Is your WordPress website legal? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose products or services you are recommending or offering?
As the digital realm continues to grow at an overwhelming speed and the rules constantly change, it’s vitally important that you try to stay on top of what’s going on and ensure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if having an online presence plays an important role in your business strategy.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for profit, you will need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory 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 for more details.
(Better Business Bureau)
These laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any type of advertising, like Google AdWords
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creation
- Bloggers
- etc.
If your website does not display certain pages (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, earning 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 could shut down your account, Facebook could reject your applications, and you won’t be allowed to participate in a number of advertising and affiliate merchant networks.
If your website is not in compliance, you could also end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
This guide explains why it’s important to have a compliant website and presents simple methods and solutions that will help make your WordPress website compliant.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with all legal requirements wherever your business operates in.
The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Consider for a moment what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:
- A person has a cardiac arrest after using your online fitness workout.
- The skin cream you promote as an affiliate marketer gives someone skin rashes.
- Your opt-in list provides a statement informing subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you have not defined what you plan to do with their personal details.
- Someone steals your content and publishes it on their own website.
- There is no statement on your site letting visitors know that you are marketing a product as an affiliate and could earn a commission if visitors end up purchasing via your link.
- You did not spell out the conditions of your refund policies.
- Your visitors claim the testimonials on your site are misleading and decide to sue you because of it.
- You have not disclosed that you have received a free copy of the product in your review.
- Your site publishes adult-related content and you did not take appropriate measures to keep underaged persons from accessing it.
Consider also the documented case studies of costly compliance breaches listed below:
- 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 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 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, resulting thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were breaking 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 with warnings or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to risk being a target of litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Marketer
- AdSense Publisher
- Info Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Adult Content Publisher
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
It’s vitally important to ensure that your website is legally compliant.
Complying With Third-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.
Big companies and government regulatory agencies emphasize the importance of complying with the terms and policies of third-party service providers.
You must let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and confidence in your business, it’s also required in most cases by most companies you will interact with.
Let’s take a look at some examples:
Google requires you to display certain information when using many of their products and features. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Monetizing your site with Google AdSense ads …
(Google AdSense - policy requirements)
Or promoting your site through Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you sell digital products with places like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add certain legal pages before they will approve your products for sale in their networks …
(ClickBank – policy requirements for digital product sellers)
The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and statements on your website, especially regarding the use of product testimonials or endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Comply
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this will most likely prompt the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any type of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by ensuring that your site is compliant with FTC guidelines.
A number of business resource sites provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. We provide additional references and links to resources to a number of these at the end of this article …
(It’s important to structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you plan to develop applications for your site users, you will also be required to provide sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others with access to your legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are unsure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting products or services on your site as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or using Google AdWords 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 all Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
- If you have ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Compliance Information Pages Does My Website Need To Be Legally Compliant?
If your website or blog is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following compliance pages to your site should keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and external service providers, and help to avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “cease and desist” notices):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms Of Use
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
In addition to the above, you may want to look into implementing one or more of the following pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides advice about health or medical areas)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Video/Audio Terms Of Use (if you allow media downloads on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the correct type of disclosure to your site is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets users know that you will not receive compensation for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Notifies readers that you may benefit financially if they purchase through your affiliate link.
- Sample Or review Copy – Lets your readers know that you have received a sample or review copy of the product by the author or developer.
- Sponsored Post – Informs your visitors that you were 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 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 Content To Your WordPress Site
Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been done, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Pages Manually
If someone prepares 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 adding a legals directory to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then easily add links to your 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 clearly visible to all visitors. You can insert these into the sidebar menu (or place them in the footer section of your website or blog) to ensure that users can access the information from every web page …
(Display legal information to visitors on all of your site’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer menu using widgets here:
Templates
You can find attorney-drafted downloadable internet forms and agreements by searching online, or by going to sites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
To learn more, go here:
Another option is to download a package of cut and paste website legal templates drafted by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
These legal pages feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with simple search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your 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
- Privacy Policy
- ToS & Conditions of Use.
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 web pages and publish or upload these to your web server as previously described.
More info:
Legal Pages – Plugins
As well as using cut & paste templates, another option for adding legal pages to your site is to use a plugin.
Here are some plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)
If the idea of creating legal pages manually seems too time-consuming for you, then consider using a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages …
This plugin is not free, but it’s a low-priced 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.
Some of the benefits of using the WP Legal Pages plugin are:
- Pre-written Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – Content editor lets you edit legal pages like every other page on your site.
- Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your WordPress pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when published.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. When users agree to your terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
- New Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will be added to your main WordPress dashboard section …
(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)
This lets you view, create and edit legal pages from the admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings)
The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, affiliate/review websites, Amazon sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page type menu)
Choose from various built-in legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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
Visit this site to learn more about the benefits of using this great plugin:
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin containing over 20 customizable legal page templates for your online business …
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Legal Suite Pro
(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 & Conditions
- 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them 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 plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell).
To learn more, visit this site:
If hiring lawyers to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic type of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance.
We want your website to be legally protected!
Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (it’s FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal content, or a WordPress plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to easily generate essential 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 is found to comply with all laws and regulations and the guidelines and terms of service of third-party products and services that you may be promoting or using online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect consumer rights, 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?
Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice here. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.
Additional Information
Here is a time-saving list of additional sites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your site to remain compliant and meet 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
- 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
And …
- 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
Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the importance of having a compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress site.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group