Your Essential Guide on Website Requirements to Keep Your ‘ish Legal
Blog Overview:
In today's digital world, understanding legal requirements isn't just about the rules - it's a foundation for trust and professionalism with your website visitors and future clients. Consider this your guide to the website legal essentials. Are you bored already? Go grab yourself a little something to perk up.
Think you’re just a bitty small business that doesn’t need to invest in legal? Think again!
And give yourself more credit while you’re at it.
Imagine your website as a forest, where legal compliance is the sturdy tree roots that keep it grounded. When your online space aligns with ‘the rules’ it’s also showing others you’re a credible, reliable and trustworthy brand presence. Doesn’t that sound lovely?
You might be wondering…when do I need to keep it legal?
In Canada, privacy is protected by federal and provincial laws. These laws typically require businesses to have a privacy policy and follow specific principles for handling personal information. This is the same in the USA and even more restrictive in the EU with GDPR regulations.
Basically, any time you take a name, think newsletter or contact form, then by law you need to have a Privacy Policy on your website. Add Terms of Use and a Disclosure to fully cover your bases.
If you use third-party services on your website, such as analytics tools or ads, those services may also require you to have a privacy policy that discloses how user data is shared with them.
This is also why you NEED A COOKIE BANNER and link to your Privacy Policy. Hot tip: scroll to the bottom for some cool custom code to add to prettify your cookie banner in Squarespace!
Complying with these requirements is essential to avoid any legal or contractual issues.
Did you know?
“Fines for violations of privacy laws start at $2,500 per violation (per website visitor)”
(source: Termageddon)
Four Recommendations to Keep it Legal & Protect Your Biz Online
1. Privacy Policy | Safeguarding User Data (required)
What is it? A privacy policy is a legal document that outlines how your website collects, uses, stores, and protects user information, including personal data. It informs users about their privacy rights and how their data will be managed.
In simpler terms, your privacy policy is like an open book that tells users what happens to their information when they visit your site. It's a commitment to transparency and data protection. By having a privacy policy, you're not only complying with various data protection laws, but you're also showing users that you take their privacy seriously. Did I mention it’s the law?
You’re probably thinking, great, so I need a lawyer now so my website is legal? The answer is no, at least not on retainer. Enter an easy way to protect yourself - and your clients.
Option 1: a Privacy Policy Template
An easy-to-use contract template will ensure your website is compliant with North America, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, the EU standard) and CCPA (California Consumer Protection Act), and also clearly outlines how you will be using your visitors’ data so they can feel safe and secure when they connect with you. Even though you’re not there, you need to tell users from those countries/states what’s up.
They’re a one-time purchase and you just plug in your information based on your business and paste it on your website. Easy peasy. Two of my favourites are Contracts Market and The Contract Shop.
Contracts Market is a British Columbia-based small biz that has contracts for independent contracts, privacy policy + terms of use, disclaimers, and more for USA and CAD small businesses and in Canadian Dollars. My personal favourite women-owned lawyer drafted shop. She’s outdoorsy, funny and loves dogs too.
Website Terms of Use and Privacy start at $149 CAD (at the time of post).
The Contract Shop is a US based women-owned shop which also offers a Privacy Policy + Terms of Use, Disclaimers and independent contractor agreements in USD and CAD.
Website Terms of Use and Privacy start at $410 CAD (at the time of post).
Option 2: Auto Updating Privacy Policy Generator
For this, I recommend Termageddon. Use Termageddon to ‘ help identify the privacy laws that apply to you, generate the disclosures required under these laws, and receive updates whenever these laws change (or when new ones go into effect).’
This is essentially a yearly subscription that uses an embedded code on your website which automatically updates your policy as new legal updates come about. A comprehensive and hands-off approach to staying legal and includes a Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Disclaimer, EULA generator and an advanced Cookie Consent solution.
A yearly subscription is $119 USD/year (at the time of post)
Save 10% off your first year of Termageddon with code BIRCH
2. Terms of Use | Setting the Ground Rules
What is it? Terms of use (also known as terms and conditions or terms of service) are legal agreements that dictate how users can and cannot interact with your website. They establish the rules and expectations for both users and your website.
Think of your terms of use as the "house rules" of your online space. They outline acceptable behaviour, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution processes, and more.
By having clear terms of use, you create a structured and safe environment for users to engage with your content and services. Boundaries, baby.
