PSPINC Official Company Blog

What Every Successful Website Needs

Feb

6

Every website is different in what it looks like, what it offers, and its overall purpose, but a good website has several key qualities that will distinguish it from a poor site. For a business, a good website is vital to its success as it helps establish credibility, build trust, increase brand awareness, improve its customer experience, and keep the company competitive online.

A good website will attract more qualified visitors, keep people on your site for longer, give off a better impression on potential customers, and drive conversions like an increase in signups, readership, and sales. To do well online, a website needs to be secure and possess certain characteristics that every website needs to thrive online. While there are many types of websites (i.e. blogs, portfolio sites, business websites, etc.) available, they will all still need some of the same features needed to succeed.

Essential Features of a Good Website

Having a secure website is vital to attracting users to your website, not just to protect users while browsing, but also to prevent them from encountering error messages. The easiest way to do that is to have an SSL certificate for your site, which will guarantee users’ data is safe when they’re online. Without one, they’ll run into a page that informs them the connection is not secure and not private, and it will recommend users go “back to safety”.

While having a secure site is a start, other essential features include:

Mobile friendliness: how well a website looks on a mobile device. An easy way to make sure your website works and looks great on all devices (including mobile devices) is by using responsive design practices.
Search engine optimization: elements that affect how search engines rank your website in its search results.
- Page titles: the title of a web page.
- Meta tags: an HTML code snippet with information about a website.
- Alt tags on images: read-aloud text for users that conveys the “why” of images that search engines index to determine your site’s search ranking.
- Header tags: HTML tags that separate headings and subheadings on a webpage.
- Title tag: an HTML tag that defines a web page’s title.
- Sitemap: a file that lists all of a website’s pages and how they relate to each other.
- Page load time: how long it takes for a page to load. The longer it takes, the lower search engines will rank your site.
- Backlinks: a link on your website that links to another website.
- No broken links: If a link on your website doesn’t properly link to another web page, search engines will rank your site lower in the search results.
Clear calls-to-action (CTAs): a direct instruction on what you want users to do on your website. Without CTAs, website visitors won’t do anything on your site, which is a missed opportunity to convert them into customers.
Easy and helpful navigation: a menu of buttons and links that let users explore your website. Making it easy will lessen the possibility of users getting frustrated.
Fresh, high-quality content: new or updated content on your website will result in a more favorable search ranking, and exceptional content will encourage users to not just come and stay on your site, but it will also encourage them to come back.
Strong brand identity: A website is just another opportunity to create a cohesive brand identity with your company logo, color scheme, types of graphics, tone of voice, and brand messaging.

If you’re not sure how well your website fares or if it needs an update, check out our new free website evaluation tool that will help you assess your website at a basic level in just minutes. Just check out our Web Design page to try it out for yourself!

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 #branding #business #businesstips #ecommerce #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #mobile #responsivedesign #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #website #websites

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

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

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

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

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 199 “Starter Web Design Plan Now on Sale!”

Dec

21

The new year is the perfect time to give your website an update to make sure it continues performing well and helps reach your business goals. So, why not get your site custom-designed? While it’s easy to use a popular website builder, it also traps your website into looking very similar to many others on the market. With a custom design, you not only stick out amongst your competitors, but it also lets you add design elements and features that may not be included in the multitude of popular templates and gives you more opportunity to add more of your business’s branding to your website.

That’s why we’re now offering $200 off our Starter web design plan for the holidays! With our Starter plan, get:

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

With over 36 years of experience helping hundreds of customers grow their online business, our designers and developers at PSPINC have the expertise you need. 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.

#b2b #blog #branding #business #businesstips #designer #developer #ecommerce #newsletter #pspinc #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #websites #wordpress

Custom Design and Development Showcase: Payroll Solutions Inc.

Dec

12

Payroll Solutions Inc. is a payroll service provider in the Pacific Northwest, founded in 2005 and now serves hundreds of clients throughout the U.S. Their services include payroll management, workforce management services, and employee time management services. They came to us looking for a visual rebranding and an improved organizational structure for their navigation bar and content, while incorporating their branding and color scheme, with a focus on leveraging their branding attributes, which consist of:

Delivering the best payroll services for small and mid-sized businesses
Always having a customer-centric mindset – focusing on their client’s needs and businesses and providing an exceptional experience.

So, to help them, we fully custom-designed their website by:

Rebuilding the website with WordPress with a fully custom theme
Redesigning their website
Integrating a client resource portal
Following branding guidelines, verbiage, and logo usage
Improving their website’s organizational structure – especially for their navigation bar and content
Leveraging their branding and color scheme
Redesigning their icon
Improving their previous sitemap

Now, if you go to PayrollSolutionsWA.com, you’ll find a fully responsive website that works on all device types. If you’re looking to custom-design your website, you’re in luck! Our Starter plan is now $799 ($200 off the regular price!). Or choose from one of our other budget-friendly web design plans by heading to our web 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.

#b2b #blog #branding #business #businesstips #businesstools #ecommerce #marketing #pspinc #searchengineoptimization #smallbusiness #tech #technology #update #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #website #websitebuilder #websites #wordpress

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 197 “Localize for English and Japanese-Speaking Customers”

Dec

7

For over 20 years now, we’ve been localizing content for small businesses looking to market toward both English-speaking customers and Japanese-speaking customers. Beyond just translating, we also build custom web applications, design and develop websites, and create digital marketing assets like social media posts using our localization expertise.

Our team at PSPINC knows it’s about more than just translating the words; it’s also about translating the meaning behind those words. That is the core of the localization work we’ve done for the past two decades, and what we continue to do even today. If you’re not quite sure of where to start, we always start with a consultation between you and our localization team before embarking on our project together. Learn more by heading over to our localization page on our website.

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 #content #design #development #digitalmarketing #localization #marketing #marketingtips #newsletter #pspinc #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #website #websites

PSPINC Official Company Blog

freespace

What Every Successful Website Needs

Essential Features of a Good Website

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!”

Marketing Analytics: Key Metrics To Look Out For