One of the worst things that can happen to any website owner is to suddenly discover that you have broken the law.
Your digital presence must comply with many laws, many of which you may probably not even be aware of.
Being non-compliant puts you at risk of suffering both financial losses and the loss of your reputation. Why risk your money and your good reputation, when you can protect yourself so inexpensively?
In this article, we look at a simple and very inexpensive solution for WordPress users that can help make your site legally compliant in minutes.
Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?
As the digital realm continues growing at breakneck speed and the rules of the game keep changing, it’s vitally important that you stay informed about what’s happening and to make sure that your site remains legally compliant, especially if your web presence is an integral component of your overall business strategy.
Without legal pages on your site (e.g. terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, earning disclaimers, etc.), many sites like Google won’t let you advertise, digital marketplaces like ClickBank won’t approve your digital products for sale, PayPal could close down your account and freeze your funds, Facebook and other social sites will suspend your applications, and you won’t be accepted into most other advertising or merchant 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 online business is not in compliance, it could impact on your visitors trust and confidence in doing any business with you in the future.
(In addition to legal and regulatory compliance, most third-party services require you to comply with their policies and guidelines!)
Legal Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice here.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware that:
- Your website may be subject to a number of legal requirements in accordance with compulsory federal, state and local laws that govern your business (some of which you may probably not even be aware of),
- How important it is to comply with the terms of service of third-party providers whose products or services you are offering or using online, and
- There are cost-effective plugins for WordPress users that can help your business become more compliant, such as the solution that we discuss in this article.
In this article, we review a simple plugin for WordPress websites that provides a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your site.
Introducing …
Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Plugin Description
Compliance Bar is a complete compliance & disclaimer solution for your web presence …
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Compliance Bar
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Compliance Bar to make your website instantly compliant:
Really Easy To Install
Compliance Bar Plugin installs just like every other WordPress plugin. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your administrator area and activate.
Editable Templates
You can easily make changes to the built-in legal templates inside the plugin from the settings menu with the WYSIWYG content editor.
24/7 Plugin Support
The plugin developers provide a dedicated team to help you with anything you need.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Customized Compliance Page Templates: Compliance Bar creates your legal pages in seconds and customizes them to your business and website.
- Complete Video Training Library: Compliance Bar is not difficult to use - a full library of training videos is provided.
- Can Be Used Anywhere In The World: As long as you consult a qualified legal representative to make sure that the default legal page templates provided in the plugin are suitable and satisfactory for your business, country and website, you can use the plugin anywhere in the world.
- Can Be Used On All WordPress Sites: If your site is driven by 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, services, AdSense, AdWords, adult, medical, etc) and ignore any templates that you don’t require.
Compliance Bar Plugin Features
Compliance Bar Plugin provides a number of great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just some of those:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Display Attractive Icon Bar – The plugin displays links to your legal pages using attractive icons that can be positioned on different locations in your pages. You can also upload your own icons.
- Display Sensitive Information – If you plan to show content that needs to be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. content related to alcohol, tobacco, adult, etc.), you can display popups that force users to accept your website’s terms or disclaimers.
- EU User Cookie Compliance – If your business is based in the EU or display your content to visitors in the EU, you must make users aware of your user cookies and notify them of how you use them. The plugin displays an attractive bar notifying users and covering your business from non-compliance issues.
- Record & Store IP Addresses – The plugin can record your visitors’ IP address for reference, just in case someone accepts your terms or disclaimers and then claims they haven’t.
- Shortcode Driven – Compliance Bar uses shortcodes to automatically populate templates with your personal information. These shortcodes also allow you to place information anywhere on your site or blog, (including the popups).
- Works On All 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.
Using Compliance Bar Plugin
Once the plugin is installed, the plugin’s “Settings” screen is added to your WP admin area.
Let’s briefly review these sections …
User Profile
There are a number of default fields in this screen where you can enter your business information into input (e.g. “Contact Name,” “Company Address,” “Company Phone Number,” “Company Registration Number,” etc.). Not all categories are compulsory, but some are (e.g. “Business Name,” “Registered Company Address,” etc.)
(Compliance Bar Plugin User Profile Section – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Compliance Bar uses dynamic shortcodes to dynamically insert the information from your User Profile inside your legal pages …
(Compliance Bar User Profile Section: Shortcodes – Screenshot source: plugin documentation)
Once the minimum required (i.e. compulsory) information has been entered into the profile fields, you can then access the other sections of the plugin.
Compliance Pages
The “Compliance Pages” area contains all of your compliance pages …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
When we last checked the plugin website, there were over 22 compliance page templates made available:
- 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
Creating legal pages for your website is a simple process. Just select the checkboxes next to the pages you want to create and click ”Save” in the “Create Pages” section …
(Compliance Bar: Legal Page Templates – Image source: plugin documentation)
Your legal pages will then be created and added inside the “Pages” section of your WordPress site.
