Privacy and cookies

Who's responsible

Ferguseo Ltd, trading as Ian Ferguson. If you have a question about any of this, email [email protected] and I'll answer it myself.

What the site collects

Visiting. The site is served by Cloudflare, which keeps the standard server logs any host keeps (your IP address and the pages requested) for security. I don't look at them.

Analytics. Google Analytics tells me which pages get read and roughly where visitors come from. It doesn't tell me who you are, and I don't use it for advertising. Alongside the pages, it counts a handful of actions so I can tell which parts of the site are actually useful: a form sent, a tool run or exported, the chat bubble opened, a button or link pressed, a share, and which filters get used on the inspiration board. It records which button, not what you typed: no email addresses, names or anything you entered into a form or a tool. Tap "No thanks" on the banner and all of it stops.

Getting in touch. The contact form asks what you need, your website, name, email, company and anything else you want to add. It goes to my inbox and I use it to reply, nothing else. So I know how you found me, it also includes the page you first landed on, the site or campaign that sent you, the page you were on when you went to get in touch, and the date of your first visit. That note is kept in your own browser and only reaches me if you send the form. If you come back after more than 90 days away, the old note is wiped and a new one started. Tap "No thanks" on the cookie banner and it's deleted and not kept again; the form then only tells me which page it was sent from. Booking a discovery call runs on Google Calendar, and the newsletter signup is Substack's own form, so those two are covered by Google's and Substack's policies as well as this one.

The free tools. When you run a scan, I keep the address you entered, the date, what the scan found and the country it was run from. No IP address and nothing about you. I use it to see how the tools are used and to improve them, and if a scan turns up something worth fixing I might drop the site a note about it. The Dated Content Checker also remembers the URLs you've chosen to ignore, but only in your own browser. The Google penalty check records your answers with no way of linking them to you. If you ask for your results by email, your address is used to send that one email and isn't stored.

Inspiration board alerts. If you ask to hear when new sites land on the inspiration board, I keep your email address, when you signed up and the country you signed up from. You get one email to confirm it was you, then a short note whenever new stores go up, sent from my own Google account. It's separate from the newsletter and I won't add you to anything else. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe; after that your address is only kept so you're not emailed again by mistake, and I'll delete it altogether if you ask.

Submitting your store. If you send me your store for a review, I keep the web address, your email, anything you asked me to look at, when you sent it and the country you sent it from. I use them to record and send your review, and I might feature a pattern from your store on the inspiration board. It doesn't sign you up to anything.

Cookies

Google Analytics is the only thing here that sets cookies. If you'd rather it didn't, tap "No thanks" on the banner: its cookies are removed and it won't load again. ("Whey aye" is Geordie for yes, if you were wondering.) Your choice is remembered in your browser so you're not asked every visit, and you can change it with the "Cookie settings" link in the footer. Apart from the note of how you found the site, described under Getting in touch, nothing else on the site tracks you.

Your rights

You can ask what I hold on you, have it corrected, or have it deleted. Email [email protected] and I'll sort it within a month, usually much sooner. If you're not happy with how I've handled something, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.