Privacy Policy - Midwest Local Business Directory

Privacy Policy for Midwest Local Business Directory

Website: https://midwestlocalbusinessdirectory.com
Email: partners@midwestlocalbusinessdirectory.com

Effective Date: April 7, 2026

Midwest Local Business Directory (“we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the information you provide when using our website, directory, and related services. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when we may share it, and the choices you may have regarding your information.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you visit our website, create an account, submit a listing, claim a listing, contact us, purchase a service, advertise with us, subscribe to communications, or otherwise interact with our website.

This information may include:

Name
Business name
Email address
Phone number
Mailing address
Website URL
Social media links
Payment-related details
Listing details and business content
Any other information you choose to submit

We may also collect technical and usage information automatically, such as:

IP address
Browser type
Device type
Operating system
Referral source
Pages viewed
Date and time of visits
Clickstream and website activity data

2. How We Use Your Information

We may use your information to:

Operate, maintain, and improve our website and directory
Review, publish, edit, or remove listings
Process listing submissions and listing claims
Communicate with you about your account, listing, inquiries, or purchases
Send service notices, approval notices, reminders, invoices, renewal notices, or other administrative messages
Process transactions and payments
Provide customer support
Prevent spam, fraud, abuse, and unauthorized activity
Monitor site performance and user engagement
Comply with legal obligations
Market our services where permitted by law

3. Public Listings

Because Midwest Local Business Directory operates as a business directory, information submitted for a listing may be displayed publicly once approved. This may include business name, phone number, address, website, description, category, business hours, images, logos, service areas, reviews, and other listing-related details you choose to provide.

If you submit, claim, or update a business listing, you understand that approved listing content may become publicly visible on the website and may also be indexed by search engines.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve site functionality, remember preferences, analyze traffic, measure performance, maintain login sessions, and support security and anti-spam tools.

These technologies may be used by WordPress, directory plugins, WooCommerce, analytics tools, payment tools, embedded content providers, anti-spam tools, map providers, review plugins, advertising tools, and other third-party services we use to operate the website.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may affect site functionality.

5. Google Analytics

We may use Google Analytics and related analytics tools to understand how visitors use our website, improve content and performance, and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing and website features.

Google Analytics may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, time spent on pages, traffic sources, and general usage behavior. Google Analytics may use cookies and similar technologies to collect this information.

If required by applicable law, we may use a cookie consent tool or similar mechanism to manage analytics-related consent preferences.

6. Accounts, Listing Submissions, and User Content

If users create accounts, submit listings, claim listings, post content, leave reviews, upload images, or contact us through forms, we may store the information associated with those actions in our website database and related service systems.

We may retain account records, listing submissions, edits, claims, messages, moderation history, review submissions, and related metadata for operational, legal, administrative, and security purposes.

7. Payments and WooCommerce / Stripe

If you purchase listings, upgrades, advertising, featured placements, or other services through our website, payments may be processed by third-party payment processors such as Stripe. We may also use WooCommerce and WooCommerce-related extensions to manage products, checkout, payments, customer records, and order information.

We do not generally store full credit card numbers on our website servers. Payment information is typically processed by the applicable payment processor according to its own terms and privacy practices.

We may retain transaction-related information such as:

Billing name
Billing email
Business name
Purchased service
Order details
Transaction amount
Payment status
Transaction reference or partial payment identifiers

This information may be used for accounting, customer service, order management, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and legal compliance.

8. Email Tools and Communications

We may use a variety of email tools and service providers to send and manage emails, including account notifications, listing-related messages, service announcements, invoices, renewal reminders, support replies, promotional emails, and other business communications.

These providers may process personal information such as your name, email address, message content, engagement data, and related metadata in connection with delivering those communications.

You may opt out of promotional emails when such opt-out rights apply, but we may still send transactional or administrative messages related to your account, listing, or purchases.

9. reCAPTCHA, Anti-Spam Tools, Map Embeds, and Review Plugins

We may use Google reCAPTCHA and other anti-spam or security tools to help protect our website from bots, abuse, spam, and fraudulent submissions. These tools may collect technical, behavioral, and device-related information to assess whether an interaction is legitimate.

We may also use map embeds, business location tools, review plugins, and other third-party content or functionality on the website. These services may collect information about your interaction with embedded content or integrated features, including IP address, device data, browser information, and usage activity.

Third-party providers may process this data according to their own privacy policies and terms.

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information with trusted third-party service providers that help us operate the website and related services, such as:

Web hosting providers
Website developers and technical service providers
Analytics providers
Payment processors
Email service providers
Anti-spam and security providers
Map and embedded content providers
Review and directory-related plugin providers
Customer support tools
Legal, accounting, or professional advisors

We may also disclose information:

To comply with legal obligations
To respond to lawful requests
To protect our rights, property, or users
To investigate fraud, abuse, or security issues
In connection with a sale, merger, restructuring, or transfer of some or all of our business assets

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the website, provide our services, maintain records, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and protect our business interests.

Public listing information may remain visible until edited, removed, archived, or otherwise modified by us or an authorized listing owner.

12. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have rights to request access to the personal information we hold about you, request corrections, request deletion, or object to certain uses of your information.

To make a privacy-related request, contact us at:

partners@midwestlocalbusinessdirectory.com

We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

13. Data Security

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Third-Party Websites and Services

Our website may contain links to third-party websites or integrate third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or policies of third-party websites or services. You should review their privacy policies separately.

15. Children’s Privacy

Our website is intended for business and general adult use and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes become effective when posted on this page. Your continued use of the website after changes are posted means you accept the updated policy.

17. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your information, please contact us at:

Midwest Local Business Directory
https://midwestlocalbusinessdirectory.com
partners@midwestlocalbusinessdirectory.com