As the world becomes increasingly digital, inflation is up businesses of all sizes are turning to the internet to connect with customers and grow their reach. This is especially true for small and local businesses in Virginia Beach, where competition can be fierce. One of the most effective ways to stand out online is through
How to Design Effective Teams A team is a group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal. Effective teams are able to collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve in order to achieve their objectives. However, designing an effective team is not always easy. In this article, we will discuss some key principles for designing and
Spark Factory is a digital advertising and marketing agency with offices in Pennsylvania & Virginia.
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An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
If you upload images or videos to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Last Update: 12/09/2018
The use of services from Spark Factory constitutes agreement to these terms. In the event you do not have a signed service agreement or your agreement has expired, first surviving terms of this agreement will apply, and then this general policy.
Expert knowledge and amazing customer service is our number one goal. We provide web and email support. When you need support for our products and services, please contact us by the methods described below in order for us to provide you the best possible service. Our goal is not the quickest answer, but the best answer, so please be patient as we provide each and every one of our customers with the most attention possible!
Our support processes are different based on the product or service you have purchased from Spark Factory or from one of our authorized retail outlets. Please read this policy carefully when contacting Spark Factory, as using an incorrect contact method will cause delays in our support services.
Preferred Contact Methods: pros@sparkfactory.io
Hosting Services support including email, webmail, FTP, DNS, backups, etc.: Our primary support method is via our email. This is the best way to contact us for quickest support and in general will be our primary method of trouble resolution. Online chat and our toll free telephone will be used to collect pertinent customer information and generate a new support ticket. Resolution to your support request will be provided via email, regardless of the initial method of contact.
24×7 Chat
Secure IP Hosting Assistance: Our Spark Factory Secure Hosting experts are available for general assistance Monday through Friday 9AM to 5PM Eastern time to provide you tips and assistance with your Spark Factory Secure Hosting store. As your e-commerce package is a very technical piece of software, please understand that certain requests may require consulting services to be quoted. Please consult the following resources prior to contacting Spark Factory management support:
Secure Hosting Module and licensing support: Spark Factory Secure Hosting module support is provided exclusively through our email pros@sparkfactory.io. We do not offer telephone support for modules. Our Spark Factory Secure Hosting experts are available Monday through Friday 9AM to 5PM eastern time. Licensing support is provided during normal support hours, though on nights and weekends we do log in to check for and service license requests on a periodic basis.
Installations and Feature Pack Services: Paid services such as module installations, SEO configurations and other turn-key store configurations are scheduled and performed during our normal business hours on a first come first serve basis. Please understand that if you redesign your site or otherwise change your configurations after our initial installation, we do NOT provide free support and fixes. Once the service or module is installed and verified functional by our team, your paid service has been completed. Any further modifications will incur hourly service charges.
Account Setup / Email on file
We will setup your account after we have received payment and we and/or our payment partner(s) have screened the order(s) in case of fraud. It is your responsibility to provide us with an email address which is not @ the domain(s) you are signing up under. If there is ever an abuse issue or we need to contact you, the primary email address on file will be used for this purpose. It is your responsibility to ensure the email address on file is current or up to date at all times. If you have a domain name registered with Spark Factory , it is your responsibility to ensure that the contact information for your domain account and your actual domain name(s) is correct and up-to-date. Spark Factory is not responsible for a lapsed registration due to outdated contact information being associated with the domain. If you need to verify or change this information, you should contact our sales team via email. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account. In dedicated server purchases or high risk transactions, it will be necessary to provide government issued identification and possibly a scan of the credit card used for the purchase. If you fail to meet these requirements, the order may be considered fraudulent in nature and be denied.
Ownership
The credit card holder which is utilized for payment on the account is designated as the authorized owner of the account.
Transfers
Our transfers team will make every effort to help you move your site to us. However, transfers are provided as a courtesy service, and we can not make guarantees regarding the availability, possibility, or time required to complete an account transfer. Each hosting company is configured differently, and some hosting platforms save data in an incompatible or proprietary format, which may make it extremely difficult if not impossible to migrate some or all account data. We will try our best, but in some cases we may be unable to assist you in a transfer of data from an old host.
