The Details
In addition to what is written on our homepage, you will find more details here regarding what we will and won't do, along with the rules and limitations of our service.
We are basically looking for partner type relationships rather than just another customer to work with. We expect that you are committed and can hold up your end of the bargain. Every ecommerce solution we implement, requires weeks of work for the initial setup with ongoing fine tuning and maintenance. We are taking all the risk and for the most part, you have nothing to lose. We want to build good relationships with the people we work with so you don't feel like just another customer. Sound too good to be true? Please continue reading.
Each solution is different. We have been known to pull off many things that wouldn't be considered as part of our agreement as we want you to be happy. However, we will not do unnecessary work that doesn't fall in line with the overall goal, which is selling your products or service. If you require extra work, there may be a separate charge for that (discussed before the work is performed). We expect that you respect our decisions to decline work we don't feel is necessary. While we may not be the best at everythng we do, we are certainly competent at everything we do. Therefore, we value your input, but we are the experts and expect you to listen to us as such. This should be read as comforting, rather than demanding. Essentially, we will not build a site for you that is not a store and do tasks that are not related to selling your products. On the other hand, sometimes we may see your point and agree with you, but we may not be able to accomplish what you want right away. We simply ask that you have realistic expectations. We also ask that you consider how much you are paying us versus how much work you ask us do. We prioritize our work based first on the global good of all our customers down to the individual need. We try to streamline processes so that all our customers can benefit rather than doing one-off solutions. We use proven technologies which can sometimes be a reason in our reluctance to do extremely customized work, especially if it will break the upgrade path of the products we use.
Our typical business model does not conform to everyone who wants a website. Therefore, we do not accept all candidates. Just like you, our goal is to be successful and make money. If a product or service doesn't make sense for us to take on as a project, we will politely decline. It's not personal. (However, we want to hear from everyone as some things make sense to us that probably shouldn't. We are also inclined to take on something that might be more risk if we have a personal interest in it.) We also want to be able to provide good customer service without being bogged down by unnecessary or underperforming projects.
We want to be upfront with expectations. When starting from scratch (i.e. you don't already have an established website), unless you're willing to spend money on advertising, it will probably be several months before you sell a single product. You might be up to 20 years behind your competition and it simply takes time, hard work and good customer service to build something successful.
While we are able and willing to do marketing tasks, chances are, we know very little about your products or service. We are IT guys. Therefore, we expect that you can write some articles and similar tasks at which point, we will then get them posted to the right places or assist you in doing so. You can be as much "hands on" as you like, but we need content. Like products in your store, interesting content can also be an important key to success.
This should go without being written, but we're going to write it anyway. It is your responsibility to pay for anything related to your website. You are expected to pay for your domain name, SSL certificate, and any other setup (other than us), maintenance (other than us), and advertising costs. We know the best places to buy and can do all the work (including advertising tools), but we are not paying. Remember that your success is our success, so we aren't going to be wasteful with any advertising budget you may give us.
It is also important for you to remember that our job is to provide you with a technical solution. While we have an incentive to see that your website is successful, it is not technically the solution we are providing. Therefore, you should not rely solely on us to promote your site. You should not consider paying for advertising and other such promotional tools as us getting paid for doing nothing. We are doing plenty. For at least the first year, advertising or not, you will be getting the far better end of the deal. Working with advertising tools as well as analyzing the results and website statistics, is a tedious full time job itself. What we do is time consuming and expensive and we challenge you to find a better deal than what we are offering. We want you to see the benefit in what we do and appreciate it. Therefore, we really encourage you to shop around.
If we decide things are not working out, we reserve the right to cancel your website at any time. However, we will give you notice so you can make other arrangements. We will also try to accomodate your move. But, unless you're being a real headache for us, we really have no reason to do that as we've already done most the work. You are also allowed to quit at any time. However, you can not take anything we setup or design with you. If ultimately you decide you do not want to pay us any more because you can find a better deal or do it yourself, etc., we will simply turn off the website. Keep in mind, we will allow you to buy us out and help accomodate your move, if that's the case.
On a different note, if you want an ecommerce solution, CMS or other website or hosting solution and are willing to pay for it upfront, we do have options for that as well. Feel free to give us a call.