ShivarWeb Privacy Policy

You’re the lucky one!

Actually, you’re one of the knowledgeable minority on the internet who understands the nature and importance of privacy and online data.

But did you know that a privacy page can be more than a legal protection for business and consumers? Yep, here’s why…

Why Have A Privacy Page?

• Google Legitimacy. Sure, it’s not as important as keywords, relevance, and links, but Google loves legit websites. Privacy policies – simply the existence of one – is a signal that you are legitimate and transparent. And Google can reward you – with a higher ranking ($$$).
• Customer Legitimacy. Not many people look at privacy policies – but we sort of know that a website should have one – after all, if a retail business isn’t making a profit, it can be tempting to resell customer emails. A privacy policy helps a business look and feel better in the subconscious of a customer.
• Business Protection. Lawsuits. Enough said. If you do something with an email address (ever heard of CAN-SPAM Act?) that you’re not supposed to – and didn’t spell out somewhere – you could be up the creek. The GDPR applies worldwide to any website that has visitors from the EU. A privacy policy is easy to put up and sends a signal to the lawyers that you tried.
• Sales. Yes, customers want a personal connection. Privacy policies can have the boilerplate language, but can also help establish trust…which is key to any sale.

Our Plain Language Privacy Policy

Even though I have preached the gospel of more data, for this site, I minimize as much data collection as possible – and attempt to collect zero Personal Identifiable Information (PII) that would otherwise require explicit consent under the GDPR.

I use Google Analytics with anonymized IP addresses and aggregated reports turned on. I do not use User ID view or Advertising Features that would collect PII.

I use Google AdWords and Bing Ads to promote my website, but I do not use their products to advertise to my readers on this website. I use their conversion tags see how visits arriving via those ads convert.

When you sign up for the regular newsletter, MailChimp stores your email information. The unsubscribe is encouraged and I regularly delete inactive readers from the database. It preserves your privacy and my newsletter bill (which is based on # of subscribers). I don’t use those emails for anything other than the email newsletter.

I see email addresses and names that come via my Contact Form. That information sits in my email inbox, which is maintained & secured by Google Apps for Business. I don’t use that information for anything other than responding.

I have removed Facebooks’s Ad Pixel completely from the website. I have also removed Twitter’s, Pinterest’s, LinkedIn’s, Quora’s audience tags. In addition to being too creepy for me, they are pretty bad about privacy and performance. I like all of their ad platforms – but I’ve found that interest and intent based ads do better (and feel like icky) than remarketing ads.

The Internet is a wild and wonderful place.I think there has to be a way to have relevance without the creepiness, garish interruptions or cookie consent banners littered everywhere. I’m trying to run my website the way I’d like all websites to run.  Obviously that has evolved as we’ve learned the benefits and consequences of all our shiny new digital tools.

If you have any questions, concerns or ideas – let me know!

Our Actual Privacy Policy

All the legal info can be found at this link:
Privacy Policy

• I do not share your personal information (ie, emails, IP Addresses, etc). Any information that goes to 3rd parties – ie, Google Analytics, Facebook, etc is aggregated based on their privacy policies.
• I use cookies and analytics to improve your experience, but do not require cookies for access to the site.
• I value your privacy. Seriously. Of all the millions of marketing blogs, I’m flattered you’re here reading. That’s too cool to risk for some annoying short term gain.
• We do everything we can to protect your information, but, like any service online, we can’t be airtight. For example, we use Gmail for correspondence with appropriate security practices, but we can’t help it if Gmail crashes or the Chinese government hacks their servers. But we do try our best.
• Questions? Please contact us!
• Also explore our Terms, Conditions & Policies page here.