Compliance Bar Icons
The plugin comes with a built-in 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 Template Icons – Image source: plugin documentation)
Edit / Delete Compliance Page Templates
You can edit and delete the legal disclaimers in the “Compliance Pages” section, just as you would any other page in WordPress …
(Compliance Bar Plugin: Edit Compliance Page Templates – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Tips
- Editing is recommended, as the pages contain generic content.
- The plugin notifies you if it detects existing similar pages on your site (e.g. pages created before installing the plugin).
Compliance Bar
The plugin settings area provides various options to customize the Compliance Bar, including position, displaying links or icon images, background colors and images, image size, selecting which pages to include an icon for in the Compliance Bar, whether or not to display the Compliance bar on your home page, which pages the Compliance Bar will display in, mobile settings, etc. …
(Compliance Bar Section: Create Bar – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
Notes:
- You can create a number of Compliance Bars to show different icons on different pages, or to cover a multitude of uses in other sections of your site.
- The plugin lets you display the Compliance Bar on the front page of your site, even if you are using particular premium themes (e.g. Genesis, Thesis or Woo), where the home page is specifically configured through the theme settings as a built-in template, and not as a “regular” WordPress page.
- Due to the smaller size of mobile screens, you can only select up to a certain number of page icons to 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 the compliance icons to be featured …
PopUps
If you plan to publish content that may be restricted to certain age groups (e.g. information related to alcohol, ecigs, dating, etc.), the plugin can display pop-ups that force users to accept your website’s terms and disclaimers.
The “Create Pop Up” tab gives you complete control over the settings and customization of your pop ups …
(Pop Ups Screen: Create Pop Up – Image sourced from plugin documentation)
You can create a number of customized Pop Ups for different pages, or to cover a range of uses in other areas of your site …
You can also specify a delay time to prevent Pop Ups from displaying immediately, set cookie durations to prevent Pop Ups from displaying again within a specific time interval, and store the IP addresses of visitors who accept your terms and disclaimers for future reference …
(Pop Ups Section: IP Log Details – Image source: plugin documentation)
EU Cookies
If your business is based in the EU or display your content to EU visitors, you must be aware of EU Cookie law …
The plugin lets you manage 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 Screen: Manage Settings – Screenshot 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 legal templates and shortcodes, and lets you modify the page content …
General Settings
The “General Settings” section, gives you access to general information, such as promoting and sharing the plugin and receiving plugin updates …
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin customers have written about the Compliance Bar Plugin plugin:
”I got a chance to review the Compliance Bar plugin…WOW!! I have to say that its definitely one of the most NECESSARY, yet easiest to use plugin’s to hit the scene in a while. Very Solid Product. Great job Anton & team!” Shon Chris – Director (JV Peer Group)
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”Truly Amazing Product!” Patrick Mauchant – PT Enviromate Technology
Useful Tips
Here are a few extra ways you can use The Compliance Bar Plugin:
- Protect against content theft by spelling out terms of use of your website.
- Displaying compliance icons on specific pages of your site only.
- End refund disputes by clearly spelling out the refund terms before customers purchase.
- If you publish content for adult readers on your site, you can force visitors to click to confirm that they are of legal age to view your content.
Plugin Support
Compliance Bar provides users with dedicated plugin support to help you with anything you need. You also have access to a complete library of training videos.
Additionally, your purchase is backed by a no-risk, 30 day, 200% money-back guarantee. If your edition of Compliance Bar does not work within 30 days of purchase and it cannot be fixed within 48 hrs (Monday to Friday), your purchase price will be refunded in double.
Product Cost
- Single User Licensing – Install the plugin on one domain that you own. Cost = $47 (Normally $127)
- Business License Edition – Install the plugin on twenty-five of your own domains. Cost = $67.00 (Normally $197).
- Professional Edition – Can be installed on all domains that you own. Can be installed on any client site for payment or as part of a paid service. Cost = $97.00.
Please Note: The cost to purchase the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin sells for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here: Compliance Bar Plugin – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Additional Information
Legal Templates Approved By Lawyers – The plugin developers assure users on their website that all legal templates have been reviewed and approved by a lawyer. Nonetheless, we highly recommend that you get legal advice from a qualified legal expert in your area for your peace of mind.
For ”how to” videos showing how the plugin works, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Compliance Bar Plugin website.
Our Recommendation
Compliance Bar is an easy-to-use, simple and cost-effective solution for WordPress websites. We recommend downloading and installing this plugin for WordPress users if you want immediate peace of mind and legal protection.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: Compliance Bar Plugin – Compliance Bar – WordPress Plugin For Website Compliance
Legal Disclaimer: Once again, please note that we are not lawyers and we cannot offer legal advice in this article. Do your own due diligence and consult a legal expert about the best way to ensure that your website fully complies with the law wherever your business is based.
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