Tag: Legal Pages

Is your WordPress website compliant? Do you know if your site is breaking any rules or regulations, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you are endorsing or advertising?

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

New laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you promote anything on your site for commercial gain, you must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory agencies, such as the US-based BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – Better Business Bureau)

The introduction of these laws affect several business activities, including:

• Any form of advertising, like pay-per-click advertising
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creation
• Blogging
• etc.

If your website does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t approve digital products for sale, PayPal could close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will reject your applications, and you will not be allowed to promote most advertising or online merchant networks.

If your business online is not in compliance, you could also face a whole range 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 website are required to comply with legal requirements, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose services or products you may be offering online, and that there are solutions that can help your websites become fully compliant, such as the plugins that we list further below.

Is Your Website Breaking Rules Or Regulations?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice about your website or business. As previously stated, this article is designed only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal policies in accordance with federal, regional or local laws governing your business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of providers whose services or products you offer on your website

Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider what would happen to your business if any of these scenarios were to happen:

• A person suffers a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness program.
• The skin care products you sell as an affiliate gives someone an allergic reaction.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not spelled out exactly what you plan to do with their personal details.
• Someone steals your content and puts it up on their site.
• There is no statement on your website or blog letting your site visitors know that you are an affiliate for the product you are selling that you will get paid a commission if they buy it.
• You didn’t spell out the terms of your refund policies.
• Online visitors claim the testimonials on your site are misleading and decide to sue you.
• You didn’t disclose in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your site includes adult-related content and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underage persons.

Consider too 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 their personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. 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 details about children.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
• An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, 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% had broken 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 cautions 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 easy it is to risk becoming targeted for litigation?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdSense Publisher
• Info Product Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

It’s imperative to make sure that your digital presence stays fully compliant with the law.

Compliance With Third-Party Services

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

You must let your site visitors know that your website complies will all legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of most companies you will engage with.

For example:

Google requires websites to display certain information if using many of their products. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Monetizing your website using Google AdSense …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your services via Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you plan to sell information-based products with companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you are required to add certain legal pages before your products are approved for sale in their marketplace …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling through ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires that you display clear disclaimers and statements to visitors, especially if you plan to sell or promote products or services online with the aid of testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Comply

FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many sites are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has already been the case, this typically results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you plan to do any type of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business by making sure that your site is compliant with all FTC regulations.

A number of business resources provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. See our additional resources section at the end of this article for more information …

(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)

Social Media Apps Also Have Compliance Requirements

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

(Apps that interface with social networks also require compliance)

• 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 assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote products or services on your site as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or use Google AdWords 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 their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
• If you have been wondering if “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 terms of use and policies)

Common Legal Pages To Add To Your Site To Ensure Compliance

If you suspect that your web site is falling short in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following legal pages to your website should help you keep out of trouble with many regulatory agencies and external providers, and even help to avoid potential legal issues):

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

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

• Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you provide an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general health or medical content)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Video/Audio Terms (e.g. if you allow users to download media on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the correct type of disclosure to your website is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – This lets visitors be aware that you are not being paid for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Notifies users that you will receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and purchase through affiliate links on your site.
• Sample Or review Copy – Informs users that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product or service by the author or developer.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets site users be aware that you have been compensated in some way to write the article.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs your visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring website publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Legal Pages Content To Your Website

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

Uploading Legal Pages To Your Site

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

We recommend adding a legals directory to your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory via FTP …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your server and upload pages via FTP)

You can then add a link to these legal pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …

(WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and clearly accessible to all site visitors. You can add these to your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that users have access to legal information from all your pages …

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

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

• Configuring Widgets On Your WordPress Blog Sidebar Area

Using Ready-Made Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

More info:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can download a package of legal templates created by attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Website Legal Pages)

These legal pages were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a simple quick search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance
• 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 these to your web server as described earlier.

Visit this website to learn more:

• Scott Talbert’s Legal Pages

Legal Pages – Plugins

As well as using legal templates, you can simplify things using WordPress plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress users that you may be interested in using:

WordPress Legal Pages

(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)

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

The WP Legal Pages plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you a great deal of time.

Some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages are:

• Built-in Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Fully Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages just like every other page on your site.
• Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to any of 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 any other page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page lock down. When users agree to the legal terms, the page unlocks.
• Additional Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu item will appear inside your main dashboard section …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Menu)

This allows you to create, view and edit your legal pages from the admin area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites, affiliate websites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Page Type)

You can also select from various pre-written legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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

To learn more about using this plugin, visit this site:

• WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin that contains over 20 customizable legal page templates for your web presence …

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro)

Legal Suite Pro 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 Service
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro – 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.

To learn more, visit this website:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

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

We want your business to be safe!

Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (it’s FREE!), or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-drafted legal content, or a WordPress plugin - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator lets you quickly generate basic legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.

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As stated earlier, if you are making money online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your website complies with regulatory agencies and the guidelines and terms of service required by third-party sites that you may be promoting or endorsing online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws intended to protect consumer rights, you’re breaking the law.

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 do not offer legal advice. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with the law concerning your specific business.

Resources

Here is a time-saving list of websites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your site 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
• 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

And …

• 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 why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website using inexpensive methods and resources.

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