Tag: Legal Pages

As a business owner, you do not want to learn the hard way that you have broken the law.

As the digital way of life continues to grow at an extraordinary rate and the rules constantly change, it’s important to stay on top of what’s going on and ensure that your website remains legal, especially if your digital presence is an important part of your overall business strategy.

New laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for profit, then you will need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the US-based Better Business Bureau, also referred to as BBB. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

The introduction of these new laws has implications for several business categories, including:

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

Without legal pages on your site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not allow you to sell digital products, PayPal could suspend your account, Facebook will suspend your web applications, and you won’t be allowed to participate in most advertising and affiliate marketing networks.

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

The purpose of this article is to help make you aware that your site are subject to legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern your business, the importance of remaining compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be advertising on your website, and that there are easy solutions that can help your site become more compliant, such as the plugins discussed further below.

Is Your Website Breaking Rules Or Regulations?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice. You must carry out your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law wherever you do business.

Understanding The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Consider for a moment what could happen to your business in the following scenarios:

• Someone has a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness workout.
• The skin care lotion you sell as an affiliate gives a number of users skin rashes.
• You’ve told subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t informed them exactly what you plan to do with their details.
• Someone steals content from your website and puts it up on their site.
• There is no statement on your website making visitors aware that you are recommending a product as an affiliate that you could receive a financial benefit if they purchase it.
• You didn’t spell out the terms and conditions of your refund and return policies.
• Your visitors claim your testimonials are fake and decide to sue you because of it.
• You did not disclose in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your website publishes adult-related content and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to keep underage persons 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 have to give up personal information (including credit card information to complete an offer they were promoting. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, they’re now required to give a copy of the judgement to everyone they do business with for the next 20 years — 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 prohibits using software that scrapes Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were in breach of at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were breaking at least 3 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 with warnings or lose access entirely 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 a website owner can easily become exposed to the risks of litigation through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords User
• Product Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

You need to make sure that your website or blog remains fully compliant with the law.

Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.

Big companies and government trade regulatory agencies emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.

You are expected to let your visitors know that your business complies will all laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and confidence in your site, it’s also required by most companies you will do business with.

For example:

Google requires websites to display certain information when using their services or product features. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Monetizing your online properties using Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense online advertising policy requirements)

Or promoting your services through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you plan to sell digital products through merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you are required to add a number of legal pages to your site before your products can be approved for selling via their networks …

(ClickBank – policy requirements)

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you include clear disclaimers and disclosures on your site, especially if you plan to sell or promote products and services using product testimonials or endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply

New FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many sites are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As documented on their website, this often ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you plan to do any kind of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by making sure that your site complies with FTC guidelines and regulations.

You can find many online business resources that can provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …

(Wording your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Social Media Apps - Don’t Forget These

If you plan to develop social networking applications for your website, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others require you to provide information about your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure as to whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote products or services online using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or using Google AdWords pay-per-click ads to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to include on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
• If you’ve been wondering if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies)

What Compliance Pages Should You Add To Your Site To Be Protected From Legal Compliance Issues?

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

At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of trouble with many regulatory authorities and third-party providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues):

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

As well as the above pages, you may want to consider including one or more of these legal pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general health or medical information)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Use Of Media (if you allow media downloads on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

It’s important to add the right disclosure information to your website. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you will not be receiving any type of payment for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Lets users know that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and purchase through your affiliate links.
• Sample Or review Copy – Disclosure that informs visitors that you have received a sample or review copy of the product by the author or product developer.
• Sponsored Post – Informs users that you have been compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring website publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your WordPress Website

Ideally, you should have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once these have been done, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Upload Legal Web Pages To Your Website

If someone prepares the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend adding a legal directory to your web server and uploading your legal pages to this directory using FTP …

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

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

(Custom WordPress Menu)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to your visitors. You can add these to your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) so that users have access to the information from all pages …

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

To learn more about displaying links to pages on your sidebar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In The Site

Use Store-Bought Templates

You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared forms and agreements just by searching online, or by going to websites like this one:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

Visit this website to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can purchase a set of legal templates created by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)

Cut & Paste website templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your 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
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC regulations brought into effect in March 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google, DART, etc.
• Terms of Service & Conditions of Use: includes inter- & intra-page redundancy, Contra Proferentem provision, reservation of rights, and exclusive social media admonition.

You can either create a new page for every legal form you want to add to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload the pages to your server as described previously.

To learn more, go here:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Pages – Plugins

In addition to using templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:

WordPress Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages)

If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider installing WordPress Legal Pages instead …

This plugin is not free, but it’s a very low-priced and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your website much easier and save you loads of headaches.

Here are just some of the benefits of using WordPress Legal Pages plugin:

• Pre-written Legal Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the legal pages you will need in around 3 minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Editable Pages – Content editor lets you edit legal pages like every other WP page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content when published.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. When a user agrees to your terms, the page unlocks.
• Additional Features – More features are being added to this plugin with each new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature is added to your main navigation area …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Menu)

This lets you create, edit and view your legal pages from your admin area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Screen)

With WP Legal Pages, you can create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, niche sites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Create different legal page types)

Select from a number of built-in legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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

Visit the plugin site for more details about the benefits of using this powerful plugin:

• WordPress Legal Pages

Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Compliance Plugin

complete website compliance and disclaimer solution …

For a detailed review of this plugin go here:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – Website 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 And Conditions
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro 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. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites.

Go here for more info:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

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

We want your site to be 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 templates, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator allows you to easily generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you make money online, you need to ensure that your website remains compliant with regulatory agencies and the terms of service and guidelines provided by third-party products and services that you may decide to promote or advertise online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws intended to protect consumers, you’re breaking the law.

Being non-compliant 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 are not offering legal advice. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website fully complies with the law wherever your business is based.

Additional Legal Information

Here is a time-saving list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your site to remain compliant and meet legal obligations:

• Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• Federal Trade Commission Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
• FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
• BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program
• 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
• United States Patent and Trademark Office
• United States Copyright Office

See Also …

• Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
• Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
• Google 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

We hope this article has helped you understand the importance of having a compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress site using simple solutions.

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