A wise person once said, “An agency is only as good as its clients,” or… something like that. Either way, one thing on which we can all agree is that an agency can’t function without clients. Hard work goes into gaining clients because they are the livelihood of agency life. And, although an agency doesn’t exist without clients, the two need to share a healthy relationship in order for both parties to thrive. In the wild, this is called symbiosis; I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.
This relationship is a delicate balance that requires attention and nurturing in order to maximize the output for the two sides. Below are some of our top tips to maintain said balance:
While both you (the agency) and your clients likely have in-house goals for your work together, setting mutual goals is just as important. This is typically done at the beginning of the relationship, as well as on a project-to-project basis. This helps to set expectations so that neither of you is displeased or unclear in your working relationship. Remember, you’re on the same team!
Whether you have worked together for a week or a year, every encounter, every project is an opportunity for gained or lost credibility. It is vital to be aware of this and use it to your advantage—even something as small as a typo in an email can be detrimental. Sometimes the relationship with a client and how to behave is best compared to that of a dating relationship: be honest, put your best foot forward, be dependable and trustworthy, take initiative, and don’t be afraid to lead the way.
Branching off of point number two, transparency is a most crucial element of building credibility. Should you be transparent? Absolutely. Should you do so with negligence of tact and professionalism? Never! There is grace to be had in transparency—and no, we don’t mean sugar coating. What we do mean, is to always communicate the bad news with some silver lining; be it a plan B, good news that accompanies the bad, or something that proves your worth. Trust your client to be able to tolerate any potential bad news as long as the situation is delivered respectfully, in a timely manner, and with the initiative of outlining the net steps to take.
To many business professionals, there is nothing worse than wasting time. Be there, be on time, all the time. It’s as simple as that. And, when you have their attention, stay on topic and be efficient with what you have to say. Don’t talk in circles, just be quick and to the point. Conversations happen much more quickly in person or over the phone anyways, and this gives you even more time to produce the excellent work your client has hired you for.
Although the Golden Rule is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, the business world version of this is “under-promise and over-deliver”. Living by this rule will keep you on track for success, happy clients, and much more. Doing the opposite, well, we won’t go there. But if you take a moment and think about it from a client’s point of view, would you rather have high expectations and be completely disappointed by the result, or have realistic expectations and be completely blown away and thrilled with the result. We choose the latter. What do you think?
These five tips don’t cover every minute detail comprised within beautiful and complex client/agency relationships, but they cover the broadest and most imperative parts. And if you ever have trouble determining how to handle a situation, just go back to putting yourself in their shoes and think about how you would want things to be handled. If that doesn’t help, come back to this article or reach out to your team. Your agency team is what makes the magic happen, so we encourage you to treat them in the high regard we illustrate here.
In your work, what advice have you found helpful for navigating agency/client relations?
Sin is defined in the original biblical language as “missing the mark.” It is we when do not live in a way that embodies the goodness for which we were made. A “deadly” sin could be further defined as being so far off the mark that our behavior becomes damaging to the point of being destructive. When we apply the term “deadly sins” to the topic of marketing, it means we are “missing the mark” and even partaking in some practices and behaviors that turn out to be destructive to our objectives and goals. Could you be committing any of the 7 deadly sins of online marketing?Continue reading
Marketing activity in the digital space has increased exponentially in the past five to seven years. We live the results of it every day. Instead of picking up the morning paper, we flock to our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. On top of that, it’s nearly impossible to go online without becoming the unwitting target of countless marketing tactics. We see this in social media, banner and pop-up ads on the websites we visit, and even in our email inboxes.
Traditionally, marketers and brands alike recognize the importance of including PR efforts in all aspects of a marketing plan. We often see that not all brands have adapted this planning into their digital executions, and this is a big mistake. When dispersing brand messaging, consistency is key. Not only that, but digital platforms provide new and unique opportunities for relationship building.
As a typical rule of thumb: All marketing elements of a brand should work together in symbiosis. Here are a few quick tips on how to make all the pieces work together:
1. Execute all aspects of your marketing to work as a whole, not in silos.
Everything from your website, to your press releases, to your social media posts, e-blasts and commercials need to use the same branding, tone of voice, messaging style, keywords, etc. It is okay to share more sharply focused things only in specific channels, but make sure to share the big-picture things across the board. This will benefit your efforts not only from an ROI standpoint, but it also aids in establishing credibility and overall brand voice. Toward the end of a campaign or other measurement period, you will have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t on each platform.
2. Treat your digital messages as a public appearance.
Public relations managers spend hours upon hours preparing their clients on what to say when they are in the spotlight. Similar preparation and continuity must be executed in the digital space—especially in social media and e-marketing. Plan for how to react to potential crises, opportunities and questions. This is part of the relationship and credibility-building process.
