Terms of Service

1. 100% Money-Back Guarantee on Website Design – If you’re not happy we will either keep working until you are, or return your payment in full.
   
   
2. Input From Client – The client has final say on all decisions for the website, and we hope you can seriously consider our recommendations.  They are made with your interests in mind.  If you succeed, we will succeed.
   
   
3. Length of Pages - When charging by the page our prices are based on web pages of about 3 or 4 photos and 300 to 400 words of text. If your web pages require more content extra charges may apply.
   
   
4. Files Provided By Client – For your new website, after we agree on how many pages and the names of the pages, we need to receive the photos and text that will go on each page before work can begin on those pages.
   
   
5. Right to Use Files – We assume that you have the legal right to use all the materials you provide for your project. We request that you hold Standard Marketing, Standard Marketing & Graphics, Standard Graphics Ltd., as well as our staff blameless for copyright infringement or other penalties arising from use of materials you authorize or suggest for your project.
   
   
6. Changing or Adding New Features - Our proposals are based specifically on the number of hours we estimate your project will take to complete, depending on our conversations with you to that point. If features are added or changed after our proposal has been accepted extra charges may apply.
   
   
7. Assumption of Normal Conditions - Our estimates assume conditions are normal, for example, that your existing files are up-to-date and well maintained. If we come to an abnormal situation after the project has started we will quickly contact you to explain the situation.  Extra charges may be required depending on how long the additional work takes to complete.
   
   
8. Viewing Work In Progress – For most of our design and production services you will be able to view your work in progress on a private page on one of our websites. We’ll send you the link by email.
   
   
9. Delivery – Simple website designs can usually be completed in 2 to 4 weeks depending on the availability of text, photos, and graphics from you that will be used, and on the accessibility of the decision maker from your company to approve work in progress.
   
   On larger projects normally a minimum of 3 days is allowed for the design to be settled and agreed upon. Then we decide between us what features you want.  For example if your project involves a shopping cart, some options might be direct calculations of UPS shipping charges, discount coupons, etc. We can then tell you approximately how many weeks until completion.
   
   
10. Link To Our Website – We request you allow us to put a couple of sentences of text that contains a link to our website in an unobtrusive place at the bottom of the body text of your homepage, or another prominent page on your website.
    
    
11. Two Design Revisions on Projects Other Than Websites – After discussions with you we will present either a non-functioning mock-up showing what the finished project will look like, or a detailed written description of the look and function. After approval by email from you and completion of the first draft of the project, two minor revisions, if necessary, will be done at no charge. Additional revisions are charged at $77 an hour. Please be assured that a situation like this almost never arises.



12. Payment – For projects under $2,000 a 50% deposit is required before work begins, with the balance due before delivery when the project is complete and you're happy. For larger projects we can take a deposit, and then installments at previously agreed upon milestones during production. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, Cash, and Cheque. Work can begin as soon as we receive your deposit.



13. Termination – We reserve the right to terminate work on your project at any time without cause. If this situation ever arises we would charge only for work performed to date.

1. Fiscal Responsibility - Our hosting services are very reliable and we try to have your website live 100% of the time.  However, if your website is ever offline we must limit our responsibility to the amount of our monthly hosting and maintenance fees for the downtime.  We cannot be responsible for any direct or indirect losses anyone incurs as a result of your website being offline.
   
   
2. Payment- Payment for website hosting services can be taken monthly from your credit card, or we offer a 5% discount for payment of 12 months at a time, and a 10% discount for payment of 24 months at a time.
   
   
   
3. Invoices – You will receive an invoice only for payments of 12 or 24 months at a time.  Please use your credit card statement as proof of purchase on monthly payments.  A yearly invoice can be provided upon request.

1. Prior Client Approval - Before any changes are made to your website we will review it thoroughly and send our recommendations in writing by email for your approval or further discussion.
   
   
2. Completion Time - The Bronze SEO package, and the first phase of the Silver SEO package, can usually be completed in two weeks or less. The first stage of the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond packages may take up to one month.
   
   
3. Timeline for Results – SEO work s a combination of specialized information, experience and hard work.  Sometimes results are achieved very quickly.  But if you are in a very competitive situation we may have to work for weeks or even months to achieve satisfactory rankings. 
   
   
4. The Google Dance – During the first few months your rankings on Google may vary greatly from day to day and even from hour to hour before they settle down. This is called the “Google Dance” and is very common.
   
   
5. Payment - For the Bronze SEO package we require full payment before work begins. For other SEO packages we require the first month's payment before work begins, and each month's payment from your credit card automatically at approximately the first of each month for at least 11 months, and continuing as long as you are happy with our service. You will not receive a monthly invoice. Please use your credit card statement as proof of payment. We are happy to send an invoice once a year if you wish.
   
   
6. Continuity of Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond SEO Packages - The first month of the Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond SEO Packages is discounted because the next 11 months run continually. Customers buying these packages are responsible for the complete first year's payments. In subsequent years SEO packages can be changed or cancelled at any time without penalty with 30 days advance written notice.
   
   
7. Upgrading SEO Packages - Upgrading can be done at any time by paying the difference in the first month’s payment of the new SEO package from the one you initially purchased, and then paying the new package monthly price after that. 
   
   
8. Links to Your Website - Please do not arrange for links to your website without having us verify them in advance.  We cannot be responsible for the ranking of your website if you do. Search engines, especially Google, will penalize your ranking if you have a link farm linking to your website, and may even put you on their Black List which means they won’t list you at all. If you have questionable links we’ll have to verify each one as the first step of our SEO services. We charge an additional $97 an hour for this service.
   
   
9. Link To Our Website – We request you allow us to put a couple of sentences of text that contains a link to our website in an unobtrusive place in the body text at the bottom of your homepage or another prominent page on your site.

1. Viewing of Proof – We will send you a low resolution pdf proof by email when work is complete.  When you are happy with the work and full payment has been made we will send a high resolution pdf file that any printer can print from, or an Illustrator or InDesign file, whichever you prefer.
   
   
2. Payment – We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and PayPal.  For projects under $500 we require full payment in advance. For larger projects we can take 50% in advance with the balance before delivery when you’re happy with our work.
   
   
3. Layout – Most of our customers ask us to do the layour for their Chinese brochures. This is because Chinese text is a different shape than English text. It is taller and thinner and will require subtle but important adjustments to your layout. Also, the same Chinese character can have very different meanings depending on which other characters it is beside. This means line breaks are very important to the meaning of the text. In addition we have a wide selection of Chinese fonts, both Traditional and Simplified in order to provide an aesthetically pleasing end result. We do very good layout work. All of our customers have been pleased with the overall look and the attention to detail.
   
   
4. Specs – For straight translation we require a plain text or Microsoft Word document. Extra charges will be necessary if we have to type the text to be translated from a fax or image file. For layout work we require either an Adobe Illustrator or InDesign file including all fonts and linked files.  Fonts do not need to be supplied if they have been converted into paths or outlines. Linked files should be 300 dpi, CMYK.  Or we can accept an eps or editable "Press Quality" pdf file. We can charge you less if all the text to be translated is on a separate layer. Files larger than about 3 Megs can be sent by ftp or by using a free website www.yousendit.com.
   
   
5. Legal Contracts – Our translators are highly skilled and write beautiful Chinese, however, they are NOT accredited to translate legal contracts.