Is your WordPress website legally compliant? Do you know if you are breaking the law, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you sell or recommend?
Online laws and regulations are designed to protect the rights of consumers and apply to anyone who sells, markets or promotes products or services online. Anyone who owns a website risks being sued for not following compliance laws. Feigning ignorance about the law won’t excuse someone from taking legal action against you.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 that regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites clearly state that if you plan to promote anything on your website for profit, then 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 known as BBB. Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet to learn more.
(Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program – BBB)
These laws affect several business activities, including:
- Any type of advertising, like inline ads, Google Adsense, etc.
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
If your website does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not allow you to list digital products, PayPal may shut down your account, Facebook could disapprove web applications, and you will not be allowed into a range of advertising and online merchant networks.
In addition, you could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to legal action.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that your site(s) may be subject to certain legal requirements, the importance of maintaining compliance with the terms of service of external providers whose services or products you may be using on your website, and that there are solutions that can help your websites become fully compliant, such as the plugins listed further below.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. As stated earlier, the purpose of this article is only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with the laws governing business online and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose services or products you advertise
Why Having A Compliant Website Is Important
Consider what the implications to your business would be in the following scenarios:
- A user has a cardiac arrest after they use your online workout program.
- The skin care lotion you promote as an affiliate gives a number of users allergic reactions.
- You’ve told subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t clearly spelled out what you’ll do with the details you have collected.
- Someone copies content from your site and puts it up on their website.
- There is no statement on your website letting visitors know that you are an affiliate for the product you are promoting and will receive a commission if visitors purchase via your affiliate link.
- You have not spelled out the terms and conditions of your refund or return policies.
- A visitor claims that your testimonials are fake and decides to sue you.
- You didn’t disclose that you received a free copy in a product review.
- Your site contains adult-related information and you have not taken sufficient measures to keep underage persons from accessing it.
Consider also the real examples of costly compliance breaches described:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up personal information to complete an offer they were promoting. Cost = $390,000.
- A social networking app developer copped a whopping $800,000 fine for collecting personal information without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private details about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service prohibits users from scraping Users IDs. Many internet marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, resulting thousands of $$$ in lost revenue.
- An independently-conducted study by Brad Geddes of SearchEngineLand, showed that, of a couple of hundred randomly-picked websites, more than 90% had infringed 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 be exposed to the risks of non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- PPA (Pay Per Action) Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdSense Publisher
- Product Marketer
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Adult Content Publisher
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online
You need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that your website or blog has the right legal pages and clearly accessible to all you site visitors.
Complying With Third-Party Services
Complying with 3rd-party services terms and policies is important.
You are obligated to let your visitors know that your website complies will all legal requirements and recommended guidelines. This not only increases trust and confidence in your site, it’s also required in many cases by most companies you will engage with online.
For example:
Google requires websites to display legal information if using their products. This includes using services such as Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Monetizing your WordPress site with Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)
And even promoting your site via Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you plan to sell digital products through merchants such as ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add certain legal pages to your site before your products are approved for sale in their network …
(Policy requirements for vendors selling via ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires you to add clear disclaimers and statements on your site, especially if you plan to sell online using product testimonials or endorsements …
(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensure That Your Website Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of doing business 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 has happened in the past, this typically prompts 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 plan to do any type of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take any chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. we strongly recommend protecting your business interests by making sure that your site is compliant with FTC guidelines and regulations.
Various online business resources provide guidelines on how to structure 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 …
(You must structure your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Don’t Forget Social Media Applications
If you plan to develop social networking applications for your website, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others require you to provide access to your legal pages …
(Facebook developer app – policy requirements)
- If you are not sure whether you are breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting products or services on your site using affiliate marketing, or generate revenue with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon advertising, 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 all Terms Of Service and policy requirements to avoid having your accounts suspended.
- If you’ve been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to protect yourself and your business.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party websites require you to comply with their policies and guidelines)
What Compliance Pages Should You Add To Your Site To Be Compliant?