The free transfer services are available for 30 days from your sign up date. Transfers outside of the 30 day free period will incur a charge; please contact a member of the transfers department with specific details to receive a price quote.
Dedicated IP Address Allocation
Any dedicated IP order in addition to ones provided with a hosting package may be subject to IP Justification. Justification practices are subject to change to remain in conformity with policies of American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). We reserve the right to deny any dedicated IP request based on insufficient justification or current IP utilization.
Third Party Providers
All transactions with third party providers are solely between the visitor and the individual provider. Spark Factory is not the agent, representative, trustee or fiduciary of you or the third party provider in any transaction. Some products provided by Spark Factory are provided under license with vendors, and the use of any such third party products will be governed by the applicable license agreement, if any, with such third party.
All discounts, promotions and special third party offers may be subject to additional restrictions and limitations by the third party provider. All transactions with third party providers are subject to the terms and conditions under which the provider agrees with you to provide the goods or services. You should confirm the terms of any purchase and/or use of goods or services with the specific provider with whom you are dealing.
We do not make any representations or warranties regarding, and are not liable for, the quality, availability, or timeliness of goods or services provided by a third party provider. You undertake all transactions with these providers at your own risk. We do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information regarding third party providers.
Content
All services provided by Spark Factory may only be used for lawful purposes. The laws of the State of City of Virginia Beach Virginia, and , Bucks County Pennsylvania USA.
The customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Spark Factory from any claims resulting from the use of our services.
Use of our services to infringe upon any copyright or trademark is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized copying of music, books, photographs, or any other copyrighted work. The offer of sale of any counterfeit merchandise of a trademark holder will result in the immediate termination of your account. Any account found to be in violation of another’s copyright will be expeditiously removed, or access to the material disabled. Any account found to be in repeated violation of copyright laws will be suspended and/or terminated from our hosting. If you believe that your copyright or trademark is being infringed upon, please email pros@sparkfactory.io with the information required.
Using a shared account as a backup/storage device is not permitted, with the exception of one cPanel backup of the same account. Please do not take backups of your backups.
Examples of unacceptable material on all Shared and Reseller servers include:
Topsites
IRC Scripts/Bots
Proxy Scripts/Anonymizers
Pirated Software/Warez
Image Hosting Scripts (similar to Photobucket or Tinypic)
AutoSurf/PTC/PTS/PPC sites
IP Scanners
Bruteforce Programs/Scripts/Applications
Mail Bombers/Spam Scripts
Banner-Ad services (commercial banner ad rotation)
File Dump/Mirror Scripts (similar to rapidshare)
Commercial Audio Streaming (more than one or two streams)
Escrow/Bank Debentures
High-Yield Interest Programs (HYIP) or Related Sites
Investment Sites (FOREX, E-Gold Exchange, Second Life/Linden Exchange, Ponzi, MLM/Pyramid Scheme)
Sale of any controlled substance without prior proof of appropriate permit(s)
Prime Banks Programs
Lottery/Gambling Sites
MUDs/RPGs/PBBGs
Hacker focused sites/archives/programs
Sites promoting illegal activities
Forums and/or websites that distribute or link to warez/pirated/illegal content
Bank Debentures/Bank Debenture Trading Programs
Fraudulent Sites (Including, but not limited to sites listed at aa419.org & escrow-fraud.com)
Push button mail scripts
Broadcast or Streaming of Live Sporting Events (UFC, NASCAR, FIFA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WWE, WWF, etc)
Tell A Friend Scripts
Anonymous or Bulk SMS Gateways
Bitcoin Miners
PayDay Loan Sites (including any site related to PayDay loans, PayDay loan affiliate progams, etc)
Examples of unacceptable material on all Dedicated servers include:
IRCD (irc servers)
IRC Scripts/Bots
DJ scams
Pirated Software/Warez
IP Scanners
Bruteforce Programs/Scripts/Applications
Mail Bombers/spam Scripts
Escrow
High-Yield Interest Programs (HYIP) or Related Sites
Investment Sites (FOREX, E-Gold Exchange, Second Life/Linden Exchange, Ponzi, MLM/Pyramid Scheme)
Sale of any controlled substance without prior proof of appropriate permit(s)
Prime Banks Programs
Lottery/Gambling Sites
Hacker focused sites/archives/programs
Sites promoting illegal activities
Forums and/or websites that distribute or link to warez/pirated/illegal content
Bank Debentures/Bank Debenture Trading Programs
Fraudulent Sites (Including, but not limited to sites listed at aa419.org & escrow-fraud.com)
Mailer Pro
Broadcast or Streaming of Live Sporting Events (UFC, NASCAR, FIFA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WWE, WWF, etc)
Spark Factory services, including all related equipment, networks and network devices are provided only for authorized customer use. Spark Factory systems may be monitored for all lawful purposes, including to ensure that use is authorized, for management of the system, to facilitate protection against unauthorized access, and to verify security procedures, survivability, and operational security. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied and used for authorized purposes. Use of Spark Factory system(s) constitutes consent to monitoring for these purposes.
