Website Compliance Services
Most business websites have compliance issues they do not know about — ADA accessibility violations, missing privacy policies, no cookie consent, CCPA gaps. Clearwell audits, fixes, and maintains website compliance so your business is protected and your site meets current legal and accessibility standards.
Website Compliance Services
Most business websites are out of compliance in at least one area — ADA accessibility, CCPA privacy requirements, cookie consent, or outdated legal documents. Most business owners do not know until they receive a demand letter. Clearwell audits your site, identifies every compliance gap, and fixes it before it becomes a problem.
- ADA and WCAG Accessibility Compliance
- CCPA and GDPR Privacy Compliance
- Cookie Consent Management
- Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
- Ongoing Compliance Monitoring
- eCommerce Compliance
Most Websites Are Out of Compliance and Most Owners Do Not Know It
Website compliance is one of those things that feels abstract until it is not. Then it feels like a demand letter from an ADA plaintiff's attorney, a complaint filed with the California Attorney General, or a customer asking why your site is dropping tracking cookies without their consent.
ADA accessibility lawsuits against websites have increased significantly year over year. California's CCPA gives consumers the right to know what data you are collecting and to opt out — and the enforcement activity has been real. GDPR applies to any business whose website is accessible to EU users regardless of where the business is located. Cookie consent requirements have teeth in California and Europe that most small business owners are not aware of.
None of this requires bad intent to trigger. Most compliance violations are not deliberate — they are the result of a website that was built without compliance in mind, which describes the overwhelming majority of small business websites built in the last decade.
The cost of fixing compliance issues proactively is a fraction of the cost of responding to a demand letter, a regulatory complaint, or a lawsuit.
What Clearwell's Website Compliance Services Cover
Every compliance engagement starts with a comprehensive audit across every compliance area — identifying every gap, every risk, and every fix required before any work begins.
Compliance Audit
A complete review of your website across every compliance dimension — ADA accessibility, CCPA and GDPR privacy requirements, cookie consent implementation, legal document completeness, and eCommerce-specific compliance where applicable. Every gap is identified, documented, and prioritized by risk level. The audit report gives you a clear picture of exactly where you stand and exactly what needs to be fixed.
ADA and WCAG Accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act has been interpreted by courts to apply to websites — and demand letters targeting non-accessible sites have become a significant legal risk for businesses of every size. We audit your site against WCAG 2.1 guidelines — the accessibility standard courts and regulators reference — identify every violation, and implement the fixes that bring your site into compliance. This includes image alt text, keyboard navigation, color contrast, form labeling, screen reader compatibility, and the full range of accessibility requirements.
CCPA Compliance
California's Consumer Privacy Act gives California residents specific rights regarding their personal data — the right to know what is collected, the right to opt out of sale, the right to deletion, and the right to non-discrimination for exercising those rights. We audit your site for CCPA compliance, implement the required disclosures and opt-out mechanisms, update your privacy policy to meet CCPA requirements, and configure your data collection practices to align with what the law requires.
GDPR Compliance
If your website is accessible to users in the European Union — which means virtually every website — GDPR applies. We audit your site for GDPR compliance, implement the required consent mechanisms for data collection, configure your cookie consent to meet GDPR standards, and ensure your privacy policy covers the required GDPR disclosures. GDPR enforcement has produced significant fines against businesses of all sizes and the "we did not know it applied to us" defense has not held up.
Cookie Consent Management
Most websites drop cookies — analytics cookies, advertising pixels, session cookies — without properly disclosing this to visitors or obtaining consent where required. We implement a cookie consent management platform that automatically categorizes cookies by type, presents visitors with a compliant consent banner, records consent, and blocks non-essential cookies until consent is given. We configure this to meet CCPA and GDPR requirements simultaneously.
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
Your privacy policy needs to accurately disclose what data you collect, how you use it, how you share it, and what rights visitors have. Generic template policies that do not reflect your actual data practices create their own compliance risk. We develop privacy policies and terms of service documents specific to your business and your actual data collection practices — covering the disclosures required by CCPA, GDPR, and general best practice standards.
eCommerce Compliance
eCommerce sites have additional compliance requirements — payment processing disclosures, refund and return policy requirements, subscription billing disclosures, and the specific data handling obligations that come with storing customer payment and personal information. We audit eCommerce sites against these additional requirements and implement the fixes that address the gaps.
