Website Policies for Authors and Small Businesses

An Introduction to Privacy Policies, Cookie Consent, and Terms of Service

—- Any information contained on this Website is not legal advice and should not be treated as such. You should always contact an attorney for help with your specific legal needs and issues. —–

We saw it coming. When Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018, it started a major shift in how websites handle personal data. A couple of years later, California followed with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and now 20 U.S. states have adopted comprehensive data privacy laws of their own.

If you have a website—whether you’re an author, a small business owner, or both—it’s time to get familiar with a few essential policies that help keep you compliant and build trust with your visitors.

In this article, I’ll introduce three key website policies: the Privacy Policy, Cookie Consent Form, and Terms of Service. You’ll learn what each is, why it matters, and how it might apply to your site.

I’ll also share a few tools that can help you create and manage these policies with less stress and more confidence.

The Principles of Data Privacy Laws

Seven principles guide the GDPR and most other privacy laws. The first of these principles gets to the heart of things, in my opinion:

Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Any processing of personal data should be lawful and fair. It should be transparent to individuals that personal data concerning them are collected, used, consulted, or otherwise processed and to what extent the personal data are or will be processed.

Peruse all 7 Principles here.

So what what does this mean for your website? Let’s take these one by one.

What is a Privacy Policy?

A privacy policy is a legal document that discloses how you collect, use, store, and protect personal information from your website visitors.

A well-crafted privacy policy covers the types of data you collect (like name, email address, or IP address), how the information is used (for example, to send email newsletters), and if this data is shared in any way with third-party services (it almost always is).

Beyond meeting legal requirements, a privacy policy is a good way to show transparency and build trust with your audience.

Do You Need a Privacy Policy?

In short—probably, yes. A privacy policy has quickly become a baseline requirement for most websites, whether you’re a one-person author site or a growing small business. Some privacy laws kick in based on business size or activity, but others don’t have any thresholds at all.

Location doesn’t matter as much as you think. Privacy laws are designed to protect people, not businesses. That means it often doesn’t matter where you or your website are based. If someone from another state (or country) can visit your site, you may be expected to follow the rules that protect them.

At the heart of these laws is the idea of safeguarding personal data—often called Personally Identifiable Information (PII). If your website collects names, email addresses, IP addresses, or anything similar (even passively), you’re likely required to disclose that through a privacy policy.

Think You’re Not Collecting Personal Data? Think Again.

This is a common misconception. Some of my clients assume that if they’re not actively storing information in a database, they must not be collecting personal data. But here’s the thing: if your site has even one contact form, or if you’ve installed a tool like Google Analytics (which most websites do), then yes—you’re collecting personal data.

Your contact form is the obvious one—it typically gathers names, email addresses, maybe even phone numbers. That’s all considered personal data. Then there’s tracking. Tools like Google Analytics collect visitor IP addresses and track behavior on your site. That data might feel more abstract, but under most privacy laws, it still counts.

Sharing

Perhaps you have a nice note on your signup form that tells potential subscribers, “We’ll never share your email.” And that’s great! But as far as privacy laws are concerned, “sharing” doesn’t just mean handing over your list to someone else.

When you add an email address to your mailing list, you are, technically, sharing that data with Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, or whatever tool you use to communicate with your subscribers. These services are processing and storing that information on your behalf.

Even when a contact form delivers a form submission to you via email, your email account provider is involved in handling that data. So yes, that counts as sharing too.

What should be included in your privacy policy?

You may have noticed that WordPress includes a draft privacy policy page. That page is a good start and an example, but you cannot just activate the page and think you are done. Your privacy policy must be edited to disclose the specifics of your website. It should list what specific data you collect, how it is used, and who it is shared with.

What is a Cookie Consent Form?

A privacy policy discloses the personal data you collect and why. A cookie consent form gives the visitor the choice to opt out of some of this tracking.

You’ve probably noticed these popping up more frequently lately—they usually show up when you first land on a website, asking you to “accept all cookies” or tweak your preferences. That’s the cookie consent form in action.

First, let’s back up. What exactly is a “cookie?”

A cookie is a small text file. When you visit a website, it saves this “cookie” on your device. When you revisit the site, your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) sends the cookie back, helping the site remember who you are.

A cookie’s information may be essential, functional, or used for marketing purposes.

Essential Cookies: (a.k.a Strictly Necessary Cookies) are required for the website to work properly – like remembering your login details or saving your language preference.
Functional Cookies: These enhance your experience, like remembering what was in your shopping cart or your preferred settings.
Marketing Cookies: These track your browsing behavior and can be used to deliver targeted advertising.

The Cookie Consent Form

The cookie consent form presents an opportunity to opt out of functional and marketing cookies, or accept all cookies. Once someone makes a choice, the site stores that preference (yes, usually in a cookie!), and they won’t be prompted again unless they clear their cookies or choose to update their settings.

When is a Cookie Consent Form Required?