3. Take special care to monitor what is being said about your brand.
It is important to periodically monitor your overall brand sentiment, especially in the aspect of providing and improving upon customer service. As an agency, this can also help you stay ahead of the game in the event of larger problems or opportunities with competitors. This is likely one of the easiest initial changes to make; we recommend signing up for a service such as Google Alerts, Mention, or Talkwalker.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different strategies. What works best for one brand does not work best for all—but remember, consistency across the channels is key. Also, keep in mind that significant changes in your KPIs don’t happen overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and going viral isn’t always a good thing. Keep up a good, steady effort, and over time you will see your brand become the beautiful butterfly it was meant to be.
View these three tips as starting points from which to grow your efforts, and stay tuned for more tips on digital PR efforts right here on The Jemully Post!
As a marketer, you are likely bombarded with emails on a daily basis attempting to persuade you to try some new social media planning platform, schedule organizer, or team communication system. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands out there. Are you even looking? If so, how will you ever choose? Personal preference is a key player in this decision-making process, because ultimately, what matters is the functionality fit for your team. But, if you want to save yourself some time in researching, feel lost, or simply want to get the thoughts of another agency, here are a few of our favorite online marketing tools:
Grammarly
Do you still have trouble determining whether to use “your” or “you’re”? Is spelling not your cup of tea? Grammarly is quite essential for any business person who sends emails on a daily basis, and best of all, it’s free! Like everything else, you can pay more for the bells and whistles, but the free version really is perfect for disseminating professional emails, documents, etc. This tool functions in two ways: as a Chrome extension, and as an addition to Microsoft Office applications. Do yourself a favor and get both. You’ll never have to worry if it’s “there,” “their,” or “they’re” ever again.
Slack
Communication, even with the newest or fanciest technologies, can still be an issue for many companies and teams. We have found that Slack provides lots of benefits for those with both great and limited tech abilities, and creates spaces for organized conversations. For example, you can have the traditional message between two people, but you can also set up specific “channels” for teams, projects or clients to keep work flows methodized and catalogued. In this space, you can share documents as well, minimizing your inbox from blowing up with internal emails.
Teamweek
Do you work for a creative agency and have difficulty managing projects amongst the team? Teamweek may be a fit for you. This platform allows you to organize and assign projects, and best of all, it allows you to assign time to them for the rest of the team to see and plan around. This ensures a feasible workload, while also managing expectations with your client. If you happen to use Slack, you can integrate Teamweek to keep the team update in the space they are used to working in which makes it even better!
Basecamp
Another very useful work planning/assigning platform is Basecamp. While it is in many ways different from Teamweek, the majority of the goals are the same; Basecamp helps with keeping work flows organized and concise, and allows you to plan out your entire project so your team knows what lies ahead and can move through the steps realistically. Another helpful piece for perhaps your less motivated team members, or even those with a hectic workload, is the nudges it sends. Basecamp sends reminders as due dates creep up to assist in making sure deadlines are met- definitely a perk. Lastly, this tool keeps track as you check off tasks throughout the project, so you are able to see how much progress you have made and what is left to go overall which can be helpful in status updates to your clients.
Sprout Social
It is a challenge to find a social media platform that does it all without breaking the bank. Planning the content, getting the content approved/making revisions, scheduling the content and then pulling analytics that you can truly learn from are real needs that are not often met all in one space. Sprout Social is all these things and continues to get better, all while being friendly to the budget. Sprout makes everything easy to upload and provide feedback on, and the analytics are nothing short of fantastic. They are robust in what information they provide, and they provide competitive data as well. You and your clients will have big grins on your faces after trying this tool.
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Having the right tools to get the job done makes all the difference in the world. Now that we have helped you reassess your marketing tool belt, you can provide your clients with great work and give yourself a pat on the back for streamlining your internal efforts.
You fulfilled your dream of starting your own business. You are your own boss, you have a beautiful shop, and your beautiful, functional website and social media channels have all the right touches. You are confident that you have done everything possible to set yourself up for success. You have thought of everything, right? Next thing you know, the questions and comments come rolling in and you feel completely overwhelmed from an online customer service perspective.
This feeling is completely normal, but it’s also easy to relieve. The below steps will help you to put a process in place so that managing your online presence will be a breeze. After reading, be sure to scroll all the way down to see this information presented in an inforgraphic.
Anticipate and prepare for frequently asked questions (FAQs)
It is typically most helpful to create a list of questions you believe you are likely to receive from potential customers (i.e. “Where can I find your products?”, “What materials do you use?”, “My product was broken when I received it, can I get a new one?”, etc.”. Once you anticipate these questions, build an easily customizable response to those questions so you can get back to the person in a quick and efficient manner while providing a thought-out response. After a few months, you can edit this list to better meet the needs of your audience – we recommend doing this at least once per quarter to make sure your responses stay relevant.
