Smokin’ Oaks Contract

Summary:

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

In short

You are hiring us (Miles Franklin) to design and/or develop solutions for a Squarespace website for the estimated total price as outlined in email correspondence and this contract. Written email agreement to the estimate and adding Administrator privileges to your website binds this agreement. Of course, it's a little more complicated, but we'll get to that.

What do both parties agree to do?

As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organization. You agree to provide us with everything that we need to complete the project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, and in the format that we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and sign-off approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you will also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.

We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us and we will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way we will endeavor to meet all the deadlines set but we can't be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off our work on-time at any stage. On top of this we will also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.

Getting down to the nitty gritty

Design

We will create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your web site. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you're not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we have produced until that point and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission us to make further design revisions at the hourly rate set out in our original estimate.

HTML/Javascript/CSS

If the project includes HTML markup, Javascript or CSS, we will develop these using valid techniques. We will test all markup, Javascript and CSS in Squarespace supported browsers.

Squarespace Supported Browsers

Squarespace supports the three most recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari and the most recent version of Internet Explorer for editing your site. Squarespace also support the three most recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer for viewing your site.

The following link will additional details about browser support. https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205815548-Supported-browsers

Text content

We may have written a best-seller but we're not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the original estimate. We'll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you per hour for copy writing or content input.

Photographs

You will supply us photographs either in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs you will be charged per hour.

Changes and revisions

We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don't want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind.

The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the number of hours that we estimate we'll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve. If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won't be a problem. You will be charged the hourly rate set out in the estimate we gave you. Along the way we might ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes.

Technical support

If you do require help with anything beyond the design and development of your site, we'll be happy to help and will charge you per hour.

SEO Services

For the purpose of receiving professional SEO services, you agree to provide the following:

1. Administrative/backend access to the website for analysis of content and structure.

2. Permission to make changes for the purpose of optimization, and to communicate directly with any third parties, e.g., your web designer, if necessary.

3. Unlimited access to existing website traffic statistics for analysis and tracking purposes.

4. An email address for the purposes of requesting links.

5. Authorization to use client pictures, logos, trademarks, web site images, pamphlets, content, etc., for any use as deemed necessary by us for search engine optimization purposes.

6. If your site is lacking in textual content, we can provide recommendations for the purpose of creating additional or richer web pages.

You must acknowledge the following with respect to SEO services:

• All fees, services, documents, recommendations, and reports are confidential.

• SEO is a very time­consuming process. It may take anywhere from 4 months to 6 months to see results depending upon the competition.

• 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.

• Due to the competitiveness of some keywords/phrases, ongoing changes in search engine ranking algorithms, and other competitive factors, we do not guarantee #1 positions or consistent top 10 positions for any particular keyword, phrase, or search term.

• Search engines like Google may hinder the rankings of new websites until they have proved their ability to exist for more than ‘x’ amount of time or have enough back link strength.

• A new website may get temporary boost in ranking for some targeted keywords for few days but then it settles down to its real place. This is known as ‘Google Sandbox’ and it is quite common to happen.

• Search engines can drop rankings for no clear or predictable reason. Often such rankings re­appear without any SEO efforts. A website search engine ranking can fluctuate any day, any time because of on­going changes in the ranking algorithm, SEO efforts made by the competitors or both.

• Some search directories offer expedited listing services for a fee. If you wish to engage in said expedited listing services (e.g., paid directories), you are responsible for all fees for inclusion or expedited service fees. We can offer a list of expedited listing services upon request.

• Linking to “bad neighborhoods” or getting links from “link farms” can seriously damage all SEO efforts. We do not assume liability for your choice to link to or obtain a link from any particular website without prior consultation.

• We are not responsible for you overwriting SEO work.

Legal stuff

We can't guarantee that the functions contained in any web page templates or in a completed website will always 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 arising out of the operation of or inability to operate this web site and any other web pages, even if you have advised us of the possibilities of such damages.

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

Both parties agree to arbitrate any disputes under JAMS rules. Any verdict is final binding and non appealable.

Copyrights

You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the web site are either owned by your good selfs, or that you have permission to use them.

When we receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows:

You own the graphics and other visual elements that we create for you for this project. We will give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them or provide any native source files that we used in making them.

You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them.

We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we  also reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on web sites, in magazine articles and in books about web design and development.

We are sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly.  As we're also sure you'll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.

[Payment is due within 14 days of invoice date]

But where is all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you cannot transfer this contract to anyone else without our permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of California courts. Oh and don't forget those men with big dogs.

The dotted line

Written email agreement to the estimate and adding Administrator privileges to your website binds this agreement.