Terms of Service
Whenever I undertake a project to provide website audit, design, development and/or management services, the following terms of service will be deemed to apply, unless we explicitly agree to any item to the contrary.
Document Contents
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In Short
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Web Design Projects
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Copy/Text Content
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Photographs & Videos
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Scheduling & Timelines
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Search Engine Optimisation
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Website Management
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Website Hosting
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Email Hosting
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Backups
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Software/Plugin Updates
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24/7 Uptime Monitoring
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Website Content Updates
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“Fair Usage”
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Copyrights
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Payments
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Ownership and Intellectual Property
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Small Print
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Updates
IN SHORT
By engaging dobing.tech’s services for website auditing, design, development, or support, you agree to the terms outlined in our project proposal. You authorize us to proceed with the project and confirm your capacity to enter into this agreement on behalf of yourself or your organization.
To ensure project completion, you agree to provide all necessary materials, such as text, images, and other information, in the requested format and within agreed-upon timelines. Timely review and approval of our work are essential to maintaining project momentum.
We commit to delivering the services outlined in the proposal professionally and within specified deadlines. However, delays in receiving required materials or approvals from you may impact project timelines. If such delays exceed two weeks, project rescheduling may be necessary.
WEBSITE & DESIGN PROJECTS
We aim for your complete satisfaction with the final project outcome. Your project proposal outlines an initial two hours of design revisions. We are committed to incorporating your feedback during this period.
Please note that the project fee is based on our estimated workload. Excessive revisions beyond the initial two hours may incur additional charges. If you remain unsatisfied after the allotted revision time, you may choose to terminate the project or continue with hourly billing for further revisions.
Once the design is finalized, the agreed-upon fee (minus any deposit) becomes due. We will then launch the website according to the agreed-upon schedule and hosting arrangements. Payment for the final project is required before launch. If feedback on the completed website is not provided promptly, full payment becomes due.
The website’s launch signifies the completion of this project. Any subsequent work, modifications, or maintenance will be subject to any management plans we have agreed.
COPY/TEXT CONTENT
We are not responsible for writing any final text copy unless we specified it in the original proposal. We’ll be happy to help edit content so it fits well into the website, but if we become substantially required to create content, in addition to the proposal we reserve the right to charge you at our hourly rate for copywriting or content editing.
We are not liable for any mistakes, errors, and typos provided by you in the finalized copy.
PHOTOGRAPHS & VIDEOS
If the project involves the provision of photographs or videos, you will supply us such in digital format, which must be of suitable quality and resolution and be fit for purpose. If you choose to buy stock photographs or videos we can suggest vendors. We reserve the right to refuse to work with any images or videos that we consider to be inappropriate, offensive, or in breach of intellectual property laws.
We are happy to source and provide free stock photography for your project within the quoted project cost.
SCHEDULING & TIMELINES
Your project will commence upon receipt of the project proposal, downpayment, and all necessary website content. We operate on a first-come, first-served basis, and while we’ll provide a project start date estimate, it’s contingent on receiving all required materials promptly.
The project timeline outlined in the proposal assumes timely client feedback and approvals. Delays in this process may extend the overall project duration. Significant delays exceeding two weeks could necessitate rescheduling. Any project scope changes beyond the initial proposal will also impact the timeline.
To maintain project momentum, please provide timely responses and approvals.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a broad internet marketing term for the processes by which you ‘promote’ your website on the internet to appear ahead of the competition in search engines.
It is a complex area, and it is driven by a wide variety of factors. Some relate to the way the website is structured and created, but many relate to wider things like offline marketing, social media presence, and ‘backlinking’ from other websites.
You should therefore understand that the website design itself (our remit) is only part of the SEO story, and search engine rankings are also dependent upon factors outside our control. We are happy to advise, but for the avoidance of doubt, unless expressly agreed otherwise, we are not providing SEO services as part of this agreement beyond best practice design and on-page optimization as outlined in your project proposal (we will be happy to discuss the specific meaning of these terms). Most importantly, everything is ultimately determined by search engine algorithms.
We therefore cannot make any assurances about Google rankings, or search engine results more broadly.
WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
Websites are not one-time pieces of work; they should be looked after, updated, and maintained to make sure that they remain secure, accurate, and relevant to your company. For this reason, we offer ongoing management, and it is your choice whether and to what extent you take advantage of this management. Our website management includes:
- Website Hosting & SSL
- Routine technical and security updates to the core components and additional extensions that power your website.
- Routine backups of your entire website (content, functionality, and data), to allow for the restoration of your website following a technical issue.
- Implementation of security scan plugins in order to take all reasonable precautions to identify and block malicious traffic.
- 24/7 uptime monitoring.
- Included time of website content changes/updates.
The ongoing management plan (“Ongoing management” or “Monthly Support”) comprises the services listed above, and detailed below. Please note Ongoing management is the minimum level of support required if we are providing web hosting services to you (your website is located on our servers).
WEBSITE HOSTING
If we are providing hosting:
We will provide website hosting, as needed or requested, via our servers. We work hard to ensure that they provide as close to 99.9% uptime and appropriate performance as is possible.
We will always do everything within our control to minimize the impact and duration of any planned or unscheduled downtime, but we make no specific guarantees of time-to-fix.
When we are providing hosting via our servers, we will not grant website administrator-level access to any 3rd parties (such as SEO or marketing agencies). Likewise, we will not grant access via FTP, SSH, cPanel, or similar to the web server, database server, or any other part of the infrastructure. Should you require such 3rd party access, we’re happy to recommend 3rd party hosting providers that will fit your needs.
There are certain circumstances or types of websites we may not be able to host on our shared servers. For example, certain adult content or websites that transfer medical information (due to HIPAA) are not allowed on the majority of website servers. If this is the case, we’re happy to help you locate a suitable 3rd party hosting provider who will fit your needs.
When we are using a 3rd party hosting service:
Some clients prefer to have their website hosted on their own server or a purchased 3rd party server for a variety of reasons. If this is the case, we can make no warranty relating to the performance, up-time, or service response that will be provided beyond the assurances made by the 3rd party themselves. We are happy to make recommendations for suitable 3rd party hosting.
All hosting must offer the following minimum requirements:
- It must support at least one MySQL database within your chosen hosting package.
- It must support the PHP scripting language (in the most current stable version).
- We will require access to your hosting control panel for configuration purposes.
- Should you purchase a ‘Managed WordPress’ hosting package that is offered by many hosting providers, we may be unable to connect our backup software to your site. If this is the case, we will not make backups of your site. Backups will be created and maintained by your hosting provider. We make no claims or guarantees that these are reliable services.
If you choose to host your website on 3rd party servers, there is no obligation to take any form of management services from us – but the responsibility for updates, security, backups, and so forth is then yours.
