Small Business Website Privacy Policy Requirements

By Hazel Burgess on 11.04.20   /   Small Business   /   Leave a comment

If you’re conducting business online in 2020, there are small business website privacy policy requirements you need to implement. No doubt, by now you’ve seen them on almost every website you’ve visited.

In fact, until you select your cookie options and acknowledge the privacy policy, you can’t proceed on some websites.

Web designers need to add a privacy policy page to your website, but it’s not a default task. Each website’s privacy policy should be specific to the policies of that business.

Learn more below about what you might need before publishing a privacy on your website.

Small Business Privacy Policy Requirements

Are you asking yourself whether or not your small business actually needs a privacy policy? The answer is, yes. Starting a business online can feel overwhelming as there’s so much to consider.

There will be many things that you’re trying to tackle all at once. So, it can be easy to just overlook creating a privacy page. But given that there are numerous lawsuits and regulations related to privacy data, you need a privacy policy.

To give you an idea of what you’re dealing with, here are a few examples of directives that require a privacy policy:

1. Children Online Privacy Protection Rule
2. California Online Privacy Protection Act
3. Privacy Shield
4. EU General Data Protection Regulation

Privacy policies go beyond just having one on your website. Tools that collect data from your website also requires a policy. These include chat widgets, email sign up forms, or website analytics. Even Google’s web analytics tool has a privacy policy requirement in its terms of use.

In addition to good SEO website practices, you’ll probably run online ad campaigns at some point. So, guess what? Both Facebook and Google require that you have a privacy policy if you’re collecting any user data. Additionally, Facebook also requires a privacy policy url for each ad you create. Therefore, circumventing creating a privacy policy is just a bad idea in general.

Whether you’re a small business or large corporation, the FTC has no problem enforcing penalties for consumer privacy violations. In fact, both Facebook and Google were punished for inadequately disclosing how they use consumer’s information.

I’m not trying to frighten you. But hopefully convince you about the importance of having a privacy policy.

Privacy Policy Content?

In truth, there’s no one size fits all when it comes to privacy policy content. However, there is some general information that almost every website’s privacy policy includes. More regulated industries such as financial services or healthcare have stricter privacy guidelines.

The common elements privacy policies include are:

• Your website URL, owner, as well as contact information. For example: an email address.
• The type of information you collect on your website such as email sign ups or payment information.
• Whether or not that information is stored. For instance: usernames or account information.
• What you do with the information that you collect.
• If a third party vendor or app can access that information.
• Third party app’s clauses that are needed as part of your usage agreement with them.

The reason for a small business website privacy policy is that it provides a safeguard for you and your visitors. It should be a visible page on your website. You can add a link to the bottom of your website and link to it. You can also add that link to your main navigation menu.

Where to Get a Privacy Policy Content?

The perfect small business website privacy policy for you depends on your business type, business location, and website content. Again, there is no one size fits all. Therefore, you should avoid download and publishing a random template.

But to make life easier, there are some tools, templates, and guidelines to get you started. When you’re searching for one of these tools, use one from an official source. Helpful links like the Better Business Bureau privacy policy tips is a good place to start. And the FTC’s website has lots of information for US businesses.

There are also privacy policy generators if you plan on creating aforementioned Facebook ads.

Wrapping It Up

This article has provided information about the law designed to assist our readers’ understanding legal issues surrounding internet marketing. But legal information is not the same as legal advice.

We have conducted research to make sure that our information is useful and accurate. However, we insist that you consult an attorney if you want professional assurance. This way you can make sure that our information and your interpretation of it is accurate.

To be clear, you may not rely upon this information as legal advice. Nor as support or recommendation of any particular legal understanding. Instead, you should regard this article as intended for entertainment purposes only.

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