Overview

We will always do our best to fulfill your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it’s best to have a few things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and what happens if stuff goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. We do want what’s best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.

What do both parties agree to do?

You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organization. You’ll give us the assets and information we tell you we need to complete the project. You’ll do this when we ask and provide it in the formats we ask for. You’ll review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by dates we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule in your proposal.

Us: We have the experience and ability to do everything we’ve agreed with you and we’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. We’ll endeavor to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that we’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.

SERVICES

Logo Design

Files & Format: All logos will be designed in CMYK color format, suitable for commercial printing. Web version of the logo will be provided in RGB color format, suitable for online display. After the final logo design is approved we will deliver the logo design to you as digital files, including the original layered design files.

Archives: The design files are important so be sure you store them in a safe place where you can easily access them in the future. We recommend backing them up to the cloud for extra peace of mind. We are not responsible for archiving or backing up your design files.

Logo Disclaimers: We have no obligation or duty to perform trademark, service mark or copyright searches or inquiries, or the like, in order to validate the propriety or legality of the final Logo Design. You are encouraged to perform your own independent searches with regard to the Logo Design. You understand that it is your obligation alone to copyright the logo design and/or seek trademark protection to the extent you deem appropriate and/or necessary.

No Obligation to Back-Up: We have the right, but not the obligation, to backup or archive your design files before delivery or in the event of cancellation. We do not maintain archives of completed projects. It is your responsibility to store your digital files.

Web Design

Text content: Any text you provide us must be spell checked, final draft, word doc format and ready for the world to see.

Graphics and photographs: You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. All images we provide will be sourced from our stock libraries.

Development: We build websites using the open source software WordPress, developed from HTML markup, PHP templates, CSS stylesheets for styling and unobtrusive JavaScript for feature detection, poly-fills and behaviors.

Browser testing: Browser testing no longer means attempting to make a website look the same in browsers of different capabilities or on devices with different size screens. It does mean ensuring that a person’s experience of a design should be appropriate to the capabilities of a browser or device. We test our work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge), and Mozilla Firefox. We won’t test in other older browsers unless we agreed separately. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, we can provide a separate estimate for that.

Reasonable Expectations: We strive toward providing Services that meet your expectations. However, we do not guarantee expectations will be met if requests are unreasonable or unable to be completed within the scope of the Service.

Your Delay: Our completion of the Services depends upon your timely feedback and approval. We are not responsible for additional fees, time, or expenses incurred because of delays caused by your lack of or untimely response, feedback or approval, including your failure to initiate the design process. Website completion delayed more than 30 days due to client delays will be charged a monthly maintenance fee of $195 per month until the project is completed. The maintenance fee will cover hosting and continued support until the project is completed.

No Obligation to Back-Up: We have the right, but not the obligation, to backup or archive your design files before delivery or in the event of cancellation. We do not maintain archives of completed projects. It is your responsibility to store your digital files.

Revisions: Any revisions beyond the revisions included in your Statement of Work will be considered a new project and will require a separate quote.

Photo manipulation: Photo manipulation services, such as cutting the image out from the background, adding shadows, cleaning up the image from dust and scratches, making images a uniform size, and adjusting levels/brightness to match are not included in the scope of work but may be purchased as an add-on. The following photo manipulation services are not available, even as add-ons: color correction or making a low-resolution image a higher resolution.

Security of Account: Unless you have an active maintenance plan with us, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account. You are also solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your account, whether authorized by you or not. You must keep your account information and passwords secure. We expressly disclaim any responsibility or liability for any unauthorized use of or access to your account.

Plug-ins/Add-ons: We are not responsible for the maintenance on any WordPress third-party add-ons or plug-ins added to your website during or after initial build. Some feature functionality requests may require paid plug-ins that the customer must purchase, and require additional support to install and set up. You are solely responsible for ensuring your add-ons or plug-ins remain current and are functional.

Website Downtime: We are not responsible for website downtime arising from the WordPress software or any Plugins.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO Services: may include, but are not limited to: Researching keywords and phrases to select appropriate, relevant search terms. Obtaining “back links” from other websites and directories in order to generate link popularity and traffic. Editing and/or optimization of text for various html tags, meta data, page titles, and page text as necessary. Analysis and recommendations on optimal website structure, navigation, code, etc. for best SEO purposes.

No guarantees: You are paying for our time, resources, and expertise. We cannot promise specific rankings or other results. Also, Google and the other search engines change constantly and behave in ways we cannot predict. Working with us long-term is the best way to meet your goals, but it’s never a bad idea to expect the unexpected.

