Is your WordPress site compliant? Do you know if your site is breaking the law, or contravening the Terms of Service (TOS) of any companies whose services or products you advertise or recommend?
As the internet continues to grow at an extraordinary rate and the rules of the game keep changing, it’s absolutely essential to stay informed about what’s happening and ensure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if your online presence is an integral aspect of your business strategy.
New laws introduced in 2014 regulating 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 BBB, or Better Business Bureau. Search online “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 various business activities, including:
- Any type of advertising, e.g. Google AdSense
- Retarget Marketing
- Google Analytics (or other analytics software)
- Affiliate Marketers
- Product Creators
- Blogging
- etc.
If your site does not display certain legal pages to visitors (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, legal disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank will not approve your digital products on their network, PayPal may suspend your account, Facebook could suspend your web applications, and you won’t be allowed to promote many advertising or online marketing networks.
You could also be inadvertently leaving yourself open and vulnerable to litigation.
This guide explains why it’s important to have a compliant website and describes simple and cost-effective methods and solutions to help make your WordPress website or blog compliant quickly and easily.
Is Your Website Compliant?
Disclaimer: Please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice. You must do your own due diligence and we recommend consulting legal experts about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with the law in your country or region.
Why It’s Important To Make Your Website Compliant
Are you at risk? Consider for one minute what could happen to your business if these situations were to take place:
- A customer has a heart attack after purchasing your online fitness workout.
- The skin care lotion you promote as an affiliate gives people an allergic reaction.
- Your opt-in list provides a statement informing prospective subscribers that you will not sell their information, but you haven’t defined what you plan to do with the details you have collected.
- Someone copies your content and puts it up on their website.
- There is no statement on your website letting your site users know that you are an affiliate for the product you’re promoting and could get paid a commission if visitors purchase it.
- You haven’t spelled out the conditions of your return policies.
- Online visitors claim your testimonials are false and decide to sue you because of it.
- You haven’t disclosed that you have received a free copy of a product you are reviewing.
- Your website publishes adult content and you have not taken sufficient measures to restrict access by underaged persons.
Consider too these actual examples 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 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 without users’ knowledge and consent – including storing private information about children.
- Facebook’s Terms Of Service does not allow users to scrape Users IDs. Many internet marketers gambled that they could get away with it and lost. Their accounts were shut down, costing them thousands of $$$ 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% were in violation of at least one of Google’s policies, more than 65% were breaking at least two of Google’s policies, and more than 40% were in breach of 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 with warnings or lose access entirely to the Google program whose policies with the infringement, which could result in loss of income (e.g. AdSense or AdWords).
Can you see how easy it is to risk becoming exposed to litigation through non-compliance?
Regardless of whether you are a:
- CPA (Cost Per Action) Marketer
- MLM Networker
- Affiliate Product Marketer
- AdSense Publisher
- Info Product Marketer
- Amazon Affiliate
- EBay Seller
- Adult Content Publisher
- Provider Of Freelance, Consulting Or Coaching Services
- Seller Of Any Product Or Service Online
It’s imperative to ensure that your digital presence complies with all laws governing the use of your site, wherever you are located.
Complying With Third-Party Services
All of the leading companies and government agencies that regulate trade emphasize the need of complying with the terms and policies of 3rd-party service providers.
You are obligated to let your site users know that your website complies with all necessary laws and professional guidelines. This not only increases consumer trust and buyer confidence in your website, it’s also a requirement of many companies you engage with.
