Privacy policy

How we handle your information

Effective [DATE]. Last updated [DATE].

Main Street Marketing builds websites for small businesses. This policy explains what information we collect through this website and our services, why we collect it, who helps us handle it, and the choices you have. We’ve tried to write it in plain English. If anything is unclear, email us.

In this policy, “Main Street Marketing,” “we,” “us,” and “our” mean [LEGAL BUSINESS NAME], [STATE] [ENTITY TYPE, e.g. limited liability company]. “You” means anyone who visits our website or uses our services.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

• When you start your website: your name, business name, email address, and phone number.
• When you pay: payment is handled by Stripe. Stripe collects your card details and billing information directly. Stripe keeps your card on file for your monthly hosting plan. We receive confirmation of your payment, the amount, and your name and email, but we never see or store your full card number.
• In our onboarding questionnaire: information about your business that we need to build your website. This can include your business address, hours, services, pricing, customers, reviews, testimonials, credentials, brand colors and fonts, details about you and your team, the tools your website connects to, and your domain. It also includes any files you upload, such as your logo, photos, and brand guidelines.
• When you contact us: anything you include in an email, call, or message.

Please only share information about other people, such as team members or customers quoted in testimonials, if you have their permission to do so. Please don’t send passwords through our website or questionnaire. When we need access to an account, we’ll arrange it separately and securely.

Information collected automatically

Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically records basic technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request, and the date and time. We use it to keep the site running, secure, and free of abuse. We also use Vercel Web Analytics to count visits and see which pages people view. It doesn’t use cookies or identify you personally, and we remove private parts of web addresses, such as your questionnaire link, before anything is counted.

Voice answers

Our questionnaire offers an optional “Speak your answer” button. It uses the speech-to-text service built into your web browser. Your browser’s provider (for example, Google for Chrome or Apple for Safari) processes the audio to turn it into text under its own privacy policy. We receive only the resulting text, never the recording.

2. How we use your information

• To plan, write, design, build, launch, host, and maintain your website.
• To process your payment and keep records of it.
• To communicate with you about your project, including your private questionnaire link and reminders to finish it.
• To follow up if you start checkout but don’t finish, and to send occasional marketing emails, which you can unsubscribe from at any time (see Emails from us).
• To answer your questions and provide support.
• To protect our website and business from fraud, spam, and abuse.
• To meet our legal, tax, and accounting obligations.

We may use tools, including artificial intelligence tools, to help us organize your onboarding answers and draft website content. [Attorney: confirm disclosure of AI-assisted processing and the vendors used.] A person on our team reviews the work, and we don’t use your information to train public AI models.

3. Who we share it with

We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share it only with service providers who help us run our business, and only as needed for them to do that work:

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a sale, merger, or transfer of our business, in which case this policy would continue to apply.

Information you provide for your website, such as your business address, hours, team bios, photos, and testimonials, will appear publicly on your website once you approve it and it launches.

4. Emails from us

We send two kinds of email. Project emails are about work you’ve bought, like your questionnaire link, reminders to finish it, and updates on your website. Marketing emails include follow-ups if you start checkout but don’t finish, and occasional news. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link. You can unsubscribe at any time and still receive project emails while we’re working together.

5. Cookies and your browser

We don’t use advertising cookies. Our site uses your browser’s local storage for two conveniences: remembering the details you entered when you started checkout, so you don’t have to type them twice, and keeping a backup copy of your questionnaire answers on your device, so nothing is lost if your connection drops. This information stays in your browser. You can clear it at any time through your browser settings. Stripe may use its own cookies on the checkout form to process payments and prevent fraud.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as we’re working together and for as long as your website is hosted with us, plus [PERIOD, e.g. three years] afterward, unless you ask us to delete it sooner or the law requires us to keep it longer (for example, payment and tax records). If you start checkout but don’t buy, we keep your contact details for up to [PERIOD, e.g. 24 months] or until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them.

7. Your choices and rights

You can ask us to:

• Tell you what personal information we have about you, and give you a copy.
• Correct information that’s wrong.
• Delete your information, unless we need to keep it to finish your project, meet a legal obligation, or resolve a dispute.
• Stop sending you marketing emails.

To make a request, email darrell@mainstreetmarketing.com. We may need to confirm your identity first. We’ll respond within [30] days. Depending on where you live, including California and other U.S. states with privacy laws, you may have additional rights, and you won’t be treated differently for using them. [Attorney: confirm which state laws apply given business size and revenue.]

8. Security

We use reputable providers, secure (HTTPS) connections, private links for each client’s questionnaire, and limited access to your information. No system is perfectly secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach that affects your information, we’ll notify you as the law requires.

9. Children

Our website and services are for businesses and adults. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we’ll change the “Last updated” date above. If a change is significant, we’ll let current clients know by email.

11. Contact us