Is your WordPress website legally compliant? Do you know if your site is breaking any laws, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you promote or advertise?
Internet laws, regulations, and guidelines were designed to protect the rights of 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 you.
New laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for profit, you must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.
(Better Business Bureau)
These laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any type of advertising, like Google AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
If your site does not display certain legal pages (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t allow you to list your digital products for sale, PayPal may shut down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will reject your web applications, and you won’t be allowed into most advertising and affiliate merchant networks.
If your business online is not compliant, you could end up facing a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
This guide explains 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 solutions.
Is Your Site Breaking Rules Or Regulations?
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.
Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important
Are you at risk? Consider for one minute what would happen to your business if the following were to happen:
- Someone suffers a heart attack after they use your online fitness program.
- The skin cream you sell as an affiliate marketer gives people an allergic reaction.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not described exactly what you plan to do with their personal details.
- Someone copies your content and publishes it on their own site.
- There is no statement on your website or blog letting your visitors know that you are endorsing a product as an affiliate and will get paid a sales commission if visitors purchase it.
- You don’t spell out the conditions of your refund policies.
- Online visitors claim your testimonials are fake and try to sue you because of it.
- You haven’t disclosed that you were given a free copy of the product you are reviewing.
- Your site includes adult-related content and you did not take sufficient measures to restrict access by underage persons.
Consider now the actual examples of costly compliance breaches described:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to provide a copy of the judgement to everyone they do business with for the next 20 years — including employees.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with 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 information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits users from scraping Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had infringed 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 to the Google program whose policies they had violated, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to risk being targeted for litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
- Multilevel Marketer
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdWords Advertiser
- Niche Publisher
- Amazon Affiliate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Adult Content Publisher
- Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
- Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product
You need to make sure that your digital presence has the right legal pages and clearly displayed to all you site users.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Services
Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need and importance of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.
You are required to let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary laws and professional guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of most companies you do business with.
For example:
Google requires websites to display certain information if using many of their services and product features. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Making money online with your blogs with Google AdSense display advertising …
(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)
Or promoting your products through Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you sell products online using merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add certain legal pages before they will approve your products for selling via their network …
(Policy requirements for vendors selling via ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you display clear disclaimers and statements on your site, especially concerning the use of product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many sites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As documented on their website, this typically prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute site owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any kind of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by making sure that your website is compliant with all FTC regulations and guidelines.
A number of online business resources provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. See our additional references and resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Social Media Applications Also Require Compliance
If you are planning to create social networking applications that integrate with your site, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others require you to provide access to various legal pages …
(Apps that interface with social networks also require compliance)
- If you are unsure as to whether or not you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote products or services on your site via affiliate marketing, or make money online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or use Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts shut down.
- If you’ve 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 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Legal Information Do You Need To Add To Your Website To Be Legally Compliant?
If your website lacks in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your site should help your site stay out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and 3rd-party providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “take down” notices):
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms And Conditions
- Website Disclaimer
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to look into implementing any of these pages:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general financial content)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Video/Audio Terms Of Use (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding correct web content disclosure information is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you will not be receiving any form of payment for writing the post.
- Affiliate Links – Lets users be aware that you may be compensated if they purchase through your affiliate link.
- Sample Or review Copy – Informs your visitors that you have received a review or sample copy of the product.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your visitors be aware that you have been compensated in some way to write the article.
- 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 online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site
Ideally, you will consult your lawyer and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been completed, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages Manually
If someone prepares the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then add links to these legal pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)
Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Website
Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and display clearly to all visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar (or place them in the footer section of your website or blog) to ensure that users can access the information from all of your pages …
(Display links to your legal pages on all of your site’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial on displaying links to pages on your WP sidebar or footer here:
Legal Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared forms and agreements by searching online, or going to websites like the ones listed below:
Find Legal Forms
Go here to learn more:
Another option is to purchase a set of website legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Templates)
Cut & Paste website legal templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines that came into effect on March 2012)
- Privacy Policy: Google, DART, etc.
- Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use.
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 web pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your web server as previously described.
For more details, go here:
WordPress Legal Page Plugins
As well as using copy & paste templates, you can simplify things using WordPress plugins.
Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WordPress Legal Pages)
If setting up legal pages manually seems too time-consuming for you, then consider choosing WP Legal Pages instead …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you time.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages plugin:
- Built-in Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Editable Pages – Content editor lets you edit legal pages just like any WP page.
- Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when published.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any WP page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. When a user agrees to the terms, the page unlocks.
- Additional Features – More features get added to this plugin with every new version.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will appear in your main dashboard area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to create, view and edit your legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)
You have the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, niche sites, medical sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages – Create different legal page types)
You can also select from several pre-configured legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages – Built-In 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 powerful plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar Plugin is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your site …
More info:
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 of Use
- Earnings Disclaimer
(Legal Suite Pro – 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 license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites.
More info:
If using the services of legal experts to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some form of basic legal protection on your site until you can afford to hire a legal expert.
We want your business to be legally safe!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal content, or a WordPress legal pages plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or are planning to), you need to ensure that your site is found to comply with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate how business online is done and any guidelines and terms of service of 3rd-party sites that you may be promoting or using online. Your digital presence must comply with a whole set of 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?
Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.
Additional Information
Below is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your business requires to comply and meet legal obligations:
- Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- Federal Trade Commission Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
- FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
- Better Business Bureau – 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
- United States Copyright Office
And …
- 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 legally compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly add essential legal pages to your website or blog using simple methods and resources.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group