Any account found connecting to a third party network or system without authorization from the third party is subject to suspension/ Termination. Access to networks or systems outside of your direct control must be with expressed written consent from the third party. Spark Factory may, at its discretion, request and require documentation to prove access to a third party network or system is authorized.
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Any material that, in our judgment, is obscene, threatening, illegal, or violates our terms of service in any manner may be removed from our servers (or otherwise disabled), with or without notice.
Failure to respond to email from our abuse department within 48 hours may result in the suspension or termination of your services. All abuse issues must be dealt with via email and will have a response within 48 hours.
Sites hosted on Spark Factory’s service(s) are regulated only by U.S. law. Given this fact, and pursuant to Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, we do not remove allegedly defamatory material from domains hosted on our service(s). The only exception to this rule is if the material has been found to be defamatory by a court, as evidenced by a court order. Spark Factory .com is not in a position to investigate and validate or invalidate the veracity of individual defamation claims, which is why we rely on the legal system and courts to determine whether or not material is indeed considered defamatory. In any case in which a court order indicates material is defamatory, libelous, or slanderous in nature; we will disable access to the material. Similarly, in any case in which a US Court has placed an injunction against specified content or material; we will comply and remove or disable access to the material in question.
The language of Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act fundamentally states that Internet services providers like sparkfactory.io and many of sparkfactory.io’s other web hosting services and brands are republishers and not the publisher of content. Our service merely provides a hosting platform and space on which to host content, and any creation or publication of content on our services is the sole responsibility of the third-party user which creates or publishes the content. Therefore, Spark Factory .com should not be held liable for any allegedly defamatory, offensive or harassing content published on sites hosted under Spark Factory’s web hosting service(s).
If in doubt regarding the acceptability of your site or service, please contact us at pros@sparkfactory.io and we will be happy to assist you.
Potential harm to minors is strictly forbidden, including but not limited to child pornography or content perceived to be child pornography (Lolita):
Any site found to host child pornography or linking to child pornography will be suspended immediately without notice.
Resellers: we will suspend the site in question and will notify you so you may terminate the account. We will further monitor your activity; more than one infraction of this type may result in the immediate termination of your account.
Direct customers: Your services will be terminated with or without notice.
Violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
It is your responsibility to ensure that scripts/programs installed under your account are secure and permissions of directories are set properly, regardless of installation method. When at all possible, set permissions on most directories to 755 or as restrictive as possible. Users are ultimately responsible for all actions taken under their account. This includes the compromise of credentials such as user name and password. It is required that you use a secure password. If a weak password is used, your account may be suspended until you agree to use a more secure password. Audits may be done to prevent weak passwords from being used. If an audit is performed, and your password is found to be weak, we will notify you and allow time for you to change/update your password.
Zero Tolerance Spam Policy
We take a zero tolerance stance against sending of unsolicited e-mail, bulk emailing, and spam. “Safe lists”, purchased lists, and selling of lists will be treated as spam. Any user who sends out spam will have their account terminated with or without notice.
