One of the worst things that can happen to you as a business owner is to break the law.
As the digital realm continues to grow at an overwhelming speed and the rules keep changing, it’s vitally important that you try to stay informed about what’s happening and ensure that your site remains legal, especially if your digital presence is important in the success of your business strategy.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for profit, then you must follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The new laws affect several business categories, including:
- Any form of advertising, e.g. Google AdWords or AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creation
- Bloggers
- etc.
If you do not include certain legal pages on your site (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal may suspend your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will suspend web applications, and you won’t be allowed to promote a range of advertising or online merchant networks.
More importantly, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.
This article explains the importance of having a compliant website and lists inexpensive solutions to help make your website or blog compliant in minutes.
Does Your Site Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. You must carry out your own due diligence and we recommend consulting legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements in your country or region.
Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important
Consider for a moment what could happen to your business if these scenarios were to happen:
- A user has a heart attack after they use your online workout program.
- The skin care products you promote as an affiliate gives someone skin rashes.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t described exactly what you’ll do with the details you’ve collected.
- Someone steals your content and publishes it on their own website.
- There is no statement on your website or blog making visitors aware that you are recommending a product as an affiliate and may earn financial benefits if visitors buy it.
- You haven’t spelled out the terms of your return policies.
- A visitor claims the testimonials on your site are all fake and tries to sue you because of it.
- You haven’t disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
- Your site publishes adult-related content and you have not taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underaged persons.
Consider also the following documented examples of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information to complete his offer. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer copped a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private information about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits users from scraping Users IDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had infringed 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 to the Google program they had infringed, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to become exposed to the risk of litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdWords User
- Info Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online
it’s important to ensure that your online business stays fully compliant with the law.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Services Terms And Policies
Leading online companies and government trade regulatory agencies emphasize the importance of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.
You are required to let your site visitors know that your business complies with all necessary laws and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you interact with online.
For example:
Google requires websites to display certain information when using many of their products and features. This includes using features like Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Generating revenue online with your WordPress site using Google AdSense ads …
(Google AdSense display advertising - policy requirements)
And even promoting your products through Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you plan to sell information-based products with places like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will be required to add legal pages to your site before your products can be approved for sale in their network …
(Policy requirements product vendors selling through ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission also requires that you display clear disclaimers and disclosures to visitors, especially if you plan to use testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Comply
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many websites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this will most likely prompt the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you do any type of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. you should protect your business interests by ensuring that your website complies with FTC regulations and guidelines.
There are many resources online that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site comply with FTC requirements. See the additional references and resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Social Media Applications - Don’t Forget These
If you are planning to create applications for your site users, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others require you to provide information about various legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are unsure whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of service providers like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote anything online using affiliate marketing, or generating revenue online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or driving visitors to your website with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
- If you’ve been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
Essential Legal Pages You Should Add To Your Site To Ensure Compliance
If you suspect that your website is falling short in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
Adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most consumer protection agencies and third-party service providers, and help to avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to look into adding any of these pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you provide an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (if your website provides general money-making information)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Media Terms Of Use (if you allow users to download media on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
It’s important to add the right types of disclosure pages to your site. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets visitors know that you are not receiving compensation for writing the post.
- Affiliate Links – Discloses to users that you will receive compensation if they purchase through one of your affiliate links.
- Sample Or review Copy – Discloses to visitors that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors know that you have been compensated in some form to write the post.
- Third Party Advertising – Informs visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site
Ideally, you will consult a lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this done, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages Manually To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. using FTP) …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your web server and upload pages using FTP)
You can then add a link to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and clearly accessible to visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to the sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that visitors have access to legal information from all of your pages …
(Display links to your legal pages on all of your website’s pages)
To learn more about adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer menu using widgets, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared forms and agreements by searching online, or going to websites like the ones shown below:
Find Legal Forms
Go here for more details:
Alternatively, you can download a package of website legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)
Cut & Paste website legal pages were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a quick search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your legal web pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Page Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines that came into effect on March 2012)
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new WordPress page for every legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your web server as previously described.
Go here to learn more:
WordPress Legal Page Plugins
As well as using legal templates, you can simplify things by using plugins.
Here are some great legal WordPress plugins worth looking into:
WP Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Legal Pages)
If the idea of setting up legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider using WP Legal Pages …
This plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably low-priced and well-supported plugin that will make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site much easier and save you many headaches.
Some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages are:
- Pre-written Legal Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in around 3 minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages like any other WP page.
- Custom Shortcodes Integration – Add shortcodes to your pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content when you publish.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other WordPress page.
- Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed only when the user agrees to your legal terms.
- Additional Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will display inside your WordPress dashboard menu section …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to view, create and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)
The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites with products, affiliate/review websites, AdSense sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages – Create different legal page types)
You can also choose from several built-in legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal 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
Go here to learn more about using this plugin:
Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin with over 20 customizable legal templates for your online presence …
For more details go here:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress)
Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress 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 of Use
- 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. You can have legal pages 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 (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).
For more information, go here:
If hiring a lawyer to create your legal pages is out of your budget, consider implementing some kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford a solicitor.
We want your website to be legally protected!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or consider using one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documents, or plugins as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator Software lets you quickly generate basic legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you make money online (or plan to), you need to make sure that your website is compliant with regulatory agencies and the guidelines and terms of service (TOS) of 3rd-party products and services that you may be promoting or advertising online. Your website or blog must comply with a wide range of laws and regulatory guidelines, some of which you may not be aware of.
Non-compliance 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 in this article. You must 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.
Legal Information
Below is a time-saving list of sites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your website to comply and meet legal requirements and guidelines:
- Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
- FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
- Better Business Bureau Website
- 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
Additionally …
- Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- AdSense Help – Required Content
- Google AdWords – Information Collection And Use
- AdWords Help – What to include in your privacy policy for remarketing
- ClickBank – Creating Your First Product
- Facebook Platform Policies
We hope you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your site.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now