Some assistance required: Some steps may require your personal involvement, or at least communication with us. For example, if we do email-outreach for a link opportunity that involves sponsoring a cause, we’ll need your permission before pursuing it, and we’ll need access to an email address on your domain. It’s fine if you don’t have time to communicate with us personally, but in that case you’ll need to pair us with another decision-maker in your firm.

Search engine policies: We have no control over the policies of search engines with respect to the type of sites and/or content that they accept now or in the future. Your website may be excluded from any directory or search engine at any time at the sole discretion of the search engine or directory. Google has been known to hinder the rankings of websites or pages based on automated and/or manual review penalties for violating webmaster guidelines. We do our best to follow webmaster guidelines and inform you of the risks associated with tactics we implement, however, these guidelines are subject to change at the sole discretion of Google and are outside of our control. We assume no liability for ranking/traffic/indexing issues related to Google penalties or guideline violations.

Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

Account ownership: If you paid a setup fee for your adwords account build then you own the account and will retain ownership of the entire account even if you cancel our services. If you did not pay a setup fee for the account, then we will retain ownership of the account in the event services are canceled.

Payments to google: You will pay all costs for Google Ad traffic directly to Google. Our management fee will be billed separately, and in addition to your expenses for the ads.

Changes by google: Google has been known to make changes to the Google Ad system that may affect your accounts performance. We will do our best to keep you informed of any updates and how they may affect your account but we are not responsible for changes by Google.

Google Ads guidelines: You acknowledge and agree to Google Ads Terms and Conditions

Social Media Management

Account access: In order for Social Media Management to be effective, we must have social media account credentials and access in order to make on-site changes. You agree to grant us permission to post on your behalf on your profiles and website, for Social Media Management purposes.

Account ownership: You own the social media accounts that are created for or on behalf of your organization, even if we created the accounts.

Email Marketing

Anti-Spam Policy: You may not use our services to send unsolicited email messages (aka “spam”). All messages sent must be in compliance with CAN-SPAM.

Provider terms: We use 3rd party email marketing providers to send email messages. You will be subject to their Terms and Conditions as well as ours.

3rd party fees: You will be responsible for any fees associated with use of the 3rd party email marketing providers software and service.

Hosting

Data Center Terms: We have partnered with LiquidWeb to provide hosting services. You will be subject to their terms and conditions as well as ours. For more information visit LiquidWeb.

Backups: We store weekly cloud backups of all databases and website files on Amazon S3 and retain backups for a period of 90 days.

LEGAL

We’ll carry out our work in accordance with good industry practice and at the standard expected from a suitably qualified person with relevant experience.

That said, we can’t guarantee that our work will be error-free and so we can’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised us of them.

Your liability to us will also be limited to the amount of fees payable under this contract and you won’t be liable to us or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if we’ve advised you of them.

Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of Orange County, California courts.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Just to be clear, “Intellectual property rights” means all patents, rights to inventions, copyright (including rights in software) and related rights, trademarks, service marks, get up and trade names, internet domain names, rights to goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or shall subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you have permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to us, you agree to protect us from any claim by a third party that we’re using their intellectual property.

We guarantee that all elements of the work we deliver to you are either owned by us or we’ve obtained permission to provide them to you. When we provide text, images or other artwork to you, we agree to protect you from any claim by a third party that you’re using their intellectual property. Provided you’ve paid for the work and that this contract hasn’t been terminated, we’ll assign all intellectual property rights to you as follows:

You’ll own the logo or website we design for you plus the visual elements that we create for it. We’ll give you source files and finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, site specification and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.

We’ll own any intellectual property rights we’ve developed prior to, or developed separately from this project and not paid for by you. We’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise.

Displaying our work: We love to show off our work, so we reserve the right to display all aspects of our creative work, including sketches, work-in-progress designs and the completed project on our portfolio and in articles on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

PAYMENTS AND CANCELLATION

Refund Policy: We are not obligated to provide you a refund at any time. If you choose to cancel your project, or service during your subscription term, you will not be refunded in whole or in part. If you choose to downgrade your service level during your subscription term, you may be entitled to pay a lower, pro-rated amount at renewal, but you are not entitled to a cash refund at any time.

Month-to-month services: Your payments will be automatically charged to your credit card each month. You can cancel the month-to-month service at any time as long as you give us 14 days notice by email.

Promotional Pricing: If for any reason service is canceled prior to fulfilling the agreement specified for promotional pricing, you agree to pay the difference between the non-promotional price and the discounted price already paid for services rendered.

Electronic billing: We handle all invoicing and billing electronically. Invoices and receipts are delivered by email, and we accept all major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, and even American Express. We do not accept physical checks as payment.

Additional fees: Customer agrees any changes, modifications, updates, and optimization alterations that exceed the scope of the project will be subject to additional fees. Any additional costs will be quoted separately and must be agreed upon in writing before work is completed.