The European Union is implementing a new regulation that may impact you even if you don't live in a member
country.
This new regulation is called the "General Data Protection Regulation - also known as "GDPR".
It's a set of laws and requirements that are meant to protect the privacy of and data about people living in member countries.
If you operate a business outside of one of the member countries but have visitors or customers within those countries, then this law applies to you, too. Not complying with this regulation can result in heavy fines. PLEASE take some
time to understand what is changing and what you must to in order to comply.
You may think that if you have an affiliate marketing website targeting the US audience that
you are immune from having to follow this new regulation. That is NOT true.
Even though you're targeting one country you very likely have traffic
from other countries. If you are gathering data in any way, shape or form, about visitors from those member countries then you need to comply with this law.
Think you're not
gathering data? Think again!
If your site is set up on Google Webmaster Tools, if you're using Google Analytics reports, if you're using StatCounter or a plugin to gather data, or if you have data about site activity inside any affiliate networks (like Amazon, ShareASale, CJ, WarriorPlus, JVZoo, etc.) then you ARE
gathering data about site activity.
The good news is that you probably only need to make some changes to your site's Privacy Policy page content in order to comply but you need to
make those changes BEFORE the new law goes into place on May 25, 2018.
That second site has a tool you can use to generate your site's privacy policy content but there are some fees involved. You should be able to work through the changes manually based on the tips in their post, instead, and avoid paying any fees.
You may find WordPress plugins that assist with compliance. I have not had a chance to test any of them and have no recommendations at this point. If you find one you want to test make sure that it covers all of the items listed in links
above!
If you manage an email list, though, you have more work to do. For those with an email list pay special attention to everything discussed in the Amy Porterfield podcast noted above.
Those of you in member countries or for whom I can't identify a location will soon receive an email from me asking you to opt into a new list in my own
email management system if you want to continue receiving emails from me. If you don't opt in, you will have to be removed from my list. Yikes!
PLEASE, take the time to learn about the GDPR, make the necessary changes to your websites and email lists, and keep an eye out from me about staying on my email list if that's something you'd like to do!
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Erica Stone
erica@extremereviewer.com
