PSPINC Official Company Blog

Important Security Update Notice

Jan

25

At PSPINC, we are always working on doing our best to improve our services for our customers. One of our company’s top priorities is the safety and security of our customers’ data. That’s why we’re updating our SSL encryption strength to maintain higher security standards.

Why We're Updating

To address vulnerabilities of our SSL Cipher Strength (SSLCipherSuite) in case of cyberattacks like DHeat attacks, where criminals perform a denial-of-service (DoS) attack without needing authentication, privilege, or user interaction, and Raccoon attacks, which can either be a side-channel or man-in-the-middle type of attack that leaks the most significant part of the SSL cipher.

This security update will equip your personal and transactional information and other sensitive data with even stronger protection against cyber threats like DHeat and Raccoon attacks, among others. Additionally, we are terminating HTTPS access from Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7, which Microsoft has already stopped supporting.

Scheduled Date & Time:

Feb 1, 2024, at 10 a.m. PST

Target Users:

All Dreamersi users with a website with an SSL certificate

*There is no action required for most users. However, if you’re using an older browser or system, you may need to update.

We strive to create a smooth and secure online experience for our customers. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-232-3989 or email us at support@pspinc.com.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#announcement #blog #business #businesstips #customerfeedback #cybersecurity #dreamersi #google #officetips #pspinc #security #smallbusiness #tech #technology #update #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websites #webtools

Adobe Photoshop’s New AI Tools

Jan

23

Artificial intelligence (AI) has only gotten more popular over the past few years and will continue to, as search engines have employed AI-powered chatbots and AI image generators have only improved and become trendier. Because of this rise in popularity, Adobe has integrated AI tools into their Creative Cloud using Adobe Firefly, which they describe as “the world’s first ethical text-to-image generational tool”. Photoshop’s new Generative Fill and Generative Expand tools are Adobe’s first Creative Cloud products that incorporate Firefly completely.

Part of the hesitation users have toward AI in general is the lack of transparency with AI. With images, there’s also the issue of creative licensing and intellectual property. In a calculated effort toward increasing overall transparency, Adobe’s new tools powered by AI will include a label in their content credentials (which Adobe calls “nutrition labels”), which adds metadata to photos, making it clear the image has been altered using AI.

How to Expand a Photo with Photoshop's New Generative AI Expand Tool

Choose a photo.
Create a new file (CTRL+N/CMD+N) with the size and/or ratio you want your photo to be (if you don’t have a specific photo size or ratio in mind, go ahead and skip this step).
Expand the photo by clicking on the Crop tool (C) And pulling the left and right sides.
Click on the Generate button from the Generative Expand pop-up – Photoshop uses AI to fill in the rest of the photo for you.
Choose from three variations of the expanded photo, shown on the right side of the photo under the Properties tab.
If you’re not happy with the three variations, generate again by clicking on the Generate button, which is now above the three variations.
If you don’t have a specific photo size or ratio in mind, but just want to create a landscape (horizontal) image out of a portrait (vertical) image, just save (CTRL+S/CMD+S) the photo variation you like as is.
If you have a specific photo size and/or ratio in mind, select all (CTRL+A/CMD+A) and copy all (CTRL+C/CMD+C).
Open the pre-selected photo size file before pasting (CTRL+V/CMD+V) the AI-generated photo.
Zoom out to fit the image to screen (CTRL+0/CMD+0) and resize the image to fit in the pre-selected photo.

If you’re looking for more graphic design help, head over to our brand and graphic design page. Or if you’re looking for web design help, head over to our web design page where our Starter web plan is currently $200 off the original price for a limited time!

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#adobe #adobephotoshop #ai #artificialintelligence #blog #branding #business #businesstips #businesstools #creativecloud #design #editing #generativeexpand #generativefill #marketing #photoediting #photoshop #smallbusiness #tech #technology #video

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 203 “Starter Web Design Package Still $200 Off!”

Jan

18

Last month, we started discounting our Starter web design package for $200 off the original price, which offers custom web design at an affordable price. We’re pleased to announce that you can still take advantage of this sale!

