Privacy Policy
Cookie and Privacy Policy Purpose
These policies define internal procedures for data gathering and handling in compliance with GDPR principles.
What are cookies? On my site, I use small text files (cookies) that help me to examine site traffic closely. Your browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer, for example) stores them on your computer, tablet, or mobile device.
They give my website a sort of ‘memory’ to recognise you if you return.
My site has a few different types of cookies that help with various functions. Here’s a list of what they’re called and what they do:
Performance Cookies
These cookies improve the website user experience by enhancing services that help me improve the site’s quality. I use cookies from these services to gather session data, creating things like activity maps or anonymized recordings of visits to identify and address any website or page issues.
For example, I might use performance cookies to track how visitors interact with my site. From the data collected, I might observe that mobile users spend less time on a particular page due to confusion. I can improve that page with this information to make it less complicated.
Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information about your session on my site, including details about your computer, such as the browser or operating system used and its IP address. This helps me create meaningful reports about overall site traffic. An example of this type of service would be Google Analytics.
Based on the anonymous data gathered, I can understand which regions my blogs are most popular in and where they are shared online, such as LinkedIn or Facebook. This helps me tailor the site to suit visitor interests better.
Functionality Cookies
These cookies power the interactive parts of my website. For instance, they might provide information about your visit to determine your location, allowing me to create culturally diverse blogs with appropriate grammar and tonality. They may be persistent, remaining on your computer for an extended period, enabling the website to show content based on previous visits or viewed items. They also help avoid repeatedly asking for information already provided.
Can Cookies Be Blocked?
Yes, they can! And it’s straightforward: just click ‘decline’ when the banner appears.
Instead of detailing how to block cookies here, we’ve compiled helpful instructions sorted by browser:
I hope this addresses some of your cookie-related questions. However, if you have more inquiries, here’s a comprehensive cookie guide.
List of Third-Party Cookies My Website Currently Uses
Below are the third-party cookies my website utilizes. Please note that I am not responsible for the content or privacy policies of these third parties or other sites, so please check them yourself to ensure your satisfaction.
The following third-party cookies are used for analytical and targeting purposes:
Google Analytics
These cookies collect information about my website’s use to create reports and improve the site. The data collected includes the number of visitors, their sources, visited pages, and subscription or order activity. If you prefer not to have your data used by Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. To opt out of Analytics for the web, visit the Google Analytics opt-out page and install the add-on for your browser. Learn more about opting out and installing the browser add-on correctly here.
Substack
I use Substack as a writing platform and connect with subscribers there occasionally. It stores personal data such as your email, name, subscription details, and website purchase activity. You can unsubscribe from my Substack here at any time.
Online shopping and payment services
I use WooCommerce to provide my online shop. Customer card and personal details (name, address, email, phone, card number etc) is never stored on my website. The online shop payment information is handled by a payment gateway service handled by Stripe (see Stripe’s Privacy Center). The payment gateway gives this sensitive information directly to the payment processor. Any options the customers choose to store their payment details are handled directly by these same payment processors, not my website.
Production and supply of physical print media is handled directly by Printful, see here for their data processing terms.
LiteSpeed Cache
This site utilises caching in order to facilitate a faster response time and better user experience. Caching potentially stores a duplicate copy of every web page that is on display on this site. All cache files are temporary, and are never accessed by any third party, except as necessary to obtain technical support from the cache plugin vendor. Cache files expire on a schedule set by the site administrator, but may easily be purged by the admin before their natural expiration, if necessary.
Contact
If you have any questions about privacy concerns please contact me by email: pauline@theselfadvocatingartist.com