Just as dog trainers regularly work on continuing education, here at Click & Repeat, Melissa has been brushing up on the latest in website design and development best practices this year. Her conclusion? It’s high time to get serious about all things ‘Privacy Policy’ when it comes to websites.

Websites are becoming increasingly more regulated. Dozens of privacy bills across the globe are currently working their way toward becoming laws and we’re increasingly seeing legislation tied to accessibility (more on that in a future post).

Yet many businesses do not request a privacy policy when talking about their website – it’s easily one of the more overlooked pages for a site. This is set to be problematic. If a business gets ‘caught’ without the required policies in place, fines can be hefty. According to Termageddon.com:

“These start at $2,500 per website user who visited your website and had their rights infringed upon.”

Worse, as the world takes privacy increasingly seriously, more of these privacy bills are targeting small businesses. 

Does my website need a privacy policy?

Well, that depends, but the answer is most likely yes. If you collect any form of PII (Personally Identifiable Information such as a visitor’s name, email address, phone number, physical address or IP address), your site needs a privacy policy. 

Not sure? Ask yourself if your website uses any of the following features:

• Email newsletter subscription forms
• Contact forms
• Calendar booking embeds
• Font loading scripts (Google fonts!)
• Analytics
• Advertising and Remarketing
• Social Media embeds
• Video embeds
• Map embeds
• Comment forms
• eCommerce forms
• Third party integrations (payment gateways etc.)

If you can honestly say your website has NONE of those features, you’re probably in the clear. But given the whole point of a business website is to generate leads and give prospective clients a way to reach out, most business sites these days should have a privacy policy in place.

Why is a privacy policy so important?

Here’s what you need to know…

• There are more than a dozen US states moving to put forward laws that will apply to businesses, no matter where they’re located. Some of these laws will even apply to businesses of any size – making any business liable.
• Almost every country has its own privacy laws – and they apply no matter where your business is located. So, if you have web visitors from outside the US, you need to comply with the laws of their country (not yours).
• If you use any third-party apps or services, then you’ll usually be required to have a privacy policy on your website to use the app or service. 
• Having a clear privacy policy builds trust with your customers by keeping them informed and demonstrating that you’re security conscious. People are far more likely to share their details with you if you’re transparent about what’s going to happen to their information.
• It helps protect you from fines and legal headaches.

Having a compliant privacy policy not only CYA (covers your assets), but it’s also the ethical thing to do. In this day and age of online scams, data breaches and internet fraud, it pays to be as above board and security savvy as possible – for everyone’s benefit.

How do I add a privacy policy?

If you’re now convinced you need a privacy policy, great! However, you can’t just copy and paste someone else’s, or put your creative writing hat on. Your privacy policy needs to be specific, up to date, clear, and most of all, compliant. 

Unfortunately, they’re not just ‘set and forget’ either. Regulations change quickly, so what’s legal and compliant today may not be next month. And unless you’re a lawyer who can write your own, it can be challenging to keep up with all the changes.  

That’s why we’re testing a new partnership with Termageddon.com (affiliate link). Signing up through Click & Repeat will give you 10% off for the first year. 

You can access this offer by using the code CLKREPEAT at the Termageddon checkout. Go through their questionnaire to generate a dynamic privacy policy! They stay on top of the latest in legislation and because they have you add it to your website using an embed code your policy will always remain up to date.  

(If you’re not confident about setting it up and installing it, reach out and we can set you up with a concierge experience — they’ll walk you through the set up and we’ll add it to your website for you!)

What other ‘legal stuff’ might I need?

Having a privacy policy is just the start of possible legal documentation your website may needs. Here are some of the other policies you should consider – and why you’d need them.

Cookie policy

This isn’t about the type of treats you use for training – or what you like as snacks! 

According to Google ‘cookies’ are:

“Small pieces of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. They help that website remember information about your visit, which can both make it easier to visit the site again and make the site more useful to you.”

Your cookie policy tells a visitor what cookies your website leaves on their browser and how they are used. 

Terms and Conditions

This document doesn’t refer to how you run your business – it’s about the terms and conditions of someone using your website. Website T’s & C’s are designed to limit your liability if something goes amiss after someone has used your site. 

For example, if a visitor clicks a link from your site to a third-party site, and that site gets hacked, and then your user gets hacked, your T’s & C’s can prevent YOU from being sued.

Disclaimer

If you offer advice on your website, especially health or legal advice, you need a disclaimer. (As a dog trainer you might want to consider this carefully. If someone was to follow advice from your website and their dog then caused injury to a person or animal, who would be liable?)

Most affiliate programs also require you to have a disclaimer. So, if you have affiliate links on your site be sure to check what’s required in your situation.

How do I link to all these legal pages?

Once you’ve got all your legal ducks in a row, you need to put clear links to each document in the footer of your website. They usually appear in the very bottom like this: 

So don’t wait for the mucky stuff to hit the fan, get your legal policies sorted and save yourself a whole heap of sleepless nights. It might never happen…but then again…

Need help? No need to worry, just reach out.