Tag: WordPress Legal Pages

Is your WordPress site compliant? Do you know if your site is breaking the law, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose services or products you are doing business with?

Internet laws, regulations, and guidelines are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes products and services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law won’t protect someone from taking legal action against your business.

Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for profit, you will need to follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the US-based BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.

(Better Business Bureau – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)

The introduction of new laws has legal consequences for several online business categories, including:

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

If your website does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank or JVZoo won’t allow you to sell digital products, PayPal could suspend your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook could disapprove your web applications, and you won’t be allowed into many advertising or affiliate merchant networks.

Additionally, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.

In this guide, we look at why it’s important to have a compliant website and list simple and inexpensive resources and solutions to make your WordPress website compliant in minutes.

Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice about your website or business. As previously stated, this article is designed only to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal policies in accordance with federal, regional or local laws and regulations that govern your business and that compliance may be required with the terms of service of providers whose products or services you endorse

Why Ensuring That Your Website Is Compliant Is Important

Is your business at risk? Consider what could happen to your business if the situations below were to take place:

• A person has a heart attack after using your online workout program.
• The skin cream you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone skin rashes.
• You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you have not described exactly what you will do with their details.
• Someone copies your content and publishes it on their own website.
• There is no statement on your website making your site users aware that you are endorsing a product as an affiliate and will receive financial benefits if visitors buy it.
• You didn’t spell out the terms of your refund and return policies.
• Someone claims that the testimonials on your site are misleading and tries to sue you.
• You haven’t disclosed in a product review that you were given a free copy of the product.
• Your site includes adult-related content and you did not take sufficient measures to keep underage children from accessing it.

Consider also these documented case studies of costly compliance breaches:

• A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling online users they would be required to give up personal information (including credit card information to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, they’re now required to provide everyone they do business with for the next 20 years, a copy of the judgement — including employees.
• 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 children’s private details.
• Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits users from scraping UIDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
• An independent study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-chosen websites, more than 90% were in breach of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were in violation of at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in breach of 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 to the Google program with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).

Can you see how easy it is to risk being a target of litigation?

Regardless of whether you are a:

• CPA Marketer
• Network Marketer
• Affiliate Product Promoter
• AdSense Publisher
• Info Product Marketer
• Amazon Associate
• e-Commerce Store Owner
• Adult Content Publisher
• Freelancer, Consultant Or Coach
• Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online

It’s imperative to ensure that your online business complies with all laws governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.

Complying With 3rd-Party Services Terms And Policies

All the big websites and government agencies that regulate trade in various countries emphasize the need and importance of observing the terms and policies of third-party service providers.

You must let your visitors know that your website complies with all necessary laws and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your site, it’s also a requirement of many companies you engage with.

Here are just some examples:

Google requires your site to display certain information if using many of their products. This includes Google Analytics …

(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)

Generating revenue with your sites using Google AdSense …

(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)

And even promoting your business using Google AdWords …

(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)

If you sell digital products through companies such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you are required to add legal pages to your site before they will approve your products for sale …

(Policy requirements for ClickBank product vendors)

The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to display clear disclaimers and disclosures to visitors, especially if you plan to use product testimonials or endorsements …

(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)

FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant

FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this will most likely prompt the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute site owners for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.

If you do any kind of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business by ensuring that your website complies with all FTC regulations.

You can find many resources online that can provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …

(Wording your disclaimers and disclosures correctly is important to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)

Don’t Forget Social Media Applications

If you plan to develop applications that will integrate with your website, you will also be required to provide sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others with information about your legal pages …

(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)

• If you are unsure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of service providers like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
• If you plan to promote products or services on your site using affiliate marketing, or monetize your pages with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, or driving visitors to your site with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
• If you have ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to protect yourself and your website.

(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)

Basic Legal Pages To Add To Your Site

If your website lacks in areas of compliance, then this section will help you.