If your web site is lacking in areas of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following compliance pages to your site will help keep your business out of trouble with many consumer protection agencies and external service providers, and even help you avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Statement
- Terms And Conditions
- Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
As well as the above, you may want to look into implementing one or more of these compliance pages:
- Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers (e.g. if your website or blog provides general health or medical information)
- Refund Policy (if you run an e-commerce site)
- Audio/Video Terms (e.g. if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding the correct type of disclosure is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – Informs your readers that you will not be receiving any kind of payment for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Notifies users that you will receive compensation if they act on your recommendation and purchase through one of your affiliate links.
- Review Or Sample Copy – Lets users know that you have received a review or sample copy of the product or service.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets readers be aware that you were compensated in some way to write the post.
- Third Party Advertising – Lets readers 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 display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Compliance Pages To Your Website
Ideally, you should have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been created, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Uploading Legal Pages Manually
If someone prepares and delivers the legal content for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend creating a legal directory in your web server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. via FTP) …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder in your web server and upload pages via FTP)
You can then easily add links to your pages in WordPress using a custom WordPress menu …
(Custom WordPress Menu)
Make sure that your legal pages are up-to-date and display clearly to all site visitors. You can insert these into the sidebar menu (or the footer section of your website) to ensure that visitors have access to the information from all pages …
(It’s important to display links to legal pages on all of your website’s pages)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on adding links to pages on your sidebar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Templates
You can find downloadable attorney-drafted website forms and agreements by searching online, or going to sites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
More information:
Another option is to download a package of legal templates designed by legal attorney Scott Talbert to help businesses protect themselves online …
Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages)
These templates were written by an attorney and feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with search and replace to add your own business name and URL, then pasted into your pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Forms include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer (multi-discipline professional disclaimers)
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page for each legal form you want to add to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your web pages and publish or upload your legal pages to your web server as described earlier.
More information:
WordPress Legal Plugins
In addition to using copy & paste templates, another option is to use WordPress plugins.
Here are some WordPress plugins worth looking into:
WordPress Legal Pages Plugin
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)
If manually setting up legal pages for your website seems too time-consuming for you, then consider installing WP Legal Pages instead …
WordPress Legal Pages is not a free plugin, but it’s a low-priced and well-supported plugin that will simplify the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your site and save you a great deal of time.
Here are just some of the benefits of using WordPress Legal Pages:
- Pre-written Templates – Over 20 built-in legal templates created by professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of the basic legal pages you need in a few minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
- Fully Customizable Pages – Includes customizable and easy to edit legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Editable Pages – Full WYSIWYG editor lets you edit legal pages like any other WordPress page.
- Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your pages when you publish.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any page on your site.
- Forced Options – Force page lockdown. When users agree to your terms, the page unlocks.
- New Features – New plugin features get added when new versions are released.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu feature will display inside your navigation area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to create, edit and view legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages – Settings)
You can create legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, review sites, e-commerce sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin – Create different legal pages)
Select from various built-in 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
To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin site:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin containing over 20 customizable legal pages for your digital presence …
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Legal Suite Pro Plugin
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin 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 of Service
- 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 secured rights to high quality, professionally written legal disclaimers and packaged them 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 one minute or less 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).
For more information, go here:
If hiring lawyers to create your legal pages is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing some basic form of legal protection on your website until you can afford a lawyer.
We want your site to be safe!
Download the Legal Pages Generator tool below (it’s FREE!), or choose one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documentation, or plugins as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator Software allows you to quickly generate essential legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and Earnings Disclaimer.
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As stated earlier, if you do any kind of business online, you need to make sure that your site stays compliant with all regulations and any guidelines and terms of service for 3rd-party sites that you may be promoting or selling 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?
Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult legal experts to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements pertaining to your business.
Resources
Here is a useful list of additional sites we suggest you visit to help you better understand what your business requires 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
- 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
And …
- 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 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 WordPress site using simple and inexpensive solutions.
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