Four Must-Have Webpages That Add Website Security
By Heather Mohr
Security for websites is an important factor in creating your business website plan.
In addition to traditional security considerations (like being hacked and processing secure
transactions), conveying trust in your website among visitors is an equally important goal.
A professional website is like a contract between you and your visitor, and it must reassure
visitors within 3-5 seconds that the site they are on (your site!) is a safe and secure place
for them to be.
There are many ways to convey trust, but one of the first and easiest to implement is
contained within your website pages themselves. In fact, there are four pages commonly used
by professional web designers for adding some quick and easy security to websites. If you don't
already have these pages, you should consider adding them immediately. These four pages will
increase your business' reputation and add needed security for websites - big and small:
Site Disclaimer
Adding a Site Disclaimer page to your website is important whether you are an individual
or a business. In short, the site disclaimer is your all-encompassing "cover your ass" web page.
It is a simple way to protect yourself from legal action against your website, its claims, its
information accuracy, and you personally. A good site disclaimer should cover you on three
major issues.
First, it should maintain that your website is an informational site with no guarantees
of accuracy. Second, it should hold you unaccountable for any of your affiliates or any of the
sites to which you link. Finally, if you sell products or make product recommendations for
commission, your site MUST provide a disclaimer to this effect, in order to abide by current
FTC regulation. You can also get a fast, free Site Disclaimer for your site from EasyRiver.com.
Privacy Policy
The Privacy Policy is the place that your site ensures your visitor that their information
is private and won't be used for any unscrupulous reason. It is also where a visitor can obtain
information about how their information is collected and used by the site. And, yes, it is
also a place for you to "cover yourself" from any charge of legal misdoings. To see an example,
check out this site's Privacy Policy here. In your Privacy Policy, you need to basically specify
what information is collected from your visitors and how you use that information.
Terms of Use
Your website's Terms of Use page is like a Disclaimer for your users. The role of this
website security page is to provide your user with a written description of exactly what she
is accepting by using your website. This spells out the rules: things like forbidding reproduction
of information or materials by visitors; releasing the site owner (you) from any liability
associated with a visitor's acceptance or use of your information, and other items stated in
your Site Disclaimer.
Site Map
Although a Site Map is generally thought of for its SEO benefits, it is also a page that
can contribute security for websites. Many Word Press themes have built-in Site Maps in their
page templates so creating this page for your website is as easy as choosing it from a pull-down
menu and clicking "Publish". A good site map not only tells Search Engines how to crawl your
site so all of your valuable content can be indexed and found, but it also helps guide a user
through your site. Ease of navigation is a big factor for increasing a user's confidence in
using your site and in your site's security. Remember, the longer a visitor stays, the greater
chance of converting that visitor to a lead, a prospect and eventually a customer.
Heather Mohr is a website "do it yourselfer" whose passion is to help other solo-preneurs
turn their websites into automated marketing machines. Mohr is a results-focused, "non-techy"
website creator and internet marketer. You can download a FREE Marketing Checklist for your
website at: New Website Ideas
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