blog Legally Compliant?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice on this website. As previously stated, the purpose of this article is only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal policies in accordance with the laws and regulations governing business practices online and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of third-party providers whose services or products you recommend

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider for a minute what could happen to your business in the following scenarios:

• A user has a cardiac arrest after using your online fitness workout.
• The skin care products you sell as an affiliate gives someone allergic reactions.
• Your opt-in list provides a statement informing subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t spelled out exactly what you will do with their personal details.
• Someone steals your content and publishes it on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website or blog making your site visitors aware that you are endorsing a product as an affiliate that you will get paid financial benefits if they decide to purchase via your link.
• You have not spelled out the terms and conditions of your refund and return policies.
• Someone claims the testimonials on your site are all fake and tries to sue you.
• You have not disclosed that you were given a free copy of a product you reviewed.
• Your website includes adult content and you didn’t take appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged children.

Consider now these real case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete his offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’re now required to issue a copy of the judgement to everyone he does business with for the next 20 years — including employees.
• 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 prohibits users from scraping Users IDs. Many internet marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
• An independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were in breach of at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were breaking 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 to the Google program whose policies they had violated, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how you could be exposed to the risk of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA (Cost Per Action) or PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Promoter
• AdSense Publisher
• Product Marketer
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
• Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service

It’s vitally important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your digital presence is legally compliant.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies Terms And Policies

Leading online companies and government regulatory agencies emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.

You must let your site visitors know that your website complies with laws and professional guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you engage with.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires you to display certain information when using their services and product features. This includes Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Generating revenue with your websites with Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

Or promoting your services through Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell products online via places such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant networks, you will need to add various legal pages before your products can be approved for sale …

(ClickBank – policy requirements)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to add clear disclaimers and policy statements on your site, especially regarding the use of product testimonials or endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any kind of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by making sure that your website is compliant with all FTC guidelines and regulations.

You can find many resources websites for businesses that can provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. We provide links to and additional references to some of these at the end of this article …

(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Social Media Applications Also Have Compliance Requirements

If you are planning to develop social networking applications for your site, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others will require you to provide access to various legal pages …

(Social networking apps also require compliance)

• If you are not sure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting anything on your site as an affiliate marketer, or making money online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or using Google AdWords pay-per-click ads to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to provide 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 protect yourself and your business interests.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)

Essential Legal Pages You Should Include In Your Site To Ensure Compliance

If you suspect that your website or blog falls short in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your website will help your website keep out of trouble with many regulatory authorities and third-party providers, and avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “take down” notices):

• About Us Page
• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer Pages
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

As well as the above, you may want to look into including any of these legal pages:

• Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you provide an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general money-making advice)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Video/Audio Terms Of Use (e.g. if you provide users with access to media on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the correct type of content disclosure is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs users that you’re not being paid for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Lets site users know that you will be compensated if they purchase through an affiliate link.
• Review/Sample Copy – Informs users that you have received a review or sample copy of the product or service by the author or developer.
• Sponsored Post – Discloses to your visitors that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• 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 online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your Site

Ideally, you will have your lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading Legal Pages Manually To Your Site

If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in typical web page formatting (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend creating a legals directory in your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)

You can then add a link to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …

(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and display clearly to visitors. You can add these to your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer section of your website or blog) to ensure that users have access to legal information from every web page …

(It’s important to display links to your legal pages on all of your site’s pages)

We have written a detailed tutorial on displaying links to pages on your sidebar menu and footer in WordPress here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In The Sidebar Navigation Area

Use Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable website forms and agreements by searching online, or going to sites like this one:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Go here to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms

Another option is to download a set of cut & paste website legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages)

These legal templates were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a quick search and replace to add your own details, then pasted into your legal web pages.

The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance
• Privacy Policy
• ToS & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new WordPress page for each legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your server as previously described.

More information:

• Website Legal Pages

Plugins – Legal Pages

As well as using legal templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.

Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress-powered websites and blogs you should check out:

WP Legal Pages

(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)

If manually setting up legal pages for your website feels too time-consuming for you, then consider installing WP Legal Pages …

The WP Legal Pages plugin is not free, but it’s a very affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will help make the work 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 WordPress Legal Pages:

• Pre-written Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like every other page on your site.
• Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when published.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks when users agree to your terms.
• Additional Features – More features are being added to this plugin with each new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will display inside your main WP dashboard area …

(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)

This allows you to create, view and edit your legal pages from the admin area …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, niche sites, medical sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)

Choose from a number of built-in legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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 the plugin site for more details about the benefits of using this plugin:

• WP Legal Pages

Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin containing over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your digital presence …

More info:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress)

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 And Conditions
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin 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 site. You can have legal pages 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).

More info:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If using the services of legal experts to create your legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional legal services.

We want your website to be protected!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documentation, or a WordPress plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator allows you to quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you are making money online, it’s important that your site stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business practices online and the guidelines and terms of service (TOS) required by third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or sell online. Your digital presence must comply with various regulations, some of which you may not 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 are not providing legal advice on our website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with the law wherever your business is based.

Additional Information

Below is a time-saving list of sites we suggest you visit to better understand what may be required of your site to comply and meet legal obligations:

• Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
• FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
• Better Business Bureau
• 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

Plus …

• 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

We hope this article has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website using simple and cost-effective legal resources and plugins.

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