3 Quick Fixes For Website Compliance Issues

If you haven’t heard about website compliance, or thought it wouldn’t apply to your freelance website, you need to read this article, ASAP!

Website compliance is a “real thing” now.

The internet is nearly 30 years old, and it only makes sense that certain guidelines or best practices have emerged. Many have even been turned into actual laws, with penalties for breaking them.

Being out of compliance means that your Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) score will suffer, which means you’ll show up lower down or further back in client searches for copywriters, and might even end up hearing from one or more government offices.

But, don’t panic! Compliance is something you can take care of quickly by focusing your efforts on the areas where you’re most likely NOT compliant right now.

In my online work, the three most common issues that I encounter are:

1. Lack of a Privacy Policy
2. No GDPR Banner/Button
3. Affiliate Disclosure

I’ll explain each one below, and show you exactly what to do if you’re affected so that you don’t have to worry or feel like you look unprofessional to clients.

Privacy Policy

In the US, there is no one single law that requires a privacy policy to be posted on your website. But several US laws do require one in certain circumstances.

These include:

• The Americans With Disabilities Act
• The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984
• The Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2001 (updated in 2013)
• The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986
• The Computer Security Act of 1997
• The Consumer Credit Reporting Control Act
• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
• The California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA)

Privacy laws around the world are different. They do dictate that if you collect personal information from your website visitors (outside the US), then you need to have a Privacy Policy posted to your site.

Here I have listed just a few, feel free to Google for specifics:

• Australia – Privacy Act of 1988
• Canada – Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
• UK/European Union – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• India – Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008
• What is the definition of “Personal Information”?

Personal Information can be anything that can be used to identify an individual, such as the person’s name, address, date of birth, marital status, contact information, intentions to acquire goods and services, and much, much more.

Does your website have a contact form, where an email address is entered?

Use one of those scheduling widgets for discovery or consult calls? (Ed. Note: If you read Melanie Warren’s piece on calendaring apps last week and decided to try one out, this applies to you!)

Process credit cards (even through a third party) for goods/services?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your site should have a privacy policy in place.

A privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party (you, your business, your website, and your employees) gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client’s data.

It fulfills the legal requirement to protect a customer or client’s privacy.

Some website building platforms include a privacy policy module that you can turn on. If yours doesn’t, do a Google search for “website privacy policy.”

There are many options, both free and for fee, to choose from. Once you have created your privacy policy, make sure that your link to it is clearly displayed.

Penalties for privacy policy violations will vary, depending on where your visitor was when they accessed your site.

View my privacy policy at https://www.curtisdennis.com/privacy-policy.html

GDPR Compliance

GDPR Compliance is the second biggest compliance issue I see on websites. It became law on May 25, 2018, and I referenced it above, but only with regard to the required privacy policy.

There are two components for complete GDPR compliance, so here is the second one.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires that you have a cookie consent device displayed prominently on your site for all European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) citizens and residents, and anyone who may be in the EU at the time they visit your site.

The cookie consent device must be visible to anyone viewing one of your web pages.

A “consent bar” is the simplest option to use for most websites.

It is normally displayed at either the top or bottom of each page. They must click a button to agree to your site’s use of cookies. It also allows visitors to get more information about your use of cookies, which must be outlined somewhere on your site.

And that somewhere is part one of GDPR, the privacy policy discussed above.

Some platforms have a GDPR module that you can simply turn on. If not, check with your platform’s support team/desk, to see if there is a plug-in available for GDPR compliance.

The GDPR also has penalties in place for non-compliance.

Besides the definitions as a criminal offense according to national law, according to Article 83 of the GDPR the following sanctions can be imposed:

• a warning in writing in cases of first and non-intentional noncompliance
• regular periodic data protection audits
• a fine up to €10 million or up to 2% of the annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year in case of an enterprise, whichever is greater, if there has been an infringement of the following provisions: (Article 83, Paragraph 4)

To learn more about this law, simply do a Google search, using “GDPR law.”

View my GDPR compliance bar at https://www.curtisdennis.com

As a website owner, here is one last thought about your privacy policy and GDPR components…

When Google crawls your site, the spiders will see that you have a contact form, and/or a phone call scheduler. So, the spiders will “look” for your privacy policy page, and the link(s) to it. If they can’t find it, your SERP score will be lower. And that means less organic traffic for your site.

It is the same scenario with regard to your GDPR compliance. Google knows it should be there, and if the spider can’t find it, your SERP score will get dinged again.

Affiliate Disclosure

Affiliate Disclosure is another common compliance issue I see, because many freelancers are monetizing their sites with third-party products and services now.

There are several affiliate programs available that will let you collect a commission or fee when your visitor clicks an ad or makes a purchase.

Here are just a few examples:

• Google AdSense
• Rakuten
• ShareASale
• Amazon

You can do a Google search for “affiliate programs” for even more options.

All affiliate programs require, as part of their Terms Of Service, that you must let your site visitors know you are receiving a fee or commission when they make an affiliate purchase at your site.

This has also been an FTC requirement since 2009. It was most recently updated in the Dot Com Disclosures guidelines in 2013.

This requirement is designed to protect consumers. It lets them know that there is a potential financial gain for you, for the products or services you are recommending to them.

Your disclosure doesn’t have to give any specifics about your earnings. But you must inform them that you may be compensated in some form – financial or otherwise – from your recommendation or product endorsement.

The affiliate disclosure provides transparency and clarity for your site visitors, so they can make informed decisions about purchasing your affiliate products or services.

View my disclosure policy at https://www.curtisdennis.com/affiliate-dislosure.html

Remember, these compliance issues can all be resolved with just a few hours of your (or your web designer’s) time. So, set up a time to figure out exactly what steps to take to become website compliant.

Then simply add or update the needed pages. Next, ping the search engines (Ed. Note: Free ping tool here) so that they come and crawl your compliant website, and you’re done!