GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is, as its name suggests, a regulation, one that was enacted in 2018 to protect the personal data of European Internet users.
Even though GDPR is a European regulation, it affects every website that receives traffic from the EU. In other words, if even one EU resident accesses your business website, you risk incurring the wrath of the steep penalties GDPR currently imposes on those companies that fail to comply with the requirements of the regulation.
So how can you make your business website GDPR compliant? Well, you have quite a few options, namely:
1). GDPR is primarily concerned with entities that collect and store the personal data of internet users. So, before proceeding with any measures, take a closer look at your website and determine whether you collect user data and if you have taken the necessary steps to adequately secure it.
3). If you have to collect data, ask for permission from your users. Make sure every visitor knows that you have taken steps to collect their personal data. Give them the choice to either permit or reject your attempt to collect their data.
This is where transparency comes into play. People are less hostile to attempts to collect their data if they know what you intend to do with it.
4). Look at your plugins, especially the variety that utilize the personal data of users. Like cookies, plugins are expected to comply with GDPR.
5). Ask users for permission before you add them to a mailing list and bombard them with unsolicited messages. You are also discouraged from buying mailing lists from external entities.
Making your website GDPR compliant takes a lot of time and effort. But the sacrifice is worth it to avoid the steep financial penalties.