Category: Engagement Plugins

Is your website compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any laws, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose services or products you are selling or promoting?

Internet laws, regulations, and guidelines were designed to protect consumers and apply to anyone who markets, sells or promotes products and services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not prevent you from being slapped with a legal notice.

New laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for profit, you need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – Better Business Bureau)

The introduction of these laws affect various online business categories, including:

• Any form of advertising, e.g. Google AdWords or AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creators
• Blogging
• etc.

If your website does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo will not allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may close down your account, Facebook could reject web applications, and you will not be allowed to promote most advertising or affiliate marketing networks.

You may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.

The purpose of this article is to make you aware that your website are subject to legal requirements, the importance of being compliant with the terms of service of external providers whose products or services you may be selling online, and that there are plugins for WordPress site owners that can help your websites become compliant, such as the plugins discussed further below.

Is Your Site Breaking The Law?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all laws concerning your specific business.

Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important

Is your business at risk? Consider what the implications to your business would be if the situations below were to take place:

• A user suffers a cardiac arrest after they use 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 defined what you plan to do with their personal details.
• Someone copies content from your site and puts it up on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website making your visitors aware that you are endorsing a product as an affiliate that you could receive an affiliate commission if they purchase the product using your link.
• You have not spelled out the conditions of your return policies.
• A visitor claims your testimonials are false and decides to sue you.
• You didn’t disclose that you have received a free copy of the product you reviewed.
• Your site contains adult-related information and you didn’t take appropriate measures to restrict access by underage children.

Consider now these documented case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information to complete his offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to issue everyone they do business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
• A social networking app developer received a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it 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 in breach of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had infringed 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 notices or lose access entirely to the Google program they had infringed, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how you could become exposed to the risk of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
• MLM Networker
• Affiliate Promoter
• AdWords User
• Info Product Publisher
• Amazon Affiliate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

It’s imperative to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website or blog remains legally compliant.

Complying With Third-Party Companies

Big companies and government trade regulatory agencies emphasize the need and importance of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.

You must let your site visitors know that your business complies with all necessary legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also required in most cases by most companies you will engage with.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires websites to display legal information if using their products or features. This includes Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Generating revenue online with your WordPress blogs using Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense ads policy requirements)

Or promoting your products through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you plan to sell information products with companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will need to add a number of legal pages before they will approve your products for selling via their marketplace …

(Policy requirements for selling through ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires that you display clear disclaimers and statements on your site, especially if you plan to use testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)

FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply

FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will reveal that many websites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

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

You can find many resources online that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site comply with FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …

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

Don’t Forget Social Media Apps

If you are planning to create applications that will integrate with your website, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others will require you to provide access to various legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure as to whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote services or products on your site as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or use 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 include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid 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 website.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)

What Legal Information Should You Add To Your Site To Be Compliant?

If your web site falls short in terms of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your site will help your website stay out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and third-party service providers, and help to avoid possible legal issues):

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

As well as the pages above, you may want to look into implementing one or more of the following pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides financial information)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Use Of Media (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the correct type of disclosure to your website is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Lets site users know that you will not receive compensation for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Disclosure that informs visitors that you may benefit financially if they act on your recommendation and purchase through affiliate links on your site.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Informs your readers that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product or service.
• Sponsored Post – Lets your visitors know that you have been compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs users 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 display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your Website

Ideally, you should consult your lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this prepared, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Upload Legal Web Pages Manually

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 these pages for you.

We recommend creating a legal directory in your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory via FTP …

(Upload legal pages to your server using FTP)

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

(WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Website

Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and clearly accessible to all visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar (or place them in the footer section of your site) so that visitors have access to the information from every web page …

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

We have created a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer using widgets here:

• Configuring Widgets On Your Sidebar

Using Store-Bought Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms – Attorney-drafted legal forms)

Go here to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms

Another option is to purchase a package of cut and paste website legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages)

Cut & Paste website templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with search and replace to insert your own business 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
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC regulations and guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• 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 on your website for each legal form you want to add to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload these to your server as previously described.

For more information, go here:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress sites worth looking into:

WP Legal Pages Plugin

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)

If you don’t want to spend time creating legal web pages manually, then consider choosing a plugin like WP Legal Pages …

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

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

• Built-in Templates – Over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in around 3 minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages just like any WordPress page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your pages when published.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like every other page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed only when users agree to your legal 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 display inside your navigation area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Settings)

You can create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites with products, review sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Page Type)

Choose from various built-in legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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

To learn more about the benefits of using this handy plugin, visit this website:

• WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

total website compliance & disclaimer solution …

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin 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 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 less than one minute and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).

More information:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of legal experts to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford legal services.

We want your site to be 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 ready-made legal forms, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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

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As stated earlier, if you do any kind of business online, you need to ensure that your website is found to comply with all government regulations and any terms of service and guidelines for third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or offer online. Your internet presence must comply with numerous laws and regulatory guidelines, some of which you may not 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.

Resources

Here is a time-saving list of sites we suggest you visit to better understand what may be required of your website to comply and meet its legal obligations:

• 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 – 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
• 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 compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog using simple resources and solutions.

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