Tag: Legal Pages

One of the worst predicaments you can find yourself in as a business owner is to be on the wrong side of the law.

Internet laws are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who sells, markets or promotes goods or services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements will not excuse someone from taking legal action against you.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your site for profit, then you must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Look up “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 implications for various online business activities, including:

• Any type of advertising, like inline ads, Google Adsense, etc.
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketers
• Product Creation
• Blogging
• etc.

Without legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal may shut down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will disapprove your web applications, and you won’t be allowed into a range of advertising or online merchant networks.

You may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.

In this article, we look at why it’s important to have a legally compliant website and list simple solutions that will help make your WordPress site legally compliant in minutes.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice. As stated earlier, this article is designed only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern business and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of providers whose products or services you offer on your website

Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant

Consider for a minute what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• A user has a cardiac arrest after they use your online workout program.
• The skin care products you promote as an affiliate marketer gives someone an allergic reaction.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t defined what you will do with their details.
• Someone steals content from your site and puts it up on their website.
• There is no statement on your site telling your visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you are marketing and will receive a sales commission if visitors buy the product via your link.
• You have not spelled out the terms and conditions of your return policies.
• Someone claims the testimonials on your site are fake and tries to sue you as a result.
• You didn’t disclose that you have received a free copy of a product in your review.
• Your website contains adult-related information and you did not take appropriate measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.

Consider also these documented 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 a debt reduction offer. In addition to a hefty $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to issue everyone he does business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
• A social networking app developer received 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 details.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes UIDs. 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% were in breach of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had broken 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 they had violated, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to become exposed to the risks of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Product Marketer
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service

It’s vitally important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website has the right legal pages and information displayed to all you site users.

Compliance With 3rd-Party Services - ToS, Policies, etc.

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

You must let your visitors know that your business complies will all legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you do business with.

For example:

Google requires you to display legal information when using many of their products and service. This includes using features like Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Monetizing your WordPress sites with Google AdSense advertising …

(Google AdSense ads policy requirements)

And even promoting your services through Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell digital products using merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will be required to add certain legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(ClickBank – policy requirements for vendors)

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires you to include clear disclaimers and statements on your website, especially if you plan to use testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant

New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many sites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As documented on their website, this often ends up with 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 chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by making sure that your site complies with FTC regulations.

Various sites provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business meet FTC requirements. See our additional resources section at the end of this article for more information …

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

Don’t Forget Social Media Apps

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

(Facebook apps also require compliance)

• If you are not sure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of service providers like Google, Facebook, etc., it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting products or services online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or driving visitors to your site with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to provide 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 whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.

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

What Legal Information Do You Need To Add To Your Site To Be Legally Compliant?

If your website or blog falls short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.

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

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

As well as the above, you may want to look into implementing any of these legal pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general financial advice)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Video/Audio Terms (e.g. if you provide users with access to media on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

It’s important to add the right types of disclosure pages to your website. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs your visitors that you will not receive for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Informs your readers that you may be compensated if they act on your recommendation and purchase through your affiliate link.
• Sample/Review Copy – Lets your readers be aware that you have received a sample or review copy of the product by the author or product developer.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your readers be aware that you have been compensated in some way to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs users 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 display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Website

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

Uploading Legal Pages Manually

If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in typical web page formatting (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload these pages for you.

We recommend adding a legal directory to your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder via FTP …

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

You can then add links to these legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu administration …

(WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar menu (or the footer section of your website) so that visitors will be able to access the information from every page …

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

If you need help displaying links to pages on your sidebar and footer using widgets, refer to this tutorial:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To Your Website

Store-Bought Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms – Attorney-prepared legal forms)

For more details, go here:

• FindLegalForms.com

Alternatively, you can download a package of cut and paste 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 customized with search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your web pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates Federal Trade Commission regulations and guidelines that came into effect on March 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google, etc.
• Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new WordPress page 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 the pages to your web server as previously described.

For more details, go here:

• Website Legal Pages

Plugins – Legal Pages

In addition to using copy & paste templates, you can simplify things by using a plugin.

Here are some great plugins for WordPress websites and blogs that you may be interested in using:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)

If creating legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider installing WP Legal Pages instead …

WP Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will help simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website and save you time.

Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages plugin:

• Built-in Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like any WP page.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when published.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page lock down. Page unlocks and can be accessed only when users agree to your terms.
• New Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will be added to your main navigation menu section …

(WP Legal Pages – Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings)

The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, affiliate sites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Page Type)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Built-In 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 this WordPress plugin, visit this website:

• WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your site …

Learn We have written a detailed review of this plugin here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(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 Service
• 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 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).

More information:

• Legal Suite Pro

If hiring legal experts to create your legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing at least some form of basic legal protection on your site until you can afford legal services.

We want your site to be legally safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal page templates, or plugins - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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 are making money online (or are planning to), you need to ensure that your site is compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate online business practices and the terms of service and guidelines for third-party sites that you may be promoting or using online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws intended to protect the rights of consumers, 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements regarding your specific business.

Additional Resources

Below is a useful list of additional sites we suggest you visit to better understand what may be required of your website to comply and meet its legal obligations:

• Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• Federal Trade Commission 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
• 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
• 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 the importance of having a compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress site using inexpensive legal resources and solutions.

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