One of the worst things that can happen to a website owner is to break the law.
Your internet presence needs to comply with a whole range of federal, state and even local laws and regulatory guidelines, some of which you may not be aware of.
Being non-compliant not only puts you at risk of incurring financial loss, but also the cost to your reputation. Why risk your money and reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this article, we review a simple and cost-effective WordPress solution that can help make your website legally compliant just minutes.
Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?
As the digital business realm continues to grow at breakneck speed and the rules of the game constantly change, it’s vitally important that you stay on top of what’s going on and to make sure that your website remains compliant, especially if your online presence is an essential part of your business strategy.
If you do not display certain legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy statement, earning disclaimers, etc.), many third-party sites such as Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank won’t approve your digital products on their network, PayPal may close down your account and withhold payment of your funds, Facebook and other social networks could suspend your web apps, and you won’t be allowed into various other advertising or affiliate marketing networks.
If your digital presence is not compliant, you could also face a multitude of penalties, including fines, having your website shut down, even jail time!
At the very least, if your business online is not in compliance, expect visitor trust and confidence in your business to be seriously damaged.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party websites require you to comply with their terms of use!)
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice here.
The purpose of this post is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to various legal requirements in accordance with mandatory laws that govern your business,
- The importance of complying with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you are offering or endorsing online, and
- There are solutions that can help your business become compliant, such as the plugin that we discuss below.
If your website falls short in aspects of compliance, below we discuss a simple plugin for WordPress users that you should know more about.
Presenting …
Compliance Bar – WP Website Compliance Plugin
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-install plugin for WordPress-driven sites containing over twenty customizable legal templates for your online business …
For more details go here: Compliance Bar
Compliance Bar Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Compliance Bar to instantly make your web site compliant:
Ready To Go To Work In Minutes
Compliance Bar Plugin installs like every other plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Easily Editable Templates
You can easily modify the built-in legal templates inside the plugin from the settings menu using the visual editor.
24/7 Plugin Support
The plugin developers provide a dedicated support team to assist users if they experience any difficulties.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Customized Legal Templates: The plugin will create your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Full Video Training Manuals: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a full library of training videos is provided if you need assistance.
- Use Anywhere In The World: As long as you consult a qualified legal representative to ascertain if the legal page templates provided with the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin wherever your business is located.
- Use For All Website Purposes: As long as your website or blog is built with WordPress, you can use the plugin for any website purpose. Select only the types of disclaimers which suit your specific business model (e.g. affiliate or CPA marketing, business services, AdSense, AdWords, adult, medical, etc) and ignore any pages that are not required.
Plugin Features
Compliance Bar provides many features to web site owners. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Show Visually Appealing Icon Bar – The plugin will display links to your legal pages using attractive icons that can be placed anywhere on your page. You can also upload icons of your choice.
- Display Sensitive Content – If you plan to display content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult-related, etc.), Compliance Bar can display pop-ups that force users to accept your site’s terms and disclaimers.
- EU Cookie Compliance – If you are based in Europe or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must be aware of EU compliance laws. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying users and covering your business from non-compliance.
- Record & Store IP Addresses – Compliance Bar records your visitors’ IP address for future reference, just in case a visitor accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they haven’t.
- Shortcodes – Compliance Bar is integrated with shortcodes that populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (even in the pop-ups).
- Works On Mobile Devices – Compliance Bar has individual settings for displaying on mobile devices or tablets and displays mobile optimized icons automatically based on the browser being used.
Plugin Features – Details
Once the plugin has been installed, users get access to a number of sections where you can configure the plugin’s settings.