Respond in a reasonable amount of time
Ease of communication is key when it comes to gaining loyal customers, especially online. Customers want to feel heard and understood. They also want to receive a timely response from you. The beauty of the online world is that everything is so easily available, but this means customers expect quicker responses. The most common guideline to response times is about 3 hours. Maintaining this overnight is difficult, and that’s okay as long as you catch up in the morning, and maintain a quick response time during business hours.
Maintain your brand’s voice in your communication
Remember that your brand voice is 24/7. All elements of your business need to be in this voice for continuity. If you are a clever and witty brand, this needs to be communicated in your customer service too. Don’t let this voice keep you from giving better customer service, but rather, use it to your benefit and reinforce what attracted customers to your brand in the first place.
Keep the conversation logical
While it is important to show your customers that you care about them and want to keep them happy, conversations can still become heated. It is important to keep emotion out of the communication unless absolutely necessary. Keep things factual, concise, and understanding. We also recommend taking an unhappy conversation from public to private from the start to keep reactions controlled. How you handle these heated conversations is likely the difference between a loyal customer and a lost opportunity.
Getting your business customer-service ready for the online space is no small task. It takes preparation and forethought, followed by consistent application, but you will be happy you did it. Gaining loyal customers becomes easy when they know they can count on you to be there for them!
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, is not a book about business. But in this article, we will extract some business lessons from The Tipping Point. Instead of being about business, the book is a deep-dive into historical events, with dollops of sociology and psychology. Why do people take action? Why do some plans work, where others fail? What causes a small occurrence to blossom into a larger trend? What causes an epidemic to take hold? The common thread is that each of these questions implies a tipping point of some sort. A moment when small changes become exponential. With his book, Gladwell set out to help us identify, and perhaps even create, tipping points in our own lives. This is done by exploring real-life tipping points from key historical “epidemics” of all shapes and sizes.
What exactly do we mean by epidemics? In addition to the viral outbreak of disease, an epidemic can be anything that “catches on”; word of mouth, crime, mass hysteria, clever marketing gimmicks, fashion, etc. You name it.
Read on for the components that can be found in any epidemic, followed by a few ways you might apply the book’s lessons to your business.
The Three Rules Of Epidemics
The Law of the Few
The Stickiness Factor
The Power of Context
The Law Of The Few
The “Law Of The Few” is the idea that, in terms of virality, not all people are created equal. Some in society carry a much greater potential for transmitting something (information, illness, etc.) to greater numbers of people. There are three main types of people who accelerate epidemics.
Connectors
Mavens
Salespeople
Simply put, Connectors know a lot of people. As obvious as that sounds, some people are much more skilled than the rest of us at maintaining casual acquaintances with a large number of people. As Gladwell puts it, they are masters of the “weak tie.”
⇒Think Paul Revere. On his midnight ride, he spread word of the British invasion. He was a connector who knew people of all stripes in many different social circles. There was no one better to get the word out than the person who knew practically everyone.
Do you know a passionate person who always seems to have the best advice? Someone you trust above all others? These people are Mavens. Not only do mavens feel driven to collect and organize as much information as possible, they are delighted to share their knowledge and assist others. They combine valuable information with the social skills to disseminate it.
⇒Again, think Paul Revere. As a maven involved with many organizations and committees, he not only knew many people in the area, but he knew the right people to tell first, and exactly where to find them.
Finally, there are Salespeople. These folks are adept at finding an engaging conversational rhythm, no matter their audience, and they are emotionally intelligent enough to subtly inspire agreement in others.
⇒Sticking with The Midnight Ride, the salespeople were those among the crowd who convinced everyone of the necessity to take action against the coming invasion, after Revere had already come and gone.
The Stickiness Factor
Some trends or products catch on in a big way. Some viruses are highly communicable and infect many. This quality, a combination of contagiousness and staying power, is called The Stickiness Factor. In the case of illness, “stickiness” is generally a very scientific matter. As with social phenomena, say a hot new fashion, emotion plays a larger role. Something that empowers an individual, makes it easy for them to improve their lives, or just makes them feel “cool,” is likely to have higher-than-average stickiness. A few examples from the book:
Lester Wunderman devised an iconic (and sticky) “treasure hunt” campaign for Columbia Record Club in 1978 that blew away the company’s traditional saturation campaign.
After multiple attempts to inform college students of free tetanus shots on campus, the information only became sticky when the info booklets included a campus map and the health office’s operating hours.
Sesame Street areBlue’s Cluesare hit children’s television programs that also managed to make learning “sticky” for children by painstakingly structuring the content.
