Tag: Privacy Statement

As a website owner, the last thing you want to do is to learn the hard way that you are doing something illegal.

As the digital realm continues to grow at an overwhelming speed and the rules of the game keep changing, it’s absolutely vital that you try to stay informed about what’s happening and make sure that your website or blog remains compliant with all laws and regulations, especially if having an online presence is an essential factor in your business strategy.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for material gain, you must follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau, also referred to as the 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 new laws affect several online business activities, including:

• Any form of advertising, including Google AdSense
• Retarget Marketing
• Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Product Creators
• Bloggers
• etc.

Without legal pages on your website (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal may shut down your account, Facebook could suspend your web applications, and you will not be allowed to enrol in various advertising and online marketing networks.

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

The purpose of this article is to help make you aware that your website or blog(s) are required to comply with certain legalities, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of external providers whose products or services you may be offering online, and that there are solutions for WordPress website owners that can help your online properties become more compliant, such as the tools discussed further below.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice. 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 laws and regulations in your country or region.

The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant

Consider what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:

• Someone has a heart attack after purchasing your online fitness workout.
• The skin care creams you promote as an affiliate marketer gives someone who purchases from your link an adverse reaction.
• Your opt-in list displays a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t informed them exactly what you’ll do with the details you have collected.
• Someone steals your content and publishes it on their own site.
• There is no statement on your site letting your site visitors know that you are an affiliate for the product you are marketing and could derive a commission if they decide to purchase using your link.
• You don’t spell out the terms and conditions of your return policies.
• Someone claims your testimonials are misleading and tries to sue you because of it.
• You have not disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your site publishes adult-related information and you have not taken appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged persons.

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

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete his offer. Cost = $390,000.
• A social networking app developer copped a massive $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits using software that scrapes UIDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
• An independent study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% were breaking at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached 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 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 you could become exposed to the risk of non-compliance?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA, CPC or PPA Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Marketer
• AdWords User
• Product Publisher
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Adult Content Publisher
• Provider Of Freelance, Coaching Or Consulting Services
• Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service

It’s vitally important to make sure that your website or blog stays legally compliant.

Complying With Third-Party Companies

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

You are obligated to let your site visitors know that your business complies with all necessary laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also required by most companies you interact with online.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

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

(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)

Generating revenue online with your blog using Google AdSense display advertising …

(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your services or products using Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell products online with merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant networks, you will need to add legal pages before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for vendors selling through ClickBank)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and disclosures on your website, especially when concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)

New FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Comply

FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many websites are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you plan to do any type of money-making activity online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business is not located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business interests by ensuring that your site complies with FTC guidelines.

You can find many business resources that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide a number of references and links to useful resources at the end of this article …

(You must word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)

Don’t Forget Social Media Apps

If you are planning to create social networking applications that will integrate with your site, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others will require you to provide information about various legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are not sure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you are considering promoting products or services online via affiliate marketing, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or using Google AdWords 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 all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
• If you’ve ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a magnet for litigation.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)

Basic Legal Pages To Include In Your Site

If your website or blog falls short in aspects of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.

Adding the following compliance pages to your website should keep you out of trouble with most consumer protection authorities and external providers, and avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):

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

Additionally, you may want to consider including any of these pages where applicable:

• Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you sell or promote affiliate products or services)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general financial content)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Use Of Media (if you allow media downloads on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

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

• No Material Connection – Lets your readers be aware that you will not receive any form of compensation for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Lets your readers know that you will be compensated if they purchase through one of your affiliate links.
• Review Or Sample Copy – Lets readers be aware that you have been given a sample or review copy of the product or service you’re writing about.
• Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets site users be aware that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
• Third Party Advertising – Lets readers know 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 display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

Adding Compliance Pages To Your Website

Ideally, you should consult lawyers and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this done, there are several ways to include them in your website.

Uploading Legal Pages To Your Website

If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload them for you.

We recommend adding a legal directory 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 add a link to your pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …

(WordPress Menu)

Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and clearly visible to all site visitors. You can add these to the WordPress sidebar (or the footer section of your site) so that users have access to the information from every page …

(It’s important to display links to legal pages on all of your website’s pages)

We have created a detailed tutorial on displaying links to pages on your sidebar or footer here:

• Using WordPress Widgets

Templates

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

Find Legal Forms

(FindLegalForms.com)

Visit this site to learn more:

• Find Legal Forms – Legal forms

Alternatively, you can purchase a set of legal templates designed by attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …

Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages

(Website Legal Pages)

Cut & Paste website legal templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with search and replace to insert your own business name and URL, then pasted into your web pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• Federal Trade Commission Compliance
• Privacy Policy: Google & DoubleClick DART, etc.
• Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use.

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

More info:

• Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates

Plugins – Legal Pages

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

Here are some great plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:

WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)

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

This plugin is not free, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported plugin that will help simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you time.

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

• Pre-written Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
• Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
• Easy To Edit Pages – Content editor lets you edit all legal pages just like any WP page.
• Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when published.
• Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like every other WordPress page.
• Forced Options – Force page or post lock down. Page unlocks only when the 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 new menu feature will display inside your main WordPress dashboard menu section …

(WP Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)

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

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)

You have the option of creating legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites with products, affiliate/review sites, AdSense sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages – Page type drop down menu)

You can also choose from various built-in legal templates …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – 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 this powerful plugin:

• WP Legal Pages

Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress users that contains over twenty customizable compliance templates for your online presence …

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(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 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 powered site. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your websites.

Visit this site to learn more:

• Legal Suite Pro

If using the services of lawyers to create your legal pages is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some kind of basic legal protection on your website until you can afford legal services.

We want your business to be legally 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 ready-made legal templates, or a plugin - see section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator allows you to 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 engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to ensure that your website complies with regulatory agencies and the guidelines and terms of service for third-party products and services that you may decide to promote or advertise online. Your internet presence must comply with a number of regulations, some 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?

Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice. We strongly advise you to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.

References And Legal Resources

Below is a useful list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your site may require to remain compliant and meet legal obligations:

• FTC Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• FTC 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
• United States Patent and Trademark Office
• US 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
• 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 presented above to quickly add essential legal pages to your WordPress site.

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