Tag: Legal Pages

One of the worst predicaments a website owner can find themselves in is to be on the wrong side of the law.

As the digital way of life continues growing at an overwhelming speed and rules keep changing, it’s vitally important that you try to stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your website remains compliant, especially if your online presence is important in the success of your overall business strategy.

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

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

These laws has ramifications for various online business categories, including:

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

If you do not display certain legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like 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 freeze your funds, Facebook will suspend your applications, and you won’t be allowed to enrol in most advertising or online merchant networks.

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

The purpose of this article is to make you aware that your website or blog(s) are subject to legal requirements according to laws that govern businesses online, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be advertising online, and that there are solutions that can help your websites become compliant, such as the plugins that we list further below.

Is Your Website Breaking The Law?

Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with the law wherever you do business.

Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important

Are you at risk? Consider for one minute what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• A customer suffers a heart attack after they use your online fitness workout.
• The skin care products you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone who purchases from your link allergic reactions.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you have not spelled out exactly what you will do with their details.
• Someone copies content from your site and puts it up on their site.
• There is no statement on your website or blog letting your site users know that you are an affiliate for the product you’re recommending that you will earn a financial benefit if visitors buy it.
• You didn’t spell out the terms of your refund policies.
• A visitor claims your testimonials are misleading and tries to sue you.
• You didn’t disclose that you have received a free copy in a product review.
• Your website includes adult-related content and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to keep underaged persons from accessing it.

Consider also the documented examples of costly compliance breaches listed below:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer was slapped with a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting 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 in violation of 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 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 be exposed to the risks of litigation through non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

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

It’s vitally important to make sure that your website remains fully compliant with the law.

Complying With Third-Party Companies

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

You are required to let your site users know that your website complies will all laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you interact with.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires you to display certain information if using their products or features. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Generating revenue online with your sites using Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense display advertising - policy requirements)

Or promoting your products or services using Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell information-based products with companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you are required to add certain legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for selling through ClickBank)

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

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Be Compliant

New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies 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 is not physically located in the U.S. you should protect your business by making sure that your website is compliant with FTC guidelines and regulations.

A number of online business resources provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. We provide additional references and links to resources at the end of this article …

(Structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)

Don’t Forget Social Media Applications

If you plan to develop social networking applications that integrate with your website, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others require you to provide access to your legal pages …

(Apps for social networks also require compliance)

• If you are not sure whether 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 are considering promoting services or products on your site using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon 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 are required to include on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
• If you’ve been wondering if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to act now and take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.

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

What Compliance Pages Do I Need To Add To My Site To Be Compliant?

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

Adding the following compliance pages to your website will help your business keep out of trouble with most regulatory agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and avoid potential legal issues):

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

As well as the pages above, you may want to consider including any of these pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers (if your website provides general content about health or medical areas)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Media Terms Of Use (if you allow media downloads on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

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

• No Material Connection – Lets users know that you are not being paid for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Lets your readers know that you may benefit financially if they act on your recommendation and buy through your affiliate link.
• Sample/Review Copy – Lets users be aware that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product you’re reviewing.
• Sponsored Post – Discloses to your visitors that you have been compensated in some way to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets readers 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 online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Compliance Pages To Your WordPress Website

Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this completed, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Uploading Legal Web Pages Manually

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

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

(Upload legal pages to your server using FTP)

You can then add a link to these pages in WordPress using custom links in your menu admin area …

(WordPress Menu)

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to your visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar menu (or the footer section of your website or blog) to ensure that users can access legal information from all your site’s pages …

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

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

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Site

Store-Bought Legal Templates

You can easily find downloadable attorney-drafted forms and agreements by searching online, or by visiting websites like the ones shown below:

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com – Legal forms)

More information:

• FindLegalForms.com

Alternatively, you can purchase a set of cut & paste legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)

Cut & Paste website legal pages 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 templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance
• Privacy Policy
• ToS & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new page for every legal form you want added 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 previously described.

To learn more, visit this site:

• Website Legal Pages

Plugins – Legal Pages

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

Here are some plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:

WP Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)

If setting up legal pages manually seems too time-consuming for you, then consider installing a plugin like WP Legal Pages instead …

This plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will make the work of creating and implementing legal pages on your website much easier and save you many headaches.

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

• Pre-written Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the legal pages you need in around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
• Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like any WordPress page.
• Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your WordPress 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 every other WP page.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks when the user agrees to your legal terms.
• New Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will be added to your dashboard menu …

(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)

The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites with products, review sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Page Type)

You can also choose from several 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

Visit the plugin website for more information about using this plugin:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a total compliance & disclaimer solution for your web presence …

For a detailed review of this plugin go here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress)

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 & 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them 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 plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites.

Visit this site to learn more:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of lawyers to create your legal documentation is currently out of your budget, consider implementing some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford a solicitor.

We want your business to be legally safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or choose 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 Software lets you easily generate essential 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 engage in any form of business online, you need to make sure that your site is compliant with regulatory agencies and any terms of service and guidelines for third-party sites that you may be promoting or recommending online. Your digital presence must comply with a number of laws and regulatory guidelines, many of which you may not even 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, we are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice on our website. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements in your country or region.

Additional Resources

Here is a useful list of websites we suggest you visit to better understand what your site may require to remain compliant 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 – BBB
• 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

See Also …

• 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 this article has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly and easily add essential legal pages to your website or blog using inexpensive methods, resources and plugins.

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