Terms of Service

Throughout this document, reference is made to our current hourly rate. This rate is defined as our hourly rate that is in place at the time a service is requested, not at the time this agreement is signed. We will provide you with our current hourly rate upon request.hourly rate upon request.

Office phone and email are the primary means of communication accepted for our work together. We do not communicate via mobile phone, text message, social media, or instant/private messaging (like Facebook Messenger) since we cannot track these requests as a team.

Amounts due and unpaid shall bear an interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum. Client agrees to pay all costs of collection, including reasonable attorney’s fees, as additional sums owed under this Agreement. Client further acknowledges and agrees that if a check tendered for payment is not honored by the bank for non-sufficient funds (“NSF”), it will not be re-deposited. If the bank does not clear the check, the Client will incur a fee of $20. The Client must immediately send a certified check or money order for the amount due, including the NSF fee, to the Company to cover returned check.

Unavailability that is a result of scheduled maintenance is excluded from these conditions and will not be considered for service credit calculations. Scheduled maintenance is defined as maintenance that is announced at least 2 days in advance, and does not exceed one hour in any month. Typically, scheduled maintenance occurs in off-peak hours (usually in the early morning).

Service credits will be calculated as a percentage of the bill for the billing cycle that the unavailability occurred. The percentage for the credit will be calculated by dividing the number of minutes of unavailability by the total number of minutes in that billing cycle. THE CUSTOMER MUST REQUEST SERVICE CREDITS WITHIN 7 DAYS OF THE UNAVAILABILITY OCCURRING.

• Website Security - Our lockdown protocol hardens the WordPress system to make it more resistant to the actions of hackers. We employ industry leading security software that actively guards your website against hack attempts at multiple levels in the WordPress system.

• Website Backups - Your website’s files and database will be backed up hourly offsite with the following data retention: Hourly Backups for 1 Day, Daily Backups for 1 Week, Weekly Backups for 1 Month, and Monthly Backups for 1 Year

• Software Updates - Each month, at our discretion, we will apply available updates for the WordPress core software, your theme files, and your plugin files. We perform these updates for the items that appear in the “Updates” area of your WordPress dashboard. We also watch WordPress industry security news and proactively perform these updates more frequently during times of enhanced threat levels.

While it is impossible to guarantee that your site will never be hacked, all of these techniques make your website a more difficult target for hackers. In addition, it is well known that hackers tend to exploit easier targets first – sites without security measures in place. However, in the event that your site is hacked, we will restore it to pre-hack condition at no additional cost either by restoring a site backup or performing a malware cleanup at our discretion. We shall have no other or further liability beyond restoration of the site to the nearest available pre-hack condition.

Restoring Backups

• Should your site become compromised by a hack or if your site becomes inoperable because of user error, we will restore a backup for you.

• If the restorations are the result of a hack, there is no limit to the number of restorations we will perform for you under this service.

• If the restorations are due to user error, we will perform a maximum of 2 restorations in any 30-day period.

• Additional user error-related restorations will be performed at our current hourly rate with a one-hour minimum.

Premium (Paid) Themes and Plugins

• Many websites use themes and/or plugins that require the payment of a recurring license fee to maintain access to ongoing software updates. We have secured appropriate licensing for many of these.

• If we have appropriate licenses for the themes and/or plugins used by your website, the cost for recurring license fees are included in your Website Management Services, and licensing will be maintained for you as long as you are an active subscriber to our Website Management Services.

• If your website uses premium themes and/or plugins and we do not have appropriate licensing, the responsibility is yours for maintaining the appropriate licensing to ensure the availability of updates.

• We will advise you of the themes and/or plugins for which you will need to maintain licensing and assist you as needed in the process of obtaining them.

WE CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR PROBLEMS SUCH AS BUT NOT LIMITED TO HACKS, INOPERABILITY OR INTERCOMPATIBILITY THAT ARISE FROM PREMIUM PLUGINS WHICH YOU CHOOSE NOT TO LICENSE AND ARE OUT OF DATE.