The Power of Context
The Power of Context is the somewhat radical idea that human behavior is just as susceptible to subtle factors in the environment as it is to genetics or the circumstances in which a person was raised. The idea that, under the right conditions, anyone would be capable of doing something that would normally be considered “uncharacteristic.”
Gladwell’s star example example of altering behavior through subtle changes (thus creating a tipping point) is how “Broken Windows Theory” led to the renovation of the New York City Subway in the 1980s. Broken Windows Theory is a concept in law enforcement stating that areas featuring signs of disrepair, such as broken windows, are more susceptible to heightened elements of crime. At the time, the subway was a notorious crime magnet, the cars were covered in graffiti, and many people refused to pay their fares (opting to hop over the turnstile, instead).
The renovation boiled down to two things: scrubbing the graffiti off of every subway car, and arresting fare-beaters. The refusal of the city to release any defaced subway cars into circulation, and a series of very public arrests of petty criminals at the stations, changed the subway-riding environment in two subtle but visible ways. The laws didn’t change, just the enforcement and perception of them afterward. Crime plummeted. It was an epidemic in reverse, if you will.
When we begin to look for the context surrounding a certain phenomenon, we can discover the small changes to a particular environment that can lead to precipitous change.
Idea Diffusion
Revolutionary ideas (or products) tend to follow this pathway through society:
Innovators
Early Adopters
Early Majority
Late Majority
Deliberates
Skeptical Mass
Laggards
The segments of society noted above tend to fall perfectly along a standard distribution curve, though not every subject will make it through the entire curve.
Innovators and Early Adopters are out ahead of everyone else because they are looking for a “quantum leap” and are often in the position or mindset to take risks. Everyone else lags behind to some degree because they are more risk-averse and are comfortable with incremental and predictable progress.
The key for creating a viral idea is to span the chasm between the early folks and the late. Successful idea diffusion happens the same way rumors spread. The initial concept that works for the Innovators/Trendsetters/Cool Kids gets tweaked and sharpened in a way that makes sense to the Mainstream.
4 Lessons From ‘THE TIPPING POINT’
Make Your Business Sticky
“There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible.” (p. 132)
That’s what they call “the real trick.” Stickiness is a quality that can lead to addicted customers, and help create long-running repeat business.
Know Your Product Life-Cycle
Track how your products flow through various market segments, and understand that trying to change that process may not work.
In the mid-90s, Airwalk produced highly technical skate shoes for avid skaters. These were products for the innovators, the trendsetters, the “cool” kids. When Airwalk caught on with their target market, they were able to span the chasm to the mainstream by producing a less technical, more widely available shoe to be sold in malls. While the Innovators still got their semi-exclusive, cutting edge shoe, it remained trendy, and the mall version allowed the Mainstreamers to take pride in wearing a cool brand. The brand unraveled when Airwalk stopped marketing to both individual markets and started providing the exact same products to both boutiques and department stores.
Find The Few
Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople are not defined by wealth or social status. They are people who are looked up to, beloved, and respected within their social circles. They will also comprise a wholly different set of people, depending on the scenario. To create a tipping point of any kind, these are the people you must find and cultivate within your world.
In the Internet age, we have more information clutter than ever, which ironically, means we tend to rely more heavily than ever on the experts who know more than we do. These people are the mavens of the modern age.
Maven Traps
Learn to set “Maven Traps” to catch the attention of the mavens, enthusiasts, early adopters, etc. Many people have massive social influence, but trusted Mavens are rare.
As an example of a maven trap, Gladwell mentions the 800-number on individually packaged bars of Ivory soap. The number is for questions or comments about the soap, but, “who on earth could ever have a question about Ivory soap,” asks Gladwell. The answer: soap mavens. Take care of your Mavens when you are fortunate enough to find them!
What other lessons have you taken from ‘The Tipping Point’ and applied to your business? Let us know!
When an inquiry is made as to how much a website and online marketing will cost, a business owner should understand what we call the “Google factor.” Those who don’t understand the role Google plays in their marketing efforts are at risk of losing money from poor sales.
Google looks at the content of the website from a consumer’s perspective. When a consumer types a word or phrase into Google’s search bar, Google’s goal is to provide a list of webpages that will most likely answer the consumer’s exact question.
How do you get your website to be on that results list Google serves up to answer searcher inquiries? The process begins with your website design. Then the process continues with your website’s copy, and your full suite of marketing efforts.
1 – Design (Mobile) – Your website needs to be mobile compliant.
2 – Design(Secure) – Your website needs to have a secure certificate. Google prefers the site to be “https” instead of “http.”
