An online privacy notice helps a company meet compliance in the ongoing and growing trend to ensure consumer data protection. Since we at the Treehouse run 600+ websites, we take privacy very seriously here. 

 While there are contractor websites out there without privacy policies (but not for long), the Treehouse recommends including one on your site. A privacy policy is an essential step towards legal compliance, it protects website owners against potentially harsh financial penalties, and instills trust in both Google and your site visitors.

We've had privacy policies on websites for a long time, but several trends pushed us to consider updating them. For starters, the ongoing changes to federal and state privacy laws, in addition to new advertising and marketing channels emerging. Over the past three years, we watched a timeline of updates unfold. 

• 2017: remarketing opportunities provided by Google & Facebook required notifying web visitors that they may be retargeted, pushing sites everywhere to provide opt-out options.

• 2018: In addition to remarketing updates, we launched our dynamic digital advertising program BrandBlaster which specializes in retargeting digital ads. 

• 2019: Websites everywhere face the implementation of stricter privacy policies. With places such as Canada, California, and Europe enforcing the strictest privacy laws.

With the help of an attorney who specializes in privacy, specifically both Canadian and California new privacy laws, we began updating privacy policies for the contractor websites maintained/hosted by the Treehouse. This undertaking took several months to comprehend as it was layered with the data collection process, how cookies are effectively used and consulting with the Treehouse experts in Production, Advertising, and Programming specifically.

Websites’ are comparable to icebergs, with more going on underwater than is visible at the surface. Everything from backlinks, privacy notices, compliance updates, and the like are constantly evolving and requiring maintenance. Rest assured that it’s never a quiet day in the Treehouse and we are always looking out for you and your website’s best interest.