A cookie consent form is required under laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and various state laws in the USA, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). A tool (in WordPress it’s a plugin) presents the form to the website visitor when they arrive.

Sometimes the tools have a geolocation feature. This means that the cookie consent bar will be presented to visitors from Europe, for example, but will not be shown to visitors from a location that does not require it, such as Wisconsin.

What are Terms and Conditions?

Terms and Conditions (also called Terms of Service or Terms of Use) are the rules of the road for your website. They lay out what users can expect from you—and what you expect from them. Terms of Service help protect both parties by clearly defining rights, responsibilities, and boundaries. It typically includes:

User rights when accessing or interacting with your site
Expectations and rules users must follow (like not misusing your content)
Ownership disclaimers, clarifying that your content, brand, and website remain yours
Limitations of liability, which can help shield you from certain legal claims

While you’re not legally required to have Terms and Conditions document, it is strongly recommended. It sets expectations upfront, and helps prevent misunderstandings down the line. Plus, it can help protect your intellectual property.

If all of this is starting to make you feel a little overwhelmed, you are not alone. Help is available.

Compliance Services

Navigating the complex landscape of privacy laws and regulations can be daunting. Unless you are both a lawyer and an involved website manager, you probably don’t know how to write a compliance document, or what exactly to include in yours. That is where compliance services come in.

Compliance services help you create and manage the essential legal documents your website needs—without the guesswork. They’re designed to make the process smoother, smarter, and far less time-consuming.

Services may offer:

Help identifying which privacy laws apply to your website based on where your visitors are coming from and what kind of data you collect
Generate a custom Privacy Policy (usually after walking you through a simple questionnaire)
Scan your website to detect tracking tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel
Provide cookie consent tools that integrate with your site to ensure proper opt-ins
Draft a tailored Terms of Service based on your specific business model and needs
Automatically update your policies when laws change—no manual rewrites needed
Send alerts and guidance when new laws are passed or existing ones are updated
Offer support for additional documents like a cookie policy, disclaimer, return policy, etc.

In short, compliance services don’t just help you check legal boxes—they help you stay informed, save time, and feel confident that your site is protected and professional.

Free and Paid Services

Not surprisingly, there is usually a fee involved for this ongoing and specialized service. I see prices ranging from $0 – $300 per year, depending on what you need.

Paid Services I Recommend

Iubenda offers a comprehensive selection of options. You can start with a free account, then pick your plan based on your specific needs. Pricing varies depending on the types of policies you select, the number of tracking codes on your site, and other details. Plans typically range from under $40 to $75 per year, with more advanced setups reaching around $300 annually.

Termageddon: Another comprehensive solution. This is the service that I currently use. I appreciate their straightforward pricing—$119 per year with everything included—and the usability of their platform. Their customer service is responsive, and they provide a helpful walkthrough video that makes setup easier.

For Cookies Only

If you already have a privacy policy and simply need to implement a Cookie Consent form, a plugin such as Cookie Notice and Compliance can help. This tool has a free and paid version.

Free Services

So far, I have not used a free service that I can specifically recommend from experience. Often, “free” is the starter level of a paid tool. With the ones I have tested to date, the limitations of what the free levels can provide have made an upgrade to a paid plan necessary.

If/when I do find a free service I can gladly recommend, I will return and update this article. In the meantime, Termly is a paid service with a free tier that looks promising—I plan to test it soon and will report back!

Benefits of using a compliance service

In my opinion, a good compliance service is well worth the annual cost. I know none of us are looking for more annual expenses. But privacy laws exist for a good reason, and staying on top of requirements is important. As a small business owner, I’m grateful there are services with this expertise ready to help!

Clear benefits include

Mitigating legal risks: These services help ensure your website complies with applicable laws, reducing the risk of fines, legal issues, or penalties.
Saving you time and trouble: They write the documents based on your needs, and you embed them into your website. They monitor and keep your documents current.
Building trust: Demonstrating a commitment to transparency and protecting the privacy of your website visitors reflects positively on you.

What a Compliance Service Does Not Do

While compliance services handle the heavy lifting of creating and maintaining your legal documents, there are still a couple of steps you’ll need to take. Once your documents are ready, you’ll need to add them to your website—typically by copying an embed code provided by the service into a new page on your site.

For cookie opt-in banners, most services use a plugin that you’ll need to install and configure.

If you’d like help with any part of the setup, I can assist—just reach out!

Conclusion

I hope you’ve gained a better understanding of three key components every website owner should consider: a Privacy Policy, a Cookie Consent Form, and Terms and Conditions. Each plays a role in protecting both you and your website visitors.

The good news? You don’t have to figure this out on your own. Compliance services like Termageddon, Iubenda, and others can help simplify the process by generating documents to your specific needs and keeping them up to date.

Now is the time to review your compliance needs. Your website policies protect you legally, and they build credibility and trust with your audience, which is invaluable for any growing brand.

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