If you haven\u2019t heard, there was a massive security breach at the world’s largest email marketing company<\/a> last week that has a lot of people upset. Obviously, having your data stolen sucks, and you have to assure people through your policies and procedures that their information is protected when doing business with you.<\/p>\n

Confidence factors<\/strong><\/p>\n

I talk about confidence factors a lot when it comes to establishing trust with your clients or customers by promoting your longevity, the associations or councils you belong to and awards you have won by your peers in your industry. But you also have to have a confidence factor on your site if you want people to contact you in the first place.<\/p>\n

Have an Email Privacy Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

On any post page on my site you will see a box at the end of the post promoting a free weekly newsletter. The newsletter can be anything from links or stories I found interesting on the week that week to me re-loading older posts that I think you should either read for the first time if you are new here, or re-read just to freshen up a bit.<\/p>\n

But at the end of that box, just below the spaces where I ask for your name and email address, there is a privacy policy notice. Now, I use a service provided by AWeber to care for my email marketing, and if you click that link, this is part of what you will see:<\/p>\n

This website belongs to someone who uses AWeber to responsibly manage their email marketing<\/a> campaign<\/p>\n

\n
• They will send you email if you give them permission<\/strong> to do so (by subscribing to their mailing list). They will respect your permission.<\/strong><\/li>\n
• They will only send you email that is related to what you subscribed to<\/strong> and why you subscribed.<\/li>\n
• They will abide by AWeber’s anti-spam rules and anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM.<\/li>\n
• You can unsubscribe whenever you want<\/strong> with a click of your mouse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  If you want to read the rest of it, you can go here.<\/a><\/p>\n

  The point is you know that I am going to treat your email as if it were my Mom\u2019s. I am not going to send you spam, I am not going to abuse you with solicitations, and if you do, you can report me to AWeber, who believe me will have no problem pulling the plug on my account.<\/p>\n

  I hope you trust me\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

  The point is, by showing you that I mean no ill will towards your email address, you are more likely to subscribe, which allows you and I to communicate on a different level than you just reading posts here on the blog.<\/p>\n

  Action item\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

  So, if you have a contact form \u2013 and you better, get yourself an email privacy policy and place it close to the form and let people know how you are going to treat their information. And no, you cannot guarantee that someone isn\u2019t going to break in to your provider\u2019s servers and jack their info, but most of the time people are more worried about what you are going to do or who you are going to sell it to than they are of anything else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  If you haven\u2019t heard, there was a massive security breach at the world’s largest email marketing company last week that has a lot of people upset. Obviously, having your data stolen sucks, and you have to assure people through your policies and procedures that their information is protected when doing business with you. Confidence factors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[31],"class_list":{"0":"post-2480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-contractor-marketing","7":"tag-email-marketing","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n