Creating a privacy policy for your site is very important. A privacy policy is a document that lists all or part of how you use information about visitors that has been collected. The privacy policy should clearly state how you store and manage the information that has been collected. A good privacy policy will increase the trust of readers and protect you from lawsuits.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Privacy Policy Basics
Step 1. Create a reader-friendly privacy policy
Use the same language and writing style as the content on your site.
Step 2. Create a brief privacy policy
If you want the document to be read by visitors (a careful visitor will read your privacy policy), make it a short document. However, don't let your documents exclude important information. Your goal is to provide readers with all the information they need to make them understand that their right to privacy is respected and governed by their consent.
Step 3. Don't hide the privacy terms
Make the privacy provisions accessible, in an easy-to-read typeface. Privacy provisions that are hard to find and written in small letters will be suspicious of visitors. You don't need to make privacy terms too conspicuous, but visitors to your site should be able to find and read them easily. Consider linking the privacy policy in the tab at the top of the site's homepage. This tab should be clear and easy to find. Here are some tab titles you can try:
- Our Privacy Terms
- How We Protect Your Privacy
- Your Privacy Is Very Important To Us
- Privacy and Security
Step 4. Visit another site
If you are unsure about the content or placement of the privacy policy, try visiting at least 3 other sites to find out what their privacy policies are. If you can find the privacy policy easily on a site you visit, use the location and grammar of the privacy policy on that site as a guide. While browsing the site, ask yourself the following questions. Use the answers to these questions to define how you want readers to find and read your site's privacy policy.
- Where is the privacy policy located?
- How long should I look for it?
- Do I have to click more than one link to access it?
- Is the privacy policy clearly written?
- Do I understand it?
- Do I believe it?
Method 2 of 3: What to Include in the Privacy Policy
Step 1. Write a privacy policy that covers everything related to privacy
While the privacy policy document should be tailored to the site on which it is posted, the policy and exposure should be detailed if you are writing a privacy policy for a commercial site. The more information you collect, and the more other companies that have access to that information, the wider the scope of your privacy policy. People will not entrust their financial information to you unless they believe it is protected. Make sure your privacy policy answers any questions visitors may have before they transact with you. Take a good look at your efforts, and include issues that visitors might be concerned about. You can reassure visitors of the following:
- Collected customer personal information. You can explain why you collected the information, for example to deliver goods to customers.
- How information is stored securely. Include the name of the service provider you are using. For example, "Xyz.com uses ABC.com's latest technology to store data."
- How information is shared. Include a cancellation option. Notify customers that you may be sending information about them to third parties, and allow them to cancel sending data. Thus, you cannot transmit data without their permission.
- Third-party advertisers on your site, along with their links. Explain why you are sharing information with third-party advertisers. For example, third-party advertisers may need data from you to deliver goods or confirm emails. Visitors will not hesitate to share data if they know the importance of the data, and how it can benefit them.
Step 2. Include a cookie policy
Cookies are information that a site stores on a user's computer, and is provided by the browser each time a user visits your site. Although cookies are not difficult to understand, there is still a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation associated with this feature. Read on how to create a cookie policy that will address visitor misunderstandings.
Step 3. Include a limitation of liability clause
This binding clause limits the amount of compensation a visitor may receive.
Method 3 of 3: Creating a Free Privacy Policy
Step 1. Create a privacy policy for free with the Online Privacy Policy Generator
With this site, you can create a privacy policy quickly and easily. The resulting privacy policy is in accordance with business standards. Enter your site information and URL, and you will receive a privacy policy that can be posted on the site. Online Privacy Policy Generator is a user-friendly site, and it can generate privacy policies according to your site.
Step 2. Use the policy maker from TermsFeed
TermsFeed provides a free privacy policy generator, which can generate privacy policies at your discretion.
Step 3. Use add-ons from the host provider for the blog site
For example, WordPress provides the Legal Pages add-on. If you are building a WordPress based site, you can quickly create a privacy policy using this add-on.
Step 4. Create a customized privacy policy
If you want to write the document yourself, or include an unusual sentence, you can write it at Free Privacy Policy.com.
Tips
- Consider including a "business transaction" clause. This clause covers the transfer of business. If you sell your business online, you will include customer information as part of your business assets, just like any business entity.
- The more explicit your privacy policy, the more likely you are to answer any site visitor's doubts. When writing a privacy policy, the more details you include, the better your policy will be.
- Increase visitor trust by earning credentials. Visit the Bureau of Better Business (BBB) or an online privacy certification body. The privacy policy seal will convince visitors to trust the way you handle their data.
Warning
- If you update your privacy policy, you will need to contact the user regarding the change. Include "This privacy policy was last updated on (date)" in your privacy policy to let visitors know the date you last updated the privacy policy.
- If your site uses third-party services, make sure you create a comprehensive privacy policy. Sites that do not provide e-commerce features or do not request/provide the option to include personal data do not need to develop a very detailed privacy policy. However, you are still encouraged to have a privacy policy.
- Consider including the company mission in addition to the privacy policy. You can include a sentence as simple as "Our company will always try to improve itself to meet your needs".
- Limitation of liability will not protect you from intentional infringement of privacy, and third parties who have not or are not bound by your limitations. Get the third party's written consent, or make sure you specify that the third party's actions are not covered by the privacy policy.
