One of the worst situations you can find yourself in as a website owner is to receive a notice of legal action as a result of having broken a law or regulation.
Your internet presence has to comply with a whole set of laws and regulations, many of which you may probably not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring financial costs, but also the cost to your reputation. Why risk your money and your business reputation, when you can protect yourself so easily and inexpensively?
In this post, we look at a simple and easy-to-install solution for WordPress users that can help make your site compliant just minutes.
Is Your Site Legally Compliant?
As the digital realm continues growing at an extraordinary rate and the rules of the game keep changing, it’s vitally important to stay on top of what’s happening and to make sure that your website remains legally compliant, especially if your web presence is an integral part of your business strategy.
If you do not display certain legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, financial 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 and many other social networks will suspend your web apps, and you won’t be accepted into most other advertising or merchant networks.
If your online presence is not in compliance, you could also face a whole range of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
At the very least, if you don’t make it clear to your visitors that your website complies with legal requirements and regulations, trust and confidence in your business could become an issue.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies!)
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that 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 may be subject to certain legal requirements in accordance with compulsory federal, state or local laws and regulations that govern your business (some of which you may probably not even be aware of),
- How important it is to remain compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be offering or endorsing in your website, and
- There are plugins for WordPress users that can help your business become more compliant, such as the solution that we discuss below.
If you suspect that your website is lacking in areas of compliance, there is a simple plugin for WordPress sites that you may be interested in knowing more about.
Introducing …
Compliance Bar – Website Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar Plugin is a simple and easy-to-use plugin for WordPress-driven sites containing over twenty customizable compliance templates for your digital presence …
Go here to learn more: Compliance Bar
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Compliance Bar to make your site instantly legally compliant:
Quick And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Go To Work In No Time.
Compliance Bar installs just like every other plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your admin user account and activate.
Easy To Edit Page Templates
You can easily modify the prebuilt compliance page templates inside Compliance Bar from the settings menu using the WYSIWYG editor.
24/7 Plugin Support
Compliance Bar plugin provides a dedicated plugin support team to assist users.
Some additional benefits include:
- Customized Compliance Templates: Compliance Bar will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Full Video Training: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a full library of training videos is available if users need help.
- Can Be Used In All Countries: As long as you consult someone who is qualified to give you legal advice to ascertain if the built-in legal page templates provided with Compliance Bar are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever you are located.
- Can Be Used For All Website Purposes: As long as your site is built with WordPress, you can use the plugin for all website purposes. Just select the legal pages you want to include in your site and leave out the irrelevant pages.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar Plugin offers many great features to web site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to start using in very little time.
- Show Attractive Icon Bar – The plugin will display links to your compliance pages using attractive icons that can be positioned anywhere in your pages. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Show Restricted Information – If you plan to display content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult-related, etc.), the plugin can display popups that force users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If you do business in Europe or display your content to EU visitors, you must be aware of EU compliance requirements. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying users and covering you from non-compliance issues.
- Records And Stores IP Acceptance – Compliance Bar can record and store the IP addresses of your visitors for future reference, just in case a user accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they didn’t.
- Shortcode Driven – The plugin uses shortcodes that automatically populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (even in the popups).
- Mobile Friendly – Compliance Bar has individual settings for displaying on mobile devices and displays mobile optimized icons automatically based on the browser being used.
Using Compliance Bar Plugin
Once the Compliance Bar plugin is installed, users will get access to various settings.
Let’s review these briefly …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this section where your business information can be input (e.g. “Website URL,” “Business Address,” “Location Details,” “Refund Duration (Days),” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Company Address,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Page – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
The Compliance Bar Plugin uses dynamic shortcodes to insert the information you have input into your User Profile fields into your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section: Shortcodes – Image source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required information has been entered into the profile fields, you can then access the other plugin section.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” screen contains all of the plugin’s compliance templates …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Pages – Image source: plugin documentation)
When we last checked the Compliance Bar plugin website, there were over 20 compliance pages available to WordPress users:
- 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
- XXX Disclosure
You can easily and quickly create legal pages for your site by simply selecting check boxes and clicking ”Save” on the “Create Pages” section …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The Compliance Bar 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 Plugin: Legal Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Templates
You can easily edit and delete the legal page templates from the “Compliance Pages” section, just like any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar: Edit Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin indicates if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. legal pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
You have various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, whether to display 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 main 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 a number of Compliance Bars to show different icons on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses throughout your website.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the main page of your website, even if you are using particular WordPress theme frameworks (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or Woo), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile device screens, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have specified your Compliance Bar settings, it will display links to your legal using a visually appealing icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to display the compliance bar …
PopUps
If your website publishes content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, ecigs, adult, etc.), Compliance Bar can display popups that restricts access to users who do not accept your terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” area gives you complete control over the settings and wordings of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Image source: plugin documentation)
You can create more than one Pop Up displaying on different pages, or to cover a range of uses in other sections of your site …
You can also specify a delay time to prevent a Pop Up from displaying immediately, set a cookie duration to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time interval, and record the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Section: IP Log Details – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If your business is based in the EU or display your content to visitors in the EU, you need to make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them …
The Compliance Bar plugin lets you manage 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 source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” tab, lists all of your legal disclaimer templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit their content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” section, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin updates …
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials customers have submitted regarding Compliance Bar Plugin:
”WOW” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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”You wouldn’t drive a car around without insurance…so don’t RISK your online business by neglecting a simple, but important detail: website compliance. Grab your copy of Compliance Bar & protect yourself today!” Mike Thomas (The Mike From Maine Show)
Compliance Bar Plugin – Useful Tips
Here are some useful ways you can use Compliance Bar:
- Protection against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Displaying compliance icons on specific pages only.
- Reduce refund disputes by clearly spelling out your refund terms before purchase.
- If your site contains content that is inappropriate for persons below a certain age, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Plugin Support
Plugin Developers provide users with dedicated support to assist users if they experience any problems. Plugin users also get access to a complete library of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your copy of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 business hours (Monday to Friday), your cost of purchase will be refunded in double.
Product Pricing
- Single Site Personal License – Install the plugin on a single domain. Price = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Install the plugin on up to twenty-five sites that you own. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional – Can be installed on all domains that you own. Can be installed on all client sites for payment or part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Please Note: The price of the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was current when this article was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details: Compliance Bar Plugin
Compliance Bar Plugin – Additional Information
Legal Page Templates Reviewed By Lawyers – The plugin developers assure users on their website that all legal page templates have 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 for your peace of mind.
For a demo video showing how the plugin works, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
What We Recommend
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress websites. We recommend downloading and installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Note: Once again, we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on this website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.
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