I Am Not Tracking You

There are a lot of ways that websites can track you and I am opting out of all of them. Ultimately I don’t think most people care too much if the websites they are using spy on them, but they would probably prefer that websites do not track them. I am consciously not putting those things in out of an effort to treat people with respect and care. It is also an attempt to not look at what is engaging and to focus on being authentic.

I don’t think people really understand all the ways they are being tracked. First, websites can, if they want, see what website you are coming from and your IP address (which lets them infer where you are probably located). There are cookies we can put on your computer which can gather a lot more information about you, including which other websites you are visiting. Cookies are not all bad, if the user is respected. I only have them to tell if you are logged into the site or not, but I don’t store or see anything based on those cookies.

Emails can be pretty nefarious as well. Emails can put small invisible trackers that can tell if you opened the email or not; a way to measure engagement. They can also put special links that will show if you clicked any link. I opt out of all of those.

Some companies also will do heat tracking on their websites to see which content you are looking at and for how long. They can tell if you almost clicked a button, or that you typed something even though you didn't comment or post. The list goes on and on...

It would be smarter from a business perspective to include all that digital spying on my visitors. I could see what content and products are engaging, where people are coming from, and what hangups stall the sales process. I don’t want to do that. The main driver is respect for people who are taking time out of their schedule to see what I am putting out into the world. I also don’t want to become obsessed with what sells. I want to be authentic with everyone who wants to engage with my content. It feels dishonest to craft messages and products so that I can get the most engagement instead of just putting out posts and products that come from the heart.