What is the GDPR:

The General Data Protection Regulation is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union.

How to prepare your website to follow the guidelines:

First of all, you need to choose a hosting provider who fulfills all requirements regarding the GDPR.

In the second step, you should create your data protection information for your website. Herein you inform the visitors about their rights, your companies details, and contact information, and also all necessary information about how you collect data and how you will use and store them.

In the third step, you will need to implement a cookie plugin that blocks all cookies and gives the visitor the possibility to decide which cookies should be allowed and which not.

What else do you need to know about the GDPR?

In general, the guidelines ask you to collect as little data as possible from your client. This means, just as much data as you will need to offer the service your client wishes to become. Here the status of your client is also decisive.

Besides the rules for your website you also have to write a protocol in which you explain all the steps of your business, when you collect data, what you're planning to do with the data, how long you will store them, and much more.

In daily business, you will share the data of your clients with other service providers like website hosting, email hosting, online calendar, newsletter tool, online shop, other freelancers, etc. To save the rights of your clients you will need to close contracts with your service partners, to make sure, that they also follow the rules of the GDPR.

As this is a very sensitive topic and it's a case-by-case decision we highly recommend you to get detailed information about it and if needed also contact a specialist for it.

Note: This article should give you a first overview and does not have a claim to completeness and does not replace legal advice.