Category: Engagement Plugins

Is your WordPress website legal? Do you know if you are breaking any rules or regulations, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you are selling or promoting?

As the digital way of life continues to grow at an extraordinary rate and rules constantly change, it’s vitally important to try and stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your site remains compliant with all laws and regulations, especially if your web presence is a fundamental aspect of your business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your site 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, also referred to as the BBB. Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Better Business Bureau)

These laws affect various online business activities, including:

• Any form of advertising, including text link ads, Google Adsense, etc.
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketers
• Product Creation
• Bloggers
• etc.

If your site does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, legal disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal could shut down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook could disapprove web applications, and you will not be allowed to enrol in a number of advertising and online marketing networks.

If your online business is not in compliance, you could end up facing a multitude of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

This article explains why it’s important to have a legally compliant website and provides simple methods and solutions to make your WordPress site legally compliant quickly and easily.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice about your website or business. You must carry out your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements in your country or region.

Why Ensuring That Your Website Is Compliant Is Important

Is your business at risk? Consider what would happen to your business if any of these scenarios were to happen:

• A user suffers a cardiac arrest after they use your online workout program.
• The skin care creams you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone allergic reactions.
• Your opt-in list provides a statement informing prospective subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t spelled out exactly what you plan to do with their details.
• Someone steals content from your site and publishes it on their own site.
• There is no statement on your website informing your site visitors that you are marketing a product as an affiliate and will derive a commission if they purchase via your link.
• You didn’t spell out the conditions of your refund/return policies.
• Your visitors claim that the testimonials on your site are all fake and try to sue you because of it.
• You didn’t disclose in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your site publishes adult content and you have not taken appropriate measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

Consider too the actual examples of costly compliance breaches below:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer copped 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 took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in breach of 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 to the Google program whose policies with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming exposed to litigation through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Marketer
• AdSense Publisher
• Product Marketer
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

it’s important to make sure that your digital presence stays fully compliant with the law.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies Terms And Policies

Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the importance of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.

You must let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you will interact with.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires you to display legal information if using many of their products and service. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Making money online with your sites using Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense - policy requirements)

And even promoting your services through Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell digital products with companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will be required to add various legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for sale in their marketplace …

(ClickBank – policy requirements for product sellers)

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

(Federal Trade Commission – 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 reveals that many websites are still 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 do any type of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business by making sure that your site complies with FTC regulations.

A number of business resource sites provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. We provide references to some of these at the end of this article …

(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 apps that will integrate with your site, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others with access to various legal pages …

(Apps for 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 sites like Google, Facebook, etc., it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting products or services online using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or driving visitors to your website using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts terminated.
• If you’ve been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business interests.

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

What Compliance Pages Do I Need To Add To My Site To Be Covered Against Legal Compliance Issues?

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

Adding the following compliance pages to your site will help you keep out of trouble with many regulatory agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues):

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

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

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you promote or sell affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers (if your website provides advice about health or medical areas)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Use Of Media (e.g. if you allow users to download media on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

It’s important to add the right disclosures to your site. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs visitors that you will not receive compensation for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Lets users know that you may be compensated if they act on your recommendation and purchase through your affiliate link.
• Review/Sample Copy – Explains to readers that you have received a review or sample copy of the product.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets users know that you have been compensated in some way to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets visitors know that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with 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 Content To Your Website

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

Upload Legal Pages Manually To Your Website

If someone prepares the legal content 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 adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. using FTP) …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your web server and upload pages using FTP)

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

(WordPress Menu)

Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Site

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

(Display legal information to visitors on all of your site’s pages)

If you need help displaying links to pages on your sidebar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Configure Widgets On Your Sidebar Menu

Use Store-Bought Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or visiting websites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

For more details, go here:

• FindLegalForms.com

Alternatively, you can download a package of legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages)

Cut & Paste website templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a simple quick search and replace to add your own details, then pasted into your legal pages.

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

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

You can either create a new WordPress page for every legal form you want to add to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your server as described earlier.

For more information, go here:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates

Legal Pages – WordPress Plugins

In addition to using copy & paste legal templates, another option is to use plugins.

Here are some legal WordPress plugins you should check out:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)

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

WP Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will help simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website and save you loads of headaches.

Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages:

• Built-in Legal Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of 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.
• Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages like any WP page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages when published.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks when users agree to your terms.
• Additional Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear inside your main dashboard section …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, affiliate/review sites, medical sites, etc …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Page Type)

Select from several pre-written legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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

To learn more about using this plugin, visit the plugin site:

• WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users that contains over twenty customizable compliance templates for your digital presence …

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

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 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 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 flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites.

Visit this website for more information:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing at least some basic type of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance from a legal expert.

We want your site to be safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal page templates, or a legal pages plugin - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator Software lets you easily generate basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.

***

As stated earlier, if you are making money online, it’s important that your site stays compliant with all government laws and regulations and the guidelines and terms of service for third-party sites that you may be promoting or recommending online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect the rights of 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, please note that we are not lawyers and we provide no legal advice. 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 regarding your specific business.

Resources

Here is a useful list of websites we suggest you visit to better understand what your website may require to stay compliant and meet its 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
• Better Business Bureau – 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

See 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

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 all necessary legal pages to your site using simple methods, resources and plugins.

***