Don't forget your privacy policy

If you're collecting information from or about visitors to your site, then you’ll need a good privacy to explain why and how you intend to use that information.

Provide an explanation about the information gathered:

• What information is needed
• Why you need that information
• What you will do with the information
• Who has access to it under what circumstance, and
• Any control they may have over the process i.e. updating or contact person regarding deleting information.

Make it short enough to easily read through, about a half of a page, and be understood by your average visitor.

Be specific enough that you are able to defend yourself in court if a dispute arises, yet be general enough that you don’t create a liability if you miss something.

Use a friendly tone, not sounding too legal or like your intending to use it for monetary gain or sales opportunities later.

Your visitors will often look for and read your policy before giving out personal information when online - I do.

It’s always a good idea to have your attorney look it over.

Why Blog? Creating an Online Presence

People do research on the internet before deciding where to spend their hard earned dollars. Having a professional website gives your potential customers a chance see what you have to offer.
If you have a brick and mortar business, but don't have a website, then it's time to make that happen.

But, if you're not in the position to get a website right away, an easy alternative is to create a blog.

I started this one from Google's Blogger, it's free and comes with templates that are easy to setup, you can make changes to format and colors if you'd like. Plus, there's many tools for promoting it too.

Having a blog comes with tons of benefits.
Here's a few:
- It gets you started in establishing an online presence,
- gives you a way to communicate with your customers,
- builds your creditability with others in your industry,
- you'll be helping people by providing information they need (because you really are an expert), and
- potential customers have an opportunity to build trust in you, and in your business.

Go ahead, get your feet wet in the new "social media"/ "web 2.0" era.
Start a blog today!