Category: WordPress Plugins

One of the worst things that can happen to a business owner is to break the law.

As digital business continues to grow at an overwhelming speed and rules constantly change, it’s absolutely vital to try and stay informed about what’s happening and make sure that your website remains compliant with all laws and regulations, especially if having an online presence is important in the success of your overall business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for commercial gain, then you need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Better Business Bureau Website)

These laws has consequences for several business categories, including:

• Any kind of advertising, including Google AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creators
• Bloggers
• etc.

If your website does not display certain legal pages (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 digital products, PayPal could shut down your account, Facebook could disapprove web applications, and you won’t be accepted into a range of advertising and affiliate marketing networks.

If your online business is not in compliance, you could face a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

In this guide, we look at the importance of having a legally compliant website and how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. Do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.

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 person has a heart attack after purchasing your online workout program.
• The skin care creams you promote as an affiliate marketer gives people allergic reactions.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t spelled out exactly what you plan to do with their personal details.
• Someone copies content from your website and publishes it on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website or blog letting your site visitors know that you are recommending a product as an affiliate that you will derive a financial benefit if visitors buy it.
• You haven’t spelled out the terms of your refund/return policies.
• Online visitors claim that your testimonials are all fake and decide to sue you.
• You haven’t disclosed that you were given a free copy in your product review.
• Your website contains adult-related content and you have not taken appropriate measures to keep underage children from accessing it.

Consider now these actual case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. In addition to a hefty $390,000 fine, he is 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 without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
• 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 independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least two 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 cautions or lose access 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 a target of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Info Product Publisher
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
• Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product

It’s vitally important to make sure that your website or blog has the right legal pages and clearly displayed to all you site visitors.

Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies

Big companies and government agencies that regulate trade in many countries emphasize the need and importance of observing the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.

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

For example:

Google requires websites to display legal information when using many of their products. This includes using features such as Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Monetizing your websites with Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

Or promoting your services through Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell digital products via companies 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 marketplace …

(Policy requirements for ClickBank product vendors)

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

(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply

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 typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting website owners for breaches of regulation 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 chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business by ensuring that your website is compliant with FTC guidelines.

You can find many business resources that can provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet 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 website, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others with access to your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote anything on your site as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay advertising, or using Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to provide 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 if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to act now and take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their terms of use)

What Legal Information Should I Add To My Site To Be Compliant?

If you suspect that your website or blog falls short in areas of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following compliance pages to your site will keep you out of trouble with most consumer protection agencies and third-party service providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Disclaimer Pages
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

In addition to the above pages, you may want to look into implementing any of the pages listed below:

• Affiliate Disclosure (if you sell or promote affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general financial information)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Audio/Video Terms Of Use (e.g. if you allow media downloads on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

It’s important to add the correct types of disclosure pages to your site. For example:

• No Material Connection – Lets your visitors be aware that you will not receive for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Disclosure that informs your readers that you will be compensated if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
• Review/Sample Copy – Explains to site users that you have received a review or sample copy of the product or service.
• Sponsored Post – Informs your visitors that you were compensated in some form to write the article.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets your visitors 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.

How To Add Compliance Pages To Your WordPress Website

Ideally, you should consult a lawyer and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Upload Legal Pages To Your Website

If someone prepares the legal content for you in standard web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend adding a legals directory to your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your server and upload pages using FTP)

You can then easily add a link to your pages in WordPress using custom links in your menu administration …

(Custom WordPress Menu)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are fully up-to-date and display clearly to your visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar (or the footer of your website) so that users will be able to access legal information from every web page …

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

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about displaying links to pages on your sidebar or footer in WordPress using widgets, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To The Website

Use Ready-Made Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting websites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

More information:

• Find Legal Forms

Another option is to purchase a set of website legal templates written by attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Website Legal Pages)

These 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 add your own business details, then pasted into your legal pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service & 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 these to your web server as described earlier.

To learn more, go here:

• Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Page Templates

Plugins – Legal Pages

In addition to using copy & paste templates, you can simplify things using a plugin.

Here are some legal WordPress plugins that you should check out:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)

If manually setting up legal pages for your site seems too time-consuming for you, then consider installing WordPress Legal Pages instead …

WP Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported plugin that will make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site much easier and save you a great deal of time.

Here are just some of the benefits of using the WP Legal Pages:

• Built-in Templates – The plugin gives you access to 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 around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
• Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages like every other WordPress page.
• Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your WordPress 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 page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page lock down. When the user agrees to your terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• New Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will appear in your main dashboard menu section …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Settings Area)

You can easily create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites with products, affiliate sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

You can also select from various pre-written legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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

To learn more about using this handy plugin, visit this site:

• WP Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users with over 20 customizable compliance templates for your digital presence …

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)

This 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 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 have packaged high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers 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 the plugin on all of your websites.

More info:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of a lawyer to create your legal pages is out of your budget, consider implementing some basic kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford to hire the services of a legal firm.

We want your site to be legally protected!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal page templates, or a WordPress legal pages plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator Software lets you quickly generate basic 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), it’s important that your website complies with regulatory agencies and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) for 3rd-party sites that you may decide to promote or recommend online. If your website doesn’t comply 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we provide no legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.

Legal Resources & References

Below is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your website may require to stay compliant and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:

• FTC Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• Federal Trade Commission 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
• 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
• 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 presented above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website or blog.

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