Local Business Search Marketing Terms and Conditions
What search engines will my site be listed in?
Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Google Maps, Yahoo Local Business, Bing Local, and Ask Cities. Your site will also be listed on AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL, Dogpile, ExactSeek, Excite, Hotbot, Iwon, Lycos, Mamma, Netscape, Open Directory (dmoz.com), Search.com, WebCrawler, and more.
How long will it take before my site is listed in the search engines?
We can complete the keyword research, organic search engine optimization service, and create the local listing usually in two to three weeks. Because we collaborate with you and your input is needed in each step of the process, your responsiveness may impact that timeline. After the listings with local search engines have been created, it takes anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks before you’ll begin to see better search engine ranking. We will send you a search ranking report one month after the Local Business Search Marketing setup has been completed. As local search lists tend to be updated more slowly, changes are expected to continue for up to three months.
If the business already has listings setup in some or all of the sites, but those listings contain errors (e.g. wrong address, wrong website URL, etc.) we will work to get those listings changed. Changing listings often takes longer than setting up new listings, up to several months. The business may also be required to participate in the efforts to get the listing changed as some sites require contact with the business itself for verification. So, if the business has listings that require correction, setup for the listings may take several months
Tell me more about the guarantee.
We begin by doing keyword research to identify what local keyword phrases for your site to target.
We will then optimize your site for the your business’s city and two additional adjacent cities, descriptive words, and those keyword phrases. We will then create listings in the Google, Bing, and Yahoo local search engines as well as register your web site in approximately 20 of the top search engines and directories. Then we will create listings for your business in up to seven internet yellow pages, up to five internet review websites, and up to 6 business directory sites. This usually takes about one month, however, the process can take longer than one month depending on the responsiveness of the listing sites. Once the listings have had time to be approved, we will create a new page on your business’s website containing a list of the websites where reviews can be posted. This will allow the business’s clients, customers, staff, and employees to easily access those websites and post reviews. Over the next 6 weeks the Business will be required to aquire at least 10 reviews on each of the websites with a review feature. Each business staff person or client is welcome to post reviews on multiple sites, but should not post more than one review per site.
Each month after the setup has been completed you will receive a search ranking report. After three months we guarantee that your business’s website will have at least 20 top ten rankings for the various local keyword phrases. We will measure the search rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL in both the general search results and the local search results. If your business’s website does not rank in the top 10 for at least 20 of those rankings you may choose to allow OurChurch.Com to continue the Local Business Search Marketing service and work to improve the search rankings of your website to where the website has at least 20 top ten rankings or you can request a refund of the entire setup fee. If you request a refund you may still request to continue the Local Business Search Marketing service; however, OurChurch.Com retains the right to refuse and terminate the service.
The Local Business Search Marketing service is an ongoing service in which you will receive monthly reports with your website’s search rankings. OurChurch.Com guarantees that after the first three months of the service, your website will continue to have at least 20 top ten ranking in each of the monthly reports for as long as you have the service. If, in any of the reports, your website has less than 20 top ten rankings, you may choose to allow OurChurch.Com to continue the Local Business Search Marketing service and work to improve the search rankings of your website back to where the website has at least 20 top ten rankings or you can request a refund of the previous month’s payment. No refund will be given of the setup fee or any of the prior months when your website’s search rankings met the guarantee; only the month when your website’s rankings fell below the guarantee. If you request a refund you may still request to continue the Local Business Search Marketing service; however, OurChurch.Com retains the right to refuse and terminate the service.
The Local Business Search Marketing service is offered as a bundled service with other OurChurch.Com services, such as website hosting and custom design. If you have ordered the Local Business Search Marketing service bundled with other OurChurch.Com services and your website’s search ranking report shows less than the guarantee, you have the option to request a refund for a portion of your previous month’s payment (equal to the amount of the payment that is designated for Local Business Search Marketing service. Because the Local Business Search Marketing service is part of a bundle, you cannot cancel the service. OurChurch.Com will work to bring your website’s search rankings back up to at least 20 top ten rankings.
You can request a refund by writing us at 1906 Firefern Ct., Suite 107, Trinity, FL 34655 or emailing us at support@ourchurch.com. Requests for a refund must be received within 7 days of our having sent the search ranking report. Refunds will be processed within seven (7) business days of request being received.
