Is your website legal? Do you know if you are breaking any rules or regulations, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you use or recommend?
Internet laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to anyone who sells, markets or promotes goods or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not protect you from being slapped with a legal notice.
New laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for material gain, you need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the US-based Better Business Bureau, also known as BBB. Do a search online for “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 legal consequences for various online business activities, including:
- Any form of advertising, including Google AdWords
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Bloggers
- etc.
If your website does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook will reject your applications, and you won’t be accepted into most advertising and affiliate marketing networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to expensive litigation.
The purpose of this guide is to help make you aware that your site are required to comply with legal requirements, the importance of complying with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be advertising online, and that there are plugins for WordPress site owners that can help your online properties become fully compliant, such as the tools discussed further below.
Is Your Website Or Blog Compliant?
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice about your website or business. Do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all laws wherever you do business.
Why Ensuring That Your Website Is Compliant Is Important
Consider what would happen to your business if any of these scenarios were to happen:
- A person has a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness workout.
- The skin cream you sell as an affiliate gives someone skin rashes.
- Your opt-in list provides a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you have not defined what you plan to do with their personal details.
- Someone copies your content and puts it up on their own site.
- There is no statement on your website making visitors aware that you are an affiliate for the product you are recommending and could earn financial benefits if they buy the product through your affiliate link.
- You did not spell out the terms of your refund and return policies.
- A visitor claims the testimonials on your site are fake and tries to sue you.
- You did not disclose that you received a free copy in a product review.
- Your site contains adult-related content and you have not taken appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged children.
Consider also the documented case studies of costly compliance breaches described:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. In addition to a hefty $390,000 fine, they’re now required to provide everyone he does business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
- 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 children’s private details.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes 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 independent 2010 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% had breached 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 notices or lose access entirely 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 targeted for non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdWords Advertiser
- Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online
it’s important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your online business is legally compliant.
Complying With Third-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.
Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade in most countries emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.
You must let your site visitors know that your business complies with all necessary laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your business, it’s also required in most cases by most companies you will do business with online.
For example:
Google requires websites to display certain information if using their products. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Generating revenue online with your WordPress blogs using Google AdSense …
(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)
And even promoting your products using Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information-based products through merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add a number of legal pages to your site before they will approve your products for selling via their marketplace …
(Policy requirements for vendors selling through ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to display clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Be Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As is already the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you 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 site complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
You can find many online resources that can provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. See the references and resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Social Media Apps Also Have Compliance Requirements
If you plan to create apps for your website users, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others require you to provide information about various legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are unsure as to whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, 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 - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies)
What Compliance Pages Does My Website Need To Be Protected From Legal Compliance Issues?
If your web site is lacking in terms of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website will keep you out of trouble with many regulatory 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 Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms & Conditions
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
In addition to the above, you may want to look into adding any of the pages listed below where applicable:
- Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers (if your website provides health or medical information)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Audio/Video Terms Of Use (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the right disclosure information to your site is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs users that you are not being paid for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Lets visitors know that you may derive some form of financial or similar form of benefit if they buy through your affiliate links.
- Sample/Review Copy – Explains to users that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product you’re writing about.
- Sponsored Post – Lets readers know that you have been compensated in some form to write the post.
- 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 online 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 created, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Uploading Legal Pages To Your Website
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 legal folder to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this folder via FTP …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then add links to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(WordPress Menu)
Where To Display Legal Web Pages On Your Website
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and display clearly to all visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar menu (or place them in the footer section of your website or blog) so that visitors can access legal information from all of your pages …
(Display legal information to visitors on all of your site’s pages)
For a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar using widgets, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Templates
You can easily find attorney-drafted downloadable internet forms and agreements just by searching online, or visiting websites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
Go here for more info:
Another option is to purchase a package of cut and paste legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
These legal pages 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 add your own details, then pasted into your legal pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance
- Privacy Policy: Google, 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 page for each legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your web server as described previously.
To learn more, visit this site:
WordPress Plugins – Legal Pages
As well as using templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.
Here are some great WordPress plugins worth looking into:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WP Legal Pages Plugin)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider using a plugin like WP Legal Pages …
The WP Legal Pages plugin is not free, but it’s a very affordable and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you loads of headaches.
Some of the benefits of using the WordPress Legal Pages plugin are:
- Built-in Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the basic legal pages you need in around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages just like every other page on your site.
- Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other page on your website.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks only when users agree to your terms.
- New Features – More features are being added to this plugin with each new version.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will appear in your main dashboard menu section …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to create, view and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)
With WPLegal Pages, you have the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, review websites, medical sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)
Choose from a number of 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
For more information about this handy plugin, go here:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users with over 20 customizable legal page templates for your digital business …
Learn We’ve written an in-depth review of this plugin here:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro)
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 & 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them into a plugin that can be installed quickly on any WordPress powered 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 sites.
For more information, go here:
If hiring a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford to hire a legal expert.
We want your business to be safe!
Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (for FREE!), or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal content, or plugins - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator Software lets you quickly 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 stated earlier, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or are planning to), it’s important that your site is compliant with all regulations and any terms of service and guidelines required by third-party products and services that you may decide to promote or advertise online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws intended to protect consumer rights, 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 cannot provide legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.
Legal Information
Below is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your business requires to comply and meet legal requirements and guidelines:
- Federal Trade Commission 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 – BBB
- 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
- United States Copyright Office
And …
- 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 the importance of having a compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add legal pages to your website.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)