3 – Keywords – The words on your website should be written to incorporate your most important keywords and phrases. As the business owner, it is wise to come up with a list of the words and phrases that people use to search for your products and services. These words should be woven in to the page titles, headlines, and body copy of the site, as well as meta tags and descriptions. Using Google Analytics on your site is a good way to supplement your brainstorming.
4 –Dynamic Content – Google is less fond of static sites and favors websites that have dynamic (regular, fresh, changing) content. Google watches your site to see if fresh content is added that could answer consumers’ questions.
5 –Social – Google watches social media to see if people are talking about your website content and sharing information obtained from your site. Google even monitors how many links are on the web that drive people back to your site.
It is our job to help you understand how the Google factor can impact your business and drive traffic, or slow down traffic to your website.
As part of our process of working with clients, we educate business owners about which additional features they may need to consider for their sites. We believe it is important to understand how Google will view their website and their content because Google’s opinion of their website will determine how frequently their site is displayed as a result of a search query.
Your website needs to satisfy Google so you ultimately satisfy the needs of your potential customers.
Give us a shout and we can chat about how to make your site more Google-friendly.
Nearly three decades into the game, SEO is now practically synonymous with content marketing.
The trick of ranking atop Google’s results pages has been reduced to a few simple truths: size, content, and targeting. Search engines will no longer bend to our wills; we must bend over backwards for search engine users.
In the early days of the Internet, search engine optimization (SEO) resembled the Wild West. Outlaws resorted to all manner of nefarious tactics to improve their search ranking and visibility. Such tactics included keyword stuffing, bait-and-switch, and other “black hat” methods that would be considered spam today. These practices have been rooted out in the name of reader service. They simply don’t work anymore—the loopholes have been closed. The logic behind Google and other engines closing these loopholes is simple: provide a better user experience.
Remember: Google, and the concept of SEO itself, does not revolve around who ranks at the top. It’s all about granting ease of access to the content that best serves readers. It’s an end-user product rather than a marketing platform, and thinking in these terms is helpful when evaluating the content we publish.
Internet users scouring various search engines for answers know what they’re looking for. Sometimes it takes a few searches, but they know it when they see it. Users don’t want pages that use metadata to misrepresent what the content is actually about, and they definitely do not want spam. The better results a search engine like Google can provide its users, the more likely they are to use Google the next time. Rendering dishonest SEO practices obsolete is simply a part of the natural evolution of a search engine. “Better search results” precludes weaker or misrepresented web content.
The “outlaws of Internets past” held that SEO was all just a game. One could simply work the system in place at the time and reap huge rewards. The game has changed. With Google effectively acting as a world power now, there is no more latitude for playing around. Getting to the top of the first page for high-competition keywords is not a matter of paying your way to the top (that’s what Google AdWords is for), nor is it something that can be attained through savvy trickery. The game is now entirely above the table, rather than below it. The only way to sneak an ace up your sleeve is to be a huge brand or content farm.
And for the rest of us with average-sized websites and strictly regional brand awareness? We can’t all be Internet giants, but we can become elite at integrating our marketing communications and expertly targeting our specific niches.
The SEO Pie
It helps to think of your SEO efforts as working in concert with the rest of your digital marketing efforts. While trickery is not a valid SEO method anymore, on-page optimization is only one slice of your SEO Pie. On-page is still important, but without an overarching strategy encompassing your web content, social media, advertising, etc., you are only working with a small portion of the pie and should adjust your expectations accordingly.
As marketers, strategy and goal-setting are so vital to what we do. Remember, goal-setting is not as simple as “sales.” Marketing campaigns can raise brand awareness, educate the public, entertain, and lead to many different calls-to-action. Without a specific set of goals, it’s easy to fall into the trap of repeating yourself over and over. Instead, try to design your efforts strategically and with specific goals in mind. The difference is that goals represent a finish line, but selling is never finished. While “sales” and “success” can often look like the same thing, it is important to delineate the two.
It’s difficult to have major SEO success without orchestrating all of your digital marketing efforts around it. First things first; you need an overarching digital strategy. Next, you can’t be worried about SEO unless you have a website, preferably one meeting modern criteria such as mobile-friendliness. Tailoring your web content to your audience using appropriate landing pages and a company blog comes next. Don’t forget about links! Building a strong portfolio of inbound links through social media and email marketing are oft-forgotten ingredients of SEO.
Do you use Google AdWords or Facebook Ads? They may not be traditional forms of SEO, but they regularly deliver traffic to your site’s landing pages. Landing pages work best when they are built and targeted with skill and intent. The better your most important landing pages are, the better your SEO will be.
SEO And Content Marketing
Speaking of landing pages, they are typically your interior pages, containing your meatiest content. Knowing your business’s most valuable long-tail keywords (the three-or-four-plus-word queries that tend to bring people to your landing pages) is emerging as the best way to own your niche, and become a champion targeter. A sound SEO strategy should include building at least one well-written and optimized page tailored toward every long-tail phrase that is important to your business. If you don’t know what those long-tail keywords and phrases are, then spend a some time getting to know your web visitors. Get to know your niche!