If your website is built with OurChurch.Com’s NE1 web builder, we will make the optimization changes directly to your web pages for you, so you don’t have to do anything. If your website is not built with OurChurch.Com’s NE1 web builder, we can still make the changes to your website for you. In order to do that we will require the the login information and any additional information needed to modify your website.
Although we highly recommend allowing us to modify your website for you, if you would prefer to optimize your web pages yourself, we will send you an optimized version of your web pages. You must upload it and replace the current web pages. In the case that you use an online web builder to build your website, we can send a list of the changes that need to be made. After you have made the changes to your website, we will review the modifications you have made to verify that all modifications were done and that they were done correctly.
Search engine optimization involves modifying your web pages to optimize it for the search engines. This includes both on page (visible to visitors) and off page changes. Some of the text on the page will need to be altered and you may need to add to or remove some of the textual content of the page. We work with you to get the best optimization for your website the way you want it, however, refusing any element of the optimization of the page will void the guarantee.
During the optimization service, there is one point at which you, the client, will be asked to approve part of the service, when we ask you to approve the proposed modification for optimizing the web page. When we present the proposal, you will have the opportunity to ask questions or request changes. After the proposal has been approved, if you wish to change the optimization of the site, you will be required to purchase maintenance hours for the additional work.
Having ads on your website and not having your own domain name will hurt your rankings in search engines. While we can usually still get your site top rankings, we cannot extend the money-back guarantee if you do have ads on your web page or do not have your own domain name.
During the initial optimization of the web page, OurChurch.Com will indicate what modifications need to be done in order to fully optimize the website for the keywords selected and the local optimization. While we highly recommend implimenting all modifications in order to receive the greatest benefit from the optimization service, you may choose to not impliment all of the recommended modifications or only partially optimize the pages. If you choose not to impliment all recommended modifications, the guarantee is void.
You are free to update and edit your business’s website at any time; however, if you do change the pages at any time and change or remove any optmized elements during the three month period between when we optimize your site and we run the search ranking report for the third month, the guarantee is void. If the page is offline (your site goes down) for any period of time, the guarantee is void.
The Local Business Search Marketing service was created for businesses in the United States. While the service may be just as effective with businesses in other countries, we cannot guarantee the results as the search engines, review sites, and internet yellow page sites do not all support locations outside of the US. If your business is located outside the United States, we can provide part of the Local Business Search Marketing service, but not the whole service. If your business is located outside the United States the guarantee is void.
During the first 6 weeks after the initial setup is completed, the client business will be required to aquire at least 10 positive reviews on each of the website listings with a review feature. If all 10 reviews for each site are not posted, the guarantee will be void.
Reviews posted on the various listings play in integral role in the rankings the business’s website will have in the local search results. During the monthly subscription after the first three months, if the rankings of the business’s website begin to drop, OurChurch.Com will determine what needs to be done to bring the rankings back up. If OurChurch.Com determines modifications to the on-page SEO needs to be made, OurChurch.Com will make these changes. If OurChurch.Com determines additional reviews need to be posted, OurChurch.Com will send an email to the client indicating that additional reviews need to be aquired for the business and will indicate the minimum number of reviews which need to be posted. The client business will be required to aquire the recommended number of reviews within the recommended amount of time. If the recommendations are not followed, the guarantee will be void.
Once the third month is completed you are welcome to make changes to any part of the optimized pages. Once a month we will check your website to see if you have made any changes to it. If you have made any minor changes which effect any of the optimized elements, we will make modifications to the pages as necessary to maintain the optimization of the page. OurChurch.Com retains the right to define minor changes. If more than minor changes have been made to the page, the client will be required to order the Web Page Re-Optimization service in order to maintain the optimization of the page. Failure to do so will void the guarantee.
Once the third month is completed you are welcome to make changes to the optimized pages. We encourage you to let us know about any changes that you make so that we can review the changes to evaluate the effect of the changes on the optimization and determine if any modifications need to be made to keep the site fully optimized. If you make changes to your website which effect the optimization and do not inform us, those changes may have effected your website’s rankings by the time we perform our monthly evaluation. If you make changes that effect the optimization of the page and cause the website’s rankings to drop, the guarantee will be temporarily voided until the page has been re-optimized and at least one month has been give to allow the search engines to change their rankings.
