Quick Fix: time to change this one thing on your website!
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It happens EVERY year. –Well, I mean, it should be happening every year...
…But every year I see people who forget, and next thing ya know it’s 2, 5, 10 years later and –SMACK– it still hasn’t been updated.
I’m talking about that little strip of legal jargon in the footer of your website.
–AND DON’T TELL ME YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO CHANGE, BECAUSE C’MON, LADY. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. 😂
📌 Pin it!
Why does that footer’s date matter?
Relevancy
I’m a millennial, and as such my generation was one of the first to be ‘raised on computers.’ Part of what we learned was to look at the date in the footer to see how ‘relevant’ the site was/is.
ie: When was it last updated?
So, part of this is just engrained in my generation, I think. When we began doing online research for class papers via online libraries, we all knew we’d have to check the date to see if the information might be out-of-date.
And that’s one reason why you need to update this date. Whew. That was a a lot of “dates.”
Copyright
Another very important reason is because that’s your copyright date, which is basically starting point where you claim copyright on your site’s content. Also very important!
How to write that Copyright thing in your footer
So how do you write this, –if you’re who I was yelling at earlier?
Okay, –that all-caps thing earlier was not me “yelling,” –that was me grabbing both of your shoulders and politely-but-firmly shaking you to show you how serious I am. Put that damn thing in your footer. NOW. (Please.) 😏
It should have the following elements, as a minimum:
Copyright symbol
Current year, or span of years (ie: 2022 or 2015-2022)
Your name or legal business name (owner of the Copyright) All rights reserved.
links to your legal shit (a minimum of 1: your privacy policy)
On a Mac, if you press Option+G on the keyboard, you’ll get that little Copyright symbol → ©
So copy & paste this:
© [Years] [Your Legal Business Name] All rights reserved. | Privacy | Terms | Disclaimer | Affiliates
Now edit & save.
Each of the legal jargon words should link to the appropriate page (or spot on the 1 legal terms page) of your site where that jargon lives in full.
You are legally required to have a privacy policy on your website, and it is legally mandated to be accessible from every page on your site, –so it’s best to put a link to it in the footer.
The rest? Highly recommended, but not legally mandatory, so I say just be like Nike & JUST DO IT. Cover all your bases.
Done!
Don’t have a [insert legalese here] for your website?
You’re in good hands because I happen to be an affiliate for a contract template shop where everything comes with lifetime updates.
That means, you can buy it once & never buy it again, –even if the law changes because this shop keeps up with that shiz for you.
Use my affiliate code LAUNCH10 to get 10% off any template from this shop, at any time –stackable on their sale prices.
WEBSITES NEED:
If your website is just informational with company updates, then you might be fine with just a standard Privacy Policy + Terms & Conditions. Need both? Buy the bundle and save a little, over buying them individually.
🔗 Standard Terms & Conditions
🔗 StandardTerms + Privacy Bundle
(buy together & save)
➕ THIS IF YOU’RE SELLING PRODUCTS/SERVICES:
If your website is informational with company updates, AND you also sell services or products through your site, then you should have a Privacy Policy, standard Terms & Conditions and a separate Terms & Conditions for your shop. Need all 3? Buy the bundle and save a little, over buying them individually.
🔗 Terms & Conditions of Online Sales
🔗 Terms (x2) + Privacy Bundle
(buy all 3 together & save)
➕ THIS IF YOU’RE SELLING ONLINE COURSES:
If your website is informational with company updates, AND you also sell online courses through your site, then you should have a Privacy Policy, standard Terms & Conditions and a separate Terms & Conditions for your courses. Need all 3? Buy the bundle and save a little, over buying them individually.
🔗 Terms & Conditions of Online Courses
🔗 Terms (x2) + Privacy Bundle
(buy all 3 together & save)
Another Legalese option that updates on autopilot
I still recommend using Creative Law Shop for any client contracts, your website’s terms & conditions, etc. but if you’re feeling a little uneasy about your Privacy Policy being out of date then there’s another option! Termageddon is a subscription service that embeds policies for things like Privacy and Cookies onto your website (wherever you want them) and they updated it for you!
At about $100/year, this may give you more peace of mind than having a static policy that you manually update yourself –especially as privacy laws seem to be changing & updating continuously, worldwide. Their Cookie & Privacy widget specifically is a much more robust option than the built-in Cookie notice that Squarespace gives you.
Feel free to check them out if you want to learn more, and use my affiliate code LAUNCH10 at checkout to save on your first year’s subscription!
