Frequently Asked Questions

Generally, PRW aims to finish a site within one to two weeks.

If it is a framework more familiar, and used previously, of course it will go quicker. Factors that shorten, or add, time are: number of pages, HTML+WordPress hybrid sites, client approval go-aheads, and the adjustments made to facilitate better mobile smartphone / tablet browsing. Once the process starts, PRW tries to keep updating and change contacts with you efficient, but you will appreciate that your words and images are being presented as you wish through your direct input.

If the client evaluates the framework template early on, and has content matched, ie: a 250 word written blurb to replace the 250 words of placeholder on the “about me” page, this image here, that image there, of course, the work will be completed sooner rather than later.

PRW keeps a low-overhead. Graphics and coding are all done in-house. It may take a bit more for a completed site, but you are rewarded with a very cost-effective, professional, customized appearance.

Content is the photos, graphics, and words. This is usually the wish of the client. But, there are many sources available.

Your wording can be sent via one or several emails, updated, and can be in any lettering style you wish. Once the site is partially assembled, your vision can change, likewise with wording, and we can update. PRW can assist with wording, phrasing, and ideas. If you decide to learn WordPress, then of course PRW is more focused on teaching you how to change content.

Photos and images should be what you wish, and emailed, or sent on disk. PRW will offer to optimize the photos, offer ideas of presenting backgrounds, artistic enhancement, and can just generally work with what you offer to make you look your best. If you wish, you can use free images from the Flickr.com database as fillers, backgrounds, and such. PRW will not use photos not cleared for use, ie: a model that has not consented. PRW respects copyrights.

Graphics and logos can be provided with the site. Usually several versions of a graphic will be provided for your personal and print use if you wish. These can also be stored in an online folder for your long-term access.

Your URL should be a highly valued possession that is yours, and yours alone.

A benefit of Pacific Rim Web; you keep your URL, but have a professional site that didn’t cost thousands of dollars. PRW could purchase the URL, but would rather guide you through URL acquisition or re-use. Purchase your URL unattached to a hosting plan, -freestanding. A hosting provider may offer a package deal, but then may require both are renewed combined at each expiration period. Purchase every URL you may remotely think you’ll use, and always keep current in your registration. Hosting can be renewed, sites can be re-constructed, but a URL could be lost and immediately purchased by a “squatter”.

PRW can provided you with a quick guideline to effective URL selection if you wish. PRW’s client identification user number will be provided to you if necessary, for sites hosted free on PRW’s server space.

Hosting, the server space that holds your URL+site construct, will be an ongoing cost to maintain the site.

Hosting will usually run about $7 per month for a “one site” plan. Also know that PRW (or yourself) can configure this type of plan so as to hold a large amount of “sub-domains” to have many “sites”, only limited by the size and type of the sites you have.

If your main site is: www.mysite.com

Then a sub-domain will display as: "___.mysite.com", ie. "store.mysite.com" (no “www”)

This will allow you to have a main site, and possibly a blog, calendar, store, blog, additional galleries, or services site attached as a sub-section of your site running WordPress configuration that you can update anytime yourself. (Pretty cool eh? Most web designers won’t mention that.).

PRW recommends any host provider that uses a “cPanel” dashboard. This will greatly be of benefit if you wish to begin administering your own site.

PRW does not recommend “free hosting” providers as your visitors may be subject to competing companies, malware, tracking, and adware. Also, these services can periodically delete sites without forewarning.

**If sites are more simple; the “who”, “what”, “where”, and “when” variety, PRW can possibly host the URL+site free of charge. “HTML” framework or coded sites may fall into this category. In contrast, WordPress sites have an “invisible” backend MySQL database attached to them which puts them into a different category.

You can have your very own e-commerce site, with shopping carts, and credit, debit, and PayPal.

You can have a freestanding site that allows you customers, area tax, designated sell areas, and inventory lists. You can have simple products with descriptions and photos, or variable products that will have different images for large, small, blue, or red.

Your site will look remarkably similar to the big companies. No need for expert coders or large cost of setup. PRW can set this up, or can walk you through the process.

This option is very advantageous as opposed to selling on Amazon, where it requires other sellers to advertise competing products in your store. It is also more professional and adjustable than other “free” sites currently offered. This is why PRW focuses on WordPress applied to e-commerce as a supporting technology to the infra-structure. It is extremely adaptable with excellent results. Read more in the “free sites” tab.

Once the e-commerce site is in place, PRW can also walk you through useful techniques to avoid buyers selecting products that are no longer in stock.

Images of your products can be worked with to look professional. An understandable slight increase in the cost of the site labor might be discussed for a large inventory processing.

WordPress is designed for beginners, and requires no prior experience.

The WordPress option, or used in the hybrid option, is best for those that wish to take over the site's updating, administration, and make ongoing changes.

WordPress started as a pure blogging tool. It has since become a favored and fast-rising web site authoring tool It is known as a content management system (CMS). WordPress is unlike private, proprietary web tools like SiteBuilder, Wix, or Squarespace. WordPress is supported by the Open Source community, is free to anyone, and is constantly improved every year. With such a large support system, you have many more free or very low cost plugins (“add-ons”) available. It has far more than any competing technology.

You have probably never seen a WordPress commercial on television, but you certainly may have seen some corporate web site building commercials during the Super Bowl (two different multi-million dollar spots were shown in 2016!). This is because WordPress comes from the Open Source community.

The open source community is low-key and powerful. It has produced Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Ruby, NginX, and much, much more. You are now looking at a server running on open source software. These are tools that have huge backings and usage. WordPress is more of the standard than the exception. It is your best free use ally. It will give you the most extensive options.

