The Ultimate Guide To Writing The Perfect Privacy Policy For Your Blog

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Do you have a blog/website without a privacy page? Well, if your answer is yes; you might be leading yourself into a bigger problem.

If you are a blogger, it is mandatory that you write a privacy policy for your blog. This is a way to show the uniqueness of your blog aside from some other significant benefits that are attached to it.

Firstly, let me explain what a privacy policy is…

What is a Privacy Policy?

According to Wikipedia, “A privacy policy is a statement or a legal document (in privacy law) that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client’s data. It fulfills a legal requirement to protect a customer or client’s privacy. Personal information can be anything that can be used to identify an individual, not limited to but including name, address, date of birth, marital status, contact information, ID issue and expiry date, financial records, credit information, medical history, where one travels, and intentions to acquire goods and services. In the case of a business, it is often a statement that declares a party’s policy on how it collects, stores, and releases personal information it collects. It informs the client what specific information is collected, and whether it is kept confidential, shared with partners, or sold to other firms or enterprises.”

I bet you might be thinking that this is not for you, but before you run away, I would like you to keep paying attention.

Why?

Because writing a good privacy policy will cost you next to nothing, and it will save you from a lot of problems later on.

Let’s consider some of the reasons why you need to write a functional and relevant privacy policy on your blog.

The Benefits of a Privacy Policy Page For Your Blog

Some of the advantages of a well-written privacy policy:

• It makes your readers trust you: The increase in cybercrime has led to an increasing fear of releasing personal information on the internet. Users should know why you need their personal data & how you planning to use it. If you have a good privacy policy written on your blog, it will diffuse any fears as you are bound by the content of that policy.
• It saves you from lawsuits: Since your privacy policy reflects the principle of your blog, you will find it handy when some consumers want to slam a lawsuit on you even when they are at fault due to their own ignorance. The content of your policy will bail you out of such predicaments as it will serve as a witness to your innocence. If, however, you don’t have one, you may have to face tons of lawsuits. Note: To take advantage of this protection, ensure you abide by the privacy policy, as failure to do so will provide a significant loophole for people to exploit.

While the benefits of having a good privacy policy will help you secure your business, its absence will have the opposite effect.

The Ultimate Guide To Crafting A Meaningful Privacy Policy

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An active privacy policy is one that is easily understood by your readers with pieces of information that are neither ambiguous nor confusing.

• It should be written in simple English: Ease of understanding is one of the best qualities of a good privacy policy. It should be simple enough for all visitors to read and comprehend. If, on the other hand, your privacy policy is full of jargon that visitors find difficult to understand, they may log out of your blog and look for an alternative blog with a straightforward and easy-to-read privacy policy.
• The type of information collected: Your customer should have an idea of the kind of information you want to collect from them. If you collect their personal information (credit card numbers, cookies, email addresses, etc.), let this be explicitly specified in your privacy policy.
• How the information will be used: You don’t need to keep your customers in the dark regarding how you want to use any collected information. If you must share their information with third parties, clearly say so. Customers should never be left guessing.
• Include the relevant laws you abide by: There may be federal and/or state privacy laws that govern your practices. If you comply with these regulations, include that information.
• It may be updated: Some circumstances may demand that you update your privacy policy to remain in business. Let your customers know that any information is subject to change at any time.
• Analytics and Google privacy requirement: If you earn money via AdSense, don’t forget to add this information in your privacy policy. Likewise, if you use Analytics, Google will frown upon you if your privacy policy information isn’t in the right place.
• How to opt-out: Sometime in the future, a customer may decide to opt out of your services; your privacy policy should make a provision for that.
• The effective date: You should include when this policy will start to take effect (i.e. effective immediately or at a future point in time). Apart from including the effective date, you must also include how customers will be notified if you make any changes to this policy.

The Various Privacy Policies That You Need

Many policies may be included in your blog. While you may not need all of them, you probably need to include at least these two:

1. AdSense Privacy Policy

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As a blogger, you probably want to earn some income from the popular Google Adsense program. To qualify for this, Google needs to see an AdSense privacy policy on your website. According to Google AdSense:

“You will ensure that at all times you use the services, the properties have a clearly labeled and easily accessible privacy policy that provides end users with clear and comprehensive information about cookies, device-specific information, location information and other information stored on, accessed on, or collected from end users’ devices in connection with the Services, including, as a Private Policy applicable, information about end users’ options for cookie management.”

You must abide by this rule because when you signed up for AdSense, you accepted their terms and conditions.

Failing to do this will disqualify you from using AdSense.

2. Analytics Privacy Policy

If you have Google Analytics on your blog, it is required that you have a privacy policy on it.

According to Google:

“You will have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy and will comply with all applicable laws relating to the collection of information from visitors to your websites. You must post a Privacy Policy, and that policy must provide notice of your use of a cookie that collects anonymous traffic data.”

Google is not suggesting the use of a privacy policy; rather, the company makes it mandatory to have one.

If you have been using Google Analytics on your blog without a privacy policy, you should make one before Google finds out and penalizes you.

Do you need assistance?

Due to the nature of the information that an effective privacy policy should contain, some people may find it difficult coming up with a policy that meets the necessary requirements.

If you find yourself in such a situation, there is a way out:

• Use a third party privacy policy generator.

Here are two:

1. FreePrivacyPolicy.com: This company offers a free writing service that can help you get the best privacy policy in about 15 minutes (for free).
2. TrustGuard.com: This is another simple and quick generator.

Conclusion

A good privacy policy on your blog is a way to show your customers that you are dedicated to the values that are beneficial to them, such as honesty and transparency.

These virtues will automatically help you build a great relationship with your customers.

You stand a chance of increasing your customer base with the right privacy policy as well as protecting your business from being used as an avenue for fraudulent practices.

Now it’s your turn to let me know: Do you have a privacy policy on your blog? If not, are you going to write one? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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