One of the worst things that can happen to any website owner is to be on the wrong side of the law.
Your website has to comply with various laws and regulatory guidelines, many of which you are probably not even aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring significant financial losses, but also the cost to your reputation. Why risk your money and reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this post, we review a simple and inexpensive solution for WordPress users that can help make your site 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 keep changing, it’s important to stay informed about what’s happening and to make sure that your site remains legal, especially if your web presence is a significant component of your overall business strategy.
Without legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank won’t let you list your digital products for sale, PayPal could shut down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook and many other social networks will suspend your apps, and you will not be allowed into many advertising and merchant networks.
If your web presence is not in compliance, you could end up facing a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
At the very least, without making it very clear to your visitors that your website complies with legal requirements and regulations, it could affect your visitors trust and confidence in doing any business with you in the future.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their terms of use!)
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice here.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with federal, state or local laws that govern your business (some of which you may probably not even be aware of),
- How important it is to remain compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be promoting or endorsing online, and
- There are solutions that can help your site become compliant, such as the solution that we review in this article.
If your web site is falling short in terms of compliance, here is a simple plugin for WordPress-driven websites that you may be very interested in using.
Today We Review …
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress-powered websites and blogs containing over 20 customizable compliance pages for your website …
For more details go here: Compliance Bar
Benefits Of Using Compliance Bar
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Compliance Bar Plugin to make your site instantly compliant:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Compliance Bar installs like any plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your admin user area and activate.
Editable Templates
Easily edit the default templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu with the WordPress visual editor.
Dedicated 24/7 Plugin Support Team
The plugin developers provide dedicated plugin support to assist users if they experience any difficulties.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Customized Legal Templates: The Compliance Bar plugin creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Complete Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use and an entire library of training videos is provided if you need help.
- Use In Every Country: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to make sure that the built-in legal page templates provided with the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever your business is located.
- Can Be Used In All Niches: As long as your website is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for all kinds of websites. Select only the types of disclaimers which suit your particular business model (e.g. affiliate or CPA marketing, business services, AdSense, AdWords, adult, medical, etc) and leave out any pages that you don’t require.
Compliance Bar Features
Compliance Bar Plugin provides many great features to web site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Display Visually Appealing Icon Bar – Display links to your compliance pages using attractive icons that can be positioned anywhere on your page. You can also upload your own icons.
- Show Restricted Information – If your website contains content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that require users to accept your terms and disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If you do business 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 users and protects your site from non-compliance issues.
- Records & Stores IP Addresses – Compliance Bar can record and store your visitors’ IP address for reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they haven’t.
- Shortcodes – Compliance Bar uses shortcodes that 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).
- Mobile Friendly – Compliance Bar has settings for displaying on mobile devices and tablets and displays mobile optimized icons automatically based on the web browser being used.
Features – Details
After installing and activating the plugin, users will then have access to a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured.
Let’s briefly review these pages …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this section where your business information can be input (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Desk URL,” “Company Phone Number,” “Market Niche,” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Company Phone Number,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
The Compliance Bar Plugin uses shortcodes to populate and display the information from your User Profile inside your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been input into the plugin settings fields, you can then access the other areas of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” screen includes a list of all of the compliance template pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
When we last checked the Compliance Bar plugin website, there were over 20 legal pages available to WordPress users:
- 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
- Adult Content Disclosure
You can create legal pages for your website quite easily by simply selecting check boxes and clicking ”Save” in the “Compliance Pages” tab …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Pages – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin is installed with a built-in set of icons for referencing your legal pages …
The Compliance Bar icons are customizable. 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: Legal Page Icons – Image source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Page Templates
You can easily customize and delete your compliance templates from the “Compliance Pages” section, just like any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Legal Page Templates – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Notes
- Customizing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin indicates if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. 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, specifying which pages should be included 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 Screen: Create Bar – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to show different icons on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses in different areas of your site.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the main page of your site, even if you are using particular themes (e.g. 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” 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 will display links to your legal through a visually appealing icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like the compliance icons to show …
PopUps
If your site includes content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that require users to accept your terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” page lets you fully customize your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Section: Create Pop Up – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
You can create multiple Pop Ups for different pages, or to cover a range of uses throughout your website …
You can also specify a delay time to prevent a Pop Up from displaying immediately, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from appearing 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 Screen: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you do business in the EU 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 manage the settings for compliance with EU User Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” area …
(EU Cookies Screen: Manage Settings – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” tab, lists all of your legal disclaimer templates and shortcodes, and lets you modify their content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin updates …
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials plugin users have provided for the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin:
”WOW” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
***
“Don’t Risk Your Online Business” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Useful Tips
Below are some extra ways to use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protecting against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Display compliance icons only on specific pages of your site.
- Reduce refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before customers purchase.
- If your site includes adult content, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated plugin support to assist you if you experience any issues. Users also get access to video training.
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 hrs (M – F), the plugin developers will refund double the amount of the cost of purchasing.
Plugin Pricing
- Single User Licensing – Can be installed on a single domain. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Can be installed on 25 domains that you own. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Developer License – Install the plugin on all as many of your own domains as you like. Install the plugin on any client site as part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Note: The price of the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Compliance Bar
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Information
Legal Page Templates Reviewed By Lawyers – The plugin developers claim on their website that all legal page 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 ”how to” videos of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, 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 websites. We recommend installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin
Important: Once again, 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 to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements in your country or region.
***