In today’s SEO landscape, questions demand not just answers but relevant answers. This means there is now a great deal of overlap between relevance, content marketing, and SEO.
How many pieces of your SEO pie are you using? We want to know!
We are halfway through the year and the 2017 New Year’s Resolutions we made seem light-years away. However, in a business, goal setting and goal completion are a ongoing struggle. One of our Jemully finds this year was a productivity workbook called Your Best Year: 2017 by Lisa Jacobs. According to Jacobs, “By January 15, 95% of people who set New Year resolutions will have already given up on them”. We are determined to help you be a part of the 5%, not the 95%.Continue reading
Long-Tail Keywords (LTKs) can be your secret SEO weapon for attracting highly specific and actionable traffic.
As anyone not privy to Google’s ever-evolving search engine crawling algorithm can (and should) tell you, SEO (search engine optimization) is a long-term commitment and the process is never finished. Text-based content, meta descriptions, image descriptions, headings, URLs, links… there are an awful lot of factors and knowing the list is an essential part of the uphill battle. Here, we are focusing on one specific and unheralded element of SEO: The Long-Tail Keyword.
But first…
Keywords
While they are not officially designated like the items listed above, keywords woven throughout your site, and the relevance and richness they lend your content, are ultimately the most important factor in SEO. Search engines (Google) seek to find the results that best match a Googler’s inquiry. Google is really good at finding the best results. That’s why it’s so popular. The best results (websites) are those best able to demonstrate to Google’s crawling non-human bots that they have the best and most relevant content. So basically, if you want to show up on the results page when someone searches for “shoes,” your website better be all about shoes, or at least have a lot of shoe-related content.
Over the years, there have been loopholes and cheats that enterprising webmasters have found to artificially boost their SEO. For example; cramming an unnatural amount of keywords into a page, or using trendy keywords in content that had otherwise nothing to do with those particular trends. These practices and many others are always snuffed out by Google’s crawlers, which are constantly improving because—you guessed it—negating shady practices ultimately helps yield better search results to Googlers. Again, Google is very good at this, which is why Google is far and away the top search engine, owning an estimated 70% of the global search engine market.Continue reading
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You agree not to work around, bypass, or circumvent any of the technical limitations of the Services, use any tool to enable features or functionalities that are otherwise disabled in the Services, or decompile, disassemble or otherwise reverse engineer the Services.
You agree not to access the Services or monitor any material or information from the Services using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means.
You understand that your Materials may be transferred unencrypted and involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. “Materials” means Your Trademarks, copyright content, any products or services you sell through the Services (including description and/or price), and any photos, images, videos, graphics, written content, audio files, code, information, or other data provided or made available by you or your affiliates to Jemully Charter or its affiliates.
2. Domain Names
Upon purchasing a domain name through Jemully Charter, domain registration will be preset to automatically renew each year so long as your Jemully Charter Account remains active. You acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility to notify Jemully Charter to deactivate the auto-renewal function should you choose to do so.
3. Jemully Charter Rights
The Services have a range of features and functionalities. Not all Services or features will be available to all Merchants at all times and we are under no obligation to make any Services or features available in any jurisdiction. Except where prohibited in these Terms of Service or by applicable law, we reserve the right to modify the Services or any part thereof for any reason, without notice and at any time.
Jemully Charter does not pre-screen Materials and it is in our sole discretion to refuse or remove any Materials from any part of the Services, including if we determine in our sole discretion that the goods or services that you offer through the Services, or the Materials uploaded or posted to the Services, violate these Terms of Service.
Verbal or written abuse of any kind (including threats of abuse or retribution) of any Jemully Charter employee, member, or officer will result in immediate Account termination.
We reserve the right to provide our Services to your competitors and make no promise of exclusivity. You further acknowledge and agree that Jemully Charter employees and contractors may also be Jemully Charter customers or merchants and that they may compete with you, although they may not use your Confidential Information (as defined in Section 6) in doing so.
In the event of a dispute regarding Account ownership, we reserve the right to request documentation to determine or confirm Account ownership. Documentation may include, but is not limited to, a scanned copy of your business license, government issued photo ID, the last four digits of the credit card on file, or confirmation of your status as an employee of an entity.
Jemully Charter reserves the right to determine, in our sole discretion, rightful Account ownership and transfer an Account to the rightful Store Owner. If we are unable to reasonably determine the rightful Store Owner, without prejudice to our other rights and remedies, Jemully Charter reserves the right to temporarily suspend or disable an Account until resolution has been determined between the disputing parties.
