3: Should I Sign a Long Contract?

When starting a relationship with any internet marketing company, be sure to read your contract very carefully. We have heard several nightmare stories from people about the trap they are caught in by their web company, here are some of the top ones to look out for:

1. A business owner was recommended to a web agency in London to build a website that should have taken 3 months to build. Because it was a London agency he thought the price of £200,000 to build was normal, in our opinion the site should have cost a fraction of that. One year and £100,000 later all he had was a large specification document and no website but the contract was so air tight that there was nothing he could about it unless he wanted to lose the initial deposit of £100,000.
2. Several people have told us about an agency in Salisbury whose contract stipulates that if the relationship should break down, the website and all its content belongs to the agency and not the client. In some cases they to pay a lot of money get to the website files and its content and in other cases they simply cannot have them as a punishment for leaving the company.
3. A Southampton based company hired a reputable online marketing agency to create and manage a Google Adwords campaign. After the initial contract period was up the company decided that the marketing agency did not achieve the objectives agreed and wanted to bring the campaign in-house. However, they were told even though they have fulfilled their 12 month agreement and can leave without paying penalties, the Adwords campaign which they paid for belongs to the marketing agency and they would only release it for £10,000.
4. A Hampshire based Service Company had been using a web developer for several years but decided to move on in order to grow their business. The new agency asked for access to Google Analytics so they can perform a proper analysis on website visitors but the previous web developer would not give access to the analytics, saying it belongs to them. Now three years of important historical analytics was gone.

At Splice Marketing we are more concerned about the results we generate for our customers than holding them hostage. In our opinion, we have to continually earn the right to manage our customer’s business online and if for whatever reason the relationship just isn’t working and they want to leave, all the information including website content, Adwords campaign, site files etc belongs to them.

At the beginning of a new relationship everyone is optimistic and hopes that the relationship will last a long time and if it does, great. However, we also recognise there is an element of trust that needs to be earned and maintained, especially in the first year of the agreement. Our Partner program is a 12 month agreement but we include a 6 month break clause for the convenience of our clients. Within 6 months of working together, both parties have a feel as to whether the relationship is working or not but in the unfortunate circumstance where it is not working, the customer may leave if they wish, without any penalties and everything we’ve done for them belongs to them. By having this operating policy, we have to continually work to keep our customers and not rest on the comfort of a contract.

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