Category: WordPress Configuration

Is your WordPress site legally compliant? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose products or services you do business with?

Online laws are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who markets, sells or promotes products or services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not excuse someone from taking legal action against your business.

New laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for profit, then you need to 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). Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – BBB)

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

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

If your website does not display certain legal pages (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, earning disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may shut down your account, Facebook will suspend web applications, and you will not be allowed to enroll in a range of advertising and online merchant networks.

If your digital presence is not in compliance, you could end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

The purpose of this guide is to make you aware that your site may be required to comply with legal requirements according to laws that govern businesses online, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of third-party providers whose services or products you may be offering online, and that there are solutions that can help your site become compliant, such as the tools that we list further below.

Is Your Site Legally Compliant?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice. As stated earlier, the aim of this article is only to make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal policies in accordance with the laws and regulations that govern business online and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose services or products you advertise

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Consider what could happen to your business in the following scenarios:

• A customer has a heart attack after they use your online fitness program.
• The skin care lotion you promote as an affiliate marketer gives someone allergic reactions.
• Your opt-in list displays a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t clearly informed them what you’ll do with their personal details.
• Someone steals content from your website and publishes it on their own site.
• There is no statement on your website making visitors aware that you are an affiliate for the product you are marketing and will derive a sales commission if they purchase it.
• You did not spell out the terms and conditions of your refund policies.
• Online visitors claim that the testimonials on your site are misleading and decide to sue you as a result.
• You didn’t disclose in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your site contains adult-related information and you didn’t take appropriate measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

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

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up their personal information to complete his offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’re now required to provide everyone they do business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — 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 information 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 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% had breached at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were in violation of at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached 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 infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to become exposed to the risk of litigation through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
• MLM Networker
• Affiliate Product Marketer
• AdWords Advertiser
• Niche Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

it’s important to make sure that your digital presence remains legally compliant.

Complying With Third-Party Services

Compliance with 3rd-party services terms and policies is important.

You must let your site users know that your business complies with all necessary legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of most companies you do business with.

For example:

Google requires websites to display legal information when using many of their services or features. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Making money online with your blog using Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)

Or promoting your products through Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you sell information products via merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you are required to add legal pages before your products can be approved for selling via their networks …

(ClickBank – policy requirements for product sellers)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially if you plan to use testimonials or product endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many websites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has happened in the past, 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 plan to do any type of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by ensuring that your site is compliant with all FTC regulations.

Many sites provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your business meet FTC requirements. See our additional references and resources section at the end of this article for more information …

(Wording your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Social Media Applications Also Have Compliance Requirements

If you plan to develop apps for your site, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others will require you to provide information about your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are not sure whether or not 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 services or products online using affiliate marketing, or generating revenue online with Google AdSense, ads for Amazon or eBay products, or use Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to provide on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
• If you have been wondering if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business interests.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)

Essential Legal Pages To Include In Your Website

If your web site is lacking in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website should keep your business out of trouble with many consumer protection agencies and third-party service providers, and avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “cease and desist” notices):

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer Pages
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

Additionally, you may want to look into including one or more of the pages listed below where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you provide information about affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website provides general money-making advice)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Media Terms (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

It’s important to add the right disclosure information to your website. For example:

• No Material Connection – Lets users know that you will not be receiving any type of payment for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Lets your readers be aware that you may receive compensation if they buy through an affiliate link.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Informs visitors that you have received a sample or review copy of the product or service.
• Sponsored Post – Lets site users know that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Legal Content To Your WordPress Website

Ideally, you will consult a lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been completed, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Upload Legal Web Pages To Your Website

If someone prepares the legal content for you as standard web pages (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload them for you.

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

(Upload legal pages to your server via FTP)

You can then easily add links to these legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu administration …

(Custom WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Web Pages On Your Site

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to your visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your sidebar (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that visitors have access to the information from all your pages …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In Your Site

Use Store-Bought Legal Templates

You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting sites like the ones listed below:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Visit this website to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can download a set of cut and paste website legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)

These legal pages feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a simple quick search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your web pages.

The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects new FTC regulations brought into effect on March 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use.

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

To learn more, visit this site:

• Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages

WordPress Plugins – Legal Pages

As well as using cut & paste templates, another option for adding legal pages to your website is to use a plugin.

Here are some legal plugins for WordPress users that you should check out:

WP Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)

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

WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a very low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will make the work of creating and implementing legal pages on your website much easier and save you a great deal of time and effort.

Some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages plugin are:

• Built-in Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the basic legal pages you need in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages just like any other WordPress page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information is then 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 other WP page.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. When users agree to the legal terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• Additional Features – More features are being added to this plugin with every new version.

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

(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Settings Screen)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

You can also select from a number of pre-written legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Pre-configured 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

For more details about using this WordPress plugin, go here:

• WordPress Legal Pages

Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

complete website compliance & disclaimer solution …

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Legal Suite Pro

(Legal Suite Pro)

Legal Suite Pro 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 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 have packaged high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers 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 less than one minute and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites.

For more details, go here:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If hiring legal experts to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing some basic form of legal protection on your site until you can afford a lawyer.

We want your website to be protected!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-written legal content, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator quickly generates essential 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 make money online, it’s important that your website stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business practices online and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines of third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or offer online. If your website isn’t compliant 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?

Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.

Legal Resources & References

Here is a useful list of websites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your site to remain compliant and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:

• 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 Website
• 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
• United States Copyright Office

See Also …

• 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

We hope you have found this article useful and that it 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 or blog.

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