With the Starter web design plan, you’ll get:

Ten custom pages
WebdeXpress (our website builder) or WordPress template selection
One-year web hosting with an SSL certificate included
Contact form
Mobile-friendly
Social media integration
One additional language
20% off web updates for one year

Get started by heading over to our web design page and get $200 off our Starter web design plan now.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#advertising #b2b #blog #branding #businesstips #businesstools #ecommerce #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #officetips #pspinc #searchengineoptimization #seo #tech #technology #webdesign #webdevelopment #website #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 202 “Corporate Social Responsibility”

Jan

11

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the idea that a company should have a positive role in the community and consider the environmental and social impact of business decisions. Part of CSR can include donating money to worthy causes. Especially when they align with the values you stand for as a company. In 2011, we started the PSP Children’s Foundation in response to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As a company that serves many Japanese customers and employees many Japanese employees, we knew we wanted to do more to help Japan in its time of need.

Recently, Japan has experienced a series of earthquakes, and we want to do our part to help. That is why we're sharing an easy way you can help by going to our Earthquake Relief Donations page on our PSP Children Foundation website. Through our donate link, your donations will go directly to charitable organizations that will help aid Japan recover from these series of earthquakes.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #charity #corporatesocialresponsibility #csr #donate #donation #earthquakes #japan #newsletter #pspchildrensfoundation #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #website

Marketing Analytics: Key Metrics To Look Out For

Jan

9

Utilizing data analytics in marketing is vital to succeeding. With its ability to analyze and even predict data, it can do wonders in perfecting marketing strategies, saving time and money, developing a better understanding of your customers, creating better-performing content, and optimizing marketing channels. The challenging part of marketing analytics, however, consists of how marketing data has changed over the years. It’s also hard to figure out what marketers should look out for since there’s so much data easily available to you. Every platform has its own nuances, so there are different key metrics marketers should look out for.

Key Metrics on Google Platforms (Analytics/Ads)

Website Performance Metrics

Traffic (Page Views): a metric that measures how many times a single user views a page
Most visited pages: a metric that breaks down what the most visited pages are to website visitors
Search ranking: a metric that shows your website's position in the search engine results page (SERP) for a specific query
Unique visits: a metric that counts the number of visitors to a website, but only counts their first visit
Conversions: a metric that counts an important user action like making a purchase, filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter, etc.

(Paid) Digital Ad Metrics

Impressions: a metric that measures the number of times a user sees the ad.
Click-through rate (CTR): the percentage of people who click on the ad, determined by dividing the number of clicks by the number of times your ad is shown and multiplying that number by 100 (impressions). The higher this number is, the better.
Cost-per-click (CPC): a metric that measures how much it costs each time someone clicks on your ad. The lower this number is, the better.
Conversions: a metric that counts an important user action like making a purchase, filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter, etc.
Conversion rate: the percentage of people who convert (purchase, fill out a form, sign up for a newsletter, etc.), determined by dividing the number of users who convert by the overall size of the audience and multiplying that number by 100.
Engagement rate: the percentage of people who engage (click, like, share, comment, etc.) with your ad, determined by dividing the total number of engagements by the total number of followers and multiplying that number by 100.

Key Metrics on Other Marketing Platforms

person holding smartphone with apps shown: facebook, snapchat, instagram, twitter, chrome, gmail, spotify, messenger

Social Media Metrics

Total reach: the number of users that saw your content (also known as impressions).
Likes: the number of people who like your content.
Views: the number of people who view your content.
Comments: the number of people who comment on your content.
Shares: the number of people who share your content.
Followers: the number of people who follow your account.
Subscribers: the number of people who subscribe to your account.

Email Marketing Metrics

Open rate: the percentage of people who open your email, determined by dividing the number of people who open your email by the number of people who received the email and multiplying that number by 100.
Click rate: the percentage of people who click on links within your email, determined by dividing the number of people who clicked on links in your email by the number of people who received the email and multiplying that number by 100.

Aside from just the mass amount of marketing data there is to analyze, other challenges include the difficulty of reading through that analytical info. Just like all marketing, it continues to change and evolve over the years. That’s why we provide bi-weekly reports in all our marketing package plans, making it easier for small businesses everywhere to market their business.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#advertising #blog #branding #business #businesstips #digitalmarketing #email #facebook #google #instagram #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #officetips #seo #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #twitter #web

What's New Newsletter Vol. 201 "Outsourcing Marketing Work”

Jan

4

Marketing is a constantly changing industry, which is why it's difficult to determine what works and what doesn't work for your business. What works for one company won't necessarily work for another, so marketing today consists of a lot of experimenting and testing, which can then take a lot of time and effort to get it right. So, with this in mind, it's not surprising that many businesses outsource their marketing work to a marketing agency or another company with the marketing expertise needed to succeed.

