Is your website legal? Do you know if you are breaking any rules or regulations, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any third-party companies whose services or products you are doing business with?
Internet laws were designed to protect consumers and apply to any person who sells, markets or promotes goods or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law will not prevent you from being slapped with a legal notice.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you plan to promote anything on your site for material gain, you need to follow certain disclosure guidelines to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection agencies, such as the (US based) Better Business Bureau, also called the BBB. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The new laws affect various business activities, including:
- Any form of advertising, like Google AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Bloggers
- etc.
If there are no legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, online merchants like ClickBank will not allow you to list your digital products for sale, PayPal could shut down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook could disapprove your applications, and you won’t be allowed to enrol in many advertising or affiliate merchant networks.
If your digital presence is not in compliance, you could also end up facing a number of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
The purpose of this guide is to make you aware that your website are subject to certain legal requirements, the importance of remaining compliant with the terms of service of other providers whose products or services you may be endorsing on your website, and that there are solutions that can help your websites become compliant, such as the plugins listed further below.
Is Your Site Compliant?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we are not providing legal advice. As previously stated, the purpose of this article is to make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with federal, regional or local laws governing business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose services or products you offer on your website or blog
Why Making Your Website Compliant Is Important
Are you at risk? Consider what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:
- A user suffers a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online workout program.
- The skin care creams you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone allergic reactions.
- You’ve let your subscribers know that you will not sell their information, but you have not described exactly what you’ll do with their personal details.
- Someone copies content from your website and puts it up on their own site.
- There is no statement on your website telling your site users that you are marketing a product as an affiliate and will derive an affiliate commission if visitors purchase the product using your affiliate link.
- You didn’t spell out the terms of your refund/return policies.
- Online visitors claim that the testimonials on your site are fake and decide to sue you.
- You didn’t disclose in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
- Your website includes adult content and you have not taken appropriate measures to restrict access by underage children.
Consider also the documented case studies of costly compliance breaches described:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would be required to give up their personal information (including credit card information to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer was slapped with a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information from mobile device address books without the owners’ knowledge and consent – including storing children’s private information.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
- An independent 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% were in violation of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had breached 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 notices or lose access entirely to the Google program with the violation, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to become exposed to the risks of litigation?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdSense Publisher
- Product Marketer
- Amazon Affiliate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website complies with all laws and regulations governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.
Compliance With Third-Party Companies
Big companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.
You are required to let your site users know that your business complies with laws and recommended guidelines. This not only improves consumer trust and confidence in your website, it’s also required by most companies you will do business with online.
Here are just some examples:
Google requires websites to display certain information if using many of their services. This includes using Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Monetizing your blogs using Google AdSense ads …
(Google AdSense ads - policy requirements)
Or promoting your site via Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you sell products online using places like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will be required to add certain legal pages to your site before they will approve your products for sale …
(Policy requirements for vendors selling via ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission also requires you to include clear disclaimers and policies on your site, especially concerning the use of product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Site To Be Compliant
New FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. Search online and you will see that many business are unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you plan to do any kind of business 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 interests by ensuring that your website complies with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
Many sites provide guidelines and examples for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business comply with FTC requirements. See the additional references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Social Media Applications Also Have Compliance Requirements
If you are planning to develop apps that will integrate with your website, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others require you to provide information about your legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are unsure as to whether or not 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 are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue online with Google AdSense, Amazon, or eBay advertising, or driving visitors to your website with Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
- If you have ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)
What Compliance Information Does Your Website Need To Be Protected From Legal Compliance Issues?
If your website is falling short in areas of compliance, then this section will help you.
At its most basic, adding the following compliance pages to your site should help your site keep out of trouble with many consumer protection authorities and third-party providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Statement
- Terms & Conditions
- Disclaimer Pages
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the above, you may want to look into including one or more of the following pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (if you provide an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (if your website or blog provides general financial content)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Video/Audio Terms (if you provide users with access to download media on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding the right disclosure information to your website is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs site users that you are not receiving compensation for writing the content.
- Affiliate Links – Informs your visitors that you will receive compensation if they purchase through an affiliate link.
- Review/Sample Copy – Lets readers be aware that you have received a sample or review copy of the product.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets your readers be aware that you were compensated in some form to write the content.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets users know 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.
Adding Legal Pages Content To Your Site
Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the content of your legal documents. Once these have been completed, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Uploading Legal Pages To Your Website
If someone prepares the legal content for you in typical web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend creating a legal folder on your server and uploading your legal pages to this directory via FTP …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then add links to your legal pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu administration …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are kept up-to-date and clearly accessible to visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into your sidebar (or the footer of your website) so that visitors will be able to access legal information from every page …
(Display links to your legal pages on all of your site’s pages)
If you need help adding links to pages on your WP sidebar, see this tutorial:
Use Store-Bought Legal Templates
You can easily find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable forms and agreements just by searching online, or going to sites like the ones shown below:
Find Legal Forms
More info:
Another option is to purchase a set of cut & paste website legal templates designed by attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
Cut & Paste website legal templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be easily customized with simple search and replace to insert your own business details, then pasted into your pages.
The legal forms included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance (This proprietary FTC page reflects new FTC regulations and guidelines that came into effect in 2012)
- Privacy Policy: Google & DoubleClick DART, etc.
- Terms of Service (ToS) & Conditions of Use: includes inter- & intra-page redundancy, Contra Proferentem provision, reservation of rights, and exclusive social media admonition.
You can either create a new page 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 the pages to your web server as described previously.
Go here for more info:
Legal Pages – WordPress Plugins
In addition to using cut & paste templates, another option is to use a plugin.
Here are some legal plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WP Legal Pages)
If you don’t want to spend time creating legal pages manually, then consider choosing WP Legal Pages …
This is not a free plugin, but it’s an affordable and well-supported premium plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your website and save you time.
Some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages are:
- Pre-written Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
- Fully Customizable Pages – The plugin includes fully customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages like any other WordPress page.
- Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple checkbox and delete and manage these like any other page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page lock down. Page unlocks and can be accessed when users agree to your legal terms.
- Additional Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will appear inside your main WordPress dashboard menu section …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Menu)
This lets you view, create and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Settings Area)
The plugin gives you the option of creating legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites with products, affiliate sites, Amazon sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages – Create different legal page types)
You can also select from a number of pre-written legal templates …
(WordPress Legal Pages – 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
Visit this website to learn more this useful plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Compliance Plugin
The Compliance Bar Plugin For WordPress is a total compliance and disclaimer solution for your digital presence …
Learn more here:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)
Legal Suite Pro 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 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. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in less than one minute and the plugin licensing is very flexible, allowing you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites (even sites that you decide to sell).
Go here to learn more:
If hiring legal experts to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, consider implementing some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford professional assistance from a legal firm.
We want your site to be protected!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator tool below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal page templates, or a WordPress legal pages plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator lets you easily generate necessary legal documents for your website including ToS, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and 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 ensure that your website is compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines of 3rd-party products and services that you may be promoting or endorsing online. If your website isn’t compliant with laws designed to protect the rights of consumers, you’re breaking the law.
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?
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. You are strongly advised to do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with all legal requirements pertaining to your specific business.
Legal Resources & References
Here is a useful list of additional sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what may be required of your site to comply 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 – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program
- 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
Plus …
- 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 compliant website. Use the information provided above to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your website using simple and inexpensive solutions.
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