Iubenda

Setting Up a Privacy-Compliant Blog with Ghost.org on unRAID

Christian Rauchenwald

Christian Rauchenwald

— 3 min read
Setting Up a Privacy-Compliant Blog with Ghost.org on unRAID
Photo by Marija Zaric / Unsplash

Launching a blog has never been easier, especially when using powerful tools like Ghost.org on a self-hosted unRAID system. As I embarked on my blogging journey, I quickly realized that while creating and publishing content is crucial, ensuring my blog's compliance with global privacy laws and regulations was equally important.

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The Ease of Setting Up Ghost on unRAID

For those unfamiliar, Ghost.org is an open-source platform that makes setting up a blog a breeze. Paired with unRAID's Docker container support, I got my blog up and running quickly using a custom domain registered with CloudFlare. The process was smooth, and I had my blog live quickly.

While I'll probably also publish a post that focuses on the exact steps needed to set up Ghost.org on unRAID in the future, in this post, I'd like to focus on ensuring the legal compliance of your Ghost.org blog once it's up and running.

Prioritizing Privacy Compliance

Once the blog was live, my immediate focus shifted to compliance. In today's digital landscape, compliance with privacy laws like the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the U.S., and others is non-negotiable. To ensure my blog met these requirements, I turned to Iubenda, a service specializing in creating and managing privacy and cookie policies tailored to various legal frameworks worldwide.

I signed up for Iubenda’s comprehensive Privacy and Cookie solution, which was incredibly straightforward to integrate into my Ghost blog. Iubenda offers a dynamic embedding solution that allows me to create dedicated Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy pages effortlessly. Using their tools, I embedded the necessary documents directly onto these pages, ensuring they would automatically update as laws evolve. This means my policies are always up-to-date without any manual intervention.

Here’s how I did it:

  • Cookie Notice: I followed the steps in Iubenda to configure which services are used and integrated the Cookie Notice popup and Privacy Controls by copying the JavaScript snipped Iubenda provided me with using the "Code Injection" feature within Ghost's admin panel.
  • Privacy Policy Page: I created a new page on my blog titled "Privacy Policy" and embedded Iubenda's dynamic Privacy Policy document.
  • Cookie Policy Page: Similarly, I created a "Cookie Policy" page and embedded the relevant Iubenda document.

The process was straightforward, and Iubenda’s comprehensive guides, that you can find at https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/216-privacy-policy-standard-embedding, made it easy to implement.

Adding Google Analytics 4 and Updating Policies

To better understand how my blog is performing, I integrated Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Tracking visitor behavior is crucial for improving content and optimizing user experience. However, integrating a tool like GA4 requires updating privacy and cookie policies to reflect the data collection practices.

Thankfully, Iubenda made this process seamless. By simply adding "Google Analytics 4" as a service in my Iubenda dashboard, my cookie notice, privacy policy, and cookie policy were automatically updated to include the necessary information regarding data collection and usage by GA4. This not only saved me time but also ensured that I remained compliant with privacy laws while utilizing powerful analytics tools.

The only step I had to perform manually was updating the Google Analytics 4 code snippet to ensure it only executes after visitors agree to measurement.
Still, even for that purpose, Iubenda's extensive documentation and examples at https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/1229-manual-tagging-blocking-cookies#how-to made the whole process a simple exercise in copy & paste.

Conclusion

Launching a blog with Ghost.org on unRAID was a smooth experience, but the real success lies in ensuring that my blog adheres to global privacy standards. With Iubenda, I was able to quickly and efficiently set up dynamic privacy and cookie policies that keep my blog compliant. The ease of integrating Google Analytics 4 into this system further highlights how essential it is to choose the right tools when building a blog today.

For anyone starting their blogging journey, remember that compliance is not an afterthought—it’s a fundamental part of running a successful online platform. By taking the proper steps early on, you can focus on what truly matters: creating great content for your readers.

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