One of the worst things that can happen to you as a website owner is to break the law.
Your website has to comply with a wide range of federal, state and even local laws, many of which you may not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring serious financial loss, but also the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your good reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this post, we look at a simple and inexpensive WordPress solution that can help make your website legally compliant in minutes.
Does Your Site Comply With All Legal Requirements?
As the cybersphere continues growing at breakneck speed and the rules of the game are constantly changing, it’s vital that you stay on top of what’s going on and to make sure that your website or blog remains legally compliant, especially if your digital presence is a significant aspect of your business strategy.
Without legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t let you list your digital products on their network, PayPal may shut down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will suspend your web apps, and you won’t be accepted into a number of leading advertising or affiliate merchant networks.
Plus, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to being slapped with a lawsuit.
At the very least, if your web presence is not in compliance, visitors could lose trust and confidence in your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their policies!)
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice here.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to various legal requirements in accordance with the laws and regulations that govern your business (some of which you may not even be aware of),
- 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 solutions that can help your website become more compliant, such as the tool that we review below.
If your website is lacking in areas of compliance, we review below a simple WordPress plugin you will probably be very interested in knowing more about.
Let’s Review …
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-install and simple-to-use plugin for WordPress users that includes over 20 customizable compliance disclaimer templates for your digital presence …
For more details go here: Compliance Bar
Compliance Bar Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Compliance Bar Plugin to instantly make your website or blog legally compliant:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Compliance Bar is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Easy-To-Edit Templates
Easily modify the prebuilt templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu using the visual editor.
Dedicated 24/7 Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides dedicated support to assist you with anything you need.
Some additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Customized Compliance Pages: Compliance Bar will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Full Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not complicated to use and an entire library of training videos is provided if users need assistance.
- Can Be Used Anywhere In The World: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to make sure that the 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 On All WordPress Sites: As long as your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for all kinds of websites. Just select the compliance pages you want to include in your site and ignore any unnecessary pages.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar Plugin provides many features to website owners. Here are just a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Display Attractive Icons – Display links to your compliance pages in the form of attractive icons that can be positioned on different locations on your pages. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Restricted Content – If your site has content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, dating, etc.), the plugin can display popups that require users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If you do business in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must be aware of EU Cookie law. Compliance Bar displays an attractive bar that notifies users and protects your site from non-compliance issues.
- Records & Stores IP Addresses – Compliance Bar can record and store the IP address of your visitors for reference, just in case someone accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they didn’t.
- Shortcode Driven – Compliance Bar is integrated with shortcodes to automatically populate the templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your website, (even in the pop-ups).
- Works On All Mobile Devices – The plugin has settings for displaying on mobile devices or tablets and will display mobile optimized icons automatically depending on visitor web browsers.
Compliance Bar Features – Details
After installing and activating the plugin, you get access to a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured.
Let’s briefly review these sections …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this area where your business details can be input (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” “Company Phone Number,” “Product Name,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Business Name,” “Support Email,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Screen – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
The Compliance Bar Plugin uses dynamic shortcodes to insert the information into your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Page: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required information has been entered into the profile fields, you can then access the other plugin areas.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” area lists all of the plugin’s legal page templates …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Templates – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Last time we checked the Compliance Bar plugin website, there were over 22 compliance templates available for complying with online business laws and regulations:
- 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 blog or 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 “Compliance Pages” section …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Pages – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added to your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The icons can be changed. You can purchase an additional set of icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your theme …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Page Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Page Templates
You can easily customize and delete the legal page templates in the “Compliance Pages” tab, just like any other WordPress page …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes
- Customizing the compliance templates is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin will notify you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. compliance pages created before installing the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin offers various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, whether to show links or icon images, background colors and images, icon size, selecting which pages should be included in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your front page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, and offset distance …
(Compliance Bar Screen: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create an unlimited number of Compliance Bars to display different disclaimers on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses in other areas of your website.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the front page of your site, even if you are using particular themes (like 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 devices, 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 compliance pages using a visually attractive icon bar on your site …
You have complete control over the location on your pages where you would like the compliance bar to appear …
PopUps
If you plan to show content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, dating, etc.), Compliance Bar can display pop-ups that require users to accept your site’s terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” section gives you full control over the settings and wordings of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
You can create more than one Pop Up for different pages, or to cover different uses in other areas of your website …
You can also set a delay time if you don’t want Pop Ups to display immediately, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time period, 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 must make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them …
The Compliance Bar plugin lets you edit the settings for compliance with EU User Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Screen: 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” tab, lets you access general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin update notifications …
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials that plugin 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)
Compliance Bar Plugin – Useful Tips
Below are a few extra ways you can use Compliance Bar:
- Protection against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Displaying compliance icons on specific pages of your website only.
- Minimize refund disputes by clearly spelling out the refund terms before purchase.
- If you include content that is deemed inappropriate for underaged viewers on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Compliance Bar Support
Plugin Developers provide users with dedicated support to assist you with anything you need. You also have access to a complete set of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, 30 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 money will be refunded in double.
Plugin Pricing
- Single Edition – Can be installed on a single site. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Install the plugin on up to twenty-five of your own sites. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional License Edition – Can be installed on all domains that you own. Install the plugin on any client site as part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for the Compliance Bar plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here: Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Information
Legal Templates Reviewed By Lawyers – The plugin developers claim on their website that all legal 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 in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar website.
Download This Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress sites. We recommend downloading and installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Note: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on our website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements in your country or region.
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