One of the worst situations a business owner can find themselves in is to break the law.
As the digital era continues to grow at breakneck speed and rules constantly change, it’s absolutely essential to try and stay informed about what’s happening and make sure that your website or blog remains compliant, especially if your web presence is important in the success of your overall business strategy.
New laws introduced in 2014 regulating 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 regulatory agencies, such as the Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Better Business Bureau Website)
These laws affect several online business categories, including:
- Any form of advertising, including text link advertising, Google Adsense, etc.
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
If your website does not display certain pages (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank will not allow you to list digital products, PayPal could close down your account, Facebook could suspend web applications, and you will not be allowed to enroll in a number of advertising and affiliate marketing networks.
Additionally, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.
The purpose of this guide is to help make you aware that your site(s) are subject to legal requirements in accordance with the laws that govern online businesses, the importance of remaining compliant with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you may be recommending on your site, and that there are plugin-based solutions for WordPress that can help your online properties become fully compliant, such as the tools discussed further below.
Is Your Website Or Blog Breaking Rules Or Regulations?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not offering legal advice on this website. You must carry out your own due diligence and we recommend consulting a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements wherever your business is located.
The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Consider what could happen to your business if any of these scenarios were to occur:
- A user suffers a heart attack after they use your online fitness workout.
- The skin care products you promote as an affiliate gives a number of users allergic reactions.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information, but you haven’t described exactly what you’ll do with the information you have collected.
- Someone steals content from your site and publishes it on their website.
- There is no statement on your website letting your visitors know that you are recommending a product as an affiliate that you will get paid a commission if they decide to purchase through your link.
- You haven’t spelled out the terms of your refund policies.
- Online visitors claim the testimonials on your site are fake and decide to sue you.
- You haven’t disclosed that you were given a free copy of the product in your review.
- Your website includes adult information and you did not take sufficient measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.
Consider now the following real examples of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up their personal information to complete a debt reduction offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, he was also ordered to provide a copy of the judgement to everyone they do business with for the next 20 years — including employees.
- A social networking app developer received a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers took a risk and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites picked at random, more than 90% had breached at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least 2 of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were breaking at least 3 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 entirely to the Google program whose policies with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how you could easily be exposed to the risk of non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdWords User
- Niche Publisher
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Adult Content Publisher
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online
You need to ensure that your website is legally compliant.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Services Terms And Policies
Leading online companies and government agencies that regulate trade in many countries emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of third-party service providers.
You must let your site users know that your business complies with all necessary legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and buyer confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of many companies you do business with online.
For example:
Google requires you to display certain information when using many of their products and service. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Monetizing your WordPress site using Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense - policy requirements)
Or promoting your products through Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you plan to sell information-based products via companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will be required to add certain legal pages to your site before your products can be approved for sale in their network …
(ClickBank – policy requirements)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you include clear disclaimers and policy statements to visitors, especially concerning the use of product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Be Compliant
FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many business are still unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As is already the case, this typically prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute website owners in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any type of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. you should protect your business by making sure that your site complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
A number of online resources provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help your site meet FTC requirements. We provide references and links to additional resources to some of these at the end of this article …
(Structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Don’t Forget Social Media Applications
If you are planning to develop social networking applications that integrate with your website, you will also be required to provide sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others with access to various legal pages …
(Apps that integrate with social networking sites also require compliance)
- If you are unsure whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of sites like Google, Facebook, etc., then it’s best to assume that you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting products or services on your site using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or driving visitors to your website using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to provide on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts terminated.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to act now and take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business interests.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Compliance Information Pages Do You Need To Add To Your Site To Be Compliant?
If your website lacks in terms of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following legal pages to your site should help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and third-party providers, and even help to avoid possible legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms Of Use
- Website Disclaimer
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to consider implementing one or more of these pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (e.g. if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general advice about financial areas or money-making opportunities)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Video/Audio Terms (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the right type of disclosure to your site is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Lets users be aware that you’re not being paid for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Lets your readers be aware that you may be compensated if they act on your recommendation and purchase through your affiliate link.
- Sample Or review Copy – Lets your visitors be aware that you have received a sample or review copy of the product or service by the author or product developer.
- Sponsored Post – Lets users know that you were compensated in some form to write the article.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets visitors know that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to satisfy the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring website publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your WordPress Website
Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been done, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Upload Legal Pages To Your Website
If someone prepares the legal content for you in standard web page formatting (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend creating a legals directory on your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory using FTP …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then easily add links to these legal pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(WordPress Menu)
Displaying Legal Web Pages On Your Site
Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and clearly visible to visitors. You can add these to your sidebar (or place them in the footer section of your site) so that users can access legal information from all your pages …
(Display links to legal information on all of your site’s pages)
We have created a detailed tutorial about displaying links to pages on your WordPress sidebar and footer here:
Using Ready-Made Legal Templates
You can find attorney-prepared downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or going to websites like the ones shown below:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms – Legal forms)
To learn more, visit this website:
Alternatively, you can purchase a set of website legal templates designed by attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
Cut & Paste website templates were created by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with a simple quick search and replace to add your own business name and URL, then pasted into your pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Page Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects Federal Trade Commission regulations that came into effect in 2012)
- Privacy Policy
- ToS & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page on your website for each legal form you want added to your site, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your server as previously described.
For more information, go here:
Legal Page Plugins
In addition to using copy & paste templates, you can keep things really simple by using a plugin.
Here are some great plugins for WordPress-driven websites and blogs worth looking into:
WP Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Plugin – WP Legal Pages)
If creating legal pages manually seems too time-consuming for you, then consider using WP Legal Pages …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported premium WordPress plugin that will make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site a lot easier and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WP Legal Pages:
- Built-in Legal Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you need in around 3 minutes with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Editable Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages just like any other WordPress page.
- Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when published.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any page on your website.
- Forced Options – Force page lockdown. When the user agrees to the legal 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 new menu item will be added to your main navigation menu …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Legal Pages Menu)
This lets you create, edit and view legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings Screen)
The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, affiliate sites, medical sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)
Select from several built-in legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Pre-configured 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
Visit the plugin website to learn more this great plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar Plugin is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your digital presence …
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)
Legal Suite Pro Plugin For WordPress 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 of Service
- Earnings Disclaimer
(Legal Suite Pro – 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them 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 one minute or less and the plugin licensing is flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell).
More info:
If using the services of lawyers to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some kind of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional assistance.
We want your site to be safe!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using ready-made legal content, or plugins - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator allows you to quickly generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As we’ve previously pointed out, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or plan to), you need to make sure that your website is found to comply with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business practices online and any terms of service and guidelines of third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or offer online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect consumers, you’re breaking the law.
Non-compliance 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 do not offer legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website fully complies with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.
Resources
Below is a useful list of websites we suggest you visit to better understand what your website may require to stay compliant and meet its legal obligations:
- Federal Trade Commission Latest List Of Rules & Regulations
- Federal Trade Commission 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
Also …
- Google Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- 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
Hopefully, this article has helped you understand why it’s important to have a compliant website. Use the information above to quickly add legal pages to your website or blog.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum