Is your website compliant? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you endorse or advertise?
Internet laws are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes goods or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law won’t excuse you from being slapped with a legal notice.
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 profit, you need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the 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.
(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
These laws affect various business categories, including:
- Any kind of advertising, e.g. Google AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
Without certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may close down your account, Facebook will reject your applications, and you will not be allowed into a number of advertising and online merchant networks.
If you are not compliant, you could also end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that your website or blog are subject to legal requirements according to laws that govern businesses online, the importance of being compliant with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you may be endorsing on your site, and that there are solutions that can help your site become fully compliant, such as the plugins discussed further below.
Is Your Site Legally Compliant?
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. As previously stated, this article is designed only to make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal requirements in accordance with the laws and regulations governing business practices online and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you offer on your website
Understanding The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Are you at risk? Consider what would happen to your business if any of these situations were to happen:
- A user suffers a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness workout.
- The skin care creams you sell as an affiliate marketer gives a number of users skin rashes.
- Your opt-in list displays a statement letting subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t spelled out exactly what you’ll do with their details.
- Someone steals content from your website and puts it up on their own site.
- You have not divulged to visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you’re endorsing that you will get paid financial benefits if they buy it.
- You did not spell out the terms and conditions of your refund or return policies.
- Someone claims that the testimonials on your site are misleading and tries to sue you as a result.
- You have not disclosed in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
- Your website contains adult information and you have not taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underage children.
Consider too the following actual examples of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to provide everyone he does 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 without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes UIDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted 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% were in breach of at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached at least three 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 entirely 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 litigation?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdWords Advertiser
- Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
- Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product
You need to ensure that your digital presence remains fully compliant with the law.
Complying 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 required to let your site visitors know that your business complies with legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also required by most companies you will interact with online.
For example:
Google requires your site to display certain information if using many of their services or product features. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Monetizing your online properties using Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense ads policy requirements)
Or promoting your products or services via Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you sell digital products through companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you are required to add legal pages before your products can be approved for selling via their network …
(Policy requirements for selling products through ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to display clear disclaimers and statements on your site, especially if you plan to sell or promote products with the aid of testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant
FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many websites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this often ends up with 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 plan to do any type of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by ensuring that your website complies with FTC guidelines and regulations.
Various business resources provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. See the additional references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Structuring your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of the law)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you are planning to create apps that will integrate with your site, you will also be required to provide sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others with information about various legal pages …
(Facebook apps also require compliance)
- If you are unsure whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of organizations like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote products or services on your site as an affiliate marketer, or monetizing your pages with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, 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 need to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
- If you have ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business interests.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use)
Essential Legal Pages You Should Include In Your Website To Ensure Compliance
If you suspect that your website is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your site should help your website stay out of trouble with many consumer protection authorities and external providers, and avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms & Conditions
- Website Disclaimer Pages
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
In addition to the above, you may want to consider adding any of these pages:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you promote or sell affiliate products or services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers (if your website provides health or medical advice)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Audio/Video Terms Of Use (e.g. if you allow media downloads on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the right web content disclosure information is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Lets users be aware that you will not receive any kind of payment for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Lets users know that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they buy through your affiliate link.
- Review Or Sample Copy – Explains to readers that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product you’re reviewing.
- Sponsored Post – Informs site users that you have been compensated in some way to write the article.
- 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 online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Content To Your Site
Ideally, you should have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Pages Manually
If someone prepares the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, 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 directory via FTP …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your server and upload pages using FTP)
You can then add links to these pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Site
Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and clearly visible to all site visitors. You can add these to the WordPress sidebar (or the footer of your website or blog) so that users have access to legal information from every web page …
(It’s important to display links to your legal pages on all of your site’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial on displaying links to pages on your sidebar menu and footer in WordPress using widgets here:
Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can easily find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements just by searching online, or going to sites like the ones listed below:
Find Legal Forms
For more information, go here:
Another option is to download a package of website legal templates drafted by attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Website Legal Pages)
Cut & Paste website legal pages were created 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 business details, then pasted into your legal pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC regulations and guidelines brought into effect in 2012)
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page on your website 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 your legal pages to your web server as previously described.
Go here for more info:
Legal Page Plugins
In addition to using cut & paste legal templates, another option is to use a plugin.
Here are some great legal WordPress plugins you should check out:
WP Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)
If creating legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider installing WP Legal Pages …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the benefits of using the WP Legal Pages plugin:
- Built-in Legal Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you need in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like every other page on your site.
- Custom Shortcodes Integration – You can add shortcodes to your WordPress pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content when you publish.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other WordPress page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks when user agrees to your terms.
- Additional Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will appear in your navigation section …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)
This lets you create, edit and view legal pages from the admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)
With WPLegal Pages, you can create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, affiliate sites, e-commerce sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Page type menu)
You can also select from various pre-written legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages – 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 great plugin, go here:
Compliance Bar Plugin – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar Plugin is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your site …
Learn more about the plugin here:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress)
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 Service
- 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them into a plugin that can be installed quickly on any WordPress site. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the plugin licensing is very flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites.
For more details, go here:
If using the services of lawyers to create your legal pages is out of your budget, then 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 legally 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 templates, or a plugin - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software quickly generates essential legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to ensure that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies and the guidelines and terms of service provided by third-party services and products that you may be promoting or selling online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws designed to protect 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, please note that we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law concerning your specific business.
References And Resources
Below is a useful list of websites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your business requires to comply and meet 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
- 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
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- US Copyright Office
Plus …
- Google Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- 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
Hopefully, this article has helped you understand why it’s important to have a compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your website.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)