How to write a Privacy Policy For Website
Summarised overview
In this article you will find steps and information on:
- Defining a privacy policy
- Why you should have one
- Guidelines for creating a policy
- A sample privacy policy specific to setting cookies, and a
- Link to an automated policy generator
Step 1: Explain what the privacy policy is addressing
A privacy policy is a document telling visitors to your site what information you collect and what you do with that information. Very simply: it is a short explanation of what you are doing to observe visitors to your website.
Step 2: Define your Cookie Specific Privacy Policy:
- What cookies are?
- What info is collected?
- What is done with the information?
- How to reject / delete / accept cookies?
- Explain that there are no harmful technical consequences/ risks
Two good reasons to develop a privacy policy for website
- Create a better electronic environment on the internet
- Laws / legislation may pertain to your business
By letting people know what info is collected and what is done with that information, you can create a transparent environment in which people / consumers are more confident. You can eliminate stress and concerns about abuse of personal info.
Various legislations and legal guidelines, for example in the US and in the UK, are being developed and may affect your website, depending on what information you collect, how you do it, and what you do with it. The European Union has developed similar guidelines that contain a bit too much legal rhetoric to be completely useful.
See resource list below for reference websites.
Step 3: Formatting an Online Privacy Policy
Your policy should be written in plain readable language. Consider the policy to be a part of your site. Design the policy and publish it like the rest of your site. Design it as if you actually want people to read it. Make it short, friendly & intuitive. It should be easily accessible throughout your site.
A Sample Privacy Policy
www.mysite.com uses www.opentracker.net to collect visitor data and analyze traffic on our site. This information helps us understand customer interests and helps us improve our website. When you visit our site, the pages that you look at, and a short text file called a cookie, are downloaded to your computer. A cookie is used to store small amounts of information. This information is collected for traffic analysis only. The cookie does not contain personal details. Depending on the browser that you use, you can set your preferences to block/ refuse cookies, and/ or notify you before they are placed. Opentracker does not sell, give, or trade the statistics they store to any 3rd parties for data-mining or marketing purposes. Please visit www.opentracker.net for their privacy policy.
Step 4: Design your privacy policy for your website
Tell your visitors why tracking cookies are good, why the information is beneficial, that it is used to improve websites and their content. Give an example. If you are collecting information, tell them what you do with that information. Give people an opportunity not to have their info collected, for example by blocking cookies. Explain how people can block cookies. Also explain that cookies are not harmful and cannot introduce viruses or extract personal contact information.
Why all the fuss?
There is an important distinction to be made here between cookies and spyware. Spyware collects information about your surfing habits across the internet and sends this information out from your computer. Cookies collect information about your surfing habits only on the site of the provider of the cookie, in other words just on one site.
From our research it appears that most people are concerned that their personal information may be passed on. In this case, there is an important distinction to make between Two Types of Information which are collected:
- Personally identifiable info/ personal contact info
- Clickstream/ navigation info
Specific to concerns about cookies, the information being collected does not contain personally identifiable information. Clickstreams are used to see if people return to the same sites, and identify patterns.
When databases are combined, for example a membership & login base, with a clickstream tracking system, it is possible to combine personal information, such as an email address, with clickstreams. This is where the main cause for concern seems to lie.
The companies that do this; with the resources to combine clickstreams, past purchases, and personal information, are household names, such as amazon.com, ebay, bbc, yahoo, etc.
Further Reading
We also recommend taking a look at the privacy policy of a company or website that you like or respect to see what information they consider to be important.
Here is a privacy policy generator where you can also find information about legislation:
https://privacypolicygenerator.info/
Legislation in the UK:
https://www.cookielaw.org/the-cookie-law/
Obviously there is a very real concern for a lot of people that their privacy is being abused. We would like to respond to these concerns, primarily through education, but also by opening up a dialogue on any related questions or ideas. Please feel free to write us, or post feedback on our support center.
Articles & White-papers
- Definitions of Big Data
- Goal-oriented User Behavior
- Third-Party Cookies Vs First-Party Cookies
- Social Media Advertising
- Understanding Big Data
- High Traffic Website Measurement
- Universal search
- “Google search” through traffic
- Populate your CRM
- Web analytics dashboard
- Send report as PDF
- Big Data Orientation
- Show me all Single Girls using my App on an iPhone.
- Use Case – using OT to understand your clients
- New Report added – Custom events
- Updating, Redesigning Or Migrating Your Website Without Losing Analytics
- 1-click User-Tagging
- Complexity and Real-time search
- Tracking via api.opentracker.net
- Why Your Search Terms Don’t Show Up, and What You Can Do About It
- Introduction to Big Data
- Track user logins
- EU Cookie Law Confusion
- Mobile App terminology
- Social Media Advertising
- Drop in traffic conversion
- Improve Google ranking and PageRank
- Paid Adwords & free Google traffic
- 10 Tips To Get Through Tough Financial Times
- Hits or pageviews?
- Pay-per-click advertising and campaign management
- Buying Traffic – PPC Ad campaigns
- Search Engine Optimization
- Online advertising strategies
- Clickstream or clickpath analysis
- Online Privacy Issues
- Buying Traffic – Bulk Clicks
- Using Statistics for Website Management
- Website Market Position
- Tracking vs log analyzers
- How to write a website Privacy Policy
- Access Facebook user profile data with FB Login
- Choosing Search Terms
- Traffic Conversion: Return on Investment (ROI)
- Website Market Worksheet
- You’ve Got Data – PPC Search Terms
- What is Hit, Page, and Web Counters
- w3.org and p3p standard privacy policies
- Bounce Rate and Click-through Rate
- Building Online Community
- Creating web traffic growth
- Third-Party vs First-Party Cookies
- Why do I need a website tracker?
- Web Metrics 101
- Making stats work for you
- How to Buy Traffic
- Queries, Keywords and Search Terms
- Data Analytics In 3 Minutes Or Less
- Increase Your Revenue By 30%
- Leading Innovation through insights
- Why We Need Psychological Research Based On Big Data
- Why Telecommunication Industry Needs Big Data
- Here’s How Companies Use Data Science To Launch Product Campaigns
- Why We Need Psychological Research Based On Big Data
- A Modern Customer Profile Template For Smart Businesses
- 7 Powerful Customer Profile Templates For Your Marketing Campaigns
- User Engagement Metrics
- Email Marketing Statistics of 2020
- Choosing Search Terms
- How to Measure Active Users
- Content Promotion Plan for 2020
- Best Practices in Email Marketing
About us
Quick links
Resources
Contact
support@opentracker.net | |
Opentracker Torenallee 45 - 7.17 5617 BA Eindhoven The Netherlands |