4. Your Responsibilities
You acknowledge and agree to provide public-facing contact information on your Jemully Charter site.
You acknowledge and agree that the Services are not a marketplace, and any contract of sale made through the Services is directly between you and the customer. You are responsible for the content of your Jemully Charter site, the goods and services that you may offer, and all aspects of the transactions between you and your customer(s) via your Jemully Charter site. You represent and warrant that your Jemully Charter site, your Materials and the goods and services you offer through will be true, accurate, and complete, and will not violate any applicable laws, regulations or rights of third parties.
You are solely responsible for the goods or services that you may sell through the Services (including description, price, fees, tax that you calculate, defects, required legal disclosures, regulatory compliance, offers or promotional content), including compliance with any applicable laws or regulations.
You may not use the Jemully Charter sites for any illegal or unauthorized purpose nor may you, in the use of the Service, violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws), the laws applicable to you in your customer’s jurisdiction, or the laws of Canada and the Province of Ontario. You will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations (including but not limited to obtaining and complying with the requirements of any license or permit that may be necessary to operate your store or that may be held by you) in your use of the Service and your performance of obligations under the Terms of Service.
5. Payment of Fees
The subscription with Jemully Charter requires a minimum of twelve (12) months. Business owners who terminate their subscription prior to 12 months will have the payment method on file automatically charged for the remaining months that equal to twelve full months of service. plus a 15% early termination fee.
You will pay the Fees applicable to your subscription to Online Service (“Subscription Fees”) and any other applicable fees, including but not limited to applicable one-time fees, setup fees, or site customization fees.
You must keep a valid payment method on file with us to pay for all incurred and recurring Fees. Jemully Charter will charge applicable Fees to any valid payment method that you authorize (“Authorized Payment Method”), and Jemully Charter will continue to charge the Authorized Payment Method for applicable Fees until the Services are terminated, and any and all outstanding Fees have been paid in full. Unless otherwise indicated, all Fees and other charges are in U.S. dollars, and all payments will be in U.S. currency.
Subscription Fees are paid in advance and will be billed in 30 day intervals (each such date, a “Billing Date”). You will be charged on each Billing Date for all outstanding Fees that have not previously been charged. Fees will appear on an invoice, which will be sent to the Business Owner via the Primary Email Address provided. Users have approximately two weeks to bring up and settle any issues with the billing of Subscription Fees.
If we are not able to process payment of Fees using an Authorized Payment Method, we may make subsequent attempts to process payment using any Authorized Payment Method. If we are unable to successfully process payment of Fees using an Authorized Payment Method within 28 days of our initial attempt, we may suspend and revoke access to your Account and the Services. Your Account will be reactivated upon your payment of any outstanding Fees, plus the Fees applicable to your next billing cycle. You may not be able to access your website during any period of suspension. If the outstanding Fees remain unpaid for 60 days following the date of suspension, Jemully Charter reserves the right to terminate your Account in accordance with Section 14.
All Fees are exclusive of applicable federal, provincial, state, local or other governmental sales, goods and services (including Goods and Sales Tax under the Goods and Services Tax Act, Chapter 117A of Singapore), harmonized or other taxes, fees or charges now in force or enacted in the future (“Taxes”).
For the avoidance of doubt, all sums payable by you to Jemully Charter under these Terms of Service will be paid free and clear of any deductions or withholdings whatsoever. Jemully Charter will be entitled to charge the full amount of Fees stipulated under these Terms of Service to your Authorized Payment Method ignoring any such deduction or withholding that may be required.
Jemully Charter does not provide refunds.
6. Confidentiality
“Confidential Information” will include, but will not be limited to, any and all information associated with a party’s business and not publicly known, including specific business information, technical processes and formulas, software, customer lists, prospective customer lists, names, addresses and other information regarding customers and prospective customers, product designs, sales, costs (including any relevant processing fees), price lists, and other unpublished financial information, business plans and marketing data, and any other confidential and proprietary information, whether or not marked as confidential or proprietary. Jemully Charter’s Confidential Information includes all information that you receive relating to us, or to the Services, that is not known to the general public including information related to our security program and practices.
Each party agrees to use the other party’s Confidential Information solely as necessary for performing its obligations under these Terms of Service and in accordance with any other obligations in these Terms of Service.
7. Limitation of Liability and Indemnification
You expressly understand and agree that, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, Jemully Charter and its suppliers will not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses arising out of or relating to the use of or inability to use the Service or these Terms of Service (however arising, including negligence).
