Category: WordPress Configuration

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

As the internet continues growing at an overwhelming speed and the rules constantly change, it’s important that you try to stay on top of what’s happening and ensure that your website or blog remains compliant with all laws and regulations, especially if having an online presence is an essential part of your overall business strategy.

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, then you will need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Search online for information about “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 new laws affect several online business activities, including:

• Any form of advertising, like Google AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creation
• Bloggers
• etc.

If you do not include certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook could suspend web applications, and you won’t be allowed into many advertising or affiliate merchant networks.

If your website is not in compliance, 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 the importance of having a legally compliant website and explain simple and cost-effective ways that will help make your WordPress website legally compliant in minutes.

Is Your Site Breaking The Law?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice about your website or business. You must do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements wherever your business is based in.

Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant

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

• A user suffers a heart attack after purchasing your online fitness workout.
• The skin cream you promote as an affiliate marketer gives someone who purchases from your link skin rashes.
• Your opt-in list displays a statement informing subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t clearly informed them what you plan to do with their details.
• Someone steals 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 are recommending a product as an affiliate that you could earn an affiliate commission if visitors buy it.
• You don’t spell out the terms and conditions of your refund or return policies.
• Online visitors claim your testimonials are false and try to sue you as a result.
• You didn’t disclose that you have received a free copy in your product review.
• Your site contains adult-related information and you have not taken sufficient measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

Consider now the actual examples of costly compliance breaches described:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer copped a whopping $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 prohibits users from scraping Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of $$$ 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% were in breach of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had broken 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 exposed to non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA or PPA Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Marketer
• AdWords Advertiser
• Product Publisher
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

It’s vitally important to make sure that your online business remains legally compliant.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.

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

You are expected to let your site visitors know that your website complies with laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of most companies you interact with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires websites to display certain information when using many of their products and service. This includes Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Earning revenue with your sites with Google AdSense …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

Or promoting your products or services using Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell digital products using companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you are required to add certain legal pages before your products are approved for sale …

(Policy requirements for using ClickBank)

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and policies to visitors, especially if you plan to use testimonials or product endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Be Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this typically results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting website owners for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any type of business 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 interests by ensuring that your website is compliant with all FTC guidelines.

Many business resource sites provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. See our additional resources section at the end of this article for more information …

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

Social Media Apps - Don’t Forget These

If you are planning to develop applications that integrate with your site, you will also be required to provide sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others with access to your legal pages …

(Apps that integrate with social networks also require compliance)

• If you are unsure as to whether or not you may be 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 are considering promoting products or services online as an affiliate marketer, or make money online with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, 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 are required to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
• If you have been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.

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

Common Legal Pages You Should Add To Your Site

If your website or blog is lacking in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will keep your business out of trouble with many consumer protection authorities and 3rd-party providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):

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

In addition to the above pages, you may want to look into implementing any of the pages listed below if applicable:

• Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you provide an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general information about financial areas or money-making opportunities)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Media Terms Of Use (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

It’s important to add the correct types of disclosure pages to your website. For example:

• No Material Connection – This lets visitors know that you will not receive any type of compensation for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Disclosure that informs users that you will benefit financially if they purchase through an affiliate link.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Discloses to site users that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product or service you’re writing about by the author or product developer.
• Sponsored Post – Informs users that you were compensated in some form to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets your visitors know 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 Pages To Your Website

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

Upload Legal Pages Manually

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

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

(Upload legal pages to your server using FTP)

You can then easily add a link to your legal pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …

(WordPress Menu)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are fully up-to-date and display clearly to all site visitors. You can insert these into your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer section of your website) so that visitors have access to the information from all of your pages …

(It’s important to display links to your legal information to users on all of your website’s pages)

For a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer in WordPress using widgets, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In Your Website

Use Store-Bought Legal Templates

You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared website forms and agreements by searching online, or visiting websites like this one:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

More info:

• Find Legal Forms – Legal forms

Another option is to purchase a set of legal templates created by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Legal Templates)

Cut & Paste website legal pages feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a quick search and replace to insert your own business name and URL, then pasted into your web pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects new Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines that came into effect in March 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google & DoubleClick DART, etc.
• ToS & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new page on your website 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.

For more information, go here:

• Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Website Legal Pages

WordPress Legal Plugins

In addition to using cut & paste legal templates, you can simplify things by using a plugin.

Here are some plugins for WordPress-powered websites and blogs that you may be interested in checking out:

WP Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages)

If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider choosing WordPress Legal Pages …

The WP Legal Pages plugin is not free, but it’s a very affordable and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you many headaches.

Here are just some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages:

• 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 will need in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like any page on your site.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages when published.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like every other page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. When the user agrees to the terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• New Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will display inside your main navigation menu …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)

The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, review websites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page type drop down menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – 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

Visit this website for more information about the benefits of using this great plugin:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users with over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your online presence …

For more details go here:

• Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)

Legal Suite Pro 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 Service
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro – 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 very flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell).

For more information, go here:

• Legal Suite Pro

If hiring legal experts to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider at least implementing some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford legal services.

We want your website to be protected!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-prepared legal documentation, or a plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator allows you to easily generate essential legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you do any kind of business online (or plan to), it’s important that your website complies with all legal requirements and the guidelines and terms of service (TOS) provided by 3rd-party products and services that you may be promoting or selling online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect consumers, 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 offer no legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.

References And Legal Resources

Here is a useful list of websites we recommend you visit to better understand what your website may require to remain compliant and meet its 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
• 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
• United States Copyright Office

Also …

• 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 add legal pages to your WordPress website.

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