Tag: Legal Pages

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

Internet laws and regulations were designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes products and services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about legal requirements won’t protect you from being slapped with a legal notice.

New laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for commercial gain, then you 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 (BBB). Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Better Business Bureau Website)

These laws affect several online business categories, including:

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

If there are no legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t let you list your digital products for sale, PayPal may shut down your account, Facebook will disapprove web applications, and you will not be allowed to participate in many advertising or online marketing networks.

If you are not compliant, you could also face a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

This article explains why it’s important to have a compliant website and how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog.

Does Your Website Comply With The Law?

Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice about your website or business. As previously stated, the aim of this article is only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern your business and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of providers whose products or services you promote

Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important

Is your business at risk? Consider for a moment what could happen to your business in the following scenarios:

• Someone suffers a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness workout.
• The skin cream you sell as an affiliate gives people allergic reactions.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t clearly spelled out what you will do with it.
• Someone copies your content and puts it up on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website or blog telling your site visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you are selling that you will get paid financial benefits if they buy products through your affiliate link.
• You did not spell out the terms and conditions of your return policies.
• Your visitors claim that your testimonials are fake and try to sue you.
• You have not disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your website publishes adult content and you haven’t taken appropriate measures to keep underaged persons from accessing it.

Consider also these documented 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 his offer. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer was slapped with a massive $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 users from scraping Users IDs. Many internet marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
• An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached 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 to the Google program whose policies they had violated, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

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

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Info Product Marketer
• Amazon Affiliate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
• Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service

It’s imperative to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website or blog complies with all laws governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies Terms And Policies

Complying with third-party companies terms and policies is important.

You are obligated to let your visitors know that your website complies will all laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also required by most companies you do business with online.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires your site to display certain information if using many of their services or product features. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Generating revenue online with your WordPress blog using Google AdSense display advertising …

(Google AdSense display advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your products through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell information-based products using companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you are required to add legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for sale in their marketplace …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling via ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to display clear disclaimers and disclosures to visitors, especially concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Website Is Compliant

New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many websites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As documented on their website, this typically results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting site owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any type of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business interests by making sure that your website complies with FTC guidelines.

Many sites provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you 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 the law)

Social Media Applications - Don’t Forget These

If you plan to develop apps that will integrate with your website, you will also be required to provide sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others with access to various legal pages …

(Social networking 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 organizations like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting services or products on your site using affiliate marketing, or monetize your pages with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or use Google AdWords pay-per-click ads to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to provide on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
• If you have 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 magnet for litigation.

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

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

If your web site lacks in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most consumer protection agencies and 3rd-party providers, and help to avoid possible legal issues):

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

Additionally, you may want to consider implementing any of the following pages:

• Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general health or medical information)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Audio/Video Terms (e.g. if you provide users with access to media on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the right disclosure information to your website is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs site users that you will not receive any form of payment for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Informs visitors that you may derive some form of financial benefit if they act on your recommendation and purchase through one of your affiliate links.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Lets users be aware that you have received a review or sample copy of the product.
• Sponsored Post – Lets site users be aware that you were compensated in some way to write the article.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets your 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 website publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your Site

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

Uploading Legal Web Pages To Your Website

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 them for you.

We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. via FTP) …

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

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

(Custom WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to visitors. You can insert these into your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website) to ensure that users have access to legal information from every web page …

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

To learn more about displaying links to pages on your sidebar or footer using widgets, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Area

Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms – Legal forms)

More information:

• Find Legal Forms – Legal forms

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

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Templates)

These templates were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with search and replace to add your own business details, then pasted into your legal pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates FTC guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.

You can either create a new page for every legal form you want to add to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload these to your server as described earlier.

To learn more, visit this website:

• Website Legal Pages

WordPress Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using copy & paste templates, another option for adding legal pages to your site is to use plugins.

Here are some legal WordPress plugins worth looking into:

WordPress Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages)

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

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

Here are just some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages:

• Built-in Legal Templates – Over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in around 3 minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
• Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages just like every other WP page.
• Custom Shortcodes Integration – You can add shortcodes to any of your WordPress pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content when published.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like every other WP page.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. When the user agrees to the legal terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• New Features – More features get added to this plugin with each new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will be added to your main WordPress dashboard section …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages – Settings)

With WPLegal Pages, you have the option of easily creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, affiliate/review websites, e-commerce sites, etc …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page type dropdown menu)

You can also choose from a number of pre-written legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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 the plugin site:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WP Compliance Plugin

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro)

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 Service
• 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. You can have legal pages installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).

More info:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If hiring a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is currently out of your budget, consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your site until you can afford to hire a legal expert.

We want your website to be safe!

Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (it’s FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-prepared legal forms, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator)

Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.

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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online, it’s important that your website is compliant with regulatory agencies and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines required by 3rd-party sites that you may be promoting or recommending online. If your website isn’t compliant 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, we are not lawyers and we cannot provide legal advice here. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements concerning your specific business.

Resources

Here is a useful list of additional sites we suggest you visit to better understand what your website may require to remain compliant and meet legal requirements and guidelines:

• 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
• US Copyright Office

And …

• 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

We hope you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly add legal pages to your WordPress website or blog using simple resources and solutions.

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