Privacy Policies
Operating an online business means conforming to certain rules and regulations. One such regulation is the Privacy Policy. In the U.S. the law states that you have to display the privacy policy in a clear location. This means that the visitors to the site should be able to find the link to the privacy policy easily. Failure to do so will result in a serious fine.
Having a privacy policy displayed is a criterion that other businesses look at when they consider doing business with you. Ultimately, your credibility reflects on theirs so this is a crucial point. For example, Google will not take advertisements from websites that do not have a privacy policy in place.
A privacy policy should ideally:
1. Describe to visitors how data is collected about visitors to the site.
2. Describe the data that is being collected.
3. Explain the purpose for which it being collected, where it will be stored and how the storage is handled.
4. Explain how this data will be shared with any third parties.
5. Explain how credit card details are handled in the event that the site does online transactions.
Consult a lawyer, if you can afford to, when formulating the privacy policy. If you are unable to, then there are many resources online that will help you get under way. There are even some Wordpress plugins that help you do this.
Although required by law in some countries, it is always a good practice to include a privacy statement on your website even if not required by the law in the country you operate from. How personal data is handled is an extremely sensitive issue and your visitors or customers will appreciate you and trust you more for having a privacy policy implemented.