Create a Website Privacy Policy

It is important to create a privacy policy for your web site. This is simply a document that discloses some or all of the ways you will use information gathered about visitors to your web site. Your privacy policy should outline in plain language how you store and manage information gathered. A solid privacy policy with full disclosure will instill confidence in your readers and protect you from a variety of liability issues.

Steps

Sample Privacy Policy

Doc:WikiHow Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy Basics

  1. Make your privacy policy reader-friendly. Use the same language and writing style in your policy that you use throughout your web site.
  2. Keep it brief. If you want people to read your privacy policy—and discerning web site visitors do read private policies—you should keep it short. However, don’t abbreviate the policy so much that you exclude important information. Your goal is to provide all the information your reader needs in order to understand that his or her privacy rights are being respected and managed in a way that is agreeable to them.
  3. Don’t hide it. Make your privacy policy easily accessible and use a font that is readable. A policy that is difficult to find, and written in tiny print is considered suspect by many people. It doesn’t have to be the focal point of any page on your web site, of course, but visitors to your site should be able to find and read it easily. Consider creating a tab at the top of the first page on your site that links directly to your policy. The tab should be clear and concise. Here are some suggested wordings:
    • Our Privacy Policy
    • How We Protect Your Privacy
    • Your Privacy is Important to Us
    • Privacy and Security
  4. Visit other web sites. If you are unsure of what to say in your policy, or where you should place it on your web site, try visiting at least 3 web sites to look for their privacy policy. If you find the process easy and satisfactory, then use their policy location and language as a guideline. While you are checking out each site, ask yourself the following questions, and use your answers to define how you want your users to experience finding—and reading—the privacy policy on your website:
    • Where is it located on the site?
    • How long did I have to search for it?
    • Did I have to click more than 1 link to access it?
    • Is it written clearly?
    • Do I understand it?
    • Do I trust it?

What To Include In Your Privacy Policy

  1. Write your privacy policy to cover all the bases. While all privacy policies should be specific to the site, policies and disclosures need to be more detailed on commerce sites. The more information you gather, and the more other companies have access to it, determines how extensive your policy should be. People aren’t willing to give you their financial information unless they believe their information is protected and secure. Make sure your policy addresses any questions a consumer may have about doing business with you. Examine your business carefully and include in your policy any issue that might be of concern to your customers. You may want to include assurances about any of the following:
    • What kind of customer’s personal information is collected. You may want to offer a detailed explanation about why you collect the information in the first place, such as it is needed to communicate with the customer or to ship goods.
    • How the customer’s information is securely stored. Include the name of the provider you use. For example, “XYZ.com uses ABC’s state of the art software to securely store your data.”
    • How any or all of the information is shared. Include an opt-out option. Inform your customers that you might send information about hem to third parties, and allow them the choice of opting out: you will not be allowed to convey their information without their consent.
    • Third-party advertisers on your site and links to their websites. Explain why you are sharing the information with third-party advertisers; perhaps those advertisers need your information to fulfill orders or to send an email confirmation. Customers are not as skittish about sharing information if they understand that it is necessary and beneficial to them.
  2. Include a cookie policy. (A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns.) Although cookies are not rocket science, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and misunderstanding about them concerning privacy. Read about how to create a web site cookie policy that will dispel any apprehension visitors to your site may have. [1]
  3. Include a limitation of liability clause. This is a contractual clause that restricts the amount of damages a visitor to your web site can recover.

Generate a Free Privacy Policy Statement

  1. Create a privacy policy for free at Online Privacy Policy Generator. [2] This is a fast and simple way to generate a privacy policy that complies with industry standards. You enter the basic information about your web site, provide the URL, and a policy is generated which you can put on your web site. The site is user-friendly and can quickly generate a policy specific to your web site.
  2. Use the free generator from TermsFeed. [3] TermsFeed made available a free Privacy Policy generator that can customize your agreement specific to your business.
  3. Use a plugin from your web host for blog sites. For example, Word Press (WP) offers a Legal Pages plugin. If you have created your web site using WP, you can quickly generate your privacy policy with their plugin.
  4. Create a customized policy. If you would prefer to write the entire policy yourself, or to include wording that isn’t standard on other web site policy generator’s sites, you can do so at Free Privacy Policy.com. [4]

Tips

  • Consider including some provision in your policy regarding business transfers. This is called the "Business Transaction" clause. In the event that you should ever sell your online business, you would include customer information as part of your business assets. (It isn’t any different than traditional bricks and mortar stores providing their customer list when they sell their businesses.)
  • The more explicit your policy, the more likely you are to allay any concerns visitors to your site may have. In the case of Internet privacy concerns, too much detail is far preferable to not enough detail.
  • Enhance your website’s trustworthiness by seeking a credentials seal; check out the Bureau of Bureau of Better Business (BBB) [5] or other online privacy certification companies. A certification privacy seal by a reputable company will encourage visitors to have confidence in how your website handles their confidential information.

Warnings

  • If you update your Privacy Policy, you need to notify your users about the changes. Use a "This Privacy Policy was last modified on" in your agreement to let users known the last date of updating your statement.
  • If your website uses third-party services, make sure your privacy policy is comprehensive. Websites not engaging in ecommerce, or websites that don’t ask for or provide a vehicle for, personal information, don’t need to get too technical in their policy (but it is always a good idea to have one.)
  • Consider incorporating your company’s mission statement into or as an addendum to your privacy policy. It can be as simple as stating that your company’s goal is to “strive to constantly improve in order to meet and exceed the highest expectations of our customers.”
  • A limit of liability clause will not protect you from intentional misconduct, and third-parties who haven’t signed on are not bound by your limitation provision. Get written statements from third-parties, or be sure to state that you are disclaiming third parties. [6]

Thing’s You’ll Need

  • Web site
  • Computer

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Website-Cookie-Policy
  2. ↑ http://www.privacypolicyonline.com/
  3. ↑ http://termsfeed.com/privacy-policy/generator/
  4. ↑ http://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/
  5. ↑ http://www.bbb.org/us/bbb-online-business/
  6. ↑ http://www.camillericlarke.com/EnvironmentalNews/newsView.asp?NewsId=4096826
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