You agree to indemnify and hold us and (as applicable) our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, Jemully Charter partners, officers, directors, agents, employees, and suppliers harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of (a) your breach of these Terms of Service or the documents it incorporates by reference (including the AUP); (b) or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party; or (c) any aspect of the transaction between you and your Customer, including but not limited to refunds, fraudulent transactions, alleged or actual violation of applicable laws (including but not limited to Federal and State consumer protection laws), or your breach of the Terms of Service.
You will be responsible for any breach of the Terms of Service by your affiliates, agents or subcontractors and will be liable as if it were your own breach.
Your use of the Services is at your sole risk. The Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any warranty or condition, express, implied or statutory.
Jemully Charter does not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.
Jemully Charter does not warrant that the results that may be obtained from the use of the Services will be accurate or reliable.
Jemully Charter is not responsible for any of your tax obligations or liabilities related to the use of Jemully Charter’s Services.
Jemully Charter does not warrant that the quality of any products, services, information, or other materials purchased or obtained by you through the Services will meet your expectations, or that any errors in the Services will be corrected.
8. Intellectual Property and Your Materials
8.1 Your Materials
We do not claim ownership of the Materials you provide to Jemully Charter. You grant Jemully Charter a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to host, use, distribute, expose, modify, run, copy, store, publicly perform, communicate to the public (including by telecommunication), broadcast, reproduce, make available, display, and translate, and create derivative works of any Materials provided by you in connection with the Services. We may use our rights under this license to operate, provide, and promote the Services and to perform our obligations and exercise our rights under the Terms of Service. You represent, warrant, and agree that you have all necessary rights in the Materials to grant this license. You irrevocably waive any and all moral rights you may have in the Materials in favour of Jemully Charter and agree that this waiver may be invoked by anyone who obtains rights in the materials through Jemully Charter, including anyone to whom Jemully Charter may transfer or grant (including by way of license or sublicense) any rights in the Materials.
If you owned the Materials before providing them to Jemully Charter then, despite uploading them to your Jemully Charter site they remain yours, subject to any rights or licenses granted in the Terms of Service or elsewhere. You can export the content of your Jemully Charter site, however you will be required to fulfill the 12 month subscription requirement plus any outstanding fees and the early termination fee, if applicable. You may notify Jemully Charter of your desire.
You agree that Jemully Charter can, at any time, review and delete any or all of the Materials submitted to the Services, although Jemully Charter is not obligated to do so.
You grant Jemully Charter a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to use the names, trademarks, service marks and logos associated with your site (“Your Trademarks”) to operate, provide, and promote the Services and to perform our obligations and exercise our rights under the Terms of Service. This license will survive any termination of the Terms of Service solely to the extent that Jemully Chartery requires the license to exercise any rights or perform any obligations that arose during the Term.
8.2 Jemully Charter Intellectual Property
You agree that you may not use any trademarks, logos, or service marks of Jemully Charter, whether registered or unregistered.
You agree not to purchase, register, or use search engine or other pay-per-click keywords (such as Google Ads), trademarks, email addresses, social media names, or domain names (including without limitation top-level domains, sub-domains, and page URLs) that use or include Jemully Media or Jemully Charter or that use or include any terms that may be confusing with the Jemully Media.
9. Jemully Charter Theme Sites
You may establish the appearance of your Jemully Charter site with a design template from Jemully Charter’s Theme options.
Technical support for a Theme is the responsibility of the Jemully Charter, and the Business Owner may not modify the Theme.
10. Termination
The term of these Terms of Service will begin on the date of your completed registration for use of a Service and continue for a minimum of 12 months or until terminated by us or by you, as provided below (the “Term”).
You may cancel your Account and terminate the Terms of Service at any time by contacting chartersites@jemully.com and then following the specific instructions indicated to you in Jemully Charter’s response.
Without limiting any other remedies, we may suspend or terminate your Account or the Terms of Service for any reason, without notice and at any time (unless otherwise required by law), including if we suspect that you (by conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) have engaged in fraudulent activity in connection with the use of the Services. Termination of the Terms of Service will be without prejudice to any rights or obligations which arose prior to the date of termination.
Upon termination of the Services by either party for any reason:
Jemully Charter will cease providing you with the Services and you will no longer be able to access your Account;
unless otherwise provided in the Terms of Service, you will not be entitled to any refunds of any Fees, pro rata or otherwise;
any outstanding balance owed to Jemully Charter for your use of the Services through the effective date and including the completion of the 12-month required subscription and early termination fee, if applicable, of such termination will immediately become due and payable in full; and
your Jemully Charter site will be taken offline.
If you purchased a domain name through Jemully Charter, upon cancellation your domain will no longer be automatically renewed. Following termination, it will be your sole responsibility to handle all matters related to your domain with the domain provider.
If there are any outstanding Fees owed by you at the date of termination of the Service, you will receive one final invoice via email. Once that invoice has been paid in full, you will not be charged again.
