Is your website compliant? Do you know if you are breaking any laws, rules or regulations, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you offer or endorse?
Internet laws and regulations are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to any person who markets, sells or promotes goods or services online. Every website owner risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law won’t protect you from being slapped with a legal notice.
New laws introduced in 2014 regulating how businesses promote advertising on their sites state that if you promote anything on your site for profit, then you 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. Look up “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
These laws affect several online business activities, including:
- Any kind of advertising, e.g. Google AdWords or AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
If there are no legal pages on your website (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank won’t allow you to list digital products, PayPal may suspend your account and freeze your funds, Facebook could suspend your applications, and you will not be allowed to promote a number of advertising and online marketing networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.
The purpose of this article is to help make you aware that your site(s) are required to comply with certain legalities according to laws that govern online business practices, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of external providers whose products or services you may be recommending on your website, and that there are plugin-based solutions for WordPress that can help your websites become compliant, such as the plugins that we discuss further below.
Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice on this website. As previously stated, this article is designed only to make you aware that your website may be subject to certain legal policies in accordance with federal, regional or local laws governing business online and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of 3rd-party providers whose products or services you offer on your website
The Importance Of Making Your Website Compliant
Are you at risk? Consider what the implications to your business would be if these situations were to happen:
- Someone has a cardiac arrest after purchasing your online fitness workout.
- The skin care products you sell as an affiliate marketer gives someone allergic reactions.
- You’ve informed subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you have not informed them exactly what you plan to do with their personal details.
- Someone copies content from your site and publishes it on their own site.
- There is no statement on your site letting your site users know that you are promoting a product as an affiliate that you could receive a sales commission if they buy it.
- You have not spelled out the terms of your refund/return policies.
- Visitors claim the testimonials on your site are all fake and try to sue you.
- You haven’t disclosed that you received a free copy in your product review.
- Your site includes adult-related information and you have not taken appropriate measures to keep underaged 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 info to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
- 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 private information about children.
- 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, costing them thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted 2010 study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred websites chosen at random, more than 90% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had broken at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% had infringed 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 they had infringed, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how a business owner can easily become exposed to the risk of non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Promoter
- AdSense Publisher
- Niche Marketer
- Amazon Associate
- EBay Seller
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online
It’s vitally important to make sure that your website stays legally compliant.
Compliance With 3rd-Party Companies Terms And Policies
All the leading websites and government agencies that regulate trade in various countries emphasize the importance of complying with the terms and policies of third-party service providers.
You must let your site users know that your website complies with laws and professional guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your business, it’s also a requirement of many companies you do business with.
Here are just some examples:
Google requires your site to display legal information if using their services or features. This includes Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Earning revenue with your site using Google AdSense online advertising …
(Google AdSense advertising - policy requirements)
And even promoting your products using Google AdWords …
(Google AdWords – Policy Requirements)
If you plan to sell products online with companies like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant networks, you will need to add certain legal pages before your products are approved for sale in their network …
(Policy requirements for ClickBank digital product vendors)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires you to display clear disclaimers and policies on your site, especially when concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer policies and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Site Is Compliant
FTC regulations governing how business is conducted online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will reveal that many business are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As documented on their website, this typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting site 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 interests by ensuring that your website is compliant with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
You can find many sites that can provide guidelines for structuring disclaimers and disclosures to help your business meet FTC requirements. See the references and useful resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you plan to create social networking applications that integrate with your site, sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many others require you to provide information about your legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are not sure whether or not you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of companies like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting anything online as an affiliate marketer, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, ads for eBay or Amazon products, or use Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to display on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts terminated.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business interests.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party websites require you to comply with their terms of use)
What Compliance Information Pages Do You Need To Add To Your Site To Be Legally Compliant?
If you suspect that your web site lacks in aspects of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following compliance pages to your site should keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities and external providers, and avoid potential legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “takedown” notices):
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms & Conditions
- Website Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the pages above, you may want to look into implementing any of the following pages if applicable:
- Affiliate Disclosure (if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Links Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides general financial content)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Media Terms (if you provide users with access to media on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
It’s important to add the right disclosures to your site. For example:
- No Material Connection – Discloses to your visitors that you will not receive compensation for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Informs site users that you may benefit financially if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
- Review/Sample Copy – Lets visitors be aware that you have received a review or sample copy of the product or service you’re writing about.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors know that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets visitors know that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with 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 should consult a lawyer and ask them to prepare the content of your legal documents. Once this has been done, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Pages Manually To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you as standard web pages (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload these pages for you.
We recommend creating a legal directory on your server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. using FTP) …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then easily add links to your pages from your WordPress site using custom links in your menu feature …
(WordPress Menu)
Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to all visitors. You can add links to your legal pages to your WordPress sidebar (or the footer of your site) so that users have access to the information from every web page …
(It’s important to display legal information to visitors on all of your website’s pages)
We have written a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar using widgets here:
Using Store-Bought Templates
You can easily find attorney-drafted downloadable forms and agreements by searching online, or going to sites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms – Legal forms)
Go here for more information:
Alternatively, you can download a package of cut & paste website legal templates drafted by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Website Legal Pages)
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 details, then pasted into your web pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Form Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
- DMCA Compliance
- Federal Trade Commission Compliance
- Privacy Policy: Google & DoubleClick DART, etc.
- 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 every 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 web server as described previously.
Visit this website to learn more:
WordPress Plugins – Legal Pages
As well as using templates, another option is to use a plugin.
Here are some plugins for WordPress-driven websites and blogs you should check out:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Plugin – WordPress Legal Pages)
If the idea of setting up legal pages manually feels too time-consuming for you, then consider choosing WordPress Legal Pages instead …
This is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably affordable and well-supported plugin that will make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your website a lot easier and save you many headaches.
Here are just some of the reasons to consider using WordPress Legal Pages:
- Pre-written Legal Templates – Includes over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and easily editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit all legal pages just like every other WordPress page.
- Custom Shortcodes – You can add shortcodes to any of your website or blog pages and the information is then automatically inserted into your content 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 site.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. When users agree to the terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
- Additional Features – More features get added to this plugin with every new version.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu feature will display inside your navigation area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This lets you view, create and edit your legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Settings)
With WPLegal Pages, you can easily create legal pages for different types of websites, such as business websites, affiliate websites, e-commerce sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal page types)
Choose from a number of pre-written legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages – Pre-configured 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
For more details about the benefits of using this great plugin, go here:
Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Compliance Plugin
Compliance Bar is a simple plugin for WordPress-powered websites that includes over 20 customizable compliance page templates for your online business …
More info:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro)
This 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 of Use
- 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 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 the plugin on all of your websites (even sites that you decide to sell or flip).
Visit this website to learn more:
If hiring a lawyer to create your legal pages is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford a solicitor.
We want your site to be legally safe!
Download the Legal Pages Generator software below (for FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documentation, or a WordPress plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software quickly generates basic 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 make money online (or are planning to), you need to make sure that your site stays compliant with all legal requirements and the terms of service (TOS) and guidelines required by third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or recommend online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws intended to protect consumer rights, 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?
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on our 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 pertaining to your business.
Additional Information
Below is a time-saving list of additional sites we recommend you visit to better understand what your site may require to stay compliant and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:
- 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
- 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
See Also …
- Analytics Help – Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertising Features
- Google AdSense Program Policies Explained
- AdSense Help – Required Content
- Google AdWords – Information Collection And Use
- Google 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 above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress site using simple and inexpensive resources and solutions.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum