Athena Media agrees to furnish search engine marketing and in some cases social media and web design services to the customer, subject to the following Terms of Service. Use of our services constitutes acceptance and agreement to our Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service may be modified by giving 45 days advance warning to customers of impending changes. The customer understands that change to the policies by Athena Media shall not be grounds for early termination or non-payment of search engine marketing services. These Terms of Service shall be construed in all respects to be in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
1. Tenure of Service – The customer agrees that the tenure for the search engine marketing services is scheduled for 1 (one) year. Although we recommend a one year tenure, we will not hold customers to a full one year contract.
2.1 Challenger Marketing will work hard to achieve top positions based on the package purchased. Although Challenger Marketing will endeavour to achieve these positions, no guarantees are offered or implied that these positions will be achieved or maintained, unless we have agreed in writing that guarantees can be offered for you.
2.2. Any guarantees offered are at Challenger Marketing ’s discretion. They apply to positions within Google and refer to a first page listing.
2.3. Should any and all recommendations made by Challenger Marketing not be implemented, any third party work be undertaken which negatively affects work carried out by Challenger Marketing , or any work carried out by Challenger Marketing not be kept in place at all times, all guarantees will be forfeited.
3. Customer Responsibilities – for the purposes of providing these services, the customer agrees:
3.1. To provide Challenger Marketing with access to their website for uploading new pages and making relevant changes for the purpose of SEO services, or approval to do this through a third party. The scope of our technical changes is limited to standard PHP, CMS and Shopping Cart websites. The overall responsibility of making technical changes resides with the customer and where necessary the customer must ask their web designer or developer to action the recommended changes.
3.2. To authorise Challenger Marketing use of all the customer’s logos, trademarks, web site images, etc., for use in creating informational pages and any other uses as deemed necessary by Challenger Marketing for search engine positioning and optimisation.
3.3. That if the customer’s website(s) is light in textual content, the customer will provide requested relevant text content in electronic format for the purpose of improving website’s text to HTML ratio.
3.4. The customer agrees that optimisation is based on the keywords agreed between Challenger Marketing and the customer. The customer therefore acknowledges the importance of choosing and prioritising the keywords that the customer and Challenger Marketing wish to target.
3.5. The customer agrees that listings will appear within multiple search engines.
3.6. The customer agrees that where applicable, any time-sensitive guarantees commence once the order has been confirmed and payment cleared.
3.7. The customer agrees that where applicable, any guarantees are subject to Challenger Marketing having access to optimise the website, or if access is not allowed, all recommended changes must be carried out to the satisfaction of Challenger Marketing . Should the customer’s site be totally inaccessible, Challenger Marketing reserves the right to use advanced search engine positioning techniques to secure the necessary positions.
3.8. Once the customers’ website has been optimised, the customer agrees that they are responsible for ensuring the optimisation work carried out by Challenger Marketing is not overwritten by either the customer or any third party. In the event of this work being overwritten, Challenger Marketing reserves the right to withdraw any guarantees made at the outset.
3.9. The customer agrees in the event that the optimisation work is overwritten by either the customer or any third party to contact Challenger Marketing immediately. The customer agrees that Challenger Marketing may, at its discretion, apply an additional charge of at least £100 for the restoration and remedial work required. Challenger Marketing cannot accept any responsibility for loss of positions whilst this optimisation is not in place on the site.
3.10. In the event of the customer not being satisfied, they can cancel at any time (giving 30 days notice); refunds are discretionary. We can not guarantee the amount of traffic being generated to the site or level of sales.
3.11. The customer agrees that any decision regarding any re-optimisation made by Challenger Marketing will be final and agrees that no further action will be taken to challenge the decision.
3.12. Should the customer ask to add keywords that were not originally agreed upon, Challenger Marketing will agree on the acceptance from the customer that no guarantees will apply to the additional keywords.
3.13. Challenger Marketing agrees any guaranteed positions will be maintained throughout the tenure of the service.
3.14. The customer agrees that while Challenger Marketing endeavours to exceed any guarantees, positions achieved beyond the scope of any guarantees are not guaranteed to be maintained as part of the search engine marketing services.
3.15. The customer agrees that Challenger Marketing does not own nor control the search engines or directories. The customer understands that should a search engine refuse to accept the customer’s website for inclusion, regardless of any fees paid for submission, a refund will not be taken against Challenger Marketing .
3.16. Due algorithm updates we no longer guarantee inbound links. Any methods used to obtain the links will be at the discretion of Challenger Marketing. These methods will not be detrimental to the customer, their site or business at the time of placement. However, Challenger Marketing cannot be held liable for links that were built in good faith but later deemed bad by the search engines.
3.17. Inbound links built by Challenger Marketing to customers websites are built in good faith and will not be disclosed to customers.
3.18. The customer agrees that neither party will be liable for, or will be considered to be in breach of or default under this agreement on account of, any delay or failure to perform as required by this agreement as a result of any causes or conditions that are beyond such party’s reasonable control and that such party is unable to overcome through the exercise of commercially reasonable diligence. If any force majeure event occurs, the affected party will give prompt written notice to the other party and will use commercially reasonable efforts to minimise the impact of the event.
3.19. The customer agrees that Challenger Marketing is not responsible for any functionality issues or problems with the customer’s website which may occur as a result of content updates made by Challenger Marketing on behalf of the customer. Any updates to content, including but not limited to any changes to text content recommended or written by Challenger Marketing , whether an additional payment has been made by the customer for the updates to be made by Challenger Marketing or not, are completed at the customer’s own risk.
3.20. The customer agrees that Challenger Marketing is not responsible for the maintenance of the customer’s website, including updates for any blog sections, plug-ins or additional features installed or changed by Challenger Marketing for the purposes of search engine marketing as included in the customer’s chosen package. Content management systems such as WordPress, plug-ins and other elements of customers’ websites may be updated and maintained by third parties, and as such Challenger Marketing cannot be held responsible for any issues that arise as a result of updates to these, or lack thereof. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure their website and all associated plug-ins and features are kept up to date for the purposes of compatibility, security and performance.
3.21. The customer agrees to inform Challenger Marketing of any manual penalties issued against the customer’s website by any search engine, to the best of the customer’s knowledge. If a manual penalty is found to be affecting the organic search rankings of the customer’s website, and Challenger Marketing has not been made aware of this in writing, any guarantees offered regarding organic positions will be void. In any case, an additional charge may apply for any additional work required of Challenger Marketing to resolve the penalty issue.
4. Cancellation – If an agreement is stopped, paused or cancelled for non-payment, or lack of communication, or terminated by Challenger Marketing or the customer at any time, this will result in all ongoing work also being cancelled, including Google AdWords campaign management, social media management and any additional work unless otherwise stated.
4.1. In the unlikely event that you choose to end your contract with Challenger Marketing it is solely your responsibility to remove any access you have granted Challenger Marketing to, for example, your FTP details, your back office, Google accounts or services or any other accounts.
5. Indemnification – The customer shall indemnify and hold harmless Challenger Marketing (and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, co-branders or other partners, and employees) from any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and all related costs and expenses) incurred by Challenger Marketing as a result of any claim, judgement, or adjudication against Challenger Marketing related to or arising from:
(a) any photographs, illustrations, graphics, audio clips, video clips, text, data or any other information, content, display, or any other material (whether written, graphic, sound, or otherwise) provided by the customer to Challenger Marketing (the “Customer Content”), or
(b) a claim that Challenger Marketing ’s use of the Customer Content infringes the intellectual property rights of a third party. To qualify for such defence and payment, Challenger Marketing must: (i) give the customer prompt written notice of a claim; and (ii) allow the customer to control, and fully cooperate with the customer in, the defence and all related negotiations.
6. Limited Liability – In no event Challenger Marketing shall be liable to the customer for any indirect, exemplary or consequential damages. This to include any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or implied warranties arising from course of dealing or course of performance, lost profits, whether or not foreseeable or alleged to be based on breach of warranty, contract, negligence or strict liability arising under this agreement. Loss of data, or any performance under this agreement, even if such party has been advised of the possibility of such damages and notwithstanding the failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy provided herein. There shall be no refunds. Challenger Marketing makes no warranty of any kind in regards to above stated events, whether express or implied, with regard to any third party products, third party content or any software obtained from third parties.
7. Free Internet Hosting Account – Challenger Marketing agrees, upon request and if possible, to provide to the customer a free internet hosting account for one year.
7.1. The customer agrees to the Terms of Service of Easy Internet Solutions located at https://www.freevirtualservers.com/legal.
7.2. The customer agrees that the exact technical specification of the Free Internet Hosting Account is subject to change at the discretion of Challenger Marketing .
7.3. The customer agrees that, should the customer decide to end the search engine marketing services with Challenger Marketing , the customer will be subject to a hosting fee if they decide to continue the Internet Hosting Account.
7.4. The customer agrees that the Free Internet Hosting Account is only available for one (1) year after which the customer agrees to be subject to a hosting fee if the customer decides to continue the Internet Hosting Account.
8. The Data Protection Act (1998) – Challenger Marketing is registered under The Data Protection Act (1998). The customer agrees and consents, by agreeing with these Terms of Service, to have personal information stored for the purpose of processing said information in order to provide the services required by the customer. Challenger Marketing is bound by the Act to disclose any and all customer information to any law enforcement agent who makes a written request without further consent or notification to the customer.
8.1. Challenger Marketing may from time to time use your information for our own marketing purposes until such time as you ask us not to.
9. Service Rates – The customer acknowledges that the nature of the service furnished and the initial rates and charges have been communicated to the customer. The customer agrees that the Challenger Marketing may change the specified rates and charges from time to time. The specified rates and charges will remain to the customer for the duration of the current Tenure of Service and will not take effect until renewal of the search engine marketing services.
10. Payment – The customer agrees that establishment of search engine marketing services is dependent upon receipt by Challenger Marketing of payment of stated charges. Customers who choose an option which allows for payment to be made throughout the tenure of the service, either quarterly or monthly or yearly, agree to ensure that payments are received as requested throughout the Tenure of Service and understand that failure of payment will lead to all services with Challenger Marketing being suspended. Credit card payment methods on either a quarterly or monthly basis are automatically deducted from the customers’ credit or debit card on the appropriate scheduled dates via ‘Worldpay’ or ‘GoCardless’ once the customer has agreed either verbally or in writing to accept the order and terms and conditions. Acceptance by writing is agreeing to place the order and paying the initial set-up fee.
10.1. Customers can choose to pay by standing order, either monthly or quarterly. Any payment requests that fail may incur an additional £25 + VAT administration fee at the discretion of Challenger Marketing .
10.2. It is down to Challenger Marketing discretion on whether an additional charge of 2% is payable where a customer’s credit card fails due to the customer’s limits exceeding on their credit card.
11. Refund and Disputes – All overcharges or billing disputes must be reported within 30 days of the time the dispute occurred.
11.1. Challenger Marketing agrees to allow the customer to end their search engine marketing services at any time (subject to a 30 day notice period). The customer agrees that, should they choose to end their search engine marketing services, to forfeit all refunds. Any refund requested from the customer based on their own decision to leave will be entirely at the discretion of Challenger Marketing .
11.2. If the customer feels entitled to a refund under a guarantee then the customer agrees to make a written request which will then be considered.
11.3. The customer agrees that the method of refund will be at the discretion of Challenger Marketing .
11.4. The customer agrees that any decision regarding any refund made by Challenger Marketing will be final and agrees no further action will be taken to challenge the decision.