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

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimers
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

As well as the above pages, you may want to consider adding any of the pages listed below if applicable:

• Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general financial information)
• Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
• Media Terms Of Use (e.g. if you allow media downloads on your site)

Disclosure Pages – Types

Adding the correct type of web content disclosure is important. For example:

• No Material Connection – Disclosure that informs site users that you’re not receiving compensation for writing the article.
• Affiliate Links – Lets visitors know that you may benefit financially if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
• Review/Sample Copy – Lets readers be aware that you have received a review or sample copy of the product you’re reviewing.
• Sponsored Post – Discloses to your readers that you were compensated in some form to write the article.
• Third Party Advertising – Informs your visitors that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring online publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.

How To Add Compliance Pages To Your Site

Ideally, you should consult your lawyer or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to add them to your website.

Uploading Legal Pages To Your Site

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

We recommend creating a legal folder on your server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …

(Upload legal pages to your web server using FTP)

You can then easily add a link to your legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu feature …

(Custom WordPress Menu)

Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Website

Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into the sidebar (or the footer section of your website or blog) so that users have access to the information from every web page …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on displaying links to pages on your WP sidebar and footer here:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To The Site

Using Legal Templates

You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or going to sites like the ones listed below:

Find Legal Forms

(Find Legal Forms)

For more information, go here:

• Find Legal Forms

Alternatively, you can purchase a package of website legal templates drafted by attorney Scott Talbert …

Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages

(Website Legal Pages)

These templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a quick search and replace to add your own business details, then pasted into your pages.

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

• Anti-Spam Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Disclaimer
• DMCA Compliance
• FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects new FTC regulations and guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Website Legal Pages

Legal Page Plugins

In addition to using cut & paste templates, another option is to use plugins.

Here are some great plugins for WordPress users you should check out:

WordPress Legal Pages Plugin

(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)

If manually creating legal pages for your website feels too time-consuming for you, then consider using WordPress Legal Pages instead …

This is not a free plugin, but it’s an affordable and well-supported plugin that will help make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site much easier and save you loads of headaches.

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

• Built-in Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
• Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
• Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
• Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like any page on your website.
• Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your pages 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 page on your website.
• Forced Options – Force page lock down. When a user agrees to the terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
• New Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.

When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will appear inside your navigation section …

(WP Legal Pages – Menu)

This allows you to view, create and edit legal pages from the admin area …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Area)

The plugin gives you the option to create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, affiliate/review sites, Amazon sites, etc …

(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)

You can also choose from a number of built-in legal templates …

(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Built-In 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

Go here to learn more about using this plugin:

• WP Legal Pages Plugin

Compliance Bar – WordPress Website Compliance Plugin

Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress-driven websites that contains over twenty customizable compliance page templates for your online presence …

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin

Legal Suite Pro Plugin

(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress)

Legal Suite Pro 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 And Conditions
• Earnings Disclaimer

(Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress – 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. You can have legal pages installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).

More information:

• Legal Suite Pro Plugin

If using the services of a lawyer to create your legal documentation is out of your budget, then at least consider implementing some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance.

We want your business to be legally safe!

Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or consider using one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal documents, or plugins as described in the section below.

(Legal Pages Generator Software)

Legal Pages Generator Software lets you quickly generate basic legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.

***

As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or plan to), it’s important that your site is compliant with regulatory agencies and the guidelines and terms of service of 3rd-party products and services that you may decide to promote or recommend online. Your internet presence must comply with a number of laws and regulatory guidelines, some of which you may not even 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, we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice on our website. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements wherever your business is based.

Resources

Here is a time-saving list of sites we recommend you visit to better understand what may be required of your site to remain compliant and meet legal obligations:

• Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
• FTC Advertising & Marketing Rules Of the Road
• FTC Advertising And Marketing On The Internet
• Better Business Bureau Website
• 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

Additionally …

• 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

We hope you have found this article useful and that it has helped you understand why it’s important to have a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog using inexpensive resources and solutions.

***