Liz Lee Media Policies & Terms of Service

I. PRIVACY POLICY
Liz Lee Media is committed to honoring the privacy of our clients and visitors requesting information. Only information that the Client specifies, will be used on the Client’s web site. We will never share your information with third parties unless required to do so by law or requested by you. The information we collect from you will be used to maintain your services with us and to represent the quality of our work to others, such as in our online portfolio. The release of certain information, as required to submit the client’s site to search engines and directories, will be done so only after permission is granted from the Client.

II. OWNERSHIP OF WEBSITE DESIGN AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
Upon completion of a custom website design or graphic design and payment of web/graphic design and development fees, the client is the owner of the commissioned website or graphic design piece. The client may continue to use the commissioned website/design to promote the client’s company or organization regardless of whether he/she chooses to continue further services with Liz Lee Media. The client does not have the right to resell the design or development to other companies. The client does have the right to add pages or elements onto the existing site or design or have another company add pages or elements onto the existing site or design using the commissioned website design/development.

III. OWNERSHIP OF WEBSITE DOMAIN NAME
Website domain names are leased from domain name registration companies. When Liz Lee Media registers a domain name for a client, that registration will be made in Liz Lee Media’s domain registration account. Upon payment of any outstanding fees, the client has the right to use that domain name regardless of whether he/she chooses to continue further services with Liz Lee Media. Domain name renewal and renewal fees are the responsibility of the client. If the client chooses to have Liz Lee Media renew the domain name on behalf of the client, an additional service fee will apply. Clients are advised to closely monitor the renewal date of a registered domain name and to verify that the renewal of said domain name has been completed. Liz Lee Media cannot be responsible for expired domain names.

IV. OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT
All text and photos used as content in a commissioned website or design project must be provided by the client (unless the client has hired Liz Lee Media for content development). The client must have ownership or written permission to use all content he/she provides for use. It is up to each client to ensure his/her design and/or content does not infringe on any trademark, service mark, or copyright. Liz Lee Media cannot be responsible for intellectual property infringements on behalf of clients. Also, Liz Lee Media cannot be responsible for submitted content. Clients should not mail irreplaceable photos or documents or send content that must be returned. Clients should keep originals of any content sent via post or email to Liz Lee Media.

V. PROJECT INITIATION
The initiation of a design or development project requires a non-refundable payment agreed upon by Liz Lee Media and the Client.

VI. PROJECT TIMELINESS
Liz Lee Media cannot complete a website if the client does not provide content (the text and/or photos to be used in the website) or other required elements (pre-existing logo or account login information, etc.). If Liz Lee Media is waiting for content or other pieces of information, the client will be notified. If the client fails to handle the requests in a timely manner, the website may be delayed. (Professional writing and photography services are available for a surcharge if the client needs assistance with content development.)

VII. HOW CONTENT MAY BE SUBMITTED
All content must be submitted electronically via Trello, email (liz@lizleemedia.com), DropBox. Text must be selectable as actual text rather than as flattened images. Graphics and photos provided for print projects must be at least 300 dpi. Both text and photos/graphics must be clearly labeled with the name of the page on which it will be displayed. Content may not be submitted via fax or paper copies. Exceptions to this policy must be approved in advance and will incur a surcharge.

VIII. HOW MUCH CONTENT MAY BE SUBMITTED PER PAGE
Due to web page load time considerations and the flat rate charged for web pages, there is a limit on what can be included in a single web page. A web page can hold the equivalent of about 2 and ½ pages of the content that would typically fit on an 8 ½” x 11” piece of paper. If the content is straight text without any pictures, tables, graphs, etc., this equates to a maximum of 2000 words. If there are pictures, or tables, etc., then less text will fit.

IX. OUR DESIGN GUARANTEE
We take pride in providing attractive designs, and the vast majority of our clients are extremely pleased with the designs we create for them. However, design is a subjective art, and not everyone’s tastes are the same, so it is important to be clear on how design revisions are handled.

The written website agreement describes the structure, function and goals a commissioned web design or other design project will achieve. Design preferences, such as the look of the site, the color scheme, the functionality, monitor resolution preferences, etc. should be specified at that time, prior to the commencement of any design work. After the project requirements are in writing in the initial agreement form and the project has been initiated, a designer will provide the client with a first draft of the intended design. The client may request changes to the design while the project is in this first draft phase, and the designer will make reasonable changes to please the client, within the scope of the written project requirements. If minor, reasonable design modifications are insufficient to please the client, the designer will require a sample of a design that would please the client that the designer may use as an inspiration for the revised look. This design sample may be in the form of an emailed graphic or a link to any live website. The designer will incorporate elements of (but will not copy, duplicate, or copyright-infringe) the sample design. If any design preference stated in the signed agreement form was not met, the adjustments will be made free of charge. If the client develops preferences or changes his/her mind after the completion of the work, adjustments will be made by the hour at $111.00 per hour. Also, while first drafts are an effective preview of a final design project, please note that minor variations occasionally occur that may be outside of our control, such as variations in line height from one browser to another, differences in color settings on monitors versus printed ink colors, etc.

X. DESIGNS FOR SUB PAGES
Unless otherwise specified in the design contract, subpages of any website will use the same design as the home page. Mockups are not provided for sub pages. Formatting requests for sub pages will be considered but will not be guaranteed. If the client requires specific looks or formatting for sub pages, this request should be made at the time of the initial contract and may incur additional fees.