That's why we offer marketing packages that don't just break down the kind of work we do for our clients, but they're also affordable, so they'll fit your business needs and budget. After decades of helping small businesses grow online, we have the experience and expertise you need to thrive online. To learn more, head over to our Digital Marketing page on our website and check out our budget-friendly marketing plans, designed to fit your specific business needs.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#advertising #b2b #blog #branding #business #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #google #marketing #marketingtips #newsletter #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sales #seo #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #twitter #web #webdevelopment

WebdeXpress V5 and Custom Web Server Database OS Upgrade Announcement

Dec

28

We’re happy to announce that we’ve upgraded our operating system (OS) for our website builder, WebdeXpress, and our custom web server’s database. We’ve upgraded our OS from Cent OS7 to Alma Linux 8 since there will no longer be technical support for Cent OS7 after June 30, 2024, and we continue striving towards making sure our hosting services are the safest they can be.

Update details

Before: Cent OS7

After: Alma Linux 8

Target servers

WebdeXpress V5 and our custom web database.

How to Install Upgraded OS:

To upgrade to the newest OS as an existing WebdeXpress or custom web server customer:

Log in to your Dreamersi admin panel.
Select either the WebdeXpress or Custom PHP (for those with a custom web server) icon.
Click on Install.

*New subscribers will automatically have this update installed.

Benefits of Updating OS

Improved security: the latest security updates will help patch vulnerabilities to defend users against cyber threats

If you have any questions about these changes or require more assistance, please email us at contact@pspinc.com or call us toll-free at 1-800-232-3989.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#announcement #b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customersupport #cybersecurity #pspinc #security #smallbusiness #tech #technology #update #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 200 “The Importance of Brand Design”

Dec

28

One of the most important parts of running a business involves developing and maintaining your brand. While there are multiple definitions of what a brand is, in its simplest form, a brand is an immediately recognizable identity that differentiates itself from others. Having a clear brand for your company is especially vital for small businesses because it helps you establish credibility and trust with your target audience. For a small business, credibility and trust are crucial to long-term success.

Larger businesses will probably already have credibility built in because they’ve spent years growing and perfecting their brand. So, as a small business, making your brand clear to your customers will give you a competitive edge over other small businesses. One way that’ll help establish your brand is through brand attributes like your company’s logo. Whether you’re just starting or looking for a design refresh, we’ve got you covered! Starting at just $200 a logo, you can get a professional brand logo at an affordable price. Get started by heading over to our Brand and Graphic Design page.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #brand #branding #business #businesstips #design #digitalmarketing #graphicdesign #logo #logodesign #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #technology #web #webdesign #website

Dreamersi WebdeMail Online Webmail Updates!

Dec

27

To increase overall security for our users, we will be updating WebdeMail, our webmail platform (running Cent OS7 + Roundcube 1.4) by replacing it with the latest version (running Alma Linux8 + Roundcube 1.6). There will be less than one minute of downtime for these updates when accessing WebdeMail, but it won't have any impact on sending/receiving.

Date and Time

*US Pacific Standard Time (PST)

- December 28, 10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

*Japan Standard Time (JST)

- December 28, 2:00 - 2:00 a.m.

In this update, we will:

Add a new Mailvelope extension plugin (available for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox) option that helps encrypt your emails. Install it manually at Mailvelope.com.

Add a deletion period for emails in your Trash when you log out, with the option to:

Never clear your Trash upon logging out.
Clear all messages in your Trash when logging out.
Clear messages older than 30 days when logging out.
Clear messages older than 60 days when logging out.
Clear messages older than 90 days when logging out.

