Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and YourWebsiteMarketingService.com ("we", "us", "our"). By visiting this website, submitting a form, or purchasing services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site or our services. If you accept on behalf of a business, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.

2. Our services

We provide digital marketing services for small businesses, which may include search engine optimisation, local SEO, paid advertising management, web design and development, content marketing, email marketing, social media management, and analytics and reporting. The precise scope, deliverables, timelines, and pricing for your engagement are set out in your proposal or statement of work.

3. Engagements and proposals

• Prices shown on the website are indicative starting points and are not offers; final pricing is confirmed in a written proposal.
• An engagement begins when you accept a proposal in writing (including by email) and, where applicable, pay the first invoice.
• Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately and only starts once approved in writing.
• Where a proposal conflicts with these Terms, the proposal controls for that engagement.

4. Fees, billing, and late payment

• Retainers are billed monthly in advance; project work is billed per the milestone schedule in the proposal.
• Invoices are due within 14 days of issue unless stated otherwise.
• Advertising budgets are separate from our management fees and are paid directly to the ad platform unless agreed otherwise in writing.
• Late balances may accrue interest at 1.5% per month (or the maximum the law allows), and we may pause work after 15 days overdue.
• Fees are exclusive of applicable taxes. Third-party software or licence costs are passed through at cost with prior approval.

5. Client responsibilities

To deliver on time, we need you to:

• Provide timely access to websites, ad accounts, analytics, and other required platforms.
• Supply accurate business information, brand assets, and approvals, and confirm you hold the rights to anything you send us.
• Give feedback and approvals within the review windows in your proposal; delays may shift timelines.
• Keep a nominated point of contact available for scheduled calls and reporting reviews.
• Maintain your own backups and comply with laws that apply to your business and its claims.

6. Third-party platforms and ad spend

Our work depends on platforms we do not control, including search engines, ad networks, hosting, email providers, and analytics tools. Their policies, algorithms, pricing, and availability can change or restrict accounts without notice. We are not responsible for platform outages, account suspensions, algorithm updates, or price changes, though we will work with you to respond to them. You remain the owner of your platform accounts and are responsible for spend authorised in writing.

7. Intellectual property

• You keep ownership of your trademarks, content, data, and anything you provide to us.
• On full payment, we assign to you the final deliverables created specifically for you — copy, designs, and site code — for your business use.
• We retain ownership of our pre-existing materials, tooling, templates, frameworks, processes, and know-how, and grant you a non-exclusive licence to use them as embedded in the deliverables.
• Third-party assets such as stock imagery, fonts, and plugins remain subject to their own licences.
• Unless you opt out in writing, we may reference your business name and non-confidential results in our portfolio and case studies.
• Website content, branding, and code on this site are ours and may not be copied or resold.

8. Content standards and conduct

You agree not to use this site or our services to:

• Break any law, infringe intellectual property, or make false or misleading advertising claims.
• Promote illegal products, hate, harassment, or adult or deceptive offerings.
• Attempt to access, disrupt, scrape, or reverse engineer the site or our systems.
• Ask us to use manipulative tactics that violate platform policies, such as buying links, cloaking, or fake reviews. We will decline such requests.

9. Confidentiality

Each party will keep the other's non-public information confidential, use it only to perform the engagement, protect it with reasonable care, and return or delete it on request. This does not apply to information that is public, independently developed, or required to be disclosed by law.

10. No guarantee of results

Marketing outcomes depend on your market, competition, pricing, sales process, budget, and factors outside our control. Case studies, statistics, and examples describe past results for specific clients and are not promises of your results. We do not guarantee particular rankings, traffic volumes, lead counts, conversion rates, or revenue, and we do not guarantee inclusion in any search engine or ad platform.

11. Warranties and disclaimers

We warrant that we will perform services in a professional and workmanlike manner consistent with industry standards. Except for that warranty, the site and services are provided "as is" and "as available", and we disclaim all other warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill. Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or an engagement will not exceed the fees you paid us in the three months before the event giving rise to the claim. These limits do not apply to fraud, willful misconduct, or liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and reasonable costs arising from content or claims you supply or approve, your products and services, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of law or third-party rights. We will indemnify you against third-party claims that our original deliverables infringe intellectual property rights, provided you notify us promptly and let us control the defence.

14. Term, cancellation, and refunds

• Retainers run month to month unless your proposal states a fixed term.
• Either party may cancel a retainer with 30 days' written notice; the current month is not prorated.
• For projects, cancellation is invoiced for work completed and non-recoverable third-party costs to that date.
• Deposits and completed work are non-refundable; ad budgets not yet spent are returned or refunded by the platform.
• We may suspend or end an engagement for non-payment, abusive conduct, or requests that would breach law or platform policy.
• On termination, we will hand over deliverables paid for, transfer account access, and remove our access within 10 business days.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and of the state in which our business is registered, without regard to conflict of law rules. Before filing a claim, both parties agree to attempt good-faith resolution for 30 days after written notice, and to use mediation or binding arbitration where both parties agree to it. Any remaining dispute will be heard by the state or federal courts that have jurisdiction where our business is registered, and both parties waive any right to bring or join a class action.

16. General terms

• Entire agreement: these Terms plus your proposal form the whole agreement between us.
• Independent contractor: we are not your employee, partner, or agent.
• Subcontractors: we may use vetted subcontractors and remain responsible for their work.
• Assignment: neither party may assign without consent, except in a merger or sale of substantially all assets.
• Force majeure: neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond reasonable control.
• Severability and waiver: if a provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect; not enforcing a right is not a waiver of it.
• Changes: we may update these Terms and will revise the effective date; material changes to an active engagement require your agreement.
• Notices: written notice by email to the addresses on file is sufficient.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email legal@yourwebsitemarketingservice.com or call (555) 123-4567, Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm.