Is your WordPress website legally compliant? Do you know if your site is breaking any laws, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you endorse or use?
As the digital realm continues growing at an overwhelming speed and the rules of the game constantly change, it’s vitally important to try and stay informed about what’s going on and make sure that your website remains legal, especially if your digital presence plays a significant part in your overall business strategy.
New laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for material gain, then you 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 (BBB). Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The introduction of new laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any form of advertising, e.g. Google AdWords or AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
If you do not display certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not allow you to list your digital products on their network, PayPal could shut down your account, Facebook could reject your web applications, and you won’t be allowed to participate in a number of advertising and online merchant networks.
If your online presence is not compliant, you could end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
In this article, we look at why it’s important to have a legally compliant website and show you inexpensive solutions to make your website compliant.
Is Your Site Compliant?
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all laws and regulations wherever you do business.
Understanding The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Consider what could happen to your business if any of these situations were to happen:
- Someone suffers a heart attack after using your online fitness workout.
- The skin care lotion you sell as an affiliate gives someone an allergic reaction.
- You’ve told your subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t described exactly what you plan to do with their personal details.
- Someone copies your content and puts it up on their site.
- There is no statement on your site telling your site visitors that you are an affiliate for the product you are marketing and could earn financial benefits if visitors buy it.
- You did not spell out the terms of your return policies.
- A visitor claims your testimonials are all fake and tries to sue you.
- You did not disclose that you received a free copy in your product review.
- Your website publishes adult content and you did not take appropriate measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.
Consider also the following actual examples of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information (including credit card information to complete his offer. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
- 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 independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% were breaking 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 with warnings or lose access entirely to the Google program with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming a target of litigation?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) or PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Product Promoter
- AdSense Publisher
- Niche Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product
it’s important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your digital presence complies with all laws and regulations governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.
Complying With Third-Party Companies
Complying with third-party services terms and policies is important.
You are required to let your site visitors know that your business complies with laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your business, it’s also required by most companies you engage with.
For example:
Google requires you to display legal information if using their services and features. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Monetizing your site using Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense advertising - policy requirements)
Or promoting your business via Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information-based products with companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for sale …
(Policy requirements product vendors selling via ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you display clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially when using product testimonials or endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many websites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often ends up with 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 type of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business by ensuring that your website complies with FTC regulations.
You can find many business resource sites that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. See our additional resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Wording your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of the law)
Social Media Applications Also Have Compliance Requirements
If you are planning to create applications that integrate with your site, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others with information about various legal pages …
(Apps for social networks also require compliance)
- If you are not sure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote services or products online using affiliate marketing, or monetize your pages with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or driving visitors to your site using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts terminated.
- If you have been wondering if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)
What Compliance Pages Do I Need To Add To My Website To Be Legally Compliant?
If you suspect that your web site is lacking in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your website should help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and 3rd-party providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “cease and desist” notices):
- About Us Page
- Contact Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to consider including any of the following pages where applicable:
- Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides financial information)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Use Of Media (if you allow media downloads on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding correct disclosure information to your website is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets your visitors know that you’re not receiving any type of compensation for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Lets readers be aware that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and buy through your affiliate link.
- Sample Or review Copy – Lets users know that you have received a sample or review copy of the product or service by the author or product developer.
- Sponsored Post – Informs users that you have been compensated in some form to write the post.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets users know 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.
How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your WordPress Site
Ideally, you will have your lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this completed, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages Manually To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you as standard web pages (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend creating a legal directory on your server and uploading your legal pages to this directory via FTP …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your web server and upload pages via FTP)
You can then add a link to your legal pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
Where To Display Legal Web Pages On Your Website
Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and clearly visible to all visitors. You can add these to the sidebar (or place them in the footer of your website) so that visitors have access to the information from every web page …
(It’s important to display links to your legal pages on all of your website’s pages)
If you need help adding links to pages on your sidebar and footer in WordPress using widgets, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-drafted internet forms and agreements by searching online, or by going to websites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
Go here for more info:
Alternatively, you can download a package of cut and paste legal templates created by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Website Legal Pages)
These templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with search and replace to add your own details, then pasted into your web pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Forms include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines that came into effect on March 2012)
- Privacy Policy: Google, etc.
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page for every legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload the pages to your web server as described earlier.
More info:
Legal Pages – Plugins
As well as using templates, you can simplify things using a plugin.
Here are some plugins for WordPress-powered websites that you may be interested in using:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider choosing WordPress Legal Pages instead …
This plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website and save you loads of headaches.
Some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages 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 your basic legal pages in around 3 minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit all legal pages like any other WordPress page.
- Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information will be 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 every other page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks only when users agree to your legal terms.
- New Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will display inside your dashboard menu …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This lets you create, view and edit your legal pages from your admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)
You have the option of easily creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, niche websites, Amazon sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)
Choose from a number of built-in legal templates …
(WordPress 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 website to learn more this handy plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Compliance Plugin
Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users that contains over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your digital business …
More info:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)
Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress 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 Plugin – 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 one minute or less and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).
More information:
If hiring lawyers to create your online legal documentation is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional assistance from a legal firm.
We want your site to be safe!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or consider using one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documents, or a WordPress plugin - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator quickly generates basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you do any type of business online, it’s important that your website is found to comply with regulatory agencies and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) for third-party services and products that you may be promoting or selling online. Your internet presence must comply with various regulations, many of which you may not be aware of.
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?
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.
Additional Legal Information
Here is a time-saving list of websites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what your site may require to remain compliant and meet its 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 – BBB
- 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
- 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
- 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 presented above to quickly and easily add essential legal pages to your website or blog.
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