For example:
Google requires you to display legal information when using many of their products or features. This includes using features like Google Analytics …
(Google Analytics – Policy Requirements)
Earning revenue online with your WordPress sites using Google AdSense advertising …
(Google AdSense policy requirements)
Or promoting your services or products through Google AdWords …
(Policy requirements for using Google AdWords)
If you sell information products via places like ClickBank, JVZoo, or other established online merchant sites, you will need to add a number of legal pages to your site before they will approve your products for sale …
(Policy requirements for selling via ClickBank)
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also requires that you add clear disclaimers and policy statements on your site, especially when concerning the use of testimonials or product endorsements …
(FTC – consumer guidelines and regulations)
FTC Regulations – Ensuring That Your Site Is Compliant
New FTC regulations governing the conduct of businesses online were introduced in March 2012. A quick search online reveals that many sites are unaware (or choose to ignore) these requirements. As has happened in the past, this typically ends up with the FTC making an example of businesses and prosecuting companies in an effort to get other businesses to comply.
If you do any kind of selling online, therefore, it’s best not to take chances. Even if your business does not operate in the U.S. you should protect your business interests by making sure that your site is compliant with all FTC guidelines and regulations.
You can find many resources sites for businesses that can provide guidelines on how to structure disclaimers and disclosures to help you comply with FTC requirements. See the resources section at the end of this article for more information …
(It’s important to word your disclaimers and disclosures correctly to avoid running foul of laws and regulations)
Don’t Forget Social Media Applications
If you are planning to develop applications for your website, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and many others will require you to provide access to various 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 service providers like Google, Facebook, etc., then you most probably are.
- If you are considering promoting services or products online as an affiliate marketer, or make money online with Google AdSense, ads for Amazon or eBay products, or driving visitors to your website using Google AdWords, etc., then find out exactly what kind of legal information you need to include on your site to comply with their Terms Of Service and policy requirements - don’t risk having your accounts suspended.
- If you have been wondering whether “borrowing” a Copyright Notice is Copyright infringement, then it’s best to take proper precautions to avoid becoming a litigation magnet.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, almost all third-party services require you to comply with their terms of use and policies)
Essential Legal Pages To Add To Your Website
If you suspect that your website is lacking in areas of compliance, then you will find this section helpful.
At its most basic, adding the following legal pages to your site will keep you out of trouble with most consumer protection authorities and 3rd-party service providers, and even help to avoid potential legal issues):
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Statement
- Terms Of Use
- Website Disclaimer Pages
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
Additionally, you may want to consider implementing one or more of the pages listed below where applicable:
- Affiliate Disclosure (e.g. if you promote or sell affiliate products and services)
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Financial Disclaimers (e.g. if your website provides financial advice)
- Refund Policy (if you sell products or services online)
- Audio/Video Terms (e.g. if you provide users with access to downloadable videos or audio files on your site)
Types Of Disclosure Pages
Adding correct disclosure information is important. For example:
- No Material Connection – This lets readers be aware that you will not receive compensation for writing the article.
- Affiliate Links – Informs visitors that you may be compensated if they act on your recommendation and buy through one of your affiliate links.
- Review/Sample Copy – Lets users know that you have received a sample or review copy of the product by the author or product developer.
- Sponsored Post – Disclosure that informs users that you have been compensated in some way to write the post.
- 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 online publishers to display prominently on their sites since January 1, 2014.
How To Add Compliance Pages To Your Website
Ideally, you will have a lawyer prepare the verbiage of your legal documents. Once you have this done, there are several ways to add them to your website.
Upload Legal Web Pages Manually To Your Site
If someone prepares and delivers the legal verbiage for you in standard web page format (e.g. HTML), you can simply upload these to your web server, or have someone upload them for you.
We recommend adding a legals folder to your web server and uploading your legal pages to this folder (e.g. using FTP) …
(Create a ‘legals’ folder on your web server and upload pages via FTP)
You can then easily add links to these legal pages from your WordPress site using a custom WordPress menu …
(WordPress Menu)
Where To Display Legal Pages On Your Website
Make sure that your legal pages are kept up-to-date and clearly visible to all visitors. You can insert these into your sidebar (or the footer section of your website or blog) to ensure 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 site’s pages)
To learn more about displaying links to pages on your sidebar and footer, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Legal Templates
You can easily find downloadable attorney-drafted forms and agreements just by searching online, or going to websites like this one:
Find Legal Forms
(Find Legal Forms)
More info:
Another option is to download a set of cut and paste legal templates written by legal attorney Scott Talbert to protect businesses online …
Cut And Paste Website Legal Pages
(Scott Talbert’s Legal Templates)
These legal templates feature less passive voice and more plain language phrasing and can be customized with simple search and replace to insert your own business name and URL, then pasted into your legal web pages.
