Category: Engagement Plugins

If you plan to grow a successful business online, you do not want to find yourself breaking rules or regulations.

Online laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes goods and services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not protect someone from taking legal action against you.

New laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites 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 regulatory departments, such as the US-based BBB, or Better Business Bureau. 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)

The new laws affect various online business categories, including:

• Any kind of advertising, like Google AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creators
• Bloggers
• etc.

If your website does not display certain legal pages (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo will not approve your digital products for sale, PayPal may close down your account, Facebook will disapprove your web applications, and you won’t be allowed to enroll in various advertising and online merchant networks.

If your digital presence is not in compliance, you could face a multitude 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 are subject to legal requirements, the importance of complying with the terms of service of third-party providers whose services or products you may be using online, and that there are easy solutions that can help your websites become compliant, such as the tools listed further below.

Is Your Website Or Blog Breaking The Law?

Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice on this website. As previously stated, this article is designed only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal policies in accordance with the laws and regulations that govern your business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you recommend on your website or blog

Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important

Consider what would happen to your business if any of the following were to occur:

• A person has a heart attack after they use your online fitness workout.
• The skin care products you sell as an affiliate gives people skin rashes.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you have not defined what you will do with it.
• Someone steals content from your website and publishes it on their website.
• There is no statement on your website making your site users aware that you are an affiliate for the product you are marketing and will get paid an affiliate commission if visitors buy using your link.
• You didn’t spell out the terms and conditions of your return policies.
• Someone claims your testimonials are all fake and decides to sue you.
• You did not disclose that you have received a free copy in your product review.
• Your site publishes adult-related information and you didn’t take sufficient measures to restrict access by underaged children.

Consider too these real examples of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer copped a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ 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 $$$ 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% were in violation of 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 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 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 be exposed to the risk of litigation through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Marketer
• AdWords Advertiser
• Product Marketer
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

It’s imperative to ensure that your website or blog has the right legal pages and information displayed to your site users.

Complying With Third-Party Services - ToS, Policies, etc.

Compliance with third-party services terms and policies is important.

You must let your site visitors know that your business complies with all necessary laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of most companies you engage with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires websites to display legal information when using many of their products. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Earning revenue online with your blog with Google AdSense …

(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your business using Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell digital products through companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add various legal pages before your products can be approved for selling via their network …

(Policy requirements digital product vendors using ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

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 websites are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies 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. it’s best to protect your business by ensuring that your website complies with FTC regulations and guidelines.

You can find many resources websites for businesses that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet 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 laws and regulations)

Social Media Applications Also Require Compliance

If you plan to create apps for your website users, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others will require you to provide information about various legal pages …

(Social networking apps also require compliance)

• If you are unsure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of service providers like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or monetize your pages with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, 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 are required to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
• If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)

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

If you suspect that your web site lacks in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following compliance pages to your website will keep your business out of trouble with most consumer protection authorities and 3rd-party providers, and even help to avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):

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

In addition to the above pages, you may want to look into implementing one or more of the pages listed below:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general money-making information)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Use Of Media (e.g. if you allow media downloads on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the right disclosure information to your site is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you will not receive for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Lets visitors be aware that you may receive compensation if they purchase through your affiliate link.
• Sample/Review Copy – Explains to site users that you have received a sample or review copy of the product or service by the author or developer.
• Sponsored Post – Discloses to readers that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs your visitors 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 Content To Your Site

Ideally, you will consult lawyers and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading 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 web server, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend adding a legal folder to your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder (e.g. using FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your server via FTP)

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

(WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and display clearly to your visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your WordPress sidebar (or the footer section of your website) to ensure that users have access to the information from all your web pages …

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

We have created a detailed tutorial about displaying links to pages on your sidebar or footer menu here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In Your Sidebar Area

Legal Templates

You can find downloadable attorney-prepared forms and agreements by searching online, or by going to sites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Visit this site to learn more:

• FindLegalForms.com

Another option is to purchase a set of cut & paste website legal templates drafted by attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Forms)

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

The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Forms include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance
• Privacy Policy
• ToS & 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 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 the pages to your web server as described earlier.

More info:

• Scott Talbert’s Legal Templates

Legal Pages – WordPress Plugins

As well as using legal templates, another option for adding legal pages to your site is to use plugins.

Here are some great legal WordPress plugins worth looking into:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)

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

This is not a free plugin, but it’s a very low-priced and well-supported plugin that will help make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site much easier and save you time.

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

• Built-in Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the basic legal pages you will need in around 3 minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages just like every other WP page.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – Add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like every other page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed when users agree to your legal terms.
• New Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature is added to your dashboard menu …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)

You can easily create legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, affiliate/review sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

You can also select from several 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 this WordPress plugin, visit this site:

• WP Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – WP Compliance Plugin

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users that includes over twenty customizable legal templates for your digital business …

More info:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

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 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 site. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the license allows you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell).

Go here for more details:

• Legal Suite Pro

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

We want your website to be legally safe!

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

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you are making money online (or plan to), it’s important that your site complies with regulatory agencies and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) provided by third-party sites that you may decide to promote or use online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws intended 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 are not offering 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 concerning your specific business.

Resources

Below is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your business requires to comply and meet legal obligations:

• Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
• FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
• 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

In Addition …

• Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
• Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
• 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

We hope you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress website or blog using inexpensive legal resources and solutions.

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