Terms of Use & Client Agreement

1. Professional Services & Estimates

Cole Don Media is a specialized digital design and engineering studio. We provide bespoke WordPress website design, brand strategy and identity systems, technical entity search engine optimization, and print/digital collateral.

Interactive Estimator Tool: Any cost calculations, hourly breakdowns, or budgetary projections provided via our Project Estimator tool on this Site represent preliminary estimates intended solely for scoping convenience. They do not constitute a binding contract. Formal engagements require an executed Statement of Work (SOW), Proposal, or written project agreement signed by both parties.

2. Intellectual Property & Ownership Rights

We respect intellectual property rights and maintain clear guidelines regarding the transfer and ownership of creative deliverables:

3. Client Responsibilities & Asset Warranties

Successful project completion depends upon proactive collaboration. The Client agrees to:

• Provide all required content, copy, high-resolution photography, brand guidelines, and third-party access credentials in a timely manner.
• Review deliverables and provide consolidated, constructive feedback within five (5) business days of milestone submissions.
• Warrant that all materials, trademarks, photos, and copy supplied to Cole Don Media are owned by the Client or properly licensed. Client agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Cole Don Media against any third-party copyright, trademark, or intellectual property claims arising from client-supplied materials.

4. Payment Terms, Deposits & Milestone Invoicing

Unless otherwise defined in a specific Statement of Work:

• Project Deposits: Custom design and development engagements require an upfront deposit (typically 50%) prior to calendar scheduling and project commencement.
• Milestone Payments: Remaining balances are invoiced upon milestone completion or immediately prior to website deployment to production.
• Payment Terms: Invoices are payable upon receipt. Invoices remaining unpaid after 14 calendar days accrue a late fee of 1.5% per month (or the maximum permitted by Colorado law). Cole Don Media reserves the right to suspend ongoing development work or withhold deployment credentials until overdue balances are cleared.

5. Scope Management & Revision Cycles

Each project proposal specifies the included revision rounds (typically 2 formal revision cycles per milestone). Revisions allow for refinement of concepts presented within the original scope. Significant departures from agreed creative briefs or requests for new pages/features after milestone sign-off will be quoted as Change Orders at our standard agency rate ($125/hour).

6. SEO Disclaimers & Third-Party Dependencies

While Cole Don Media builds sites utilizing state-of-the-art semantic Schema.org entity architecture, sub-second Core Web Vitals optimization, and clean vanilla WordPress engineering, search engines (including Google, Microsoft Bing, and Apple) operate proprietary algorithms that change continuously.

No Guarantee of Specific Rankings: Cole Don Media does not guarantee specific organic ranking positions, map pack placements, or exact traffic volumes. SEO success depends on factors outside agency control, including competitor activity, domain history, client backlink profiles, and ongoing algorithm updates.

Third-Party Outages: Cole Don Media is not responsible for downtime, data loss, or service disruptions caused by third-party hosting providers (Hostinger, Cloudflare), domain registrars, payment gateways (Stripe), or third-party API changes.

7. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL COLE DON MEDIA, ITS FOUNDERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES—INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION—ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES OR THESE TERMS.

IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF COLE DON MEDIA ARISING UNDER OR RELATED TO ANY PROJECT ENGAGEMENT SHALL BE STRICTLY LIMITED TO THE TOTAL FEES ACTUALLY PAID BY THE CLIENT TO COLE DON MEDIA FOR THE SPECIFIC SERVICE AT ISSUE DURING THE THREE (3) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

8. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms and any dispute arising from them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado, United States, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Jurisdiction: Both parties agree that any legal action or proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be instituted exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Boulder County, Colorado. Both parties consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

Informal Negotiation: Before initiating formal legal proceedings, both parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through informal executive negotiation for a period of not less than thirty (30) calendar days.