Suspended Accounts
Zero Tolerance Verbal Abuse Policy
We are technicians whom operate on specific work scope. We reserve the right to terminate any contract when verbal abuse occurs.
Accounts suspended are subject to a mandatory reinstatement fee per domain in the amount of $175.00 USD.
Accounts whom fail to pay will be accessed with a 10% of invoice(2) failure to pay fee plus interest fees.
Refund Policy
Shared Hosting Refunds
Shared hosting accounts carry a 30-day cancellation policy. Shared accounts canceled before 90 days of service will incur a $75.00 cancellation fee to help cover our costs of your Spark Factory Secure Hosting license. Since we require no minimum commitment for the length of your shared hosting service, we do not collect more than one month of service in advance. Cancellations of all services must be made with at least one month advance notice. Therefore no refunds are available for any services.
At our sole discretion, we may apply a prorated amount towards your next month’s service fees in the event of sustained non-planned or non-emergency service outages. You/your company et al, is responsible for all invoices which are subject to late fee’s plus legal costs. You, yours, or your business, et al accept all responsibility for outstanding invoices.
Dedicated Server Hosting Refunds
Dedicated servers carry a 7-day cancellation policy. We do NOT offer any refunds on partial use due to specific licenses issued for your dedicated service. If you decide to cancel your dedicated server, you may continue to use the server until the end of the cancellation period, and charges will continue to be billed through the cancellation period. At our sole discretion, we may agree to cancel certain dedicated server plans with less notice, but in general we DO require 90-days notice. No refunds will be honored for any prepaid months if you have paid for any service in advance.
At our sole discretion, we may apply a prorated amount towards your next month’s service fees in the event of sustained non-planned or non-emergency service outages. Unless account is Website Design, SEO, Consulting Services, Paid Support Services, Custom Programming, etc.
Terminated for violation of our terms, in such case no refund will apply.
In the case of custom web/application development the cool down period is 48hrs before the start of work. Once work is started, we have a no refund policy. Services are performed “as-is”, “Work-for-Hire”.
All services, consulting and paid support services (ie: service work, maintenance ), whether billed hourly or as fixed-price packages are NON-REFUNDABLE, ‘Work-for-hire’ according to services agreement unless written notification is received within 48hours from purchase. In the event you do not have a signed service agreement or your agreement has expired, first surviving terms of this agreement will apply, and then this general policy. Copyright to the finished assembled work of web page(s) produced by Spark Factory is owned by Spark Factory until final payment is made. Upon final payment of this contract, the client is assigned rights to use as a ad copy, targeting, keywords, content, graphics, and text contained in the finished assembled work. Rights to source code, work‐up files, and computer programs are specifically not transferred to the client, and remain the property of their respective owners. Outstanding accounts will have files removed until final payment is made.
Client right to cancel – this agreement without further obligation at any time by providing a written notice for the terms in your agreement of 45, 60 or 90 day. Whereby Spark Factory retains the right to bill 45, 60 or 90 days of invoices depending on your contract. Spark Factory plans work in advance to meet deadlines and we have costs that must be covered.
Spark Factory right to terminate – This Agreement may be terminated by Spark Factory (i) immediately if Customer fails to pay any fees hereunder, or if Customer fails to cooperate with Spark Factory and/or hinders Spark Factory ability to perform the Services hereunder. The client also agrees to the terms of use.
Refund Policy
Shared Hosting Refunds
Shared hosting accounts carry a 30-day cancellation policy. Shared accounts canceled before 90 days of service will incur a $75.00 cancellation fee to help cover our costs of your Spark Factory Secure Hosting license. Since we require no minimum commitment for the length of your shared hosting service, we do not collect more than one month of service in advance. Cancellations of all services must be made with at least one month advance notice. Therefore no refunds are available for any services.
At our sole discretion, we may apply a prorated amount towards your next month’s service fees in the event of sustained non-planned or non-emergency service outages. You/your company et al, is responsible for all invoices which are subject to late fee’s plus legal costs. You, yours, or your business, et al accept all responsibility for outstanding invoices.