Ongoing Compliance Monitoring
Compliance is not a one-time fix. Regulations evolve, your website changes, new cookies get added by plugins and marketing tools, and the compliance landscape shifts. We offer ongoing compliance monitoring that keeps your site current — quarterly audits, policy updates when regulations change, monitoring for new compliance gaps introduced by site updates, and the continuous maintenance that keeps your protection in place over time.
Why This Is Worth Taking Seriously
ADA website accessibility lawsuits are not theoretical. Serial plaintiffs and plaintiff's law firms have industrialized the process of identifying non-accessible websites and sending demand letters — often targeting small businesses specifically because they are less likely to have legal counsel actively monitoring compliance. Settlement demands typically range from $5,000 to $25,000 for a first demand letter. The cost of fixing the accessibility issues in the first place is a fraction of that.
CCPA enforcement is active. The California Privacy Protection Agency has enforcement authority and has pursued cases against businesses for violations including inadequate privacy disclosures, missing opt-out mechanisms, and non-compliant data practices. CCPA applies to any for-profit business doing business in California that meets relatively modest thresholds — most businesses serving California customers qualify.
GDPR fines are calculated as a percentage of global annual revenue — not a fixed amount — which means exposure scales with business size. The regulation has been enforced against businesses of every size including small businesses that assumed it only applied to large corporations.
None of this is meant to create panic. It is meant to provide an accurate picture of why compliance is a real business risk rather than a bureaucratic formality — and why addressing it proactively costs significantly less than responding to it reactively.
Website Compliance Services Are Right for You If...
- Your website was built without compliance in mind and has never been audited for ADA accessibility or privacy requirements
- You're collecting visitor data through forms, analytics, or advertising pixels without a compliant privacy policy or cookie consent mechanism
- You serve California customers and have not implemented CCPA-required disclosures and opt-out mechanisms
- You have received a demand letter or compliance inquiry and need to address the issues quickly and correctly
- You operate an e-commerce store collecting customer payment and personal information without complete compliance documentation
- You want to address compliance proactively rather than wait until a complaint or demand forces the issue
- You're thinking about building a new website or rebuilding your existing website and want to build in compliance properly from the start
Frequently Asked Questions - Website Compliance
Courts have consistently held that websites are places of public accommodation under the ADA — meaning the same accessibility obligations that apply to physical locations apply to websites. The enforcement mechanism is primarily civil litigation and demand letters rather than government enforcement, and the volume of website accessibility lawsuits has increased significantly. Small businesses are frequently targeted because they are less likely to have compliance programs in place. The short answer is yes it applies and the practical risk is real.
CCPA applies to for-profit businesses that do business in California and meet one or more of three thresholds — annual gross revenue over $25 million, buying or selling personal information of 100,000 or more California consumers or households annually, or deriving 50 percent or more of annual revenue from selling California consumers' personal information. If you serve California customers and are growing toward any of those thresholds compliance is worth addressing now rather than after you cross them.
Yes — GDPR applies to any business that processes the personal data of EU residents regardless of where the business is located. If your website is accessible to EU users and you collect any data from those users — analytics, form submissions, cookies — GDPR applies. The "we are a US company" position has not protected businesses from GDPR enforcement.
A cookie consent banner is the notification that appears when someone visits your website informing them that the site uses cookies and giving them the option to accept or decline non-essential cookies. GDPR requires explicit consent before dropping non-essential cookies on EU visitors. CCPA requires disclosure of data collection and an opt-out mechanism for California visitors. If your site drops any cookies beyond strictly necessary session cookies — which includes Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and most marketing tools — you need a compliant consent mechanism.
A compliance audit typically takes one to two weeks. Implementation of the required fixes — accessibility remediation, cookie consent setup, privacy policy development, CCPA opt-out mechanism — typically takes two to four additional weeks depending on the number and complexity of the issues identified. Ongoing monitoring is configured after the initial fixes are complete and runs continuously.
Compliance engagement investment varies based on the size and complexity of your website, the number of compliance areas requiring attention, and whether ongoing monitoring is included. We scope every engagement after the initial audit so you know exactly what is required before committing to the full remediation. Book a free compliance audit to get a clear picture of where your site stands and what fixing it would involve.
Find Out Where Your Site Stands Before Someone Else Does
Most compliance issues are invisible until they produce a demand letter or a complaint. A compliance audit costs a fraction of what responding to either one does. Book a free audit and find out exactly where your website stands.