Let’s briefly review these …
User Profile
There are a number of default categories in this screen where your business details can be entered (e.g. “Business Name,” “Registered Company Address,” “Location Details,” “Niche Area,” etc.). Not all categories are required, but some are (e.g. “Website URL,” “Support Desk URL,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar User Profile Page – Image source: plugin documentation)
The plugin uses shortcodes to populate the information you have input into your User Profile into your legal page templates …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section: Shortcodes – Image source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required information has been input into the profile fields, you can then access the other areas of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” screen contains all of your compliance pages …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Compliance Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Here’s the full list of template pages made available by the plugin last time we checked the site:
- About Us
- AdSense Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreements
- Affiliate Disclosure Statement
- Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Contact Us
- Copyright/DCMA Notice
- Disclaimer
- Double Dart Cookies
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- FTC Statement
- Legal Disclaimer
- Linking Policy
- Medical Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Returns/Refund Policy
- Support
- Terms
- Terms & Conditions
- Testimonial Disclosure
- Adult Content Disclosure
You can easily and quickly create compliance pages for your website or blog by simply selecting check boxes and clicking the “Save” button in the “Compliance Pages” screen …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Legal Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside your “Pages” section.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a default set of attractive icons for referencing your legal pages …
The Compliance Bar icons are customizable. You can purchase an additional set of icons from the plugin developer, or create/upload your own to match the style of your site’s design …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Page Template Icons – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Page Templates
You can easily modify and delete the legal page templates in the “Compliance Pages” tab, just like any other page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Legal Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Notes
- Editing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin will notify you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. compliance pages created before you installed the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin settings area provides various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including where to position the bar, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, selecting which pages should be included in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your main page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, etc. …
(Compliance Bar Screen: Create Bar – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create more than one Compliance Bar to show different disclaimers on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses in different areas of your site.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the front page of your website, even if you are using a specific theme (like Genesis, Thesis or WooThemes), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme itself as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile devices, there is a limit to the number of page icons you can display if you turn Mobile Settings “on.”
Once you have configured your Compliance Bar settings, it displays links to your legal through dynamic icon bar on your site …
You have full control over the location on your pages where you would like to feature the compliance bar …
PopUps
If you plan to publish content that should be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult-related, etc.), the plugin can display popups that blocks access to users who do not accept your terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” screen lets you fully customize your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
You can create a number of Pop Ups for different pages, or to cover a range of uses throughout your website …
You can also set a delay time if you don’t want a Pop Up to display as soon as visitors arrive, set cookie durations to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time period, and capture the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Section: IP Log Details – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If your business is based in Europe or display your content to EU visitors, you must be aware of EU compliance laws …
The Compliance Bar plugin lets you customize the settings for compliance with EU User Cookies requirements, including the wording of your notification message and link text in the “EU Cookies” section …
(EU Cookies Section: Manage Settings – Image source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar has a non-intrusive way of notifying your visitors and covering you from non-compliance.
Page Templates
The “Page Templates” area, lists all of your compliance disclaimers and shortcodes, and lets you modify the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” tab, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin updates …
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin users have provided for Compliance Bar Plugin:
“1000% Highly Recommend This” Anthony La Rocca – Founder (Hustle Marketing)
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”I Highly Recommend Compliance Bar” Tony Grant (Portfolio Sports)
Useful Tips
Below are some additional ways you can use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protecting against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Display compliance icons only on specific pages of your site.
- End refund disputes by clearly spelling out refund terms before customers purchase.
- If your site contains content for adult viewers, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to access your content.
Plugin Support
Plugin Developers provide users with dedicated plugin support to assist users. Plugin users also get access to an entire set of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 200% refund guarantee. If your copy of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 business hours (Monday to Friday), the plugin developers will refund double the cost of purchase.
Plugin Pricing
- Single – Install the plugin on 1 site that you own. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License – Install the plugin on twenty-five of your own domains. Price = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional License Edition – Can be installed on all domains that you own. Install the plugin on all client sites for payment or as part of a paid service. Price = $97.00.
Please Note: Pricing details of Compliance Bar Plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details: Compliance Bar
Additional Information
Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers state on their website that all legal templates have been reviewed and approved by lawyers. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend that you get professional advice from a qualified legal expert in your area to ensure that your site is fully compliant.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
Install The Plugin
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress-driven websites. We recommend downloading and installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Compliance Bar – Compliance Bar Plugin – WP Website Compliance Plugin
Disclaimer: Once again, we are not lawyers and we offer no legal advice on this website. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website is compliant with all legal requirements in your country or region.
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