One of the worst things that can happen to any website owner is to break the law.
Your website has to comply with a wide range of federal, state and even local laws, some of which you may probably not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of incurring serious financial losses and the cost to your reputation. Why risk your money and reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this article, we look at a simple and easy-to-install WordPress solution that can help make your website legally compliant just minutes.
Does Your Website Comply With The Law?
As the digital business realm continues growing at breakneck speed and rules constantly change, it’s vitally important to stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if your online presence is a fundamental component of your business strategy.
Without legal pages on your site (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank will not allow you to list your digital products on their network, PayPal could close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook will suspend your apps, and you won’t be accepted into various leading advertising or affiliate merchant networks.
Plus, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to being exploited by opportunistic people or organizations.
At the very least, without making it clear to your visitors that your web properties comply with all legal requirements and regulations, expect visitor trust and confidence in your business to be irrepairably diminished.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines!)
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice here.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to certain legal requirements in accordance with federal, state or local laws and regulations that govern your business,
- How important it is to remain compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you are promoting or endorsing online, and
- There are solutions that can help your website become compliant, such as the plugin that we review in this post.
If you suspect that your web site lacks in aspects of compliance, there is a simple plugin for WordPress users you should know more about.
Announcing …
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Compliance Plugin
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your online business …
For more details go here: Compliance Bar Plugin
Benefits Of Using Compliance Bar
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Compliance Bar Plugin to instantly make your website legally compliant:
Quick Installation
Compliance Bar Plugin installs just like any other WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator login and activate.
Page Templates Are Really Easy To Edit
Easily make changes to the default legal page templates inside the plugin from the settings menu with the visual content editor.
24/7 Plugin Support
The plugin developers provide a dedicated plugin support team to help users if they experience any issues.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Customized Compliance Pages: The plugin will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a complete library of training videos is available if you need help.
- Use In Every Country: As long as you consult a qualified legal representative to ascertain if the default templates provided in Compliance Bar are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever your business is located.
- Can Be Used For All Website Purposes: If your site is powered by WordPress, you can use the plugin for all website purposes. Just select the templates you need to add to your site and ignore the irrelevant pages.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar offers many great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just some of those features:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Show Visually Appealing Icons – Compliance Bar will display links to your compliance pages in the form of attractive icons that can be placed on different locations in your pages. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Sensitive Content – If your website has content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult, etc.), you can display pop-ups that force users to accept your site’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If your business is 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 users and protects your website from non-compliance issues.
- Records And Stores IP Acceptance – The plugin records the IP address of your visitors for future reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they haven’t.
- Shortcode Driven – The plugin is integrated with shortcodes to populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (even in the pop-ups).
- Mobile Friendly – The plugin has settings for displaying on mobile devices and can display mobile optimized icons automatically depending on visitor browsers.
Using Compliance Bar
After installing and activating the Compliance Bar plugin, the plugin’s “Settings” section gets added to your WordPress admin area.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this screen where you can input your information into entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” “Company Phone Number,” “Refund Period,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Business Name,” “Company Phone Number,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Section – Image source: plugin documentation)
The Compliance Bar Plugin uses dynamic shortcodes to automatically populate and display the information from your User Profile fields into your page templates …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been input into the plugin settings fields, users can then access the other plugin screens.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” section includes a list of all of the plugin’s legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Below is the full list of templates made available by the Compliance Bar plugin last time we checked their site:
- 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
Creating compliance pages for your blog or website is a simple process. Just select the check boxes next to the pages you want to create and click the “Save” button in the “Create Pages” area …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance 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 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 site’s design …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Template Icons – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Templates
You can modify and delete the compliance pages in the “Compliance Pages” tab, just as you would any other WordPress page …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Legal Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes
- Customizing the 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. compliance pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
You have many options to customize the Compliance Bar, including where to position the bar, whether to show links or icon images, background colors and images, icon size, specifying which pages to include an icon for 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, and more …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to show different icons on different pages, or to cover different uses throughout your site.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the home page of your site, even if you are using particular WordPress themes (like Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have configured your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your compliance pages through a visually attractive icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to display your compliance bar …
PopUps
If your website has content that should be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult-related, etc.), Compliance Bar can display pop-ups that force users to accept your site’s terms or disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” section gives you complete control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
You can create an unlimited number of customized Pop Ups displaying on different pages, or to cover a range of uses throughout your website …
You can also specify a delay time if you don’t want the Pop Ups to display as soon as visitors arrive, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from appearing again within a specific time period, and store 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 your business is 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 …
The Compliance Bar 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” screen …
(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” screen, lists all of your compliance disclaimer templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit their content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin updates …
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have written about the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin:
”I got a chance to review the Compliance Bar plugin…WOW!! I have to say that its definitely one of the most NECESSARY, yet easiest to use plugin’s to hit the scene in a while. Very Solid Product. Great job Anton & team!” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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“Don’t Risk Your Online Business” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Compliance Bar Plugin Tips
Below are some useful ways to use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protect against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Display compliance icons on specific pages of your site only.
- Reducing refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you publish content that is deemed 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.
Plugin Support
Plugin Developers provide users with dedicated plugin support to assist users with anything they need. You also get access to video training.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 200% refund guarantee. If your copy of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 hours (M – F), the plugin developers will refund twice your purchase price.
Software Cost
- Single – Can be installed on 1 site that you own. Cost = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Install the plugin on 25 of your own domains. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional Edition – Can be installed on multiple as many of your own domains as you like. Install the plugin on any client site for payment or part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Note: Pricing details of the Compliance Bar software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price when this content was written. This may not be the actual price set by the software seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Information
Legal Page 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 highly recommend that you get professional advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar website.
The Bottom Line
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-driven sites. We recommend installing this WordPress plugin if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Website Compliance Plugin
Important: Once again, we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements wherever your business is based.
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