Category: Website Planning

One of the worst things that can happen to you as a website owner is to break the law.

Online laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person who markets, sells or promotes goods or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not protect you from being slapped with a legal notice.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for profit, you must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau (BBB). Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – Better Business Bureau)

The introduction of these laws has legal consequences for several business activities, including:

• Any kind of advertising, including display advertising
• 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 of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal may shut down your account, Facebook could disapprove your web applications, and you will not be allowed into various advertising or affiliate marketing networks.

If you are not in compliance, you could end up facing a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

The purpose of this article is to help make you aware that your website or blog may be required to comply with various legalities, the importance of remaining compliant with the terms of service of external providers whose services or products you may be using on your site, and that there are easy solutions for WordPress site owners that can help your online properties become compliant, such as the tools that we list further below.

Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all laws wherever you do business.

Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important

Consider what could happen to your business if any of the situations below were to happen:

• A customer has a heart attack after using your online fitness workout.
• The skin care creams you promote as an affiliate gives someone allergic reactions.
• You’ve told subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t described exactly what you will do with it.
• Someone steals content from your website and publishes it on their own website.
• You haven’t advised your site visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you’re selling that you will earn financial benefits if they purchase it.
• You did not spell out the terms and conditions of your refund or return policies.
• Online visitors claim your testimonials are fake and decide to sue you as a result.
• You have not disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your website includes adult content and you didn’t take appropriate measures to restrict access by underage persons.

Consider now the real case studies of costly compliance breaches below:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to issue everyone they do business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
• A social networking app developer received a massive $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 Users IDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had breached 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 with warnings or lose access to the Google program with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

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

Regardless of whether you are a:

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

It’s imperative to make sure that your website complies with all laws governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.

Compliance With Third-Party Services Terms And Policies

Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need of observing the terms and policies of service providers.

You are expected to let your site users know that your website complies with legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your website, it’s also required in most cases by most companies you interact with.

For example:

Google requires you to display legal information if using their services. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Monetizing your blog with Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense advertising - policy requirements)

Or promoting your business via Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell information products with companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add certain legal pages before your products can be approved for sale …

(ClickBank – policy requirements)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to include clear disclaimers and policy statements on your website, especially when using testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Be Compliant

FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many websites are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this often ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting site owners for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

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

Various resources online provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business meet FTC requirements. We provide links to and additional references to some of these at the end of this article …

(Structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)

Social Media Applications - Don’t Forget These

If you plan to create apps for your site users, you will also be required to provide sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others with information about various legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure as to whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or driving visitors to your website using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
• 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 litigation magnet.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use)

What Legal Pages Do You Need To Add To Your Site To Be Safe From Legal Compliance Issues?

If your website or blog is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will help your site keep out of trouble with most consumer protection authorities and external providers, and even help to avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “take down” notices):

• About Us Page
• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms & Conditions
• Website Disclaimer Pages
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

Additionally, you may want to look into implementing one or more of these legal pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides financial advice)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Media Terms (if you provide users with access to media on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

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

• No Material Connection – This lets your readers be aware that you will not receive compensation for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Disclosure that informs readers that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and purchase through one of your affiliate links.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Lets your visitors know that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product by the author or developer.
• Sponsored Post – Lets readers know that you have been compensated in some form to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs readers 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.

Adding Compliance Pages To Your Site

Ideally, you should have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Uploading Legal Pages To Your Site

If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in standard web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend creating a legals folder in your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder via FTP …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your server and upload pages using FTP)

You can then easily add a link to these legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu admin area …

(WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Website

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to the WordPress sidebar (or the footer of your site) to ensure that visitors have access to legal information from every web page …

(Display links to legal pages on all of your site’s pages)

To learn more about displaying links to pages on your sidebar and footer, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Menu

Use Ready-Made Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting websites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com – Attorney-drafted legal forms)

More info:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can purchase a package of cut and paste legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages)

These legal templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a quick search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your 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 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 web server as previously described.

More info:

• Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Website Legal Pages

WordPress Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using templates, another option for adding legal pages to your site is to use plugins.

Here are some legal plugins for WordPress sites you may be interested in using:

WP Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Legal Pages)

If the idea of setting up legal pages manually seems too time-consuming for you, then consider choosing a plugin like WP Legal Pages instead …

WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your website much easier and save you loads of headaches.

Some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages plugin are:

• Built-in 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 need in around 3 minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit all legal pages like every other WP page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when published.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like every other page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. Page unlocks and can be accessed when users agree to your legal terms.
• Additional Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature is added to your main WordPress dashboard section …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Area)

The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, affiliate sites, Amazon sites, etc …

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

Select from a number of pre-configured legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – 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

To learn more this plugin, go here:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

complete website compliance and disclaimer solution …

Learn We have written an in-depth review of this plugin here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)

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 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 have packaged high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers into a plugin that can be installed quickly on any WordPress powered site. You can have legal pages installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the plugin licensing is very flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites.

For more information, go here:

• Legal Suite Pro

If hiring a lawyer to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, consider implementing at least some basic type of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional assistance.

We want your site to be legally safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal documents, or a WordPress legal pages plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator lets you easily generate essential legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.

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As stated earlier, if you make money online, it’s important that your site stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate how business online is done and the terms of service (TOS) and guidelines of 3rd-party services and products that you may decide to promote or offer online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws intended 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 do not provide legal advice here. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.

Legal Resources

Below is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your site 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
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• US Copyright Office

In Addition …

• 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
• AdWords Help – What to include in your privacy policy for remarketing
• ClickBank – Creating Your First Product
• Facebook Platform Policies

We hope you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand why it’s important to have a compliant website. Use the information above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website.

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