One of the worst things that can happen to a website owner is to suddenly discover that you have broken the law.
Your digital presence must comply with many federal, state and even local laws and regulations, many of which you are probably not even aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of suffering significant financial losses, but also the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your business reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this post, we review a simple and very inexpensive WordPress solution that can help make your website legally compliant just minutes.
Does Your Site Comply With The Law?
As the digital realm continues growing at an extraordinary rate and the rules of the game are constantly changing, it’s vital that you stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your website remains compliant, especially if your online presence is an integral component of your business strategy.
If there are no legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not approve your digital products on their network, PayPal may close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook and other social networks will suspend your web apps, and you won’t be accepted into many leading advertising or affiliate marketing networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to lawsuits.
At the very least, without making it very clear to your visitors that your site complies with legal requirements and guidelines, trust and confidence in your business could become an issue.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines!)
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to many legal requirements in accordance with compulsory laws and regulations that govern your business,
- The importance of being compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be promoting or using in your website, and
- There are easy-to-install solutions that can help your site become more compliant, such as the tool that we review below.
If you suspect that your website or blog falls short in areas of compliance, we discuss below a simple WordPress plugin you should know more about.
Announcing …
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
The Compliance Bar Plugin is a total compliance & disclaimer solution for your digital business …
Go here to learn more: Compliance Bar Plugin
Benefits Of Using Compliance Bar
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your web site compliant:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Compliance Bar Plugin installs just like any WP plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Easy-To-Edit Page Templates
You can easily edit the default compliance templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu with the WYSIWYG editor.
Dedicated 24/7 Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides a dedicated support team to assist you with anything you need.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Customized Compliance Templates: The plugin will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Full Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a complete library of training videos is provided.
- Use In Every Country: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the built-in legal templates provided with Compliance Bar are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever you are located.
- Can Be Used For Any Website Purpose: If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for every website purpose. Select only the types of disclaimers which suit your specific business model (e.g. affiliate or CPA marketing, services, AdSense, AdWords, adult, medical, etc) and ignore those that are unnecessary.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar Plugin offers many great features to web site owners. Below we have listed just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Display Attractive Icons – The plugin displays links to your legal pages in the form of attractive icons that can be placed anywhere in your page. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Sensitive Content – If your website publishes content that should be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, dating, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that require users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If your business is based in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you need to make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them. Compliance Bar displays an attractive bar notifying users and covering your business from non-compliance.
- Records & Stores IP Acceptance – Compliance Bar records and stores the IP addresses of your visitors for future reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims otherwise.
- Shortcodes – The plugin is integrated with shortcodes to populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (including the pop-ups).
- Mobile Friendly – Compliance Bar has settings for displaying on mobile devices and displays mobile optimized icons automatically depending on visitor web browsers.
Plugin Features – Details
Once you have installed the Compliance Bar plugin, users will then have access to a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this section where your business information can be entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” “Company Phone Number,” “Refund Period,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Registered Address,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Section – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar uses shortcodes to dynamically populate and display the information you’ve inputted into your User Profile fields in your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Page: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required information has been input into the plugin settings fields, users can then access the other plugin areas.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” section lists all of the compliance pages …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Pages – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Below is the complete list of legal templates made available by the plugin last time we checked the website:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure
- Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Contact Us
- Copyright/DCMA Notice
- Disclaimer
- Double Dart Cookies
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- FTC Statement
- Legal Disclaimer
- Linking Policy
- Medical Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Returns/Refund Policy
- Support
- Terms
- Terms & Conditions
- Testimonial Disclosure
- XXX Disclosure
Creating legal pages for your website is a simple process. Just select the check boxes next to the pages you want to create and click the “Save” button in the “Create Pages” area …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Page Templates – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added to the “Pages” section of your WordPress site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a built-in set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
Icons are customizable. You can purchase additional icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your site’s design …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Template Icons – Image source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Pages
You can easily customize and delete the compliance templates in the “Compliance Pages” section, just as you would any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar: Edit Legal Page Templates – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing your legal pages is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin will notify you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. legal pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin offers many options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, icon size, selecting which pages to include an icon for in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your home page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, etc. …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create a number of Compliance Bars to display different icons on different pages, or to cover a range of uses throughout your site.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the home page of your website, even if you are using particular 3rd-party themes (like Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme itself as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have configured your Compliance Bar settings, it displays links to your legal using dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like the compliance icons to appear …
PopUps
If your site includes content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, tobacco, adult-related, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that force users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” area gives you complete control over the settings and wordings of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
You can create more than one Pop Up displaying on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses throughout your site …
You can also specify a delay time if you don’t want a Pop Up to display as soon as visitors arrive, set cookie durations to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time interval, and even record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Section: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you do business in Europe or display your content to EU visitors, you need to make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them …
The plugin lets you edit the settings for compliance with EU Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Section: Manage Settings – Image source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” area, lists all of your compliance page templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit their content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” menu, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin update notifications …
User Feedback
Here are just some testimonials that users have written about the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin:
”WOW” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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”You wouldn’t drive a car around without insurance…so don’t RISK your online business by neglecting a simple, but important detail: website compliance. Grab your copy of Compliance Bar & protect yourself today!” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Plugin Tips
Below are some extra ways you can use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protecting against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Displaying compliance icons on specific pages of your site only.
- End refund disputes by clearly spelling out the refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you include content for adults only on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated plugin support to assist users with anything they need. Users also have access to full video training manuals.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your copy of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 hours (M – F), your purchase price will be refunded in double.
Software Price
- Single Edition – Install the plugin on one domain that you own. Price = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Can be installed on 25 of your own sites. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional Edition – Can be installed on multiple as many of your own domains as you need. Can be installed on all client sites for payment or part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for Compliance Bar Plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was correct at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software developer when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Information
Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers state on their website that all legal page templates have been reviewed and approved by a lawyer. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend that you get legal advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For a demo video of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar website.
Install The Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-powered sites. We recommend installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin
Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements wherever your business is based.
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