Category: Management Plugins

One of the worst situations a business owner can find themselves in is to be on the wrong side of the law.

Online laws were designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who markets, sells or promotes products or services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not excuse someone from taking legal action against your business.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for profit, then you must 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. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – BBB)

These laws has implications for several business activities, including:

• Any kind of advertising, e.g. Google AdWords
• 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 and conditions of use, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook will suspend web applications, and you won’t be accepted into a number of advertising or online marketing networks.

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

In this guide, we discuss the importance of having a compliant website and how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog using simple and inexpensive resources and WordPress plugins.

Does Your Site Comply With The Law?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice on this website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements wherever you do business.

Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider for a moment what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• A user has a heart attack after they use your online fitness program.
• The skin care products you promote as an affiliate gives people an adverse reaction.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not clearly spelled out what you will do with it.
• Someone copies content from your site and publishes it on their website.
• You haven’t informed your site visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you are selling and will get paid a financial benefit if visitors purchase through your affiliate link.
• You have not spelled out the conditions of your return policies.
• Visitors claim that your testimonials are fake and decide to sue you because of it.
• You have not disclosed that you have received a free copy in a product review.
• Your site publishes adult-related content and you haven’t taken appropriate measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

Consider too these actual examples 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 an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer was slapped with a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private details.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape UIDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% were in violation of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had broken at least 3 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 whose policies they had infringed, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming a target of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA Marketer
• MLM Networker
• Affiliate Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Niche Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• EBay Seller
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website or blog complies with all laws governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies

Compliance with 3rd-party services terms and policies is important.

You must let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also required in many cases by most companies you engage with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires you to display certain information when using their products. This includes using services like Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Generating revenue online with your blog using Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense advertising - policy requirements)

And even promoting your products or services using Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you sell information products using companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will need to add various legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for selling via their network …

(Policy requirements for ClickBank product vendors)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and policies on your site, especially regarding the use of testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many websites are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As is already 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 any chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. you should protect your business interests by ensuring that your website is compliant with FTC guidelines and regulations.

Many resources online provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …

(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Don’t Forget Social Media Applications

If you are planning to create applications for your website, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others will require you to provide access to your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure as to whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote products or services online using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or driving visitors to your website with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to include on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts shut down.
• If you have ever wondered 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 3rd-party services require you to comply with their terms of use)

Basic Legal Pages You Should Add To Your Website To Ensure Compliance

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

Adding the following compliance pages to your website will help keep your business out of trouble with many consumer protection agencies and external service providers, and avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “cease and desist” notices):

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

In addition to the pages above, you may want to consider implementing any of these legal pages:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you provide information about affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides money-making information)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Use Of Media (e.g. if you provide users with access to media on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

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

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

How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading Legal Pages Manually

If someone prepares the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend creating a legal folder on your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. via FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)

You can then add links to your legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu admin area …

(Custom WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Site

Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and clearly accessible to all visitors. You can add these to your sidebar (or place them in the footer section of your site) to ensure that users will be able to access the information from all of your pages …

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

To learn more about adding links to pages on your sidebar menu, see this tutorial:

• How To Add Widgets To Your WordPress Sidebar

Use Store-Bought Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms – Legal forms)

Go here for more info:

• FindLegalForms.com

Alternatively, you can purchase a package of cut and paste legal templates drafted by attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)

These legal templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with simple search and replace to insert your own business name and URL, then pasted into your legal pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects Federal Trade Commission guidelines brought into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google & DoubleClick DART, etc.
• ToS & Conditions of Use.

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

Go here for more information:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

As well as using templates, another option for adding legal pages to your website is to use a plugin.

Here are some legal WordPress plugins you should check out:

WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WordPress Legal Pages)

If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider choosing a plugin like WP Legal Pages instead …

This plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably 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 a great deal of time.

Some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages plugin are:

• 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 legal pages you will need in a few minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages like any other page on your site.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – Add shortcodes to your 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 any other WordPress page.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. When users agree to the terms, the page unlocks.
• New Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will display inside your WP dashboard area …

(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, niche sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

Choose from a number of pre-configured legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – 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

To learn more this plugin, go here:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin

Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin that contains over twenty customizable legal page templates for your online business …

Go here to learn more:

• Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Legal Suite Pro

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress)

Legal Suite Pro 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 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. 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 the plugin on all of your websites.

More info:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If hiring a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford a lawyer.

We want your website to be legally protected!

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

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you make money online, you need to ensure that your website stays compliant with all laws and regulations and the guidelines and terms of service (TOS) of 3rd-party products and services that you may be promoting or selling online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws designed to protect consumers, you’re breaking the law.

Non-compliance 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. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with the law concerning your specific business.

Resources

Here is a time-saving list of websites we suggest you visit to better understand what your site may require to stay compliant and meet 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
• 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

Additionally …

• 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
• 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 why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add essential legal pages to your website or blog using inexpensive resources and solutions.

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