Tag: Legal Pages

Is your WordPress site legal? Do you know if your site is breaking the law, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose products or services you are doing business with?

Internet laws, regulations, and guidelines were designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who sells, markets or promotes products or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not protect someone from taking legal action against you.

New laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you promote anything on your site for profit, you will need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Better Business Bureau Website)

The new laws has legal consequences for various online business activities, including:

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

If you do not include certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo will not allow you to list digital products, PayPal could close down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will suspend your applications, and you will not be allowed into most advertising or affiliate marketing networks.

You may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to expensive litigation.

This guide explains the importance of having a compliant website and how to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website or blog.

Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide 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 fully complies with all laws and regulations concerning your specific business.

Understanding The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Are you at risk? Consider for one minute what the implications to your business would be if any of these scenarios were to take place:

• A user suffers a heart attack after using your online fitness program.
• The skin cream you sell as an affiliate gives a number of users skin rashes.
• Your opt-in list displays a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you have not defined what you’ll do with it.
• Someone copies your content and puts it up on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website informing visitors that you are an affiliate for the product you are selling that you will receive an affiliate commission if they end up purchasing using your affiliate link.
• You did not spell out the terms of your refund/return policies.
• A visitor claims that the testimonials on your site are fake and tries to sue you because of it.
• You didn’t disclose that you received a free copy of the product you reviewed.
• Your site publishes adult-related information and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

Consider also these real examples of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up their personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. In addition to a hefty $390,000 fine, he was also ordered to provide everyone they do business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
• A social networking app developer was slapped with 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 does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% had breached at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least two 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 with warnings or lose access entirely to the Google program with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk being targeted for litigation?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords User
• Niche Marketer
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your online business is fully compliant with the law.

Compliance With 3rd-Party Services Terms And Policies

Leading online companies and government trade regulatory agencies emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.

You are obligated to let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also required by most companies you engage with.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires your site to display certain information if using many of their products and features. This includes Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Earning revenue with your websites using Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your services or products via Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you sell information-based products via places like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will be required to add various legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(ClickBank – policy requirements)

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

(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)

FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Be Compliant

New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many websites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As is already the case, this typically results in 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 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 ensuring that your site is compliant with all FTC guidelines.

You can find many resources sites for businesses that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide a number of references at the end of this article …

(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Social Media Apps Also Require Compliance

If you plan to develop apps for your website, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others will require you to provide access to your 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 websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote anything online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay advertising, or using Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required 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 have ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your website.

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

Essential Legal Pages You Should Add To Your Site

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

Adding the following compliance pages to your site should help you keep out of trouble with many regulatory authorities and 3rd-party service providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues):

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

As well as the above, you may want to look into implementing one or more of the pages listed below if applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you provide information about affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website provides general financial content)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Media Terms (e.g. if you allow users to download media on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

It’s important to add the right disclosures to your site. For example:

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

Adding Legal Content To Your Website

Ideally, you should consult a lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this prepared, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading Legal Pages Manually To Your Site

If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend creating a legal directory in your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder using FTP …

(Upload legal pages to your server via FTP)

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

(WordPress Menu)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are fully up-to-date and clearly accessible to your visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into your WordPress sidebar (or the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that visitors will be able to access legal information from every web page …

(It’s important to display legal information to visitors on all of your site’s pages)

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

• How To Use WordPress Widgets

Templates

You can easily find downloadable attorney-prepared internet forms and agreements by searching online, or going to sites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

More information:

• Find Legal Forms – Legal forms

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

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)

These templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with search and replace to add your own details, 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 (This proprietary FTC page accommodates FTC 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 each legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload the pages to your web server as described previously.

Go here for more information:

• Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates

WordPress Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using legal templates, another option for adding legal pages to your website is to use plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress-powered websites and blogs worth looking into:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)

If you don’t want to spend time creating legal pages manually, then consider using WP Legal Pages instead …

This is not a free plugin, but it’s a very affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will help simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website 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 templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like any other page on your website.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – You can add shortcodes to your WordPress pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any other WordPress page.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks when users agree to your terms.
• New Features – More features are being added to this plugin with every new version.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear inside your WordPress dashboard section …

(WP Legal Pages – Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, review sites, e-commerce sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal pages)

Select from a number of built-in legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – 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

For more details about this plugin, go here:

• WordPress Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress-powered websites containing over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your online presence …

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro

(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 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 very flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell).

More information:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If hiring lawyers to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some type of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance from a solicitor.

We want your website to be protected!

Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (for FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documentation, or a legal pages plugin as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to quickly generate essential legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, 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 are planning to), you need to make sure that your website complies with regulatory agencies and any guidelines and terms of service required by 3rd-party sites that you may decide to promote or recommend online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect the rights of 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, we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with the law regarding your specific business.

Resources

Below is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your business requires to remain compliant and meet legal obligations:

• 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
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• United States Copyright Office

In Addition …

• 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
• Google 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 legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly and easily add essential legal pages to your WordPress site.

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