Dedicated Server Hosting Refunds
Dedicated servers carry a 7-day cancellation policy. We do NOT offer any refunds on partial use due to specific licenses issued for your dedicated service. If you decide to cancel your dedicated server, you may continue to use the server until the end of the cancellation period, and charges will continue to be billed through the cancellation period. At our sole discretion, we may agree to cancel certain dedicated server plans with less notice, but in general we DO require 90-days notice. No refunds will be honored for any prepaid months if you have paid for any service in advance.
At our sole discretion, we may apply a prorated amount towards your next month’s service fees in the event of sustained non-planned or non-emergency service outages. Unless account is
Websites Design, SEO, Consulting Services, Paid Support Services, Custom Programming, etc.
Terminated for violation of our terms, in such case no refund will apply.
In the case of custom web/application development the cool down period is 48hrs before the start of work. Once work is started, we have a no refund policy. Services are performed “as-is”, “Work-for-Hire”.
All design services, consulting and paid support services (ie: service work, maintenance ), whether billed hourly or as fixed-price packages are NON-REFUNDABLE, ‘Work-for-hire’ according to services agreement unless written notification is received within 48hours from purchase. In the event you do not have a signed service agreement or your agreement has expired, first surviving terms of this agreement will apply, and then this general policy. Copyright to the finished assembled work of web page(s) produced by Spark Factory is owned by Spark Factory until final payment(s) are made. Upon final payment of this contract, the client is assigned rights to use as a website the design, graphics, and text contained in the finished assembled website. Rights to source code, work‐up files, and computer programs are specifically not transferred to the client, and remain the property of their respective owners. Outstanding accounts will have files removed until final payment is made.
Zero Tolerance Spam Policy
We take a zero tolerance stance against sending of unsolicited e-mail, bulk emailing, and spam. “Safe lists”, purchased lists, and selling of lists will be treated as spam. Any user who sends out spam will have their account terminated with or without notice.
Suspended Accounts
Zero Tolerance Verbal Abuse Policy
We are technicians whom operate on specific work scope. We reserve the right to terminate any contract when verbal abuse occurs.
Accounts suspended are subject to a mandatory reinstatement fee per domain in the amount of $75.00 USD.
Disclaimer
Spark Factory shall not be responsible for any damages your business may suffer. Spark Factory makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for services we provide. Spark Factory disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, no deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by Spark Factory and its employees.
Arbitration/Mediation: If parties are unable to resolve the dispute by negotiation, either party may start mediation and/or binding arbitration in Virginia Beach, VA or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Litigation: In all other circumstances, the parties specifically consent to the local, state and federal courts located in the city of Virginia Beach, state of Virginia. The parties waive any jurisdictional or venue defenses available to them and further consent to service of process by mail.
Limitation of Liability: THE SERVICES AND THE WORK PRODUCT OF SPARK FACTORY ARE SOLD “AS IS.” IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, THE MAXIMUM LIABILITY OF Spark Factory , ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DESIGN AGENTS AND AFFILIATES (“SPARK FACTORY PARTIES”), TO CLIENT FOR DAMAGES FOR ANY AND ALL CAUSES WHATSOEVER, AND CLIENT ’S MAXIMUM REMEDY, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE NET PROFIT OF Spark Factory FOR SUCH SERVICES . IN NO EVENT SHALL Spark Factory BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST DATA OR CONTENT, LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE MATERIALS OR THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY Spark Factory , EVEN IF Spark Factory HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY. EXCEPT FOR THE EXPRESS REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT, SPARK FACTORY MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER. SPARK FACTORY EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS OR GOVERNMENT RULES OR REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO THE PROJECT.
Disclosure to law enforcement
Spark Factory may disclose any subscriber information to law enforcement agencies without further consent or notification to the subscriber or clients upon lawful request from such agencies. We will cooperate fully with ALL law enforcement agencies.
Changes to the TOS
Spark Factory reserves the right to revise its policies at any time without notice or consent.