The legal templates included in Scott Talbert’s Website Legal Page Templates include:
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Copyright Notice
- Disclaimer
- DMCA Compliance
- FTC Compliance
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service & Conditions of Use.
You can either create a new page for every legal form you want added 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.
For more details, go here:
Legal Pages – Plugins
In addition to using legal templates, you can keep things very simple by using a plugin.
Here are some legal plugins for WordPress users worth looking into:
WP Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress
(WordPress Legal Pages Plugin For WordPress)
If the idea of manually creating legal pages for your site feels too time-consuming for you, then consider installing a plugin like WordPress Legal Pages …
This is not a free plugin, but it’s a reasonably low-priced and well-supported plugin that will make the job of creating and implementing legal pages on your WordPress site much easier and save you loads of headaches.
Here are just some of the benefits of using WP Legal Pages:
- Built-in Templates – The plugin gives you access to over 20 built-in legal templates created by a team of professional lawyers.
- Very Quick And Easy To Use – Set up most of your basic legal pages in a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse.
- Customizable Pages – The plugin includes customizable and editable legal form templates (e.g. ToS, Disclaimer, Earnings Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and more!)
- Easy To Edit Pages – WordPress content editor lets you edit legal pages like any other page on your site.
- Custom Shortcodes – Add shortcodes to any of your WordPress pages and the information will be automatically inserted into your content when published.
- Exclude pages. The plugin lets you exclude pages from menus with a simple check box and delete and manage these like any other WP page.
- Forced Options – Force page or post lockdown. When the user agrees to your legal terms, the page unlocks, giving them access.
- New Features – More features get added to this plugin with every new version.
After installing WordPress Legal Pages, a new menu item will appear inside your main WP dashboard menu section …
(WordPress Legal Pages – Legal Pages Menu)
This lets you view, create and edit legal pages from your admin area …
(WP Legal Pages – Settings Screen)
You can easily create legal pages for different types of sites, such as business websites, review sites, medical sites, etc …
(WP Legal Pages – Page Type)
You can also choose from a number of built-in legal templates …
(WP Legal Pages – Built-In 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
Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this useful plugin:
Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Compliance Bar is a simple WordPress plugin containing over 20 customizable legal templates for your online business …
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Legal Suite Pro
(Legal Suite Pro For WordPress)
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 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 one minute or less and the license allows you to install and use the plugin on all of your websites.
Go here to learn more:
If using the services of lawyers to create your online legal documentation is currently out of your budget, then consider implementing some basic kind of legal protection on your site until you can afford professional assistance.
We want your site to be legally safe!
Download the FREE Legal Pages Generator software below, or use one of the better solutions we discuss in this article, such as using legal documents, or a plugin as described in the section below.
(Legal Pages Generator Software)
Legal Pages Generator allows you to easily generate necessary legal documents for your website including Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, Copyright Notice, Website Disclaimer and optional Earnings Disclaimer.
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As stated earlier, if you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or plan to), it’s important that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies and any terms of service and guidelines for third-party services and products that you may decide to promote or use online. Your website must comply with a wide range of laws and regulatory guidelines, some of which you may not be aware of.
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 do not provide legal advice on this 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 concerning your specific business.
Additional Information
Below is a useful list of sites we recommend you visit to help you better understand what your business requires to remain compliant and meet its legal obligations:
- FTC 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
- US Patent and Trademark Office
- United States Copyright Office
In Addition …
- Google 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 the importance of having a legally compliant website. Use the information above to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress site using inexpensive legal resources and solutions.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)