So, you have products, you have a niche, an idea and a website and you are ready to make some sales or start blogging. But, wait, do you have all your i’s dotted and the t’s crossed?
There are simple things such as a privacy policy that need to be in place.
Yeah, we know, who reads them? Well, some people actually do and you want to make sure you have yourself covered.
Keeping visitors information for upselling is something many companies do, however, you need to let the visitors know that you are in fact doing that.
You also should let them know how you go about processing their transaction to ensure that their credit card information is in safe hands.
Even if not everyone reads the privacy policy, it is certainly something that everyone should look for when purchasing from a strange website.
This tells people that you are a real company and not some fly by night shop.
The longer the internet is around, the more scammers are out there. Having your website look authentic to not only your customer’s but to the search engine is important.
Even if you don’t collect payment on your website, you need to have a privacy policy.
This is a policy that is in place to tell your visitors what you do with their personal information. With pixels and data collection getting smarter and smarter every day, the amount of data you can collect from your visitors can be significant.
And, data can mean lists which can be sold for a profit, however, to do that, you need to state that in your privacy policy.
A Privacy Policy for Blogs
What if you wanted to run ads on Google or Facebook? You would be required to have a privacy policy.
Privacy policies are put in place to protect you and your visitors.
You want to be open and honest with what it is that you do with their information.
Most areas require a privacy policy by law.
And, it’s not just for ads, if you want to be an Amazon affiliate site or run Google Adsense, you need to have a privacy policy.
Things that should be included in your privacy policy are quite simple. Your name and company name and the information you will be collecting from your visitors.
You should include how you are going to collect it and what you are going to use the information for.
If you don’t plan on selling your data to 3rd parties, then you should mention that. And, who will be collecting their data, is it authorize.net for payments or Stripe, maybe Paypal and also for the e-mails, tell them your e-mail provider if possible.
Be as transparent as you can be with your visitors and they will trust you more.
Privacy Policies Needed for Amazon Affiliate
If you have cookies tracking your visitors, this is important to mention as well. Are you an Amazon Affiliate? It is required by Amazon that you state that in your policy.
They have a piece of content that you can simply copy and paste into the Amazon section of your privacy policy for convenience.
Try, when you are writing the policy to keep it as short and to the point as possible.
Although it is a legal type document, it doesn’t have to be so long and written in a legal fashion. There are even some policy generators out there that can make one up for you. Don’t overthink it!
Swan Media Solutions Inc. and the writer of this article are not lawyers. Nothing on this website should be considered legal advice. When in doubt, it’s best to consult a specialist internet law attorney to determine if you are in compliance with all applicable laws for your jurisdictions and your use cases.