Category: Engagement Plugins

One of the worst things that can happen to you as a business owner is to be on the wrong side of the law.

As the internet continues to grow at breakneck speed and the rules constantly change, it’s vital that you stay on top of what’s going on and ensure that your website remains compliant, especially if having an online presence is important in the success of your business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for material gain, then you must follow certain principles of disclosure 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 to learn more.

(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

These laws has legal ramifications for several online business categories, including:

• Any kind of advertising, e.g. contextual ads
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketers
• Product Creators
• Blogging
• etc.

If your site does not display certain pages (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not allow you to list digital products on their network, PayPal may suspend your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will reject web applications, and you won’t be allowed to promote various advertising and affiliate marketing networks.

If your digital presence is not in compliance, you could also face a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

This guide explains the importance of having a compliant website and lists inexpensive solutions to help make your website compliant quickly and easily.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice about your website or business. As previously stated, the aim of this article is to make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal policies in accordance with the laws governing online business practices and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of third-party companies whose products or services you use on your website or blog

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Consider for one minute what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• A user suffers a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness program.
• The skin care creams you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone who purchases from your link skin rashes.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not described exactly what you plan to do with the information you have collected.
• Someone copies content from your website and publishes it on their own site.
• There is no statement on your site making your site users aware that you are recommending a product as an affiliate and may get paid a sales commission if visitors purchase via your affiliate link.
• You haven’t spelled out the conditions of your refund or return policies.
• Visitors claim that your testimonials are all fake and decide to sue you.
• You have not disclosed in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your website contains adult content and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underage persons.

Consider too these documented examples of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information to complete a debt reduction 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 private information about children.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits users from scraping UIDs. Many internet 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 websites chosen at random, more than 90% had infringed 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 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 they had infringed, 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 through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Marketer
• AdWords User
• Niche Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

It’s imperative to ensure that your digital presence complies with all laws and regulations governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.

Complying With Third-Party Services Terms And Policies

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 site users know that your website complies will all legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also required in many cases by most companies you will interact with online.

For example:

Google requires your site to display legal information when using many of their services or product features. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Making money online with your blogs using Google AdSense display advertising …

(Google AdSense - policy requirements)

Or promoting your site through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you plan to sell information products through companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you are required to add various legal pages to your website before your products are approved for selling via their network …

(ClickBank – policy requirements)

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially regarding the use of product testimonials or endorsements …

(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Site 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 documented on their website, this often ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you plan to do any kind of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business interests by making sure that your site is compliant with FTC guidelines and regulations.

A number of business resources provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. We provide additional references to some of these at the end of this article …

(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)

Don’t Forget Social Media Apps

If you plan to develop applications that will integrate with your website, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others with information about various legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting products or services online as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or driving visitors to your site with 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’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.

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

What Compliance Pages Do You Need To Add To Your Website To Be Safe From Legal Compliance Issues?

If you suspect that your web site lacks in terms of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep your business out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and avoid potential legal issues):

• About Us Page
• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Disclaimers
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

As well as the above, you may want to consider adding one or more of the following pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you provide information about affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides financial content)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Media Terms Of Use (if you allow media downloads on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

Adding the right web content disclosure information is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Lets site users be aware that you will not receive any type of compensation for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Lets visitors be aware that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and buy through your affiliate links.
• Review/Sample Copy – Discloses to users that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product you’re reviewing.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that informs visitors that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets 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.

Adding Legal Pages Content To Your Site

Ideally, you should 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 include them in your website.

Upload Legal Pages To Your Site

If someone prepares the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend creating a legal folder in your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder using FTP …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your web server and upload pages via FTP)

You can then easily add a link to these legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu admin area …

(Custom WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Web Pages On Your Website

Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and clearly visible to all site visitors. You can add these to your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website) to ensure that users will be able to access the information from every web page …

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

If you need help adding links to pages on your sidebar using widgets, see this tutorial:

• Adding And Configuring Widgets On The Sidebar Navigation Area

Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

To learn more, go here:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can download a package of website legal templates created by attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Website Legal Pages)

These templates were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with simple search and replace to add your own business details, then pasted into your web pages.

The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines brought into effect on March 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use: includes inter- & intra-page redundancy, Contra Proferentem provision, reservation of rights, and exclusive social media admonition.

You can either create a new page for every legal form you want to add 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 earlier.

Go here for more details:

• Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Form Templates

Legal Pages – WordPress Plugins

As well as using cut & paste legal templates, you can simplify things by using plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress-powered websites you should check out:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

(WP Legal Pages Plugin)

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

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

Some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages are:

• Built-in Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Fully Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like every other WP page.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – Add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
• Exclude pages. 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. When users agree to your terms, the page unlocks.
• Additional Features – More features get added to this plugin with every new version.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear in your navigation menu section …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)

With WP Legal Pages, you can create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, affiliate websites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page type menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – 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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WordPress Compliance Plugin

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users containing over twenty customizable legal pages for your online business …

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress)

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 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 powered 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 this plugin on all of your sites.

Go here for more information:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of a lawyer 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 site until you can afford a lawyer.

We want your business to be legally safe!

Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (for FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal content, or plugins - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator lets you quickly generate necessary 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 are making money online, it’s important that your website stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate online business practices and the guidelines and terms of service provided by third-party products and services that you may decide to promote or use online. Your website or blog must comply with a whole range of regulations, many of which you may not even be aware of.

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, we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. Do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.

Legal Information

Below is a time-saving list of websites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what your website may require to comply and meet legal requirements and guidelines:

• FTC 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

Also …

• Google 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 this article has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress site using simple and cost-effective legal resources and solutions.

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