Effective legal and commerce policies show your customers and website visitors that you value their protection and their satisfaction with your products and services. To ensure compliance with state, federal, and international laws, it's crucial to be transparent with your users. A legally compliant website creates a safer business environment and fosters stronger customer trust and loyalty. Whether you're an entrepreneur, mompreneur, solopreneur, or a small business owner managing a team, you need to know what's required legally for your website as well as best practices that can save you time and trouble down the road.
Main points covered in this episode:
- Data Privacy Laws and Regulations
- Incorporating ADA Accessibility
- Policy Documents You Need on Your Website
- Disclaimers You Should Consider
- MASTERCLASS: SIGNUP FOR NOTIFICATION
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join: The Calm Entrepreneur Community (it's Free!)
Episode 15 - Complete Show Notes:
DATA PRIVACY LAWS
GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation. It is a European Union regulation implemented in 2018 to allow EU citizens control over their personal data and how it's used online. For companies with websites offering goods/services to people in the EU, UK, Ireland, Norway, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland
CCPA -and CPRA - These are California Consumer Privacy Act and the California Privacy Rights Act. The CCPA regulates how businesses worldwide handle the personally data of California residents. The CCPA is primarily focused a cookie policy that explains the cookies you collect, store, and they may be used by you or 3rd parties. CPRA is an addendum to the CCPA that went into effect in January 2023. The CPRA expands on the CCPA by requiring that ALL websites that share personal data be beholden to these privacy laws. Before it was primarily websites that sold data that were included.
COPPA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - The United States FTC enforces the COPPA Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act to help protect children’s privacy and keep them safe online. Requires consent from parents before collecting personal information from kids under 13. If you've been watching the news lately, in March 2023, Italy banned the generative OpenAI bot ChatGPT in their country based on privacy overreach for all users, and specifically because they had no protections for children.
EU Cookie Law - The EU Cookie Directive, aka EU Cookie Law, aka ePrivacy Directive, requires websites to have a dedicated cookie policy and capture consent from all visitors before the website can store/retrieve personal data.
ADA
The Americans With Disabilities Act creates standard requirements for online accessibility for users with a disability. Whether or not this law exists in your jurisdiction, it's just good business to make sure that people of all abilities can use your website effectively. If you're unsure how to proceed with this, you can research that online and get loads of help and specific examples to lead you.
POLICY DOCUMENTS
Terms of Use
Terms and Conditions
Shipping Policies
Return Policies
And while I am on the topic of policy documents... you should never copy these from other websites. The policy documents on a website were probably created using a service or a law firm, and they would be protected and licensed. There are many apps and services out there that can help you create your own set of policy documents online for free, or a nominal cost.
DISCLAIMERS
Add disclaimers to protect from:
liability for third-party or advertiser content on your site
liability for connections via affiliate links
statements that the site is meant for information purposes (like this page, it is not legal advice.)
earnings disclaimers for business development and coaching
add credentials and licenses to your website if required