If you make major changes to your web page which require the purchase of the Web Page Re-optimization service and you choose not to purchase that service and so the site is not fully optimized, then the guarantee will be void. Though the guarantee will be void, this does not void the contract. You are still obligated for the full length of your contract including all monthly payments. We will continue to monitor the site and it’s rankings as well as recommend that you fully optimize the page for as long as you continue the service.
OurChurch.Com will also produce a report of the website’s major search engine rankings. As with the initial guarantee, we we will run a search engine ranking report to see where your site ranks in each the major search engines for the local keywords.
Many clients may find that after the first month or two their site has far more than the guaranteed twenty top 10 rankings. While we will strive to maintain those rankings, the guarantee is only for twenty top 10 rankings. If the website’s rankings decrease, but are still at or above twenty top 10 rankings, then the guarantee has still been met.
The Local Business Search Marketing service is able to effect the rankings of a site through the use of search engine approved SEO techniques (sometimes refered to as “white hat” SEO). There are other SEO techniques which the search engines do not approve or specifically prohibit (these techniques are sometimes refered to as “black hat” SEO). These unapproved or prohibited methods can effect your rankings as well causing a drop in your website’s rankings or even the banning of your website from the search engines. You are free to engage in search engine optimization techniques and link building activities outside of the services included in the Local Business Search Marketing service, however, OurChurch.Com does require that all of these techniques and activities be search engine approved (white hat) techniques. If you, the client, engage in techniques or activities that are not search engine approved or are specifically prohibited by the search engines (black hat) whether intentionally or unknowingly, this will void guarantee of the Local Business Search Marketing service and OurChurch.Com is not responcible for any negative effects such actions may have on your website or organization. Some of these unapproved or prohibitted techniques include but are not limited to:
• Keyword stuffing
• Participating in link farms
• Purchasing links that do not include a nofollow tag
• Cloaking
• Hiding text
We encourage you to contact our Marketing Services representitive to review any search marketing strategies before engaging in them to be sure all activities are search engine approved.
OurChurch.Com will also provide modifications to the optimization of the web page as necessary to keep the optimization up to date with the latest trends and strategies. We retain the right to determine what those new trends are and whether changes to the page are required.
The Local Business Search Marketing service requires a 1 year contract with the setup fee payment being made at the purchase time of the service and monthly payments being made on the service renewal date each month. Currently the renewal date for every account is set by the date the order for the Local Business Search Marketing service payment is received. Monthly payments will begin 1 month after the initial payment is received. For example, if you place an order for the Local Business Search Marketing service and pay for it on May 12th, then your first monthly payment will be due on June 12th and monthly payments will continue to be due on the 12th of each month thereafter for the duration of the service. In some cases the Local Business Search Marketing service may be purchased as part of a bundle or package with other services. This may include a longer, 2-year contract. In those cases, the Local Business Search Marketing service payment requirements are defined by the perameters of that contract.
OurChurch.Com offers the opportunity for a 1 year contract with the Local Business Search Marketing service. In this 1 year contract, you (the customer) agree to continue the Local Business Search Marketing service for at least 1 year (12 consecutive monthly payments) and you will receive a $200 discount off the initial setup fee of the service. The service can be cancelled, however, under the following terms: If client wants to cancel the service, client must submit the cancellation request in writing by email to support@ourchurch.com or by postal mail OurChurch.Com Inc, 1906 Firefern Ct Ste 107, Trinity, FL 34655 and receive confirmation from OurChurch.Com acknowledging the request has been received and processed. If the service is cancelled before 12 consecutive monthly payments have been made, the customer will be charged the amount discounted off the setup fee ($200 for the Local Business Search Marketing service) and a early cancellation fee equal to half the cost of the remaining months. (For example, if you cancel your Local Business Search Marketing service ($200/month) 6 months early, then half of the cost of the remaining months would be $600. Note: The price in this example is just an example and not necessarily the actual price of the service.). Other processing fees may apply as well. If the customer cancels the Local Business Search Marketing service early, OurChurch.Com will charge early cancellation fees to the credit card used for the original payment or the credit card currently setup for the auto-recurring billing. If neither of these credit cards are active, valid, or the payment cannot be processed, the customer must provide payment via a different credit card, check, or money order within 15 days of the request of cancellation. If the contract is violated by non-payment, the customer will be required to pay the amount owed for those unpaid months for which the service was performed. The customer may be given the opportunity to resume their service at that time at the discretion of OurChurch.Com, or the non-payment may be treated as an early cancellation with all early cancellation fees applicable. After a cancellation request has been received and all fees and payments have been received, OurChurch.Com will process the request in no greater than seven (7) business days, after which OCC will cancel client’s service and no longer charge client the monthly fee.
