Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policies, and Disclaimers are all important documents that you may have to add to your website- and just like the site itself, there is no “one size fits all” solution. While they often go unnoticed, these policies can help you avoid legal problems, remain compliant with regulations, and set expectations for your visitors. If you’re not sure where to start, that’s ok! Since these are legally binding policies, I am not a lawyer and can’t give anyone legal advice, but here are some possible solutions that can help get you started:
Seeking Professional Legal Advice
Consulting a lawyer who specializes in Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, etc. is always your best bet. If you can afford to do so, I always recommend seeking professional legal advice while crafting your policies. You may even find reasonably-priced legal help from online companies like LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer.
Auto-Updating Self-Help Solutions
While it is the best option, not everyone can afford professional legal services to craft their terms of service policies. There is no shortage of free and low-cost resources for self-help. My favorites so far are Termageddon and Termly. Both are moderately-priced, monthly subscriptions, which allow users to generate multiple policies for a single site. While they are strictly intended for self-help purposes, both companies ask users a series of questions to generate custom policy documents that can be embedded into any website. Most importantly, these documents are programmed to automatically update in accordance with any new internet and privacy regulations.
Termageddon
Termageddon is an excellent and inexpensive resource for self-help in creating compliant website terms (disclaimer: I liked it enough to become an affiliate!). I’ve listed some pros and cons of the platform below:
Pros
- Cost: $10/Month Per Domain or $99/Year
- Auto-generation and updating of policies based on a questionnaire- it took about 5 minutes to answer
- Approachable and fast customer service (I’ve asked a few questions and got an answer via email within a few hours, sometimes a few minutes)
- Updating your existing terms to account for new policies is easy
- The template can be overridden with custom information
Cons
- You have to have some background knowledge to complete your privacy policy. If you don’t know what cookies or tracking technologies are used on your site, you can always ask me!
- No design control yet, they are anticipating an update in May which will add much-needed styling capabilities
- No free trial/sample documents
Termly
Termly is an easy-to-use resource for self-help in creating compliant website terms. While they are more costly than Termageddon, they do allow for the creation of one free document to test the platform, you can try it here. Here are this platform’s pros and cons:
Pros
- Auto-generation and updating of policies based on a questionnaire- it took about 5 minutes to answer
- Updating your existing terms to account for new policies is easy
- Intuitive cookie-scanning tool which allows users to create privacy policies with less background knowledge
- Intuitive, user-friendly design
Cons
- Cost: $20/Month Per Domain or $120/Year
- The template can not be overridden with custom information
- Very limited design control (font, color, and background color)
- Slightly less accessible customer support, they answer during normal business hours only
No matter how you create your terms of service, privacy policy, and other legal docs, it is important to keep it updated in accordance with state, federal, and international laws- to protect your business and your customers!