XI. HOW WEBSITE CARE REQUESTS ARE HANDLED
Clients who have signed up for a Website Care Plan receive discounts off the web designer’s hourly rates for website updates. The standard half hour maintenance plan is enough time to add about five to ten photos and a few paragraphs of text. Clients on a Liz Lee Media Website Care Plan may send update requests via email (contact us for the correct email address). Routine care and maintenance which fits into the allotted time specified in the client’s maintenance plan is typically completed in about two to three business days. If a client on a Website Care Plan requests more than the scheduled amount of maintenance, he/she will be given a quote and, if approved, the additional work will be completed at a discounted rate of $88.00 per hour, and the turnaround time will be based on workload issues. Clients who are not on any Website Care Plan may request website updates at the full $111.00 hourly rate and the turnaround time will be based on workload issues.

Monthly Website Care Plan fees are separate from hosting fees unless otherwise indicated and may be cancelled at any time. (See details under the Termination of Services section.)

XII. HOW TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS HANDLED
Clients whose websites are hosted by Liz Lee Media have access to emergency technical support 24 hours a day. In the event of a website hosting outage, clients should call Liz Lee Media at (770) 865-5875 to report the issue.

If it is a holiday or after hours, the client should leave a voicemail message and a technician will be paged. Please note, technical support cannot be provided for clients’ individual computer issues, mobile device issues or for third party products or services.

At this time, websites hosted by Liz Lee Media are backed up on a weekly schedule and copies of the backups are saved to external servers. This means that the likelihood of being able to restore a “damaged” website is very high but not 100%. Many factors go into securing a website against hackers, viruses, etc. Liz Lee Media takes all reasonable measures to protect the main server on which all Liz Lee Media hosted websites reside, but it is the responsibility of the Client to employ best practices to keep their individual websites safe, such as requesting WordPress updates (which Liz Lee Media will do upon request as a courtesy) and refraining from uploading unlicensed themes, plugins, etc. Liz Lee Media also strongly encourages Clients to use strong passwords and to keep their login credentials safe. Clients are more than welcome to secure backup services on their own; we ask that Clients please coordinate with Liz Lee Media to make sure that there are no conflicting plugins being used for these purposes.

XIII. PAYMENT POLICIES
At least one-third of the initial design and development fees are due upon project initiation unless another agreement or payment plan is established between Liz Lee Media and Client. This is a non-refundable payment. Upon project completion, the remaining balance is due in full within five business days unless another agreement has been made between Liz Lee Media and Client.

Payment for monthly and yearly services such as Website Care and hosting are processed automatically via PayPal recurring payments. Liz Lee Media charges a late fee of 10% of the total outstanding balance for invoices not paid by the end of the calendar month (net 25). Accounts at net 60 are at risk of termination, including the suspension of a website or the removal of a website from the server, resulting in a loss of website traffic and a drop in search engine ranking. Clients experiencing financial hardship should contact Liz Lee Media to discuss payment options. Hosting payments (prorated for the rest of the calendar year) are due with the initial website deposit unless other agreement has been made between Liz Lee Media and Client.

Please note that PayPal sends no reminders for recurring payments, so it is the responsibility of the Client to log into his or her PayPal account and take note of upcoming scheduled payments.

XIV. SEARCH ENGINE GUARANTEE
Most every client would like his/her website to rank high in search engine results for selected keywords, yet search engine results are determined by a multitude of constantly changing factors, third party search engines, and the amount and quality of competition on the world wide web. Liz Lee Media guarantees certain search-engine friendly techniques will be used in the creation of each custom website, such as keywords in the title bar at the top of the browser and meta tags in the hidden coding behind the scenes. If the keyword placement in these areas is not to the client’s liking, Liz Lee Media will change these two items to the client’s choices one time for free.

Subsequent or additional changes will be billed at the standard hourly rate. Additional search engine optimization (SEO) services are available for additional fees through service providers recommended by Liz Lee Media. Liz Lee Media cannot be held responsible for actual search engine results.

XV. WEB HOSTING SERVER LOAD LIMITATIONS
Clients who use Liz Lee Media hosting services must respect server load limitations. This means that clients may not use our servers to send spam at all, nor emails at a rate faster than 500 messages/hour. Additionally, websites which utilize dynamic coding may cause a server strain at times, especially when higher traffic volume is at work. In extreme cases, this may cause the server administrator to shut down the offending website.

While we do not limit the number of email accounts a Liz Lee Media hosting account may have, the overall diskspace and bandwidth/traffic allocation of the web hosting/email server are specified according to the hosting plan the client signed up for. If a client exceeds these allocations, a larger web hosting package may be required.

XVI. QUALITY GUARANTEE
We take pride in offering high quality services and professional customer service. While we make an effort to ensure every aspect of our service is to the client’s liking, we cannot control every variable. It is up to each client to regularly test the functionality of his/her website, email, and any other product or service to ensure everything works as desired. If any problem is discovered or error has been made, please report the problem to us immediately so we may take appropriate action. We cannot be responsible for perceived loss of revenue under any circumstances. Content changes resulting from a client’s error and/or problems related to third party vendors or technology, such as hosting servers or browser software may result in additional charges.

XVII. TERMINATION OF SERVICES

We do not issue refunds (except in the very rare case of a billing error), as we work extremely hard to meet your needs, and we depend on you to communicate with us every step of the way. If there is something you are not happy with, please tell us immediately so that we can change it. If we contact you to get content and materials for any project, please respond with what we need, or feel free to ask us to clarify anything you may be confused about.

XVIII. THIRD PARTY VENDORS
Third party vendors may have separate terms of service agreements. Liz Lee Media cannot be held liable for disputes with third party vendors. Liz Lee Media cannot be held responsible for lack of functionality or any other aspect of third party services.

XIX. REFUSAL OF SERVICE
Liz Lee Media reserves the right to decline to do business with any client for any reason.

XX. CHANGES TO TERMS OF SERVICE
Liz Lee Media reserves the right to change these terms of service at any time for any reason.