As a business owner, you do not want to learn the hard way that you have broken any rules or regulations.
Online laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes products or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law won’t prevent someone from taking legal action against your business.
New laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for profit, then you must follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the US-based Better Business Bureau (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 – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The introduction of new laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any form of advertising, like contextual ads
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
Without certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank will not allow you to list digital products, PayPal could suspend your account and freeze your funds, Facebook could suspend your web applications, and you will not be accepted into many advertising and affiliate marketing networks.
If your digital presence is not in compliance, you could also end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
In this article, we discuss why it’s important to have a legally compliant website and how to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website using simple and inexpensive methods and resources.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice on this website. You must carry out your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.
Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important
Consider what would happen to your business if any of the situations below were to occur:
- A user suffers a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness program.
- The skin care products you sell as an affiliate gives a number of users allergic reactions.
- Your opt-in list provides a statement informing prospective subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you have not clearly informed them what you’ll do with the details you have collected.
- Someone copies your content and puts it up on their own site.
- You haven’t informed your site users that you are an affiliate for the product you are selling that you may receive a financial benefit if visitors purchase it using your affiliate link.
- You have not spelled out the conditions of your refund/return policies.
- Someone claims your testimonials are fake and tries to sue you because of it.
- You have not disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
- Your website contains adult-related information and you haven’t taken appropriate measures to keep underage children from accessing it.
Consider too these actual examples of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up their personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to provide everyone he does business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many internet marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in violation of 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 notices 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 you could easily become exposed to the risks of non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
- Multilevel Marketer
- Affiliate Marketer
- AdWords User
- Info Product Publisher
- Amazon Affiliate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
It’s vitally important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website remains fully compliant with the law.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.
Compliance with 3rd-party companies terms and policies is important.
You are expected to let your visitors know that your website complies with all necessary laws and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and confidence in your business, it’s also required in many cases by most companies you will interact with online.
Let’s take a look at some examples:
Google requires you to display legal information when using many of their products. This includes Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Earning revenue with your site using Google AdSense …
(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)
Or promoting your site via Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information products via companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant networks, you will be required to add legal pages to your website before your products can be approved for sale …
(Policy requirements for selling through ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission also requires that you include clear disclaimers and policies on your site, especially when concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply
New FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are 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 companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you do any type of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business interests by making sure that your website is compliant with all FTC regulations.
Many sites provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. We provide a number of references at the end of this article …
(It’s important to word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Social Media Applications Also Require Compliance
If you are planning to develop apps for your site, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others will require you to provide information about various legal pages …
(Apps that interface with social networking sites also require compliance)
- If you are unsure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, ads for Amazon or eBay products, or use 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 terminated.
- If you have been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their policies)
What Compliance Information Pages Should You Add To Your Site To Be Compliant?
If your website or blog is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following legal pages to your site should help keep your business out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and help to avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms Of Use
- Disclaimer Pages
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
In addition to the above, you may want to consider implementing one or more of the following pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general advice about health or medical areas)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Use Of Media (if you provide users with access to videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding the right type of content disclosure is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you are not being paid for writing the post.
- Affiliate Links – Lets visitors know that you will receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
- Review Or Sample Copy – Lets users be aware that you have received a sample or review copy of the product.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your readers be aware that you were compensated in some form to write the article.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets users know that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
Adding Compliance Pages To Your Site
Ideally, you will consult lawyers and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this done, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Uploading Legal Web Pages To Your Website
If someone prepares the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend creating a legal directory in your web server and uploading your legal pages to this directory via FTP …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your web server and upload pages using FTP)
You can then easily add links to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
Displaying Legal Pages On Your Website
Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and display clearly to visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar (or the footer of your website) so that visitors have access to legal information from every web page …
(It’s important to display links to your legal pages on all of your website’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar menu and footer in WordPress here:
Use Legal Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-drafted disclosures and website forms and agreements by searching online, or by going to websites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
Go here to learn more:
Another option is to download a package of website legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages)
These templates were created by an attorney and 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 web pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Pages include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
- Privacy Policy
- 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 on your website for every legal form you want to add to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your web server as previously described.
For more details, go here:
WordPress Legal Plugins
In addition to using templates, another option is to use plugins.
Here are some great legal WordPress plugins worth looking into:
WP 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 instead …
The WP Legal Pages plugin is not free, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will help make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site much easier and save you many headaches.
Some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages plugin are:
- Pre-written Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like every other page on your site.
- Shortcodes – You can 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 check box and delete and manage these like every other page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. Page unlocks when users agree to your terms.
- New Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear in your dashboard menu section …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)
This lets you view, create and edit legal pages from the admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)
You can create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, review sites, e-commerce sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Type of Site drop down menu)
Select from various pre-written legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – 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
Visit the plugin site to learn more about this handy plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar Plugin is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your digital presence …
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Legal Suite Pro
(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 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 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 very flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites.
Go here for more details:
If using the services of a lawyer to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford a solicitor.
We want your business to be protected!
Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (for FREE!), or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal content, or a plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.
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As stated earlier, if you make money online (or are planning to), you need to ensure that your site stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate online business practices and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) of 3rd-party sites that you may decide to promote or endorse online. Your internet presence must comply with numerous regulations, some of which you may not even be aware of.
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?
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.
Additional Information
Here is a time-saving list of sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your site may require to stay compliant and meet legal requirements and guidelines:
- FTC 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
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- United States Copyright Office
Plus …
- 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
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 above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)