Your Website Policies
Does your Website need a privacy policy?
There is a good chance that your website needs a privacy policy.
Collecting regulated data (names, emails, etc.) may mean that you’re required to have a Privacy Policy with specific disclosures required under multiple privacy laws.
As a website owner, you may be required to comply with laws you’ve never even heard of from states and countries where you don’t even live.
Your website may need policies in place to comply with privacy laws such as the CPRA, GDPR, UK DPA, CalOPPA, PIPEDA, and more. You may also need to comply with consumer protection laws and provide eCommerce disclosures.
Additionally, the laws governing websites, privacy, and eCommerce are regularly changing and evolving, so your website policies need to change and evolve along with the laws.
creating your own website policies can be easy
All of this can feel like a lot to figure out, but take a breath because you have choices!
You don’t need to become a legal expert to bring your website into compliance with the existing laws. To help make things a bit simpler, I’ve broken down the main choices you have for your website:
Do Nothing - This really is not the recommended option, but I see many website owners choose this so I wanted to put it on the list. This certainly is the easiest option because it literally requires you to do nothing, but it also leaves you the most open to potential fines and lawsuits. I do not recommend this option.
The DIY Approach - The other common way I see website owners approach their website policies is by trying to DIY them. Often, this involves copying someone else’s (or a few people’s) website policies, cobbling them together, maybe tweaking a few words or sentences, and then adding the policy to your own site. This can seem like a viable option, especially when you’re as a cash-strapped entrepreneur or if you don’t feel like your website is a big enough deal for this to really matter. But there are a lot of reasons not to copy someone else’s policies.
Buy a Legal Template - Okay, now we’re looking at the more legit ways to handle privacy policies on your website, starting with buying a legal template. Several lawyers and law shops have started selling pre-written legal templates for common legal needs solopreneurs and business owners have, including website policies. These templates often come MadLib style with blank spaces for you to fill in to tailor the template to your business. I’ve seen many of my trusted resources recommend The Creative Law Shop, as an example.
Hire a Lawyer - You can also directly hire a lawyer to create the required policies for your website. This is likely the most expensive option on this list, but some website owners prefer having an individual they can work with one-on-one to create their website policies.
Choose Termageddon - Termageddon is a comprehensive website policies generator that helps you identify what privacy laws apply to you, generate the disclosures and policies required under these laws, and then automatically update the disclosures and policies whenever the laws change or new laws go into effect. Once you use their generator to create the disclosures and policies for your website, we’re able to install them on to your website where they will be automatically updated by Termageddon. I personally use Termageddon in my own business (they created the disclosures and policies on this very website) and I’ve chosen to be an affiliate for them. You can use my affiliate link to save 10% off your first payment to Termageddon.
The Quick Explanation
Spend a minute and forty-seven seconds watching this video explaining what data you collect that may require you to have a privacy policy on your website and showing you exactly how Termagdeddon can make generating and maintaining your policies incredibly easy.
We Take Privacy Seriously
I believe that websites can be beautiful, strategic, and hardworking, but that should never come at the expense of sacrificing the privacy of your website’s visitors or mishandling their data.
Most of us never intend on compromising or mishandling data or violating a privacy law. But with so many moving parts powering our business, its important that we each take the time to understand how our business and website are interacting with data and how the third-parties we rely on are handling the data they collect through us.
I’m proud to be a Data Privacy Certified Agency Partner with Termageddon because I believe they’ve created a powerful tool to support us in better understanding our relationship to data in our business.
Ultimately, Termageddon allows us to easily generate the required disclosures and policies for our websites, while also helping us better understand what data our businesses are gathering so we can make conscious and intentional decisions as we move forward.
Let’s Protect Your Website
Ready to finally tackle your website’s policies?
Simply complete the form below to choose how Haas Design & Strategy can help you with your website’s policies.
We respect your privacy and will never share or sell your data.
Please note:
The term “Termageddon” is a trademark of Termageddon, Inc. This page does contain affiliate links and offers.