Add a “Business (Work)” contact form option, which lets you add "Organization", "Department" and "Job Title" when adding new contacts after selecting the "Business (Work)" contact form mode.
Add a “Collected Addresses” feature, which automatically saves an email recipient to an address book. It also lets you automatically save an email address after selecting the “Always allow from” pop-up option, which will appear in an email with remote content. That email address will then appear in the new “Trusted Senders” address book. Both “Collected Addresses” and “Trusted Senders” address books will now appear in your contact groups.

collected recipients and trusted senders folders

Add the ability to copy contacts from new groups like “Collected Addresses”.
Move “On request for read receipt” to “Displaying Messages” (previously under “Mailbox View”).

on request for read receipts to displaying messages

Remove the Spellcheck feature as many browsers and smartphones already have this feature built in.

If you have any questions about these changes or require more assistance, please email us at contact@pspinc.com or call us toll-free at 1-800-232-3989.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customersupport #dreamersi #email #emailhosting #hosting #pspinc #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #webtools

The 5 Biggest Marketing Trends to Look Out For in 2024

Dec

26

As this year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on how marketing has evolved over the past year and how we can improve for next year, not only for our company but for our customers as well. When looking back, one thing’s for certain: advancements in technology are driving the trends that will only become even more popular next year. Here are five of the biggest marketing trends to look out for in 2024.

1. AI Marketing Automation

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has become an increasing trend over the past few years in multiple industries, but many marketers have also jumped on the bandwagon. Marketers have started using AI to create content and to take advantage of how AI integration analyzes data, personalizes customers’ experiences, and optimizes campaigns. Integrating AI into marketing strategies also helps hyper-personalize content, which has gained popularity over the past year.

But as helpful as AI technology has been to the marketing industry, it’s important not to employ a “set it and forget it” type of strategy. It’s still a largely developing technology, so there are still times when it’ll get things wrong, so it’s better to use AI integration in a more collaborative approach.

2. Video Marketing

person recording a video with their phone

As we’ve mentioned before, video marketing, especially short-form video marketing, has become more popular over the past few years. The rise of TikTok, Facebook/Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts made this clear. Other video marketing tactics that have also shown great success include live streaming and interactive video content. For more tips, check out our blog post all about how to start marketing with short-form videos.

3. User-Generated Content (UGC)

a person presenting user-generated content results to a marketing team

One of the best ways to build credibility, increase user engagement, and foster a sense of community online is through user-generated content (UGC), which just refers to content your customers share about you online. This usually involves encouraging customers to share their experiences with your brand on social media through a specific hashtag or throwing contests where the best entry wins. But there are other ways to garner content from your customers.

Customer reviews, either on Google, Facebook, Yelp, or any other platform, also count as user-generated content. It just takes a little more work to share it on social media since it isn’t already on the same platform. You can either take a screenshot and resize it for social media, or you can add it into a template of sorts from a site like Canva to share with your social media followers.

4. Social Shopping

Over the past year especially, selling and shopping directly on social media has only become more accessible with Facebook Marketplace, Instagram’s buy button, and TikTok Shop. It’s pushed social shopping more toward social media, being an e-commerce ecosystem all on its own. With social shopping already gaining popularity, marketers expect this will significantly impact the online shopping landscape.

5. Privacy and Data Protection

One of the largest growing concerns among customers today consists of protecting their data, thanks to the uptick in cybercrimes over the past few years. Because of this, customers are much more informed and vigilant about how others handle their data and how they share their data. On the business side, it’s important to implement secure data collection and storage practices to protect your employees’ accounts, which is easy to do with a password manager like Pass Wizard. On the consumer-facing side, businesses should be very transparent about their data collection and storage practices and obtain explicit consent when collecting user data.

With how fast technology evolves today, there are bound to be many more marketing trends coming next year that we haven’t anticipated. However, our team here at PSPINC has the experience and expertise to help you grow your business by strengthening your marketing efforts. Whether it’s social media marketing, paid ads on Google, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, or even blogging, we’ve got you covered. Get started today.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#ai #b2b #blog #branding #business #businesstips #data #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingonline #marketingtips #passwordmanager #sales #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #ugc #usergeneratedcontent #videomarketing #web #website

PSPINC Official Company Blog

freespace

Important Security Update Notice

Adobe Photoshop’s New AI Tools

How to Expand a Photo with Photoshop's New Generative AI Expand Tool

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 203 “Starter Web Design Package Still $200 Off!”

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 202 “Corporate Social Responsibility”

Marketing Analytics: Key Metrics To Look Out For