Tag: Legal Pages

As a website owner, the last thing you want is to learn the hard way that you have broken the law.

As the digital way of life continues to grow at such a rapid pace and rules constantly change, it’s vitally important that you try to stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if your web presence plays an important role in your overall business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for profit, you must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

These laws has ramifications for various business categories, including:

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

If your website does not display certain legal pages (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo will not allow you to list digital products, PayPal could close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook could reject your applications, and you won’t be allowed to enrol in many advertising or online marketing networks.

Additionally, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.

The purpose of this guide is to make you aware that your website(s) may be subject to legal requirements according to laws that govern online business practices, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be selling on your website, and that there are plugins for WordPress website owners that can help your website become fully compliant, such as the tools listed further below.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice in this article. As stated earlier, this article is designed only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with federal, regional or local laws governing business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of companies whose services or products you endorse on your website or blog

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Consider for a minute what could happen to your business if any of the situations below were to happen:

• Someone suffers a heart attack after using your online fitness workout.
• The skin cream you sell as an affiliate marketer gives a number of users an allergic reaction.
• Your opt-in list provides a statement letting subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t informed them exactly what you will do with their personal details.
• Someone steals content from your site and puts it up on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website letting visitors know that you’re an affiliate for the product you’re marketing and will earn financial benefits if visitors decide to purchase through your affiliate link.
• You don’t spell out the terms and conditions of your refund/return policies.
• A visitor claims your testimonials are fake and decides to sue you.
• You did not disclose in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your site includes adult information and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to keep underaged persons from accessing it.

Consider now these real examples of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have 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 children’s private information.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape UIDs. Many internet marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% were breaking at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in breach of at least three 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 cautions or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies with the violation, 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:

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

You need to ensure that your online business has the right legal pages and clearly accessible to all site users.

Compliance With Third-Party Services Terms And Policies

Compliance with 3rd-party services terms and policies is important.

You are obligated to let your visitors know that your website complies with all necessary laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you will do business with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires you to display certain information if using many of their products and features. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Generating revenue online with your sites using Google AdSense display advertising …

(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)

And even promoting your products or services through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell information-based products with merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add a number of legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling via ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and policy statements to visitors, especially regarding the use of product testimonials or endorsements …

(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Site Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will reveal that many business are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As is already the case, this typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any kind of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business interests by making sure that your website complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.

There are many online resources that can provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. We provide a number of references and links to useful resources at the end of this article …

(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Don’t Forget Social Media Apps

If you are planning to develop applications for your site users, you will also be required to provide sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others with access to various legal pages …

(Apps that interface with social networks also require compliance)

• If you are unsure as to whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of organizations like Google, Facebook, etc., it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or make money online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay ads, or driving visitors to your website with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
• If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)

Basic Legal Pages To Add To Your Website To Ensure Compliance

If your web site is falling short in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

Adding the following legal pages to your site should help your website stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and third-party providers, and help to avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “take down” notices):

• About Us Page
• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms & Conditions
• Disclaimers
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

In addition to the pages above, you may want to consider implementing one or more of the following 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 sell products or services online)
• Use Of Media (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

Adding correct disclosure information is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs visitors that you’re not being paid for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Informs site users that you may be compensated if they purchase through affiliate links on your site.
• Review/Sample Copy – Lets your visitors be aware that you have received a review or sample copy of the product or service.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors be aware that you have been compensated in some form to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets your visitors know 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.

Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Website

Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been done, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Upload Legal Pages Manually To Your Website

If someone prepares the legal verbiage for you as standard web pages (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend creating a legal folder on your server and uploading your legal pages to this directory (e.g. using FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your web server using FTP)

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

(WordPress Menu)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Site

Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and clearly accessible to all site visitors. You can add these to the WordPress sidebar (or place them in the footer of your site) so that users will be able to access legal information from all of your site’s pages …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial about displaying links to pages on your WP sidebar using widgets here:

• How To Add And Configure Widgets In The WordPress Sidebar Menu

Store-Bought Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable website forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting sites like this one:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

More info:

• Find Legal Forms

Another option is to purchase a package of website legal templates written by attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Website Legal Pages)

These legal templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with simple search and replace to insert your own business name and URL, then pasted into your pages.

The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance
• Privacy Policy: Google, DART, etc.
• Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new page on your website 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 your legal pages to your web server as described previously.

For more details, go here:

• Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using legal templates, you can simplify things using a plugin.

Here are some great WordPress plugins worth looking into:

WP Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)

If manually setting up legal pages for your website feels too time-consuming for you, then consider choosing WP Legal Pages instead …

This is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably low-priced and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will help simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you a great deal of time and effort.

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

• Pre-written Legal Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the basic legal pages you need in a few minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
• Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like any other page on your website.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages when published.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like every other WordPress page.
• Forced Options – Force page lock down. When a user agrees to your terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• New Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will appear inside your main dashboard area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings)

The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, niche sites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Type of Site menu)

Select from various 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

To learn more about the benefits of using this plugin, visit this website:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users with over 20 customizable legal templates for your site …

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress)

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 of Use
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them into a plugin that can be installed quickly on any WordPress site. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).

To learn more, visit this site:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If using the services of legal experts to create your legal pages is out of your budget, then at least consider implementing some type of basic legal protection on your site until you can afford to hire the services of a solicitor.

We want your business to be protected!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal page templates, or a WordPress legal pages plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator quickly generates basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.

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As stated earlier, if you engage in any form of business online, it’s important that your site remains compliant with government laws and regulations and any terms of service and guidelines for 3rd-party services and products that you may be promoting or endorsing online. Your internet presence must comply with numerous laws and regulatory guidelines, many 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?

Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice here. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with the law wherever your business is based.

Legal Resources

Here is a useful list of sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your site may require to comply and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:

• FTC Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
• FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
• 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
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• US Copyright Office

And …

• Google 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
• AdWords Help – What to include in your privacy policy for remarketing
• ClickBank – Creating Your First Product
• Facebook Platform Policies

Hopefully, 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 website or blog.

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