Blog Details

Author - Associate Shereen Abdin

The best practices to build privacy policies and terms of use for your website have become vital in expanding your business. These policies are changing dynamically and it is mandated to be compliant with the policies as stated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). So, let us discuss the best practices to consider before the launching of your website.

Best Practices for Privacy Policy

Purpose and Scope

Ensure you specify the purpose and scope of the policy in common language. The scope includes the list of information collected, the reason for collecting personal information, how it is going to be used, and the need to share personal information with third parties.

Disclosure and boilerplate

Adhering to best privacy policy relates to disclosing your conduct. Secondly, do not adapt to any language when you do not know about it precisely. Most importantly make sure you write your privacy policy disclosing the way of data collection simply.

SEO

Having a privacy policy for your website fetches a good ranking on Google. For this, you need to make sure you display only original content on your site. Any duplication may affect your credibility with social media.

Google AdSense

Some websites have the provision to be featured by Google AdSense program. This requires following the language related to the AdSense program in the policy. Google is governed to change these rules, so ensure that your policy is accommodating to avoid any exclusions.

Link to healthy Ads

People may be interested in the view, Ads listed linking to your policies. So, it is suggested to provide the links to healthy social ads.

Privacy Policy Link

Ensure you provide the link to your website privacy policy at the footer to give instant access. This will save the time of people who are quickly navigating through your website.

Avoid collecting Too Personal Info

Consumers would feel unsafe if you collect too much personal info. So, please make it a point to avoid getting info, unless it is unavoidable. Also, provide a valuable reason to the customer and provide a resolution on keeping the sensitive information private.

Readability and Accessibility

Make sure the link you provide to access the policy is right. The best practice is to develop a policy, which is written plainly that allows the user to remove any information easily.

Best Practices for Terms of Use

Make Users Agree to Terms

Clickwrap is the best technique tailored to make sure your website complies with legal standards. It is simple to enforce and centres on obtaining a confirmation that the client agrees to the terms. This is achieved by including the "I agree" checkbox below the directions. The visibility to terms will be assured in Clickwrap and is an authorised process.

Notify Changes to Customers

The terms of use are governed to change often and the best practice is to notify the changes via email, or newsletters to customers. Though the new terms may be refreshed on your website, there are chances for the customer to miss it.

Contract Termination Provisions

If a user has breached the terms in the contract, then the website owner has all the rights to terminate the contract legally.

Disclosure

Ensure that you provide a clause in your term of use stating all the information received will be stored confidentially and will be used only for the company-related process.

Notify on Third-Party Links

The site may contain links to third parties, which will not be verified by the site. So, provide prior notice to the users of the website that access to these links is at their own risk and the website is not responsible for any trouble caused.

Conclusion

It is recommended to adopt these best practices to make your website user-friendly and grow your business on a large scale. Always ensure your policy is not copyrighted from other websites. It is healthy to follow an upfront privacy policy to improve your credibility with customers. And a well-notified term of use policy ensures clarity and provides a mutually benefited relationship.