Tag: Legal Pages

Is your WordPress website legal? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose services or products you are recommending or offering?

Internet laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets 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 prevent 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 website for profit, you will need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the Better Business Bureau, also known as BBB. Search online for information about “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 new laws has legal implications for various online business categories, including:

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

If your site does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites like 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, Facebook could suspend web applications, and you won’t be allowed to enrol in many advertising or online marketing networks.

If your business online is not in compliance, you could end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!

The purpose of this guide is to help make you aware that your website(s) are required to comply with legal requirements according to laws that govern businesses online, the importance of complying with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you may be offering on your site, and that there are easy solutions that can help your website become compliant, such as the tools that we discuss further below.

Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements in your country or region.

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider for one moment what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• A person has a heart attack after they use your online fitness workout.
• The skin care lotion you sell as an affiliate marketer gives a number of users an adverse reaction.
• You’ve told your subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t spelled out exactly what you’ll do with it.
• Someone steals your content and puts it up on their website.
• You haven’t advised your site users that you are recommending a product as an affiliate and may receive financial benefits if visitors buy through your affiliate link.
• You didn’t spell out the conditions of your refund and return policies.
• Your visitors claim that your testimonials are all fake and decide to sue you because of it.
• You haven’t disclosed in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your site contains adult content and you haven’t taken appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged persons.

Consider now the actual examples of costly compliance breaches listed below:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer received a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ 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 independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had breached at least 2 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 notices or lose access to the Google program with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how you could be exposed to the risks of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Info Product Marketer
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your online business remains legally compliant.

Compliance With Third-Party Companies

Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need and importance of observing the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.

You must let your site visitors know that your website complies with legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of many companies you engage with.

For example:

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

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Making money online with your WordPress sites using Google AdSense ads …

(Google AdSense display advertising - policy requirements)

And even promoting your site through Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell information-based products using companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add various legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for selling via ClickBank)

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

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure 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 business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As documented on their website, this typically prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any kind of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business by ensuring that your website is compliant with FTC regulations and guidelines.

Various online business resources provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you meet FTC requirements. We provide additional references and links to useful resources to a number of these at the end of this article …

(Structuring your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of the law)

Social Media Apps - Don’t Forget These

If you are planning to create social networking applications for your website, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others will require you to provide access to your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are not sure whether or not you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting services or products online via affiliate marketing, or make money online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay 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 need to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
• If you’ve ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your website.

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

What Legal Pages Do You Need To Add To Your Website To Be Legally Compliant?

If you suspect that your web site is lacking in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your website will help you keep out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and external service providers, and avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):

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

Additionally, you may want to look into including one or more of these pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Agreement (if you provide an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website provides general content about financial areas or income opportunities)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Audio/Video Terms Of Use (e.g. if you allow media downloads on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

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

• No Material Connection – This lets users be aware that you are not receiving compensation for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Discloses to your visitors that you will receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
• Review/Sample Copy – Lets visitors be aware that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product or service you’re reviewing or writing about.
• Sponsored Post – Lets site users know that you were compensated in some way to write the content.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets users know that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Legal Pages Content To Your Site

Ideally, you should have your lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once these have been created, there are several ways to add them to 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 web server, or have someone upload these pages for you.

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

(Upload legal pages to your server via FTP)

You can then easily add a link to these pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …

(WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to all visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your sidebar (or the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that users have access to legal information from all your pages …

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

We have created a detailed tutorial about adding links to pages on your WP sidebar here:

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Store-Bought Legal Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

More info:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can download a set of website legal templates drafted by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Pages)

Cut & Paste website legal templates were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with a quick search and replace to insert your own details, then pasted into your legal pages.

The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects new Federal Trade Commission regulations brought into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google, 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 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 these to your web server as described earlier.

For more details, go here:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

As well as using templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress users you should check out:

WP Legal Pages

(WordPress Legal Pages)

If manually setting up legal pages for your site feels too time-consuming for you, then consider using a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages instead …

This is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably low-priced and well-supported premium plugin that will make the work of creating and implementing legal pages on your site much easier and save you a great deal of time and effort.

Some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages are:

• Pre-written Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you will need in a few 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, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Editable Pages – WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages like every other page on your website.
• Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your pages and the information will then be 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 page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. When users agree to the terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• Additional Features – More features are being added to this plugin with every new version.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will display inside your main navigation area …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Settings)

You can create legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, niche sites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)

Choose from various built-in legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Built-In 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:

• WordPress Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress

complete website compliance & disclaimer solution …

Go here to learn more:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro)

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 Use
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro – 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 less than one minute and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell).

Go here to learn more:

• Legal Suite Pro

If hiring a lawyer to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford to hire a lawyer.

We want your site to be legally safe!

Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (for FREE!), or use 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)

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

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As stated earlier, if you do any type of business online (or are planning to), you need to ensure that your website remains compliant with government laws and regulations and the guidelines and terms of service (TOS) provided by 3rd-party products and services that you may be promoting or advertising online. Your internet presence must comply with a number of laws and regulatory guidelines, many of which you may not be aware of.

Being non-compliant 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 offer no 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 the law concerning your specific business.

References And Resources

Below is a useful list of websites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your website may require to stay compliant 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
• 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
• US Copyright Office

Additionally …

• Google 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 you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information presented above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress website using inexpensive solutions.

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