If you are collecting any type of personal information on your site, you need to include a privacy policy page to protect yourself legally. This includes your users’ name, email, mailing address and credit card info.
The privacy policy informs your visitors about the information collected and why. It should include the following:
- The information your site collects from your users The purpose of collecting this info
- How the information is obtained
- Who has access to this information (i.e. Google AdSense, newsletter services or any other third-party device)
- Instructions on how to disable cookies and third-party ads
- How users can contact you if they have questions
A privacy policy not only protects you from potential legal issues, it helps you gain trust from your visitors and establishes you as a professional. Adding a privacy policy is quick and painless once you know where to go to generate it.
Creating a Privacy Policy in WordPress
If you are using WordPress 4.9.6 and up, you can generate a custom privacy policy from your WordPress dashboard. This is by far the easiest way to create a privacy policy for a simple website. If you have an older version of WordPress, be sure to update it by clicking the refresh icon at the top of the screen.
Once you are logged into WordPress, go to Settings > Privacy.
Then select “create a new page” and you find the generated policy page. Edit as desired, adding new content as it pertains to your site. For instance, if you are using Google Analytics, you’ll need to add a clause about data usage.
The default policy includes a blurb about Cookies, Embedded content from other websites, how long data is kept, etc.
Once when you’re happy with the policy, click publish. Now you can add the new link of the policy page (default address of www.yoursitename/privacy-policy) and add where desired (i.e. your site home page, menu, footer). We recommend a place that is highly visible.
Privacy Policy Generators
Alternatively, there are numerous free privacy policy generators you can use to create a policy page. The policies can literally be generated in a few minutes. For more advanced features, like additional clauses or a pdf download, you will likely have to pay a small fee.
Here are a few of the more popular generators:
We hope you found this article helpful. Remember…Prevention is worth a pound of cure.
