One of the worst predicaments you can find yourself in as a website owner is to receive a notice of legal action as a result of breaking the law.
Your internet presence has to comply with a number of laws, many of which you may not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of incurring both financial losses and 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-use solution for WordPress users that can help make your site legally compliant just minutes.
Does Your Website Comply With The Law?
As the cybersphere continues to grow at breakneck 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 or blog remains legal, especially if your online presence is an integral aspect of your business strategy.
Without legal pages on your web site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not let you list your digital products for sale, PayPal may close down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook and other social sites will suspend your web applications, and you won’t be accepted into many advertising or merchant networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to expensive litigation.
At the very least, if your digital presence is not in compliance, it could affect your visitors trust and confidence about doing any future business with you.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party websites require you to comply with their policies!)
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice in this article.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website could be subject to numerous legal requirements in accordance with the laws and regulations 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 are promoting or using online, and
- There are plugins for WordPress users that can help your site become more compliant, such as the plugin that we review in this post.
If your web site falls short in terms of compliance, there is a simple plugin for WordPress-powered websites and blogs you may be interested in using.
Introducing …
Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar Plugin is an easy-to-install and simple-to-use WordPress plugin that includes over 20 customizable legal page templates for your web presence …
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Compliance Bar
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your website legally compliant:
Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time
Compliance Bar is really easy to install. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin user area and activate.
Editable Legal Page Templates
You can easily modify the pre-built templates inside the plugin from the settings menu with the WordPress visual content editor.
Dedicated Support
Compliance Bar plugin provides dedicated support to assist users.
Additional benefits include:
- Customized Legal Templates: Compliance Bar will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Complete Video Training: Compliance Bar is not complicated to use and a complete library of training videos is available if users need help.
- Can Be Used In All Countries: As long as you consult a qualified legal representative 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 wherever your business is located.
- Use For All Website Purposes: If your website or blog is built with WordPress, you can use the plugin for all kinds of websites. Just select the pages you need to include in your site and ignore any irrelevant pages.
Compliance Bar Plugin Features
Compliance Bar provides many features to web site owners. Here are just a few:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Ready to use in no time.
- Display Attractive Icon Bar – The plugin displays links to your legal pages in the form of attractive icons that can be placed anywhere on your page. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Sensitive Content – If your site contains content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, tobacco, adult-related, etc.), you can display popups that force users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If your business is based in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you need to be aware of EU Cookie law. Compliance Bar displays an attractive bar notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance issues.
- Records & Stores IP Addresses – Compliance Bar 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 they haven’t.
- Shortcode Driven – Compliance Bar is integrated with shortcodes that automatically populate compliance pages with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your website, (even in the pop-ups).
- Mobile Friendly – The plugin has settings for displaying on mobile devices and tablets and displays mobile optimized icons automatically depending on the mobile browser being used.
Plugin Features – Details
Once the Compliance Bar plugin is installed, the plugin’s “Settings” screen will be added to your WP admin area.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this area where your business details can be entered (e.g. “Website URL,” “Registered Business Address,” “Location Details,” “Niche Market,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Email,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Screen – Image source: plugin documentation)
The plugin uses dynamic shortcodes to automatically insert the information entered into your User Profile in your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Screen: Shortcodes – Image source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been entered into the plugin settings fields, you can then access the other areas of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” section contains all of the legal pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Here’s the complete list of legal templates made available by the Compliance Bar plugin last time we checked the website:
- 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
- XXX Disclosure
You can create legal pages for your website quickly and easily by simply selecting check boxes and clicking the “Save” button in the “Create Pages” tab …
(Compliance Bar: Compliance Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside the “Pages” section of your site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The 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 Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Legal Pages
You can edit and delete the compliance templates in the “Compliance Pages” screen, just as you would any typical page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Legal Pages – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes
- Customizing your legal templates 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
The plugin settings area provides many options to customize the Compliance Bar, including where to position the bar, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, specifying which pages to include an icon for in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your home page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, and offset distance …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to display different disclaimers on different pages, or to cover different uses in other areas of your website.
- The plugin lets you display a Compliance Bar on the front page of your site, even if you are using a specific premium theme framework (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” 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 specified your Compliance Bar settings, it displays links to your compliance pages using dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have complete control over the location on your pages where you would like your compliance bar to appear …
PopUps
If you plan to show content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, tobacco, adult content, etc.), you can display popups that require users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” page lets you fully customize 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 multitude of uses in different areas of your site …
You can also set a delay time to prevent a Pop Up from displaying as soon as visitors arrive, 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 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 must 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” screen …
(EU Cookies Section: Manage Settings – Screenshot 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” screen, lists all of your legal templates and shortcodes, and lets you edit the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, lets you access general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and getting plugin updates …
Feedback From Users
Below are some of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have provided for the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin:
”One of the Best Plugins I Have Used” Ray Lane – (The Video Guy)
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”Truly Amazing Product!” Patrick Mauchant – PT Enviromate Technology
Compliance Bar – Useful Tips
Here are a few additional ways you can use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protection against content theft by spelling out your website’s terms of use.
- Displaying compliance icons only on specific pages of your site.
- Ending refund disputes by clearly spelling out refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you include content that is deemed inappropriate for minors on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Compliance Bar Product Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated 24/7 plugin support to assist users with anything they need. Plugin users also have access to a complete set 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 hrs (M – F), the plugin developers will refund double your cost of purchase.
Plugin Pricing
- Single – Can be installed on 1 of your own sites. Cost = $37 (Normally $127)
- Business – Install the plugin on 25 sites that you own. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Developer Licensing – Can be installed on all of your own domains. Can be installed on any client site for payment or part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Please Note: Price details for Compliance Bar can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
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 assert on their website that all legal templates have already been reviewed and approved by a lawyer. Nonetheless, we highly recommend that you get advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For a demo video of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar website.
What We Recommend
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-driven sites. We recommend downloading and installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar – WordPress Compliance Plugin
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website is compliant with the law wherever your business is based.
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