One of the worst situations you can find yourself in as a website owner is to break the law.
Your website has to comply with various federal, state and even local laws and regulations, many of which you may not be aware of.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of suffering serious financial losses and the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your good reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this article, we review a simple and easy-to-install WordPress solution that can help make your website legally compliant in minutes.
Is Your Website Or Blog Legally Compliant?
As the cybersphere continues growing at breakneck speed and rules are constantly changing, it’s vital to stay informed about what’s happening and to make sure that your website remains legally compliant, especially if your online presence is an essential aspect of your overall business strategy.
If there are no legal pages on your site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t let you list your digital products on their network, PayPal may shut down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will suspend your web apps, and you won’t be accepted into a number of other advertising and affiliate marketing networks.
Plus, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to lawsuits or legal action.
At the very least, if your digital presence is not compliant, trust and confidence in your business may become an issue.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies!)
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on this website.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to numerous legal requirements in accordance with compulsory laws and regulations that govern your business (some of which you may not even be aware of),
- How important it is to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be offering or using online, and
- There are easy-to-install solutions that can help your site become compliant, such as the solution that we discuss below.
If you suspect that your website or blog lacks in aspects of compliance, we discuss below a simple plugin for WordPress users you may be interested in using.
Today’s WordPress Plugin Is …
Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar Plugin is a simple plugin for WordPress users containing over 20 customizable compliance templates for your digital business …
Go here to learn more: Compliance Bar Plugin
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your web site legally compliant:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Compliance Bar Plugin is really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Editable Page Templates
You can easily modify the built-in compliance page templates inside the plugin from the settings menu using the visual editor.
Dedicated 24/7 Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides a dedicated support team to assist users.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Customized Compliance Page Templates: The Compliance Bar plugin creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Video Training Manuals: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a full library of training videos is provided.
- Use In All Countries: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the default templates provided with the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin anywhere in the world.
- Can Be Used In All Niches: As long as your website is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for every website purpose. Just select the templates you want to add to your site and ignore all other irrelevant pages.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar Plugin provides a number of great features to WP users. Below we have listed just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- Show Attractive Icon Bar – Display links to your legal pages using attractive icons that can be positioned anywhere in your page. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Sensitive Content – If you plan to display content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, tobacco, dating, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that force users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If you are based in Europe or display your content to EU visitors, you need to make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them. Compliance Bar displays an attractive bar that notifies your users and covers you from non-compliance.
- Record & Store IP Acceptance – Compliance Bar can record and store your visitors’ IP address for future reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they didn’t.
- Shortcodes – The plugin is integrated with shortcodes that automatically populate the templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site, (including the popups).
- Works On All Mobile Devices – Compliance Bar has settings for displaying on mobile devices or tablets and will display mobile optimized icons automatically based on visitor browsers.
Plugin Features – Details
After installing and activating the plugin, users get access to a section where the plugin’s settings can be configured.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this section where you can enter your business information into input (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Business Address,” “Contact Phone,” “Refund Duration (Days),” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Screen – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
The Compliance Bar Plugin uses shortcodes to insert and display the information you have input into your User Profile inside your page templates …
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Image source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required information has been input into the user profile fields, you can then access the other sections of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” section includes a list of all of your compliance template pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Here’s the full list of templates made available by the Compliance Bar plugin last time we checked the website:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure Statement
- Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Contact Us
- Copyright/DCMA Notice
- Disclaimer
- Double Dart Cookies
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- FTC Statement
- Legal Disclaimer
- Linking Policy
- Medical Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Returns/Refund Policy
- Support
- Terms
- Terms & Conditions
- Testimonial Disclosure
- Adult Content Disclosure
You can create compliance pages for your site quite easily by simply selecting check boxes and clicking the “Save” button in the “Compliance Pages” screen …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Pages – Image source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added under the “Pages” section of your site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin is installed with a built-in set of icons for referencing your legal pages …
The Compliance Bar icons are customizable. You can purchase an additional set of icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your theme …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Page Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Pages
You can edit and delete your legal templates from the “Compliance Pages” area, just as you would any typical WordPress page …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Legal Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing your compliance templates is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin will notify you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin settings area provides many options to customize the Compliance Bar, including where to position the bar, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, selecting which pages should be included in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your front page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, etc. …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to display different disclaimers on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses in other areas of your website.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the main page of your site, even if you are using particular 3rd-party theme frameworks (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or Woo), where the home page is configured through the theme itself as a built-in template, and not as a normal “static” page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, you can only select up to a certain number of page icons to display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have specified your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your compliance pages using dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like the compliance icons to be featured …
PopUps
If your website publishes content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, adult-related, etc.), you can display popups that require users to accept your terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” tab gives you full control over the settings and wordings of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Section: Create Pop Up – Image source: plugin documentation)
You can create multiple Pop Ups for different pages, or to cover various uses in different areas of your website …
You can also set a delay time if you don’t want a Pop Up to display as soon as visitors arrive, set cookie durations to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time interval, and even record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Section: IP Log Details – Image source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you do business in the EU or display your content to visitors in the EU, you need to be aware of EU Cookie law …
The plugin lets you edit the settings for compliance with EU User Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Section: Manage Settings – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” area, lists all of your legal templates and shortcodes, and lets you modify the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, lets you access general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin update notifications …
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for Compliance Bar:
”One of the Best Plugins I Have Used” Ray Lane – (The Video Guy)
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“Don’t Risk Your Online Business” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Useful Tips
Here are a few additional ways you can use Compliance Bar:
- Protecting against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Displaying compliance icons only on specific pages.
- Reducing refund disputes by clearly spelling out the refund terms before purchase.
- If your site includes adult content, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Compliance Bar Product Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated plugin support to assist you. Plugin users also get access to video training.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your version of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 hrs (M – F), your purchase price will be refunded in double.
Plugin Price
- Single Edition – Can be installed on one of your own sites. Cost = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business – Can be installed on 25 of your own sites. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional License – Can be installed on all sites that you own. Can be installed on all client sites for payment or part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was current at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price here: Compliance Bar
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Info
Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers state on their website that all legal page templates have already been reviewed and approved by a leading lawyer. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend that you get legal advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
What We Recommend
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress sites. We recommend downloading and installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Important: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.
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