Tag: Legal Pages

If you do any kind of business online, you do not want to find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

As digital business continues growing at such a rapid pace and the rules constantly change, it’s vital to try and stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your website remains legal, especially if your online presence is important in the success of your business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you promote anything on your site for profit, you will need to 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 to learn more.

(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

The new laws has consequences for various business categories, including:

• Any kind of advertising, including Google AdWords
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketers
• Product Creation
• Blogging
• etc.

If your website does not display certain pages (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, legal disclaimers, etc.), many 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 withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will suspend web applications, and you won’t be allowed to enrol in many advertising or online merchant networks.

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

The purpose of this post is to make you aware that your website(s) may be required to comply with legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern business practices online, the importance of being compliant with the terms of service of other providers whose services or products you may be selling online, and that there are easy solutions for WordPress that can help your website become fully compliant, such as the tools listed further below.

Does Your Site Comply With The Law?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice in this article. As previously stated, the purpose of this article is only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with federal, regional or local laws governing your business and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of third-party companies whose services or products you advertise on your website or blog

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider what could happen to your business if these situations were to happen:

• A person has a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness workout.
• The skin care lotion you sell as an affiliate gives someone who purchases from your link an allergic reaction.
• You’ve informed your subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t clearly informed them what you’ll do with it.
• Someone copies content from your site and puts it up on their own site.
• There is no statement on your website or blog making your site users aware that you are an affiliate for the product you’re endorsing that you could receive financial benefits if visitors end up purchasing via your link.
• You don’t spell out the terms of your refund/return policies.
• Your visitors claim the testimonials on your site are all fake and try to sue you because of it.
• You have not disclosed in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your website includes adult-related content and you have not taken sufficient measures to keep underage children from accessing it.

Consider also these documented case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information (including credit card details to complete his offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, they’ve also been ordered to provide a copy of the judgement to everyone they do business with for the next 20 years — including employees.
• A social networking app developer received a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private details.
• 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, resulting thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent 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% were breaking at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had infringed 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 with warnings 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 risk becoming a target of litigation?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA (Cost Per Action) or CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Marketer
• AdWords User
• Product Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

It’s vitally important to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website or blog remains fully compliant with the law.

Compliance With Third-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.

Big companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need and importance of complying with the terms and policies of service providers.

You are required to let your visitors know that your business complies with all necessary legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of most companies you do business with.

For example:

Google requires your site to display legal information if using their services. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Earning revenue online with your blogs with Google AdSense online advertising …

(Google AdSense - policy requirements)

And even promoting your business via Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you plan to sell information-based products with companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will be required to add various legal pages to your website before your products can be approved for selling via their networks …

(Policy requirements for using ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to add clear disclaimers and policies to visitors, especially when using 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 businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many sites are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this often ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

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

You can find many online business resources that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …

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

Don’t Forget Social Media Applications

If you plan to develop apps for your site, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others require you to provide access to your 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 websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting products or services online via affiliate marketing, or generate 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 are required to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
• If you have been wondering whether “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 policies and guidelines)

Essential Legal Pages To Include In Your Website To Ensure Compliance

If you suspect that 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 website should help your business stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and 3rd-party providers, and help to avoid possible legal issues):

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• Disclaimer Pages
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

In addition to the pages above, you may want to look into adding any of the pages listed below where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website provides general information about financial areas or money-making opportunities)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Use Of Media (if you provide users with access to videos or audio files on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

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

• No Material Connection – This lets visitors be aware that you are not being paid for writing the post.
• Affiliate Links – Lets readers know that you may derive some form of financial benefit if they purchase through one of your affiliate links.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Lets site users know that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product you’re writing about.
• Sponsored Post – Informs site users that you have been compensated in some form to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs visitors 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 Content To Your Website

Ideally, you will consult a lawyer and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once these have been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading Legal Web Pages To Your Website

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

We recommend creating a legal directory on your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. using FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your server using FTP)

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

(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Site

After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to visitors. You can add these to your WordPress sidebar (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that users have access to the information from every page …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial about adding links to pages on your sidebar and footer menu here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To Your Sidebar Menu

Ready-Made Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Go here for more details:

• Find Legal Forms

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

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates)

Cut & Paste website legal templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a quick search and replace to add 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
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC regulations and guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• ToS & Conditions of Use.

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

More info:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Pages – WordPress Plugins

In addition to using legal templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.

Here are some great WordPress plugins you may be interested in checking out:

WordPress Legal Pages

(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)

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

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

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

• Pre-written Legal Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you need in around 3 minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages just like every other WP page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your WordPress pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like every other page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. When users agree to the terms, the page unlocks.
• New 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 dashboard menu …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Settings)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

Select from several pre-configured legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages – 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

Go here to learn more about using this plugin:

• WordPress Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress)

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 And 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 site. You can have legal pages installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the plugin licensing is very flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites.

For more details, go here:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If using the services of lawyers to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing at least some form of basic legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance from a legal firm.

We want your business to be protected!

Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (for FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documentation, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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

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As stated earlier, if you engage in any form of business online, it’s important that your site is compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate how business online is done and the terms of service (TOS) and guidelines required by 3rd-party sites that you may decide to promote or recommend online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements in your country or region.

Resources

Here is a useful list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your business requires to stay 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
• BBB – 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
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• US 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
• 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 legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress website.

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