3 reasons your business website needs a privacy policy now!

When you hear the phrase “Privacy Policy” your brain probably envisions an image of tiny links at the bottom of a webpage, which you generally ignore, that lead to boring legal jargon you don’t ever care to read. However, a Privacy Policy is one of the most important pieces of content you need to have on your business website.  

What is a Privacy Policy?

Put simply, a privacy policy is a legal document that explains what data a website collects from visitors, how that data is stored and used, and the rights site visitors have regarding that data. Every website collects data from visitors in some way and your website is no exception. If you have an e-commerce site, you are collecting sensitive information like credit card numbers and physical addresses. You may only have a simple contact form on your website but even then, you are collecting personal information like names and email addresses. Need an example? Check out our own privacy policy.

Here are three reasons why you need privacy policy on your site:

1. There are privacy laws.

Although there is no federal law requiring a privacy policy on a website many states have their own laws. The strictest privacy law in the U.S. is from California and therefore is the law for which privacy policies are generally written to comply with. The European Union has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) designed to protect identifying data of its citizens. The GDPR applies to all businesses, non-profits, and other organizations that collect information from EU citizens. This includes businesses outside the EU which means it includes U.S. companies. Regardless of your situation, it’s in your best interest to cover all the bases by including a privacy policy on your site.

2. Third parties require that your website have a privacy policy.

Many third-party website service providers such as Google or Facebook require that your website have a privacy policy. Google Analytics is good example as many websites use this service to track and analyze how visitors are using the site. The Google Analytics Terms of Service explicitly requires that your website display a privacy policy: You must post a Privacy Policy and that Privacy Policy must provide notice of Your use of cookies, identifiers for mobile devices (e.g., Android Advertising Identifier or Advertising Identifier for iOS) or similar technology used to collect data. Most likely your website is using some kind of third-party service so it’s a good idea to check with your web developer or host if you are unsure.

3. A privacy policy builds trust.

Privacy is a big topic currently on the mind of consumers these days. Here are just a few examples:

• A House committee just approved the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, a national data privacy law for the U.S.
• Apple and Samsung are both running ad campaigns centered on the privacy features of their phones.
• The search engine DuckDuckGo is all about privacy, using the tag line “We don’t store your personal information. Ever.”

There is obvious concern among the public about privacy and protecting information. Think about it – do you worry about your own personal information? How do you feel about companies that have been exposed for misusing customer information? Including a privacy policy on your site is one way you can show your customers that you take the protection of their information seriously and can be a step towards building trust.

Creating and Adding a Privacy Policy to Your Site

Creating your own privacy policy can be relatively simple depending on your needs. There are many free privacy policy generators available online that can produce a simple policy suitable for most small businesses. I am not going to recommend any particular site but a simple search for “privacy policy generator” will give you many options. Keep in mind that I’m not an attorney and free privacy generators generally provide boilerplate policies, so you may want to consider working with an attorney to review your particular needs. When your policy is ready, the best practice is to add a “Privacy Policy” link in the footer of your website. This way your policy is available on every page of the site and in a place most visitors are likely to look for it.

As you can see, a privacy policy is an important part of a your business website. A privacy policy contributes to the legal compliance of your website, it may be required of you by third party services, and it helps to build credibility and trust with your customers.   If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us and we are happy to help! We’d love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn so we can follow along with what you’re doing too! And finally, if you are a small business owner struggling to do what you do best AND to figure out how to stay on top of the latest changes, strategies, tips and tools in online marketing, we’d like to personally invite you to join our private Facebook Group, Bobbi B’s Social Media Clambake, where we share all that information for free!