WordPress reseller hosting themes and the GDPR
May 25 is just a few days away, so we want to make sure that all our partners learn about what the GDPR is and how it will affect them and their customers.
We’ve already published a detailed review about the new GDPR rules and some of the actions we have undertaken in this respect.
If you have missed it, we suggest that you read it before you continue with this post.
Today, we will focus solely on our reseller hosting themes and what you can do to make them GDPR-compliant.
What makes our reseller hosting themes different?
Our WordPress reseller hosting themes‘ popularity has been growing steadily since they first debuted.
What’s more, a new one is being activated each day. They come preloaded with content and offer a great degree of customization.
However, what makes them different from our Store Master template is that they are not under our control.
Each Store Master template is located on a special server, optimized just for them.
This gives us the chance to issue updates and improvements quickly and efficiently across the board to all Store Master templates.
The WordPress reseller hosting themes do not operate in such a way – they can be downloaded and hosted on any server on the planet.
And once they’ve been downloaded, customers can do pretty much anything they like – they can change the text, add or remove pages or overhaul the whole design.
And because this is exactly how they are supposed to work, the resellers who are using them will be in charge of implementing all GDPR-required changes on their own.
Be that as it may, we have prepared several tips on the subject.
We’ve got the order form covered
Each WordPress theme-integrated order form works as an add-on.
This means that it’s not actually hosted with the rest of the site.
This allows us to make changes and to push them to all the stores without a problem.
On the order form, we have linked all the necessary policies.
Customers cannot create an account without having explicitly agreed to these policies.
This will pretty much do the heavy lifting for any aspiring GDPR compliance seeker.
Make sure the Privacy Policy is visible
This one is a quick change to the menus. Simply add the Privacy Policy to any menu you want. You don’t have to edit the text of the actual policy, as it’s provided by us dynamically.
Add a cookie notice
The European Commission considers cookies as personal data, so it’s basically up to the website owners themselves to let their customers know that they will start collecting them.
You can add a custom notice about the presence of cookies on your website, or you can get a custom solution.
There are standalone services such as Cookiebot.com, which can display a customizable notice about the cookie collection on your website.
Some WordPress plugins also offer this functionality. Notable examples include Cookie Notice by dFactory and GDPR .
Do you also run a WordPress store-attached blog?
If you do, and if you allow comments, then you will most likely be collecting personal data.
You can learn more about user rights under the GDPR here:
However, WordPress version 4.9.6, which was released on the 17th of May will tackle a lot of the GDPR stuff for you – it will give you the tools to respond to User Access Requests and will make the default comment forms GDPR-compliant.
You can learn more about what is new in WordPress 4.9.6 here:
https://wordpress.org/news/2018/05/wordpress-4-9-6-privacy-and-maintenance-release/.
Our advice? Upgrade to WordPress 4.9.6 as soon as possible.
We are here if you have any questions
Over the last months, our team has been working very hard on the GDPR compliance ‘casus’.
We have amassed a great deal of knowledge on the subject, so if you have any GDPR-connected questions, feel free to contact us.
Originally published Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018 at 12:48 pm, updated August 23, 2018 and is filed under Reseller Hosting Themes.