One of the worst predicaments you can find yourself in as a website owner is to break the law.
If your website isn’t compliant with laws designed to protect consumer rights, you’re breaking the law.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of incurring both financial losses and the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your business reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this article, we review a simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress users that can help make your website compliant just minutes.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?
As the internet continues growing at an extraordinary rate and the rules of the game are constantly changing, it’s vitally important that you stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your site remains compliant, especially if your online presence is an integral part of your overall business strategy.
If there are no legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank will not allow you to list your digital products on their network, PayPal could shut down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook and many other social networks will suspend your applications, and you will not be accepted into most advertising and merchant networks.
If you are not in compliance, you could also end up facing a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
At the very least, without making it very clear to your visitors that your digital properties comply with legal requirements and regulatory guidelines, expect visitor trust and confidence in your business to seriously diminish.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines!)
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice in this article.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to various legal requirements in accordance with mandatory laws and regulations that govern your business (some of which you may not even be aware of),
- The importance of complying with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you are offering or endorsing in your website, and
- There are inexpensive solutions that can help your business become compliant, such as the solution that we review in this article.
If you suspect that your website is falling short in terms of compliance, there is a simple plugin for WordPress-powered sites you should know more about.
Let’s Review …
Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
The Compliance Bar Plugin For WordPress is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your website …
Go here to learn more: Compliance Bar Plugin
Compliance Bar Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your website or blog compliant:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Compliance Bar is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Page Templates Are Really Easy To Edit
You can easily edit the built-in compliance page templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu using the WordPress WYSIWYG editor.
Dedicated Plugin Support
The plugin developers provide dedicated 24/7 plugin support to help users.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Customized Legal Templates: The Compliance Bar plugin will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Complete Video Training Manuals: Compliance Bar is not complicated to use - an entire library of training videos is provided if you need assistance.
- Can Be Used In Every Country: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the built-in templates provided with the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever your business is located.
- Can Be Used On All WordPress Sites: If your website is driven by WordPress, you can use the plugin for every website purpose. Just select the legal pages you want to add to your site and leave out any irrelevant pages.
Features
Compliance Bar Plugin offers many features to WordPress users. Here are just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Be up and running in very little time.
- Show Attractive Icon Bar – Display links to your legal pages using attractive icons that can be placed anywhere in your pages. You can also upload your own icons.
- Show Sensitive Content – If you plan to publish content that should be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, adult, etc.), the plugin can display popups that require users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If you do business in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying your users and covering you from non-compliance issues.
- Record & Store IP Addresses – Compliance Bar can record the IP address of your visitors for future reference, just in case someone accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they didn’t.
- Shortcodes – Compliance Bar is integrated with shortcodes that populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (even in the popups).
- Works On Mobile Devices – The plugin has settings for displaying on mobile devices and tablets and can display mobile optimized icons automatically based on visitor web browsers.
Plugin Features – Details
After installing and activating the Compliance Bar plugin, you will have access to a number of sections where you can configure the plugin’s settings.
Let’s review these briefly …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this screen where your information can be entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Registered Business Address,” “Location Details,” “Niche Market,” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Page – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar uses dynamic shortcodes to automatically populate the information from your User Profile inside your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Image source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required data has been entered into the plugin settings fields, users can then access the other plugin areas.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” section includes a list of all of the compliance template pages …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Here’s the complete list of legal templates made available by the plugin last time we checked their site:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure
- Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Contact Us
- Copyright/DCMA Notice
- Disclaimer
- Double Dart Cookies
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- FTC Statement
- Legal Disclaimer
- Linking Policy
- Medical Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Returns/Refund Policy
- Support
- Terms
- Terms & Conditions
- Testimonial Disclosure
- XXX Disclosure
Creating legal pages for your blog or website is a simple process. Just select the check boxes next to the pages you want to create and click ”Save” in the “Create Pages” area …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Pages – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added under the “Pages” section of your site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin is installed with a default set of icons for referencing your legal pages …
The icons are customizable. You can purchase an additional set of icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your site’s design …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Templates
You can modify and delete the legal pages in the “Compliance Pages” section, just as you would any typical WordPress page …
(Compliance Bar: Edit Legal Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin indicates if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. pages created before installing the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin offers various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, specifying which pages should be included in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your main page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, and more …
(Compliance Bar Screen: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to display different icons on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses throughout your website.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the front page of your site, even if you are using a specific WordPress theme framework (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or Woo), where the home page is configured through the theme itself as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have specified your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your compliance pages using a visually appealing icon bar on your site …
You have complete control over the location on your pages where you would like your compliance icons to be featured …
PopUps
If your site publishes content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult content, etc.), you can display pop-ups that restricts access to users who do not accept your site’s terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” area gives you full control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
You can create more than one Pop Up for different pages, or to cover various uses throughout your site …
You can also set a delay time if you don’t want the Pop Ups to display immediately, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from appearing again within a specific time period, and record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Screen: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you are based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you need to make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them …
The plugin lets you customize the settings for compliance with EU Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Screen: Manage Settings – Image source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” screen, lists all of your compliance templates and shortcodes, and lets you modify the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” screen, lets you access general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin updates …
Feedback From Customers
Below are some of the testimonials plugin customers have written about Compliance Bar:
”WOW” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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”I Highly Recommend Compliance Bar” Tony Grant (Portfolio Sports)
Plugin Tips
Below are a few additional ways to use Compliance Bar:
- Protecting against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Display compliance icons on specific pages only.
- Ending refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you publish content for adult readers on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Support
Plugin Developers provide users with dedicated 24/7 plugin support to assist users with anything they need. You also have access to an entire set of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your version of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 business hours (M – F), your money will be refunded in double.
Product Cost
- Single Site Licensing – Can be installed on 1 of your own sites. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business Licensing – Install the plugin on 25 sites that you own. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Developer – Can be installed on all of your own domains. Install the plugin on any client site for payment or as part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Note: The cost to purchase Compliance Bar Plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this review was published. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin
Additional Plugin Information
Legal Pages Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers claim on their website that all legal templates have been reviewed and approved by lawyers. Nonetheless, we highly recommend that you get professional advice from a qualified legal expert in your area for your own peace of mind.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
Install This Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-driven websites and blogs. We recommend installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice here. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with the law wherever your business is based.
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