One of the worst things that can happen to you as a website owner is to be on the wrong side of the law.
Your digital presence has to comply with many federal, state and even local laws and regulatory guidelines, many of which you may not be aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring significant financial costs, but also the cost to your reputation. Why risk your money and your good reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this post, we review a simple and inexpensive solution for WordPress users that can help make your website fully compliant just minutes.
Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?
As the digital realm continues growing at an extraordinary rate and the rules constantly change, it’s vitally important to stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your site remains compliant, especially if your web presence is a fundamental aspect of your business strategy.
If you do not display certain legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, 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 on their network, PayPal could close down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook and other social networks could suspend your apps, and you will not be allowed into a number of advertising and merchant networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to lawsuits or legal action.
At the very least, if your business online is not in compliance, it could affect your visitors trust and confidence about doing any future business with you.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines!)
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice here.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to numerous legal requirements in accordance with federal, state or local laws that govern your business,
- How important it is to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you are promoting or endorsing online, and
- There are plugins for WordPress users that can help your site become compliant, such as the tool that we discuss below.
If you suspect that your web site is falling short in aspects of compliance, below we review a simple plugin for WordPress users that you should know more about.
Introducing …
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your website …
Learn more here: Compliance Bar Plugin
Benefits Of Using Compliance Bar Plugin
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Compliance Bar to make your site instantly compliant:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
Compliance Bar Plugin is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate.
Easy To Edit Page Templates
You can easily make changes to the default legal page templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu with the WordPress visual content editor.
24/7 Plugin Support
The plugin developers provide dedicated support to help users.
Some additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Customized Legal Templates: The Compliance Bar plugin creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Video Training Manuals: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a complete library of training videos is available if users need assistance.
- Use In All Countries: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the default legal page templates provided in the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin anywhere in the world.
- Can Be Used On All WordPress Sites: As long as your site is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for all kinds of websites. Just select the legal pages you need to add to your site and ignore any unnecessary pages.
Features
Compliance Bar provides a number of great features to web site owners. Below we have listed just some of these features:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Show Visually Appealing Icons – Display links to your compliance pages in the form of attractive icons that can be placed on different locations on your page. You can also upload your own icons.
- Show Restricted Content – If your site contains content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult, etc.), you can display pop-ups that force users to accept your terms and disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If your business is based in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them. The plugin displays an attractive bar that notifies visitors and covers you from non-compliance issues.
- Records & Stores IP Acceptance – Compliance Bar records and stores your visitors’ IP address for future reference, just in case a user accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they didn’t.
- Shortcodes – Compliance Bar is integrated with shortcodes that automatically populate the templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (including the popups).
- Works On All Mobile Devices – Compliance Bar has settings for displaying on mobile devices or tablets and displays mobile optimized icons automatically based on the mobile browser being used.
Plugin Features – Details
Once the plugin is installed, a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured gets added to your WP admin area.
Let’s go through these settings briefly …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this screen where you can enter your business information into entered (e.g. “Business Name,” “Registered Company Address,” “Location Details,” “Product Name,” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Company Address,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Page – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
The plugin uses dynamic shortcodes to automatically insert and display the information from your User Profile into your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been entered into the user profile fields, you can then access the other areas of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” screen contains all of the templates …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Last time we checked the plugin website, there were over 20 legal pages made available:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure Statement
- 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
You can create legal pages for your blog or website quite easily simply by selecting check boxes and clicking ”Save” in the “Compliance Pages” screen …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside the “Pages” section of your site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The Compliance Bar icons can be changed. You can purchase additional icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your theme …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Page Templates
You can easily edit and delete the compliance templates in the “Compliance Pages” tab, just like any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar: Edit Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes
- Customizing your legal templates is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin notifies you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. legal pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
You have many options to customize the Compliance Bar, including where to position the bar, 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, and offset distance …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to show different icons on different pages, or to cover a range of uses in other sections of your site.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the front page of your site, even if you are using particular theme frameworks (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a normal “static” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, you can only select up to a certain number of page icons to display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have specified your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your legal through dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to display your compliance bar …
PopUps
If you plan to publish content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, adult-related, etc.), you can display popups that require users to accept your website’s terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” area gives you full control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Section: Create Pop Up – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
You can create unlimited Pop Ups displaying on different pages, or to cover different uses throughout your site …
You can also specify a delay time to prevent a Pop Up from displaying as soon as visitors arrive, set cookie durations to prevent Pop Ups from appearing again within a specific time period, and record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Screen: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you are based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you must 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” area …
(EU Cookies Screen: Manage Settings – Screenshot 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 legal disclaimer templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin update notifications …
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials customers have provided for Compliance Bar:
”I got a chance to review the Compliance Bar plugin…WOW!! I have to say that its definitely one of the most NECESSARY, yet easiest to use plugin’s to hit the scene in a while. Very Solid Product. Great job Anton & team!” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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”I Highly Recommend Compliance Bar” Tony Grant (Portfolio Sports)
Plugin Tips
Below are some extra ways you can use Compliance Bar:
- Protection against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Display compliance icons only on specific pages of your site.
- Reducing refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before purchase.
- If your website published content that is considered inappropriate for underaged viewers, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides users with a dedicated support team to help users with anything they need. You also get access to a complete library of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a risk-free, thirty day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your edition of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 hours (Monday to Friday), your purchase price will be refunded in double.
Plugin Pricing
- Single Site Licensing – Can be installed on one site that you own. Price = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business – Can be installed on twenty-five domains that you own. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Developer License Edition – Can be installed on multiple domains that you own. Can be installed on any client site for payment or as part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Please Note: The cost to purchase Compliance Bar can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Compliance Bar Plugin – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Additional Information
Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers state on their website that all legal templates have already been reviewed and approved by a lawyer. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend that you get 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 help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
The Bottom Line
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-powered websites and blogs. We recommend downloading and installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Compliance Plugin
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on our website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with the law wherever your business is based.
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