Is your website legal? Do you know if you are breaking any rules or regulations, or breaching the Terms of Service (TOS) of any 3rd-party companies whose products or services you are advertising or recommending?
As digital business continues growing at such a fast pace and the rules keep changing, it’s important to try and stay informed about what’s happening and ensure that your site remains compliant with all laws and regulations, especially if your web presence is important in the success of your overall business strategy.
Recent laws introduced in 2014 to regulate how businesses promote advertising on their websites state that if you promote anything on your site for profit, then you must follow certain principles of disclosure to prevent enforceable orders being issued against you by consumer protection departments, such as the (US based) BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Search online for information about “The Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program,” which regulates behavioral advertising across the internet for more details.
(BBB – Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program)
The new laws has ramifications for several business categories, including:
- Any type of advertising, including pay-per-click advertising
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product Creation
- Blogging
- etc.
If your site does not display certain pages to visitors (e.g. terms of service, privacy statement, financial disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites like Google won’t let you advertise, sites like ClickBank or JVZoo will not allow you to list your digital products on their network, PayPal could suspend your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook could reject your web applications, and you won’t be allowed into many advertising and online merchant networks.
In addition, you may also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.
In this guide, we discuss why it’s important to have a compliant website and how to quickly add legal pages to your website using simple and inexpensive methods and resources.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we do not provide legal advice. As previously stated, this article is designed only to help make you aware that your website may be subject to a number of legal policies in accordance with the laws and regulations governing business and that you may be required to comply with the terms of service of third-party companies whose services or products you advertise
Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant
Consider for one moment what could happen to your business in the following scenarios:
- A person suffers a cardiac arrest after using your online workout program.
- The skin care creams you sell as an affiliate gives a number of users skin rashes.
- Your opt-in list displays a statement informing subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you have not informed them exactly what you’ll do with it.
- Someone copies your content and puts it up on their own site.
- There is no statement on your site informing your site visitors that you’re an affiliate for the product you’re selling and may earn a sales commission if they buy it.
- You did not spell out the terms and conditions of your refund/return policies.
- A visitor claims that the testimonials on your site are false and tries to sue you.
- You haven’t disclosed in a product review that you received a free copy of the product.
- Your website publishes adult-related content and you did not take appropriate measures to restrict access by underaged persons.
Consider now these real case studies of costly compliance breaches:
- A CPA Marketer failed to provide adequate disclaimers telling visitors they would have to give up personal information (including credit card details to complete his offer. In addition to a significant $390,000 fine, he was also ordered to give 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 massive $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, costing them thousands of dollars 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% had infringed at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% had infringed at least 2 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 notices or lose access 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 risk being targeted for non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) or CPC (Cost Per Conversion) Marketer
- Network Marketer
- Affiliate Product Promoter
- AdSense Publisher
- Info Product Marketer
- Amazon Associate
- e-Commerce Store Owner
- Publisher Of Adult Content
- Freelancer, Coach or Consultant
- Online Seller Of Any Product Or Service
it’s important to ensure that your digital presence complies with all laws and regulations governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.
Complying With 3rd-Party Services
All the leading websites and government trade regulatory agencies emphasize the need of observing the terms and policies of third-party service providers.
You are required to let your site visitors know that your website complies with all necessary legal requirements and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also required by most companies you will do business with.
For example:
Google requires your site to display legal information when using many of their services and product features. This includes Google Analytics …
(Policy requirements for using Google Analytics)
Monetizing your website using Google AdSense display advertising …
(Google AdSense advertising policy requirements)
And even promoting your products through Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information products using merchants like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established merchant sites, you will need to add a number of legal pages to your website before they will approve your products for sale in their networks …
(Policy requirements for selling via ClickBank)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and disclosures to visitors, especially if you plan to sell or promote products and services with the aid of product testimonials or endorsements …
(Federal Trade Commission – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations Require Your Website To Comply
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online will easily reveal that many business are still unaware (or choose to flaunt) these requirements. As has already been the case, this often prompts the FTC to make an example of businesses and prosecute companies for breaches of regulation in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you do any type of business online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business is not physically located in the U.S. it’s best to protect your business interests by making sure that your website complies with all FTC regulations.
There are many resources online that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. We provide additional references and links to useful resources at the end of this article …
(Word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of the law)
Don’t Forget Social Media Apps
If you are planning to develop social networking applications for your site users, you will also be required to provide social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others with access to various legal pages …
(Apps that integrate with social networking sites like Facebook also require compliance)
- If you are unsure as to whether you may be breaking the law, and/or Terms of Service policies and guidelines of websites like Google, Facebook, etc., then assume that you most probably are.
- If you plan to promote services or products online via affiliate marketing, or generating revenue online with Google AdSense, eBay or Amazon ads, or use Google AdWords to drive visitors to your pages, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you are required to include on your site to comply with all Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts shut down.
- If you’ve ever wondered if “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most 3rd-party services require you to comply with their policies)
Essential Legal Pages You Should Add To Your Site
If you suspect that your web site falls short in areas of compliance, then this section will help you.