WordPress is not difficult. The interface just needs a little getting used to. It’s a matter of clicking here, clicking there, and always making sure you “save and update”. Honestly? The vast majority of WordPress users you may see do not use its full professional capacity. You will be capable of a very full-functioned site. With some coaching if necessary, you will also make custom changes.

Whether to go the “free site” option depends on your vision, your plans, and how the site will be used.

Basically, as always, “you get what you pay for.”

What needs to be considered is:

- Who owns the site?

- Can you build on a URL that is not yours?

- How much can the site evolve over time to support your plans?

- How assured will your visitors be at the professional level of the site’s function and image?

The whole advantage of a web presence is that it is yours, and yours alone. You can build on it, you can expand on it. It changes with your changes, and it becomes a center to your commerce, social, and informative content. A free site will present limits from the start; it’s lack of adaptation to smart phones, it’s lack of incorporating new technologies, and a URL that may or may not be there as your presence becomes more established.

Note that, although PRW produces HTML sites, the WordPress sites builder application costs nothing and does a better job than the other “free site” options.

Owning your own URL is paramount to getting you noticed and searched. It is needed to be consistent and professional on promotional materials. “Free site” services just will not accommodate this. They wish to make you part of their dream, by the use of their tools.

You need to own your dreams.

Your last name isn’t “Wix” or “Webly”.

You will see that they offer nothing you could not do yourself with a small starting investment. You will be glad of it as your plans grow, you control advertisers, you do not share your visitors with competitors, and have better technologies open to you over time.

A site is your center. It is your focus.

Many have Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., but what’s needed is focus. You need to have control over your image, and allow your other presences to build on each other. A site brings everything together all you want, and keeps away all elements you don’t want. You can selectively post Yelp reviews, build up a new social presence faster, and lead people back to your own territory.

A website allows people to find out your hours, days open, location via maps, what you do, what services you provide, new changes. It allows visitors to have undistracted attention to your organization.

Keep in mind that Yelp advertises competitors directly on your listing, as does most “free” business listing services. When they search for you by name, you want their undivided attention.

Further, ingraining a web presence is critical. As visitors see your URL on a card or leaflet, it becomes established, remembered, and bookmarked. This is advantageous to developing future plans successfully.

A site allows your statement, free of the tides that can sweep across social media. You want that focus.

Generally sites fall into three categories: static, moderately updated, and heavy maintenance.

Whether HTML, WordPress, purpose of your site, and what you plan on accomplishing all determine the nature of the updating.

If a static HTML site that has info and just the basics, it will require less updating. PRW offers to update you site on occasion after it is finished as courtesy. As long as you allow us the server login information, and PRW can access it, and will provide occasional updates no charge.

If a higher maintenance site, HTML or WordPress, that requires continuously current content, then PRW would fall into the “webmaster" role. We would work out an agreement for weekly or so scheduled maintenance. Or, an amount applied to a batch of updates. This would still be much lower than competing web developers, or having to employ a staff web administrator. It would be priced to retain you as a client, to be beneficial to you using PRW services.

If you were to need a site needing frequent updating, choosing the WordPress option and slowly taking control over your site would be best. It would be better to invest the expense in learning the updating procedure, or learning File Transport Protocol to an HTML site. It is possible to do this with simple procedures! You don’t necessarily need Dreamweaver or fancy expensive applications.

Also note: Pacific Rim Web can perform updating of your existing site, regardless of who created the site. Items and sub-sites can be added in to your choosing. This applies to MySQL databases and existing PHP code needing fixing as well.

Search Engine Optimization allows you the best chances to be discovered across multiple search engines without having to pay a fee.

There are two ways to be found, one, the other, both, or neither can be used:

1) Organic SEO techniques.

2) Paying for keywords.

Neither guarantees you will come out on top of Google's, Bing's, Yahoo's, or any of the search engines. But, depending on how you’re configured or if you do decide to pay (which PRW tries to spare you from), you will have better chances.

First, paying for keywords. This does work, very well, with that particular search engine paid. But it is an ongoing cost. It will only apply to the search engine you pay. Google once had near 100% usage by web users. Now, Microsoft’s Bing has 20% usage with users. And there is still Yahoo. If you find the organic techniques aren’t working as well as you want over time (you need to give them some time), then the keywords can be paid for to boost your effectiveness, if you choose.

Organic SEO is accomplished by applying several, actually many variables. By doing this, you begin to become more visible across all the search engines. Although PRW cannot promise miracles, you will have your best rankings without paying. If combined with paying, this will give you far higher visibility, -even amongst those that also pay. Analytics are also applied to better understand your audience.

Some industries are tough. If your name is “Smith” and you are an attorney, you will be in tough competition, but there are methods to get you noticed. Sure, an unusual name in a unique service is beneficial, but we don’t all have that going for us.

PRW works every variable possible to lift your rankings.

PRW takes pride in every site, every project undertaken.

***PRW now embraces using beautiful starting framework templates. Know your site is will resemble this very site more so than any of the previous portfolio entries.***

Only one project, at most two, is undertaken at any given time. Your work will be focused on, details watched, adjustments made, until it is a quality presentation that represents you professionally.

Pacific Rim Web is a licensed business. Although already knowledgeable in many technologies, Patrick Lopez has taken the time to be formally trained and certified in several areas that apply to the business of web development. Training is ongoing, new skills are constantly added.

Having previous U.S. government security clearance, Patrick Lopez can be trusted with responsibility and the critical nature of having part in presenting your best image. Patrick earned praise in his former work entailing frequent work with high-profile celebrities and being trusted to confidential details.

Pacific Rim Web is on a path to growth. Your trust and satisfaction are paramount.