One of the worst things that can happen to you as a website owner is to suddenly discover that you have broken the law.
If your website isn’t compliant with laws intended to protect consumers, you’re breaking the law.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of suffering serious financial costs, but also the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this post, we look at a simple and very inexpensive solution for WordPress users that can help make your website fully compliant just minutes.
Is Your Website Legally Compliant?
As the digital realm continues growing at breakneck speed and rules keep changing, it’s vital that you stay on top of what’s going on and to make sure that your website remains compliant, especially if your digital presence is a significant component of your business strategy.
Without legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, legal disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank won’t approve your digital products for sale, PayPal may shut down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook will suspend your apps, and you will not be accepted into many other advertising and affiliate merchant networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to lawsuits or legal action.
At the very least, if your business online is not in compliance, trust and confidence in your business could be damaged.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party websites require you to comply with their terms of use and policies!)
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to numerous legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern your business,
- How important it is to be compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be promoting or endorsing in your website, and
- There are easy-to-use solutions that can help your site become compliant, such as the plugin that we discuss below.
In this article, you will learn about a simple plugin for WordPress-powered websites that provides a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your website.
Announcing …
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a simple and easy-to-use plugin for WordPress websites and blogs containing over 20 customizable legal disclaimers for your site …
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Compliance Bar
Compliance Bar Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your web site compliant:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Compliance Bar installs just like any plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Easy To Edit Page Templates
You can easily edit the built-in compliance page templates inside the plugin from the settings menu using the WYSIWYG editor.
Dedicated Plugin Support
The plugin develop provides dedicated 24/7 plugin support to help users.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Customized Compliance Templates: The plugin creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Full Video Training: Compliance Bar is not complicated to use - a full library of training videos is provided.
- Can Be Used In Every Country: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to make sure that the built-in legal templates provided in Compliance Bar are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin anywhere in the world.
- Use In All Niches: As long as your website is driven by WordPress, you can use the plugin for every website purpose. Just select the compliance pages you need to include in your site and ignore all other unnecessary pages.
Features
Compliance Bar Plugin provides a number of features to site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- Show Attractive Icon Bar – The plugin displays links to your compliance pages in the form of attractive icons that can be positioned anywhere in your pages. You can also upload your own icons.
- Show Sensitive Content – If you plan to publish content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, tobacco, adult content, etc.), you can display pop-ups that force users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If you are based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you need to be aware of EU compliance requirements. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying visitors and covering your website from non-compliance.
- Record & Store IP Addresses – The plugin can record and store the IP addresses of your visitors for reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims otherwise.
- Shortcode Driven – Compliance Bar uses shortcodes to automatically populate compliance pages with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (even in the popups).
- Compatible With Mobile Devices – Compliance Bar has settings for displaying on mobile devices and tablets and can display mobile optimized icons automatically based on the browser being used.
Plugin Features – Details
Once the plugin is installed, the plugin’s “Settings” section is added to your WordPress dashboard.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this area where you can input your business details into entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Registered Address,” “Location Details,” “Refund Period,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Business Name,” “Support Email,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
The plugin uses shortcodes to insert the information from your User Profile fields in your page templates …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section: Shortcodes – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required data has been input into the user profile fields, you can then access the other plugin screens.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” screen includes a list of all of the plugin’s templates …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Templates – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Below is the full list of templates made available by the Compliance Bar plugin last time we checked the site:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure
- 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 easily create compliance pages for your website or blog simply by selecting check boxes and clicking the “Save” button at the bottom of the “Create Pages” tab …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Pages – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added to your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
Icons are customizable. You can purchase additional icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your theme …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Template Icons – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Page Templates
You can modify and delete the legal templates in the “Compliance Pages” screen, just as you would any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Compliance Pages – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing your compliance pages is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin notifies you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
You have various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, whether to show links or icon images, background colors and images, icon size, specifying 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 – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create an unlimited number of Compliance Bars to show different icons on different pages, or to cover a range of uses in other sections of your site.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the main page of your site, even if you are using a specific premium theme framework (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile devices, 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 displays links to your legal using dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to display the compliance icons …
PopUps
If your site includes content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, dating, etc.), you can display popups that restricts access to users who do not accept your website’s terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” page gives you full control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Section: Create Pop Up – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
You can create a number of Pop Ups displaying on different pages, or to cover a range of uses in different areas of your site …
You can also specify a delay time to prevent a Pop Up from displaying as soon as visitors arrive, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from appearing again within a specific time interval, and record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Screen: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If you are based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you need to be aware of EU Cookie law …
The Compliance Bar plugin lets you customize the settings for compliance with EU User Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” area …
(EU Cookies Screen: Manage Settings – Image sourced from 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 compliance templates and shortcodes, and lets you modify their content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” screen, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin update notifications …
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that users have submitted regarding Compliance Bar Plugin:
”One of the most annoying parts about building out a site is to make sure it complies with the law. I always leave this part to the end because its painfully dry and boring and frankly I always just wished their was an easier way. Then I came across Compliance Bar and its literally the most versitile and brilliant plugin I have ever used. All my pages meet FTC requirements now and all I had to do was press a button! Anton and Jon..you guys friggen rock — 1000% highly recommend this!!” Anthony La Rocca – Founder (Hustle Marketing)
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“Don’t Risk Your Online Business” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Plugin Tips
Here are a few extra ways to use Compliance Bar:
- Protect against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Display compliance icons on specific pages of your website only.
- Minimizing refund disputes by clearly spelling out refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you include content that is inappropriate for persons below a certain age on your website, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Compliance Bar Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated plugin support to help users if they experience any problems. You also get access to a complete library of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, 30 day, 200% refund guarantee. If your version of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 business hours (Monday to Friday), the plugin developers will refund twice the amount of the cost of purchase.
Software Price
- Single License Edition – Install the plugin on a single site. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License Edition – Install the plugin on up to 25 of your own domains. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Developer – Install the plugin on multiple of your own domains. Can be installed on any client site as part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Please Note: Current pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing at the time this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details: Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Additional Plugin Info
Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers state on their website that all legal templates have already been reviewed and approved by a leading lawyer. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend that you get advice from a qualified legal expert in your area for your own peace of mind.
For demo videos showing how the software works, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar website.
Install This Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-powered websites. We recommend installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice here. You must do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.
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