Plugin Compatibility

If an update to a plugin creates conflicts or causes issues with the functionality of your website, we will consult with you to determine the best course of action. Typically, we recommend removing the offending plugin and replacing it with a similar plugin or other programming. If the time required to resolve a plugin compatibility issue exceeds half an hour, additional time will be billable at our current hourly rate.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO INFORM US IF YOUR SITE IS EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS AND NEEDS ATTENTION.

Device Security - Protect any computer or device you control that has access to the website by:

• Installing and maintaining up-to-date security software.

• Using the latest version of your preferred web browser.

• Keeping the operating system updated with recommended patches.

• Regularly updating any other installed software.

Password Protocol

• Use a strong password (as indicated by the WordPress password strength meter) exclusive to your website login.

• Refrain from sending passwords or other sensitive credentials openly via SMS, email, chat programs, or any other unencrypted and exposed methods.

• We strongly recommend utilizing a password manager to ensure you use robust, unique passwords for every site.

You further commit that any employees, contractors, or other parties you grant (or ask us to provide) website access to will adhere to the above security measures.

OUR WEBSITE MANAGEMENT PLANS DO NOT COVER WORK NECESSARY DUE TO ACTIONS PERFORMED BY A THIRD PARTY. SHOULD OUR SERVICES BE NECESSARY DUE TO ANY WORK PERFORMED BY A THIRD PARTY, THESE SERVICES ARE BILLABLE AT OUR CURRENT HOURLY RATE.

THE CLIENT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT IT IS THE CLIENT'S SOLE RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER SUCH PAGES ARE REQUIRED. We have informed you that applicable (state, national, or international) law may require your website to have a Privacy Policy with specific disclosures. We are not lawyers, we do not provide Privacy Policies as a service, and we are not responsible for your business complying with any applicable privacy laws.

It is strongly advised that you consult an attorney to determine your responsibilities in this matter. If you need assistance in linking legal pages, we have a relationship with a third-party Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions generator service called Termageddon, and we can assist you with linking those policies to your website. You are under no obligation to utilize Termageddon, but it is the service that we use on our own website, have a relationship with (we receive a commission fee or can resell their license to you if you decide to purchase), and recommend. Please note, should you choose to use Termageddon’s services, your relationship will be directly with them, governed solely by their Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

If we provide any standardized privacy policies and terms of use, we expressly do not guarantee that this language complies with any governing body’s requirements. YOU ARE HEREBY INFORMED, AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE, THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE ANY STANDARDIZED LANGUAGE REVIEWED BY YOUR ATTORNEY. 

THE CLIENT FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT IT IS THE CLIENT'S SOLE RESPONSIBILITY TO INFORM US IF YOUR WEBSITE MUST BE COMPLIANT WITH ANY REGULATORY BODY, such as but not limited to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA). Compliance with these, or any other regulations or laws, must be explicitly detailed and agreed upon as part of the Scope of Work and accepted by you to be part of the contract between the parties.

SINCE WE CANNOT CONTROL THE RECEIPT OF EMAIL, WE CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY EMAILS THAT WERE NOT DELIVERED TO THE CLIENT FOR ANY REASON. IT IS THE CLIENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO REGULARLY CHECK SPAM FOLDERS AND WEBSITE FORM AND ORDER INTERFACES FOR ANY NOTIFICATIONS THAT WERE NOT DELIVERED TO THE CLIENT’S INBOX.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the credit card the domain registrar has on file for your domain registration is current for rebilling.

WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SUSPENSION OR LOSS OF DOMAIN NAMES BECAUSE YOUR CARD COULD NOT BE BILLED OR FOR ANY OTHER REASON. If you lose access to your domain name through non-payment, suspension or any other reason, your website will no longer be accessible or viewable by the public. Work needed as a result of domain expiration is billable at our current hourly rate.

Unless expressly stipulated in the Scope of Work, we make no representations or warranties regarding the website's compliance with any such requirements. Any guarantees to meet compliance for accessibility or other regulations must be explicitly detailed and agreed upon as part of the Scope of Work and accepted by you to be a part of the contract between the parties.

Should the Client supply any AI-generated content for inclusion on the website, the Client shall ensure that such content complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines. The Client shall obtain and provide evidence of all necessary permissions, licenses, and consents required for the use of the AI-generated content.