One of the worst things that can happen to you as a website owner is to break the law.
As the digital era continues to grow at an overwhelming speed and the rules of the game constantly change, it’s vitally important to stay informed about what’s going on and to make sure that your website remains legally compliant, especially if having a digital presence is an integral factor in your overall business strategy.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for profit, you will need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by regulatory departments, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau, also known as BBB. Search online “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.
(Better Business Bureau Website)
The new laws affect several online business activities, including:
- Any type of advertising, including contextual ads
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creation
- Bloggers
- etc.
Without legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo will not approve digital products on their network, PayPal could close down your account, Facebook could suspend your web applications, and you will not be allowed to enroll in various advertising or affiliate marketing networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.
The purpose of this guide is to help make you aware that your website or blog(s) may be required to comply with legal requirements, the importance of being compliant with the terms of service of other providers whose products or services you may be offering on your site, and that there are solutions that can help your online properties become fully compliant, such as the plugins discussed further below.
Does Your Site Comply With The Law?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. As stated previously, the aim of this article is only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal policies in accordance with federal, regional or local laws that govern business and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of 3rd-party companies whose products or services you promote
The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Consider for a moment what could happen to your business if the following situations were to happen:
- A person has a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness workout.
- The skin cream you promote as an affiliate gives someone an allergic reaction.
- You’ve told subscribers that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t defined what you plan to do with it.
- Someone copies content from your website and puts it up on their website.
- There is no statement on your website or blog making your site users aware that you’re an affiliate for the product you’re selling that you could get paid a commission if visitors purchase it.
- You didn’t spell out the conditions of your refund or return policies.
- Your visitors claim the testimonials on your site are misleading and decide to sue you.
- You did not disclose in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
- Your site contains adult-related content and you have not taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underaged children.
Consider too the following actual case studies of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would have to give up their personal information (including credit card information to complete a debt reduction offer. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with 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 internet marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independent 2010 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 broken at least two 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 to the Google program whose policies they had infringed, 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:
- CPA Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdWords User
- Product Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
You need to make sure that your digital presence remains fully compliant with the law.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies - ToS, Policies, etc.
Compliance with third-party services terms and policies is important.
You are obligated to let your visitors know that your website complies with legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of most companies you engage with.
For example:
Google requires your site to display certain information when using many of their products and features. This includes Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Generating revenue online with your websites with Google AdSense ads …
(Google AdSense policy requirements)
Or promoting your products using Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you plan to sell information products using companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add legal pages to your site before your products are approved for sale in their network …
(Policy requirements for using ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires that you display clear disclaimers and policy statements on your site, especially if you plan to sell products online with the aid of testimonials or product endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many websites are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As is already the case, this typically results in the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting website owners for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any type of selling 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 interests by making sure that your site complies with FTC regulations.
Various online resources provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide additional references at the end of this article …
(Structuring your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Social Media Applications Also Require Compliance
If you plan to create social networking applications that will integrate with your site, 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 unsure whether or not 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 anything online as an affiliate marketer, or generating revenue online with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or use Google AdWords pay-per-click ads to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts shut down.
- If you have ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your website.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Compliance Pages Do I Need To Add To My Site To Be Insured Against Legal Compliance Issues?
If your website or blog is falling short in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your website will help you stay out of trouble with many regulatory agencies and 3rd-party providers, and even help to avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions
- Website Disclaimer
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
In addition to the above pages, you may want to consider implementing one or more of the pages listed below:
- Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general health or medical advice)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Audio/Video Terms Of Use (e.g. if you provide users with access to download videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding the correct type of disclosure to your website is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets site users know that you will not receive any type of compensation for writing the post.
- Affiliate Links – Lets users be aware that you will be compensated if they act on your recommendation and purchase through one of your affiliate links.
- Sample/Review Copy – Discloses to your visitors that you have received a sample or review copy of the product or service you’re writing about.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your visitors know that you have been compensated in some form to write the content.
- 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 website publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Content To Your Site
Ideally, you will consult lawyers and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once you have this completed, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Pages Manually To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in typical web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory using FTP …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your web server and upload pages using FTP)
You can then add a link to these pages in WordPress using custom links in your menu administration …
(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)
Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Site
Make sure that your legal pages are fully up-to-date and display clearly to all visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your sidebar menu (or place them in the footer of your website or blog) to ensure that visitors can access the information from every page …
(It’s important to display links to legal information to visitors on all of your website’s pages)
We have written a detailed tutorial about adding links to pages on your WP sidebar or footer using widgets here:
Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-drafted internet forms and agreements just by searching online, or by going to sites like the ones shown below:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms – Legal forms)
Go here to learn more:
Alternatively, you can purchase a package of website legal templates designed by attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Templates)
Cut & Paste website legal templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your web pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance
- Privacy Policy
- 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 page for each legal form you want to add to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload the pages to your web server as described earlier.
More info:
WordPress Legal Plugins
As well as using legal templates, another option for adding legal pages to your site is to use WordPress plugins.
Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WP Legal Pages
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)
If you don’t want to bother with creating legal pages manually, then consider installing a plugin like WP Legal Pages instead …
This is not a free plugin, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported plugin that will make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site a lot easier and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages:
- Built-in Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – Includes fully customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms Of Service, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit all legal pages like any other page on your site.
- Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to any of your 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 other WP page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. Page unlocks and can be accessed only when users agree to your terms.
- New Features – More features get added to this plugin with every new version.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will appear in your navigation area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to create, view and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Area)
The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, review websites, e-commerce sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Page Type)
Choose from a number of built-in legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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 about this plugin, visit this site:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Compliance Plugin
Compliance Bar is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your digital presence …
More info:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro 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 & Conditions
- Earnings Disclaimer
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin – 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them 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 (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).
For more details, visit this website:
If using the services of lawyers to create your legal documentation is out of your budget, consider implementing at least some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford to hire a solicitor.
We want your site to be protected!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or consider using one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-written legal forms, or a plugin - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to easily generate 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 engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to make sure that your website is found to comply with regulatory agencies and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines for 3rd-party services and products that you may be promoting or advertising online. Your website must comply with a whole range of laws and regulatory guidelines, 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?
Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on our website. 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 time-saving list of additional sites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your website to comply and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:
- FTC Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
- FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
- Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – 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
Also …
- 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
- 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 why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your website using simple and cost-effective methods, resources and WordPress plugins.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now