Tag: Make WordPress Site Legally Compliant

Is your website compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any laws, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you are using or recommending?

Internet laws were designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who markets, sells or promotes products or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not protect someone from taking legal action against you.

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, then you 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 called the BBB. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Better Business Bureau)

The introduction of new laws affect various business categories, including:

• Any form of advertising, like pay-per-click advertising
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketers
• Product Creators
• Blogging
• etc.

If your site does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal could shut down your account, Facebook could disapprove your applications, and you won’t be allowed to participate in most advertising and online marketing networks.

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

In this article, we discuss the importance of having a compliant website and provide simple resources and solutions to make your WordPress website compliant.

Does Your Site Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with all laws wherever your business is based in.

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Is your business at risk? Consider for a minute what the implications to your business would be if these scenarios were to take place:

• A person has a heart attack after using your online fitness program.
• The skin care lotion you promote as an affiliate marketer gives people skin rashes.
• Your opt-in list provides a statement that lets subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you have not spelled out exactly what you will do with it.
• Someone copies your content and publishes it on their website.
• There is no statement on your website informing visitors that you are an affiliate for the product you’re endorsing and may get paid an affiliate commission if visitors buy products via your link.
• You have not spelled out the terms and conditions of your refund and return policies.
• A visitor claims that your testimonials are fake and tries to sue you as a result.
• You have not disclosed that you have received a free copy of a product you reviewed.
• Your website includes adult content and you haven’t taken sufficient measures to keep underaged children from accessing it.

Consider now the following actual case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up personal information (including credit card info to complete his offer. In addition to a substantial $390,000 fine, they’re now required 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 without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
• 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 independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% were in violation of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached 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 cautions or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming targeted for non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
• Multilevel Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdSense Publisher
• Info Product Marketer
• Amazon Associate
• EBay Seller
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

it’s important to ensure that your digital presence remains fully compliant with the law.

Complying With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.

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

You are expected to let your site users know that your business complies with laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves trust and confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you engage with.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires websites to display legal information when using their products and features. This includes Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Generating revenue online with your websites using Google AdSense …

(Google AdSense advertising - policy requirements)

And even promoting your products or services using Google AdWords …

(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)

If you plan to sell information products via places such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will need to add various legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling through ClickBank)

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

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Be Compliant

FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this will most likely prompt the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any kind of money-making activity 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 by making sure that your website is compliant with FTC guidelines and regulations.

A number of business resources provide guidelines and examples on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide a number of references at the end of this article …

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

Social Media Apps Also Require Compliance

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

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of organizations 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, ads for eBay or Amazon products, 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 all Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts terminated.
• If you’ve 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 third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use)

What Legal Information Pages Does Your Website Need To Be Compliant?

If your web site falls short in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

Adding the following compliance pages to your site should help your website stay out of trouble with most consumer protection agencies and 3rd-party service providers, and help to avoid potential legal issues):

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

In addition to the above, you may want to consider adding any of these compliance pages if applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general financial information)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Audio/Video Terms (if you provide users with access to download media on your site)

Types Of Disclosure Pages

Adding the correct type of disclosure to your website is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you are not being paid for writing the content.
• Affiliate Links – Lets site users be aware that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they purchase through your affiliate link.
• Sample Or review Copy – Explains to your readers that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product you’re reviewing or writing about by the author or product developer.
• Sponsored Post – Discloses to your readers that you were compensated in some form to write the article.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs readers 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 show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Legal Pages Content To Your Site

Ideally, you should have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once these have been completed, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Uploading Legal Pages Manually

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

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

(Upload legal pages to your server using FTP)

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

(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)

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

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

If you need help adding links to pages on your WordPress sidebar or footer using widgets, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To Your Blog

Ready-Made Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements just by searching online, or going to websites like the ones listed below:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

Go here to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms – Legal forms

Another option is to purchase a package of legal templates created by attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Page Templates)

Cut & Paste website legal pages feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with simple search and replace to add your own business details, then pasted into your pages.

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

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

Go here for more info:

• Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

As well as using legal templates, you can simplify things by using WordPress plugins.

Here are some plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)

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

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

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

• Pre-written Templates – Over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the legal pages you will need in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
• Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages like any other page on your site.
• Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when you publish.
• Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any page on your site.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. When a 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.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will appear in your dashboard area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)

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

(WordPress Legal Pages – Page Type)

Select from several pre-configured legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – 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

Visit the plugin site to learn more this handy plugin:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

The Compliance Bar Plugin For WordPress is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your online presence …

More info:

• Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

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 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 plugin licensing is very flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).

Visit this site to learn more:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If using the services of legal experts to create your legal documentation is currently out of your budget, consider implementing at least some form of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional legal services.

We want your website to be protected!

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

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

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

***

As we’ve previously pointed out, if you do business online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your website is found to comply with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online and any guidelines and terms of service (TOS) provided by 3rd-party products and services that you may decide to promote or use online. If your website doesn’t comply 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?

Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with all legal requirements regarding your specific business.

Additional Legal Information

Below is a time-saving list of sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your business requires to comply and meet legal obligations:

• 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
• United States Copyright Office

In Addition …

• 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

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your site using inexpensive legal resources and solutions.

***