The Terms of Use are also included in templates and with Termageddon.
3. Disclaimer | Managing Expectations
What is it? A disclaimer is a statement or legal notice that limits your liability for the information presented on your website. It clarifies that the content on your site is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional advice. In addition, disclosing if you’re making income as an affiliate should also be added or individually to each post.
Picture a disclaimer as a warning sign along your digital journey. It reminds users that while you strive to provide accurate and valuable information, your content isn't a replacement for personalized advice. It's about managing expectations and ensuring that users understand the limitations of the information they find on your site.
If you’re in the wellness space or blogging about your expertise that could be taken out of context this is a great idea.
4. Cookie Policy | Transparency in Data Tracking (required)
What is it? A cookie policy is a disclosure document that explains how your website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies. It informs users about what data is collected, why it's collected, and how they can manage their cookie preferences.
You know when you just obsessively try and close the pop-up that says ‘accept all cookies’ so you can read an article or recipe? Yeah, that’s the Cookie Policy warning.
Cookies are like digital breadcrumbs, or cookie crumbs in this case, that help websites remember user preferences and behaviours.
It's about being transparent regarding data tracking, giving users control over their online experience, and adhering to privacy regulations. This is where your ‘cookie banner’ comes in, which is linked to your Privacy Policy.
How to Activate and Style Your Cookie Banner in Squarespace
NOTE: SQUARESPACE UPDATED THEIR COOKIE BANNER SETTINGS JULY 2024, SO THE BELOW CODE IS OUT OF DATE.
THE BLOG TO BE UPDATED SOON. UNTIL THEN VISIT INSIDE THE SQUARE YOUTUBE FOR THE LOWDOWN.
In Squarespace, you can activate your Cookie Banner & Visitor Data under your Website Tools panel OR by hitting /cookie on your keyboard and it will find it for you. Here you can ‘turn on’ or ‘disable’ your Cookie Banner. If you’re collecting info or enabling Squarespace cookies to read analytics, then you want it on.
You can customize the style of your cookie notification using a Bar or Pop-up, by Theme (light or dark) and by Call to Action type (text, button, icon).
Note, for Accessibility, it’s always best to use a Button with words like OK, Got It, Accept over just an ‘x’ to close the box.
If you’re into adding custom code, copy, paste and adjust the code below on your website to take your cookie banner from basic to branded. Natively, Squarespace only has 2 colours for your banner so that’s a little meh.
COOKIE BANNER BEFORE BEING STYLED WITH CUSTOM CODE
COOKIE BANNER AFTER BEING STYLED WITH CUSTOM CODE
Note: This code uses a Dark cookie banner theme and Button call to action.
Where you see @light or @darkest, you may replace with your HEX codes from your colour themes via the format #000000. In addition, you will replace the font family with your body and button fonts.
If you do not wish to have a border around it, remove the ‘border: 1px’ line under ‘adjust background colour’.
You may not need to add the font-family of your body font if it’s native to Squarespace, this is mainly for custom-loaded body fonts.
There’s way more settings you can play with, but consider this your basic B of custom code.
Paste the sections you want to adjust below in your CSS panel, accessible via /css on your keyboard.
//COOKIE BANNER CUSTOMIZATION//
//adjust background colour//
.sqs-cookie-banner-v2.DARK {
background-color: @light;
border: 1px solid @brown;
}
//adjust text font and colour//
.sqs-cookie-banner-v2.DARK p {
color: @darkest;
font-family: 'neue-haas-grotesk-display' !important;
}
//adjust linked text font and colour//
.sqs-cookie-banner-v2.DARK a {
color: @darkest;
font-family: 'neue-haas-grotesk-display' !important;
}
//adjust button font and colour//
.sqs-cookie-banner-v2.BUTTON .sqs-cookie-banner-v2-accept {
color: @darkest !important;
border: 1px solid @darkest !important;
font-family: dallas !important;
letter-spacing: .15em !important;
font-size: .7rem !important;
}
//Let’s Wrap It Up
These legal recommendations are the pillars of your website's legality. They provide transparency, establish guidelines, manage expectations, and protect both your users and your brand and business. When your website complies with these legal standards, it's not just a collection of web pages; it's the foundation upon which you can build meaningful online connections and a credible online presence. And, we all want that.
And not to be sued.
Note: Some of these are affiliate links and I make a small percentage of the sale. I only recommend businesses I wholeheartedly believe in.
