After months of hard work, you are finally about to launch your business website. That's exciting! But there are some final steps you need to take to make sure your business runs smoothly after launching.

Privacy Policy

Failure to comply with privacy laws can cause serious issues to your business. Some basic privacy questions are as follows:

  • Who are your users?

    Are they adults or children? If there will be children, you will need to check the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and it is better to set an age limit in your privacy policy.

  • Where do they locate?

    State specifically where your user will be. If only in the US, there are federal and state privacy laws to follow, such as CCPA in California; If in some other countries, check privacy laws in each country, such as GDPR (EU), DPA (UK and Ireland), PIPEDA (Canada), PDPO (HK), etc.

  • What information will be collected from the users?

    Some sensitive information requires affirmative express consent from the users, such as financial data, children's data, health information, precise geographic location, and social security numbers.

  • Any notice or disclosure requirements?

    For example, under FTC Act, if you are going to make material changes to your privacy policy, you will need to provide conspicuous notice to users with an option to opt out.

  • Which industry are you in?

    For example, if you are in the health-related industry, you will need to comply with HIPAA, if you are a financial institution, then you will need to comply with GLBA. Check industry-specific rules to make sure you are in compliance.

  • What's your cookie policy?

    There are necessary cookies and other cookies such as analytic cookies, performance cookies, and functional cookies. You should explain these cookies in your cookie policy and provide options for users to opt out certain non-essential cookies.

Terms of Use

You will need to set up some rules for users while they are using your site, and minimize potential liability to users. The following are some major issues to consider:

  • Intellectual property. You don't want some users to copy your work without your consent, so you need to specify the ownership of your intellectual property, such as copyright, and restrict the way users reproduce your work.
  • Binding contract. You want users to understand this is a binding contract between you and the users, so you want to give users notice of such terms of use and require them to assent to them.
  • Limitation on liability & disclaimer. Most terms of use will have these terms but some states, such as New Jersey, prohibit broad saving clauses, so you want to add a special notice below just for users in these states.
  • Payment-related policies, such as refund. If your website requires a subscription or any type of payment, make sure you explain the rule clearly to the users so that they know when the free trial ends, how to request a refund, and whom to contact when having questions.
  • Account security. It is important to establish account and security rules, such as who has access to the account and how to protect your password. You will also need to explain how you will protect users' accounts.
  • Prohibited uses. Some vicious accounts may conduct unlawful activities on your site. List out all the prohibited uses on your site, including some user-generated content.
  • Third-party links. Protect yourself by disclaiming the liability of third-party links, either related to privacy to content, make sure users know that this is not provided by you and remind them to be cautious when clicking.

Company Logo

After you finish designing your company logo, it is best to register a trademark for your logo to make it exclusive. However, the registration process is long (6-9 months, even 1 year), but you can start using it to establish ownership. This is something we encourage you to do as early as possible because almost all the USPTO registrations will take a long time to process.

Website Domain Name

If you have already started working on the website before securing a domain name, you will need to take some time to register and purchase a domain name to officially "own" your website. Check the name you want to use and see if it is available, and if the price is acceptable, purchase it! The domain name is part of the intellectual property of your company. A good domain name should be SEO-friendly and catchy, and it may be worth a lot in the future, so own it as early as you can. Remember to renew it when it's due.

Permits and Compliance

Compliance varies in states. Some business falls into a certain category that is regulated by the state, for example, in North Carolina, a website that offers interactive software that generates a legal document based on consumers' answers must register with the North Carolina State Bar before commencing operation in North Carolina. (N.C. Gen. Stat.§ 84-2.2) It is always safe to file and obtain approvals before launching your website, especially if your business is in a highly regulated industry.