Is your website legal? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose products or services you do business with?
Internet laws were designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who markets, sells or promotes goods or services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not prevent someone from taking legal action against your business.
New laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you promote anything on your site for material gain, you will need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau, also referred to as BBB. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
These laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any kind of advertising, e.g. display advertising
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
Without certain legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t approve your digital products for sale, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook will disapprove your applications, and you will not be allowed to promote many advertising or affiliate merchant networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.
The purpose of this guide is to make you aware that your website(s) are required to comply with various legalities according to laws that govern online businesses, the importance of remaining compliant with the terms of service of external providers whose products or services you may be recommending on your site, and that there are solutions that can help your website become fully compliant, such as the tools listed further below.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice about your website or business. You must carry out your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all laws and regulations wherever you do business.
Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important
Consider for a minute what would happen to your business if any of the scenarios below were to happen:
- Someone has a cardiac arrest after using your online workout program.
- The skin care products you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone who purchases from your link allergic reactions.
- You’ve informed your subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you have not clearly informed them what you plan to do with it.
- Someone copies content from your website and puts it up on their website.
- There is no statement on your site making your site users aware that you’re an affiliate for the product you are endorsing that you may receive an affiliate commission if they purchase it.
- You have not spelled out the conditions of your refund and return policies.
- A visitor claims that the testimonials on your site are false and decides to sue you.
- You didn’t disclose that you were given a free copy of a product you reviewed.
- Your website publishes adult-related content and you didn’t take sufficient measures to keep underage children from accessing it.
Consider now the documented case studies of costly compliance breaches listed below:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
- 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 children’s private information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape UIDs. Many internet marketers gambled that they could get away with it 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 websites chosen at random, more than 90% had breached at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken 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 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 being targeted for litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) or CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdWords User
- Info Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
- Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product
it’s important to ensure that your website or blog stays legally compliant.
Complying With Third-Party Services - ToS, Policies, etc.
Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need and importance of complying with the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.
You must let your visitors know that your business complies will all legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you do business with online.
For example:
Google requires your site to display legal information when using many of their products and features. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Monetizing your site with Google AdSense display advertising …
(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)
Or promoting your services or products via Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information-based products using merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will be required to add certain legal pages before your products are approved for sale …
(ClickBank – policy requirements for vendors)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you display clear disclaimers and statements on your site, especially concerning the use of product testimonials or endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)
New FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Comply
FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many sites are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has already been the case, this typically results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies 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 is not physically located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by making sure that your website is compliant with FTC regulations.
There are many resources online that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site comply with FTC requirements. We provide links to and additional references to a number of these at the end of this article …
(Structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you are planning to develop social networking applications that will integrate with your site, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others with information about various legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are unsure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote products or services on your site as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or use Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to include on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
- If you’ve been wondering 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 services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Legal Pages Do I Need To Add To My Site To Be Legally Compliant?
If you suspect that your web site lacks in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
Adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep your business out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and third-party service providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms Of Use
- Website Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the above pages, you may want to look into implementing one or more of the pages listed below:
- Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general health or medical information)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Video/Audio Terms (if you provide users with access to downloadable videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
It’s important to add the right types of disclosure pages to your site. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets visitors be aware that you’re not being paid for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Notifies users that you may derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and purchase through an affiliate link.
- Sample/Review Copy – Lets readers know that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product by the author or developer.
- Sponsored Post – Lets visitors know that you have been compensated in some form 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 website publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Content To Your WordPress Site
Ideally, you should have your lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once these have been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in standard 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 legal directory in your 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 these pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …
(WordPress Menu)
Displaying Legal Pages On Your Site
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and display clearly to all site visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into your sidebar (or the footer of your website) so that users have access to the information from every page …
(Display links to legal information on all of your website’s pages)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on displaying links to pages on your sidebar and footer menu, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Legal Templates
You can find downloadable attorney-drafted disclosures and website forms and agreements by searching online, or by going to websites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
Go here to learn more:
Alternatively, you can purchase a set of website legal templates drafted by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Website Legal Pages)
Cut & Paste website 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 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
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page on your website for each legal form you want added to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your web server as described previously.
For more details, go here:
WordPress Plugins – Legal Pages
As well as using cut & paste legal templates, you can keep things very simple by using plugins.
Here are some great legal WordPress plugins you should check out:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)
If the idea of creating legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider using a plugin like WP Legal Pages …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a very low-priced and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will make the work of creating and implementing legal pages on your site a lot easier and save you many headaches.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages:
- Pre-written Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you need in around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like any other WP page.
- Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your pages when published.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any WP page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. Page unlocks only when users agree to your terms.
- New Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear in your main WordPress dashboard menu …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)
This allows you to view, create and edit legal pages from the admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)
You can create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, niche sites, AdSense sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)
Choose from a number of pre-written legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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:
Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin that includes over twenty customizable compliance pages for your digital business …
Go here to learn more:
Legal Suite Pro
(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 of Use
- 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. 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 this plugin on all of your sites.
More info:
If hiring lawyers to create your legal documentation is currently out of your budget, consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional legal services.
We want your website to be protected!
Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (it’s FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal content, or a plugin - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software quickly generates basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As stated earlier, if you are making money online, you need to make sure that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) for third-party sites that you may be promoting or advertising online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws intended to protect the rights of consumers, you’re breaking the law.
Non-compliance 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, we are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with the law wherever your business is based.
Additional Legal Information
Below is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to better understand what your business requires to remain compliant and meet legal obligations:
- Federal Trade Commission 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
- United States Copyright Office
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 why it’s important to have a compliant website. Use the information above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress site.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum