Are You Compliant? What You Need To Make Your Policies Valid
Privacy policies, terms of service, and cookie consent — what small business owners actually need to know to stay legal.
I know, I know — privacy policies are not the most exciting topic. But here's the thing: if you have a website, you probably need one. And not just any one — one that actually complies with the laws that apply to your visitors.
The Problem
Most small business owners either don't have privacy policies at all, or they copied one from somewhere else and never updated it. Both scenarios are risky.
Privacy laws like GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), and dozens of state-level regulations in the US have teeth. Fines can be substantial, and lawsuits are increasingly common — especially from automated "compliance trolls" looking for easy targets.
What You Actually Need
At minimum, your website should have: - A **privacy policy** that explains what data you collect and how you use it - A **cookie consent** mechanism if you use analytics or advertising cookies - **Terms of service** that protect your business
And here's the part people miss: these documents need to be **specific to your business** and **kept up to date** as laws change. A generic template from 2019 won't cut it.
The Solution
There are services like Termageddon that generate and automatically update your policies as laws change. It's not expensive, and it removes the burden of tracking regulatory changes yourself.
Don't wait until you get a demand letter. This is one of those boring business things that's way easier to handle proactively than reactively.