Legal pages for your website that stay up to date as the laws change? Yes, please.

Unless you're working with a seriously devoted web developer and designer, such as myself, the legal requirements for your website are often an over looked element. And this can leave the website owner on the hook for whatever lawsuit comes their way.

Because I'm not a lawyer, there's not much I can offer my clients except guidance based on experience and crowd sourced knowledge. To this end, I used to refer my clients to legal template sources, such as The Contract Shop. But, as great as they are for contracts and waivers, their privacy policies aren't updated frequently enough to keep up with the ever changing landscape of online privacy laws and requirements.

A decade ago this wasn't so much of a concern. But these days? Ugh. It feels like a new privacy law comes out every month here in the United States. And then there are larger, more in depth, global laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union to adhere to.

There are no borders to the internet. Privacy is a concern across the globe because the most valuable thing on the internet is you.

And your data.

And if you have a website: you are collecting the data of others.

And you have to take that seriously. Especially now.

And that is a daunting task for someone that is a) not a web developer and b) not a lawyer and c) isn't usually even aware that this is a thing.

I'm a web developer. I can dig in and see what things may be collecting or processing your data through a website and connected services (email marketing, social media, email platforms, etc) And while some tools exist to help, it can be an exhaustive and time consuming (read: expensive) process to do on your own. And as the website or related tools changes, these things need to be updated.

I'm not a lawyer. (So nothing here is legal advice.) I can't always make heads or tails what is required. I'm also an exhausted mother of two running a business during never ending global generational trauma(s) and I can't keep up with the every changing global response to consumer privacy on top of everything else, okay?

So consumed with work, the world, and my family, I didn't even know I needed this off my plate until I discovered Termageddon and... off my plate it went. A weight, however small in the scheme of things, was lifted.

I came across Termageddon several years ago during an online summit for web geeks such as myself and I signed up immediately. Their monthly subscription service promised "website policies that automatically update as the laws change" and shortly after signing up and implementing the policies on my own site I switched all my clients from static policy pages over to their dynamic solution.

Now, when a law changes that may affect me, or a client, I get an email. If needed, I go in and update the information (mostly it's checking a box: does this apply to me, yes or no) and when I log out I'm done. I don't have to update any of the pages on my website. And when a client needs to change or update their policies they don't have to call me with the changes: they are updated automagically.

There are, as of this writing, there are at least 20 states in the United States alone that have their own laws that govern the collecting and handling of personal identifiable information or "PII" for short.

And the internet isn't just the United States: there's also the General Data Protection Regulation from the European Union which protects citizens of the EU regardless of where they are when they access a website.

Yeah, that's why there's those annoying banners on all the websites these days. Because they are all collecting utilizing data about you in some manner. And they have to tell you about it.

Which means if you have a website: you have to inform your visitors what you're collecting, too. And you are collecting data.

From analytics like Google Analytics, to fraud protection from payment processors such as Stripe, and even embeds from things like YouTube videos and Giphy gifs... everything is gathering something. The Fiery Well included.

Which is why I utilize Termageddon: to inform you and to keep me up to date on my legal requirements. It's an affordable investment that let's me focus on what I do best: taking care of my clients.

And if you're not a client of mine yet, you can use my affiliate link or use code FIERY at checkout to save 10% off your first payment at Termageddon.com.

Don't let the privacy laws keep you up at night and don't bury your head in the sand about how you also collect data on your website visitors: get Termageddon.