Searching for a privacy policy for website update?

It’s an important part of updating your site. I will show you why you need one and how to get the best. (Auto-updating and written by a privacy expert attorney? Yes, please!)

This article is modified from a presentation I gave at the 2023 Innovative AF Conference. In that conference, I entitled my presentation “Trust Signals for Privacy: The Internet is Not the Wild West Anymore.”

The Internet Is Not the Wild West Anymore

While the presentation and this article were focused on legal pages like a privacy policy on your website, I want to make sure you have one on your Facebook business page, too.

So enter your email address to receive a free privacy policy template specifically for a Facebook business page!

Press this button to submit your email address to receive a template for a Facebook business page privacy policy

Note: If you have a Privacy Policy on your website, you may be satisfied to link to it on your Facebook page Privacy Policy linking area. I have noticed that many simply link to their website Privacy Policy. The free policy template I provide above does have Facebook specific information. You can learn more about Facebook Privacy Policy links here.

WHY You Need a Privacy Policy on Your Website

People Care About Their Privacy Online

Do you have friends or acquaintances who worry about how much information companies like Facebook and YouTube have on them? People are more careful and questioning nowadays about sharing their info.

People Care About Who Is Tracking Them Online

Whether or not someone purchases your services, and whether or not someone clicks on your Privacy Policy link, even just seeing it is there in the footer is enough for some to feel more reassurance about your professionalism.

cell phone with someone looking up their data privacy information
Privacy Policies communicate how we treat our audience’s information

We Can Stand Out From the Competition When We Show Our Professional Policies

Having legal pages in your website footer sends a trust signal that you have a legitimate business and that you care about communicating your policies with your audience. Almost all websites need a Privacy Policy, and many websites also should have Terms and Disclosures. It’s also important to have information about Cookies and a way for site visitors to consent to cookies.

We Want To Avoid Penalties

It is possible to be sued for not having legally required information on your website. And here’s the kicker: in some laws, the penalty or fine is per violation, meaning that fines can be multiplied by the number of visitors to your site!

Having a policy in place is simple compared to the potential results of not following the law.

It’s the Right Thing To Do

Privacy is a human right. It’s good and right to communicate our policies about privacy to our audience.

Banner showing word "Seize" is available for a discount at Termageddon
Get 10% off your first year using Termageddon Legal Policies with code SEIZE

WHO Needs a Privacy Policy

Most websites need a privacy policy! As in, legally required.

Any website that collects personally identifiable information (PII) is required to have a privacy policy. It just makes sense. If you are obtaining personal information about someone, you need to communicated with them what you will do with that information. In essence, that’s what a privacy policy is.

Examples of Information Collection that would require a Privacy Policy

  1. A form that takes someone’s email address.
  2. You collect ANY personally identifiable information in a form.
  3. Running Google Analytics or another analytics tool. (You are storing IP addresses of your users. That is definitely PII!)
  4. And perhaps it goes without saying that in an e-commerce website, you need a privacy policy because you are collecting payment information.

There are more situations in which you need a privacy policy. My list above just gives some common examples where people don’t realize they need one. Again, almost all websites collect some PII, so almost all websites need one.

In short, businesses collect info about their audience, and they should communicate about that collection of information through a visible policy.

Do I Really Need a Privacy Policy If My State Doesn’t Have Any Applicable Privacy Laws?

Yes, you still need to have a privacy policy because it is not your state that is relevant. It is which state or country your end users are located in that matters! Privacy policies are there to protect them website visitor, not the website owner.

WHY Do We Avoid This Task?

If almost everyone needs a Privacy Policy, why are there so many websites without the policies?

In my opinion, there are several reasons people don’t have a privacy policy or don’t have an updated one.

  • It’s boring.
  • It’s hard. We aren’t equipped to know all the applicable data privacy laws around the world. And we don’t have time to read more every time the law changes.
  • We think the consequences won’t reach us.
  • We want to do it, but it keeps getting put off on our TO-DO list.
  • Or maybe we already have a privacy policy, but it wasn’t quality and isn’t being updated.

HOW To Get an Affordable Privacy Policy without Hiring a Lawyer

We may have avoided this task, but it is clear that we need a compliant privacy policy on our website that stays compliant with laws around the world even as they update and change.

The solution is Termageddon!

(Use my code SEIZE for a discount on your first year when you register for your Termageddon account.)

badge showing author is certified agency partner with Termageddon for Data Privacy
I recommend Termageddon

Termageddon Solves My Problems With Having Legal Policies

I searched for a couple years before finding Termageddon, and I was excited to learn about their company, because they solved every problem I had with legal pages for websites.

  • Their policies are written by an attorney.
  • Their policies don’t cost nearly as much as hiring an attorney.
  • Their policies are written by a data privacy expert.
  • Their policies are updated when the laws change.
  • The updated policies automatically update on websites (through embedded html code).
  • They have awesome customer service, responding to questions personally.

I recommend upgrading your legal pages today!

Banner showing word "Seize" is available for a discount at Termageddon
Get 10% off your first year using Termageddon Legal Policies with code SEIZE

Termageddon Offers a Lot More than Your Privacy Policy

And when you go with Termageddon, you get a lot more than a Privacy Policy.

Here’s what’s included:

  • auto-updating Privacy Policy
  • auto-updating Terms
  • auto-updating Disclosures
  • auto-updating Cookie Policy
  • Cookies user consent tool
  • (and an End User License Agreement if you sell software)

Termageddon’s solution to providing legal pages is high quality, low cost, and a great overall decision for your website.

(Use my code SEIZE for a discount on your first year when you register for your Termageddon account.)

Banner showing word "Seize" is available for a discount at Termageddon
Get 10% off your first year using Termageddon Legal Policies with code SEIZE

And don’t forget to enter your email address to receive a free privacy policy template specifically for a Facebook business page!

Press this button to submit your email address to receive a template for a Facebook business page privacy policy