Tag: Privacy Statement

One of the worst situations a website owner can find themselves in is to be on the wrong side of the law.

As the internet continues to grow at breakneck speed and the rules keep changing, it’s important to stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your website or blog remains legal, especially if having a digital presence is important in the success of your business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites clearly state that if you promote anything on your website for material gain, then you need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the (US based) BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.

(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

These laws affect various online business activities, including:

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

Without certain legal pages on your website (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank won’t approve your digital products for sale, PayPal could suspend your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will disapprove your web applications, and you won’t be allowed into a number of advertising and affiliate merchant networks.

Plus, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.

In this guide, we discuss the importance of having a legally compliant website and how to quickly add legal pages to your WordPress website.

Is Your Website Or Blog Breaking The Law?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice. Do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law wherever your business is based in.

Why Ensuring That Your Website Is Compliant Is Important

Is your business at risk? Consider what would happen to your business in the following scenarios:

• A user suffers a cardiac arrest after they use your online fitness program.
• The skin care lotion you promote as an affiliate gives someone skin rashes.
• Your opt-in list provides a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t described exactly what you will do with it.
• Someone copies content from your website and publishes it on their own site.
• There is no statement on your site letting your site users know that you are endorsing a product as an affiliate and will get paid a sales commission if they purchase it.
• You did not spell out the conditions of your refund/return policies.
• Someone claims that the testimonials on your site are misleading and tries to sue you.
• You did not disclose in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
• Your site includes adult-related information and you did not take appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged persons.

Consider now the real case studies of costly compliance breaches below:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer copped a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private information about children.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape UIDs. 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 randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% had broken at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken 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 cautions or lose access entirely to the Google program with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk being a target of litigation?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
• MLM Networker
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdWords Advertiser
• Niche Marketer
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Publisher Of Adult Content
• Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
• Seller Of Any Service Or Product Online

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

Complying With Third-Party Companies

Big companies and government regulatory agencies emphasize the importance of observing the terms and policies of service providers.

You must let your site users know that your website complies with legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you interact with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Google requires you to display certain information when using their services and product features. This includes using Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

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

(Google AdSense online advertising - policy requirements)

And even promoting your services via Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell digital products through merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will be required to add a number of legal pages to your website before your products can be approved for sale …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling through ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to display clear disclaimers and policies on your site, especially regarding the use of testimonials or product endorsements …

(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many business are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As is already 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 business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. you should protect your business interests by making sure that your site complies with all FTC regulations and guidelines.

A number of online resources provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. We provide a number of references and links to useful resources at the end of this article …

(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Don’t Forget Social Media Applications

If you are planning to develop social networking applications that integrate with your site, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others require you to provide access to 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 sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting anything online using affiliate marketing, or making money online with Google AdSense, ads for Amazon or eBay products, 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 all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
• If you’ve ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to act now and 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 policies)

Basic Legal Pages To Include In Your Site To Ensure Compliance

If you suspect that your website is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.

Adding the following compliance pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with many regulatory authorities and third-party service providers, and even help to avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “take down” notices):

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

As well as the pages above, you may want to look into adding one or more of the pages listed below where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general financial information)
• Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
• Media Terms (if you allow media downloads 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 – Informs your readers that you are not being paid for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Discloses to visitors that you will derive some form of financial benefit if they purchase through your affiliate links.
• Sample Or review Copy – Lets visitors know that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product or service by the author or developer.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors be aware that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs users that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Compliance Pages To Your Website

Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this prepared, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Uploading Legal Pages Manually

If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in standard web page formatting (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend creating a legals directory in your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder using FTP …

(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your server and upload pages using FTP)

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

(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)

Displaying Legal Pages On Your Website

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

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

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

• Adding WordPress Widgets To Your Sidebar

Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Visit this site to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can download a set of cut & paste website legal templates created by attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)

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

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects FTC regulations brought into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy: Google, 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 page on your website for each legal form you want added to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your server as described earlier.

For more details, go here:

• Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates

WordPress Legal Plugins

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

Here are some legal WordPress plugins worth looking into:

WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)

If creating legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider using a plugin like WP Legal Pages instead …

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

Some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages plugin are:

• Pre-written Legal Templates – Over 20 built-in legal 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.
• Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and completely editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Editable Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages just like any WP page.
• Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog 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 any page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed only when user agrees to your legal terms.
• Additional Features – The plugin is updated with new features when new versions are released.

After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu item is added to your WP dashboard area …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)

You can create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, niche websites, medical sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Page Type)

Choose from several built-in legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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

Visit the plugin website to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:

• WP Legal Pages

Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress-driven websites and blogs that includes over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your digital business …

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 – 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 one minute or less and the license allows you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites.

Go here to learn more:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of a lawyer to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic type of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional legal services.

We want your business to be legally safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal page templates, or plugins - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator Software lets you easily generate basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.

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As stated earlier, if you do business online (or are planning to), it’s important that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines for third-party sites that you may decide to promote or sell online. If your website isn’t compliant 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on this website. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.

Legal Resources

Here is a useful list of sites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your site to comply and meet its 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
• Better Business Bureau
• 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

See Also …

• 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

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

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