Is your WordPress website legally compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any laws, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you offer or endorse?
Internet laws, regulations, and guidelines were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person 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 won’t protect someone from taking legal action against your business.
Recent 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 must follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the US-based Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Do a search online for “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The introduction of these laws affect several online business activities, including:
- Any kind of advertising, including Google AdWords or AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
If your website does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, 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 suspend your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will disapprove your applications, and you won’t be allowed to promote most advertising or online merchant networks.
If your online business is not compliant, you could face a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that your website(s) may be subject to legal requirements, the importance of being compliant with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose services or products you may be selling online, and that there are plugins for WordPress that can help your site become compliant, such as the plugins listed further below.
Is Your Site Breaking Rules Or Regulations?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements wherever you do business.
Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant
Are you at risk? Consider for a moment what the implications to your business would be if these scenarios were to happen:
- A person has a cardiac arrest after using your online fitness program.
- 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 won’t sell their information, but you have not spelled out exactly what you plan to do with it.
- Someone copies content from your website and puts it up on their own site.
- There is no statement on your website or blog making visitors aware that you are promoting a product as an affiliate that you could get paid a commission if they purchase through your link.
- You don’t spell out the conditions of your return policies.
- Your visitors claim your testimonials are false and try to sue you.
- You did not disclose in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
- Your site includes adult content and you didn’t take sufficient measures to restrict access by underaged children.
Consider also the actual examples of costly compliance breaches listed below:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a hefty $390,000 fine, he was also 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 massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes Users IDs. Many internet 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 chosen at random, more than 90% had breached at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were breaking 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 notices or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies they had infringed, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how you could be exposed to the risk of litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) or PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
- Multilevel Marketer
- Affiliate Product Promoter
- AdSense Publisher
- Info Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Online Seller Of Any Service Or Product
It’s imperative to ensure that your website or blog is fully compliant with the law.
Complying With 3rd-Party Services Terms And Policies
All of the leading online companies and government regulatory agencies emphasize the importance of observing the terms and policies of third-party service providers.
You are obligated to let your visitors know that your website complies will all laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you interact with online.
Here are just some examples:
Google requires your site to display certain information when using many of their services and features. This includes using services like Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Earning revenue with your WordPress blogs using Google AdSense online advertising …
(Google AdSense ads policy requirements)
And even promoting your business via Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you plan to sell information-based products through merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant networks, you will be required to add various legal pages before they will approve your products for selling via their marketplace …
(Policy requirements for selling via ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and policy statements on your site, especially if you plan to sell products online using product testimonials or endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant
FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many websites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As documented on their website, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any type of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take 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 guidelines.
You can find many sites that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site comply with FTC requirements. We provide a number of references at the end of this article …
(You must word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Social Media Applications - Don’t Forget These
If you plan to create apps for your website users, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others with access to your legal pages …
(Apps for social networking sites also require compliance)
- If you are not sure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or driving visitors to your website using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
- If you have been wondering if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies)
What Compliance Information Do I Need To Add To My Website To Be Compliant?
If you suspect that your website or blog falls short in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website should help you stay out of trouble with many regulatory agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and even help you avoid possible legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms Of Use
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to look into including one or more of the pages listed below:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you provide information about affiliate products or services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides health or medical advice)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Audio/Video Terms (if you provide users with access to videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding the right type of disclosure to your site is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Disclosure that informs users that you’re not receiving any form of compensation for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Disclosure that informs site users that you will receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and buy through an affiliate link.
- Sample/Review Copy – Disclosure that informs your readers that you have received a sample or review copy of the product by the author or developer.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors be aware that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets 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 online publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website
Ideally, you should have your lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Uploading Legal Web Pages Manually
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend creating a legals directory 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 add links to these pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)
Where To Display Legal Web Pages On Your Website
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and display clearly to all site visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to the sidebar (or the footer of your website or blog) so that users will be able to access the information from all your web pages …
(It’s important to display legal pages to visitors on all of your website’s pages)
We have written a detailed tutorial about adding links to pages on your sidebar or footer menu here:
Templates
You can easily find attorney-prepared downloadable forms and agreements just by searching online, or by going to websites like the ones listed below:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
For more details, go here:
Alternatively, you can purchase a package of legal templates created by attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Website Legal Pages)
Cut & Paste website templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a simple quick search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your legal web pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Pages include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance
- Privacy Policy: Google, DoubleClick DART, etc.
- ToS & Conditions of Use: includes inter- & intra-page redundancy, Contra Proferentem provision, reservation of rights, and exclusive social media admonition.
You can either create a new page for each legal form you want to add to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your server as described earlier.
For more details, go here:
WordPress Legal Page Plugins
In addition to using copy & paste legal templates, another option for adding legal pages to your website is to use a plugin.
Here are some WordPress plugins that you may be interested in using:
WP Legal Pages
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider installing a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages instead …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported plugin that will make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site a lot easier and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages plugin:
- Built-in Legal Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages like any other WP page.
- Custom Shortcodes Integration – You can add shortcodes to your pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your content when you publish.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any other page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page lock down. Page unlocks and can be accessed when users agree to your terms.
- Additional Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will display inside your main navigation menu …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to view, create and edit your legal pages from the admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Area)
The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, niche sites, Amazon sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Create different legal pages)
You can also choose from various built-in 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 this plugin, visit this website:
Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
total website compliance and disclaimer solution …
More info:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro 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 & 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 have packaged high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers 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 license allows you to install and use the plugin on all of your sites.
Visit this site to learn more:
If hiring legal experts to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing some basic type of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional assistance.
We want your business to be protected!
Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (for FREE!), or consider choosing one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-prepared legal content, or a WordPress plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator lets you quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you do business online, it’s important that your site complies with regulatory agencies and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines of third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or use online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws intended to protect 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, we are not lawyers and we provide no legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.
Resources
Below is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your site to remain compliant and meet legal requirements and guidelines:
- Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- Federal Trade Commission Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
- FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
- Better Business Bureau – 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
Also …
- 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 compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add essential legal pages to your website using simple solutions.
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