OurChurch.Com requires auto-recurring monthly billing for credit cards with the Local Business Search Marketing service. When you pay for the Local Business Search Marketing service with a credit card, you must agree to have OurChurch.Com automatically bill that same credit card (the credit card you used to purchase the service) for the monthly payments. OurChurch.Com will then automatically bill that same credit card each month on the renewal date of the service. If the credit card used to make the initial payment becomes invalid (cancellation, expiration, etc.) it is your (client’s) responsibility to contact OurChurch.Com with a new valid credit card to continue the monthly payments. The Local Business Search Marketing service requires a 12 month commitment; however, the service is not limited to 12 months and may continue after 12 months. Once that 12 month commitment is completed, OurChurch.Com will continue to bill that same credit card each month until the service is cancelled by the client. If client wants to cancel the service, client must submit the cancellation request in writing by email to support@ourchurch.com or by postal mail OurChurch.Com Inc, 1906 Firefern Ct Ste 107, Trinity, FL 34655 and receive confirmation from OurChurch.Com acknowledging the request has been received and processed. After a cancellation request has been received, OurChurch.Com will process the request in no greater than seven (7) business days, after which OCC will cancel client’s service and no longer charge client the monthly fee. Notification of cancellation must be received BEFORE your service’s renewal date to prevent that month’s payment from being charged to your credit card. OurChurch.Com will not refund the monthly payment if you contact us on your renewal date or after.
The Local Business Search Marketing service is an ongoing monthly service with payments due on the renewal date of each month of service. While OurChurch.Com does offer and recommend a 1 year contract for the Standard SEO Management service, it is not required that you sign up for a 1 year contract and instead, you can choose to keep the service month to month. If you choose not to commit to a year of service each month OurChurch.Com will automatically charge the credit card you used to purchase the Local Business Search Marketing service (unless another credit card or payment method has been agreed upon) the monthly maintenance fee on the renewal date of your service unless you cancel the service. If client wants to cancel the service, client must submit the cancellation request in writing by email to support@ourchurch.com or by postal mail OurChurch.Com Inc, 1906 Firefern Ct Ste 107, Trinity, FL 34655 and receive confirmation from OurChurch.Com acknowledging the request has been received and processed. After a cancellation request has been received, OurChurch.Com will process the request in no greater than seven (7) business days, after which OCC will cancel client’s service and no longer charge client the monthly fee. Notification of cancellation must be received BEFORE your service’s renewal date to prevent that month’s payment from being charged to your credit card. OurChurch.Com will not refund the monthly payment if you contact us on your renewal date or after. There is no minimum number of months you are required to keep the Local Business Search Marketing service (unless you commit to the one year contract) and you may cancel the Local Business Search Marketing service at any time.
If you choose to purchase the Local Business Search Marketing service, the setup fee will be paid immediately and payments for the monthly management service will begin on the first renewal date and will continue each subsequent month on the renewal date as described above. Typically the initial optimization takes 2-3 weeks with two months after given for the search engines to adjust the rankings; however, during the initial optimization process there are several points (as indicated above) where we require a response from you, the client. If delays in our receiving a response from you cause the initial optimization to take longer, the monthly payments will still continue each month after the Local Business Search Marketing payment was received, regardless of whether the optimization has been completed.
All search engine optimization services provided by OurChurch.Com are intended to improve the search engine rankings of the optimized web page or website. OurChurch.Com is only responsible for improving the search engine rankings within the Guarantee (when applicable). The improvement in the search engine rankings typically will increase the traffic to the optimized web site and the increase in traffic may also increase the sales or conversions on the website; however, there are many factors outside the scope of OurChurch.Com’s search engine optimization services which contribute to both increased traffic and increased conversions. Therefore, OurChurch.Com is not responsible for either an increase in traffic or sales.
The current price for this service is $149/mo. Price is subject to change.