Adding the following legal pages to your site will keep you out of trouble with many regulatory authorities and third-party service providers, and help to avoid possible legal issues or even threats of legal action (e.g. “cease and desist” notices):
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms Of Use
- Website Disclaimers
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to consider implementing one or more of the pages listed below:
- Affiliate Agreement (if you sell products or services through an affiliate program)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers (if your website provides content about health or medical areas)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Audio/Video Terms Of Use (if you allow users to download videos or audio files on your site)
Disclosure Pages – Types
Adding correct disclosure information is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets your visitors know that you’re not receiving any form of compensation for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Informs your readers that you will receive compensation if they buy through affiliate links on your site.
- Sample/Review Copy – Informs users that you have been given a review or sample copy of the product or service by the author or product developer.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that lets visitors know that you have been compensated in some way to write the article.
- Third Party Advertising – Informs readers that you’re using online behavioral tracking technology. This is required to comply with the “enhanced notice” the Better Business Bureau has been requiring website publishers to show prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Legal Pages Content To Your Website
Ideally, you will consult lawyers or a legal firm and ask them to prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once this has been completed, there are several ways to include them in your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages Manually
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in HTML format, you can simply upload these to your site, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading HTML pages containing your legal documentation to this directory (e.g. via FTP) …
(Upload legal pages to your web server via FTP)
You can then add links to your pages in WordPress using custom links in your menu feature …
(Custom WordPress Menu Feature)
After uploading your legal pages, make sure that these are up-to-date and clearly accessible to your visitors. You can insert links to your legal pages into your WordPress sidebar (or the footer of your site) so that users will be able to access the information from all your pages …
(It’s important to display links to legal information on all of your website’s pages)
For a detailed tutorial on adding links to pages on your WP sidebar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Ready-Made Legal Templates
You can find attorney-drafted disclosures and downloadable internet forms and agreements just by searching online, or by visiting sites like the ones shown below:
Find Legal Forms
For more details, go here:
Another option is to download a package of cut and paste legal templates drafted by legal attorney Scott Talbert …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Cut & Paste Website Legal Pages – Legal Templates)
Cut & Paste website legal templates were written 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 insert your own business details, then pasted into your legal web pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Legal Form Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer: multi-discipline professional disclaimers
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance (This proprietary FTC page accommodates new FTC guidelines brought into effect in 2012)
- 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 to add to your website, then paste the content from the templates into your pages and publish or upload these to your web server as previously described.
More info:
Plugins – Legal Pages
As well as using legal templates, another option for adding legal pages to your website is to use WordPress plugins.
Here are some great legal plugins for WordPress users that you should check out:
WordPress Legal Pages
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin)
If you don’t want to spend time creating legal web pages manually, then consider installing a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages …
This plugin is not free, but it’s an affordable and well-supported plugin that will help make the task of creating and implementing legal pages on your site a lot easier and save you time.
Some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages plugin are:
- Built-in Legal Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal page templates created by professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – You can set up most of the legal pages you will need in a few minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. Terms of Use, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Earnings Disclaimer and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – Content editor lets you edit legal pages just like any other page on your website.
- Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to your website or blog pages and the information will then be automatically inserted into your content when published.
- Exclude pages. Exclude pages from menus with a simple check box 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.
- New Features – More features are being added to this plugin with every new version.
When you install WordPress Legal Pages, a menu item will appear inside your main WP dashboard menu section …
(WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Legal Pages Menu)
This allows you to view, create and edit legal pages from the admin area …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin – Settings)
With WPLegal Pages, you have the option of easily creating legal pages for different online uses, such as business websites with products, niche websites, AdSense sites, etc …
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress – Create different legal pages)
Select from a number of pre-written legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages – 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
To learn more this plugin, go here:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
The Compliance Bar Plugin For WordPress is a total compliance & disclaimer solution for your digital business …
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro Plugin)
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 – 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. Your legal pages can be installed and set up on your site in one minute or less and the license allows you to install and use this plugin on all of your sites.
More info:
If hiring lawyers to create your online legal documentation is out of your budget, then consider implementing at least some basic form of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional legal services.
We want your site to be safe!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or consider using one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using attorney-prepared legal page templates, or plugins - see section below.
(Legal Pages Generator)
Legal Pages Generator allows you to easily 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 make money online, you need to make sure that your site is compliant with government regulations and any terms of service (TOS) and guidelines for third-party services and products that you may be promoting or using online. If your website doesn’t comply with laws designed to protect consumer rights, 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, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice in this article. You must do your own due diligence and consult legal experts about the best way of ensuring that your website fully complies with the law in your country or region.
Additional Legal Information
Below is a time-saving list of sites we suggest you visit to better understand what may be required of your website to comply and meet its legal requirements and guidelines:
- FTC 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 – BBB
- 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
- US Patent and Trademark Office
- US Copyright Office
Additionally …
- 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
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 inexpensive methods and solutions.
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