PSPINC Official Company Blog

5 Questions to Assess your Website's Quality

Dec

19

image source: pexels.com

When was the last time you updated your homepage? December is a great month to review your website, making sure the content and the copyright year are up to date.

Consider the following questions when reviewing your website, particularly your homepage:

1) Is the copyright year up to date in your footer?
2) When was the last time you updated any content?
3) Are your products/services still relevant today?
4) Can you adequately view your website on your phone?
5) Do you have SSL installed (does a lock icon show up on the browser address bar for your homepage URL)?

If any or all of the above does not make sense, you should have a professional check over your website. PSP has a dedicated team who can evaluate your business website and give you feedback and guidance about any updates and upgrades it needs.

Do you know how many visitors land on your site? Our professional staff can also set you up with Google Analytics, a web traffic tool, as well as give you some training on how to read your important statistics. Analytics allows you to set and measure goals for your homepage in 2020.

Get a fresh start in the New Year. Contact us at PSP (800-232-3989) with your questions and to seek professional web development and online marketing advice.

#Blog #BusinessTips #BusinessWebsite #ENnews #Marketing #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebDevelopment #WebHosting #WebTools

What Happens During an Online Transaction?

Dec

12

image source: pexels.com

When it comes to ecommerce, understanding all the elements of an online transaction can be confusing. Unlike physical stores, it takes more than just a bank and a credit card processing company to complete a transaction.

There are four layers to an online transaction between a consumer and a merchant:

1) Gateway Service
2) Credit Card Processors
3) Associations
4) Issuers

When a customer pays for a product or service online with their credit card, their information gets submitted to a gateway service. Some of the well-known gateway services are PayPal, Cyber Source and authorize.net. They literally act as a gateway between your ecommerce site and the institutions in cyber space.

Once the securely packaged information passes through the gateway service, then it will go through credit card processors. Credit card processors are banks (not necessarily yours) and other credit card payment processing companies who charge you the transaction fees and send you the statement.

Then the information is processed to your credit card association, such as VISA or MasterCard, to get through to the bank that issued the card (Issuer) to get the transaction approved. Once your transactions are approved, you will get your money from your processors into the bank you specify.

Yes, it’s complicated and yes, you can get a headache from trying to understand how it all works. But PSP can help you navigate the inner workings of ecommerce and help you make the right choices for your business. Contact us at PSP (800-232-3989). We can make it simple to understand and help you build the ecommerce site that’s right for your company.

#Blog #BusinessTips #ENnews #OnlinePayments #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebDev #WebHosting #eCommerce

Dreamersi Web Hosting

Dec

6

Dreamersi Web Hosting Now Supports G Suite and Office 365 Email

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. (a full-service domain, web, and email outsourcing company) has announced enhancements to their top of the line hosting service Dreamersi (dreamersi.com). Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington - Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. serves 45,000 company clients worldwide.

"We have been providing hosting solutions directly to customers and through resellers since 1996," said Ken Uchikura, Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.'s Founder and President. "It was easy when we started providing hosting services, all we had to do was to provide complete solutions. However, nowadays, customer requirements have changed and we need to provide more customizable solutions."

While traditional, "Domain" + "Email" + "Web" solutions are still in demand, the need for one of those services without the other also exists. In order to accommodate those demands Pacific Software Publishing, Inc., under Dreamersi (dreamersi.com), now offers "Email Only" and "Web Only" services at a lower price point than a full service package. This enables customers to choose "Domain and Web Only" services while they are using other email platforms such as Google Suite and Office 365.

It is the goal of Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. to provide services that enable customers to choose what they need without having other options that they do not. People can choose their domain and order "Email Only" and "Web Only" services in addition to the complete package at https://www.dreamersi.com.

About Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. was founded in 1987 by Ken Uchikura in his apartment in Mercer Island, Washington. Where the company started to license, translate, localize and export PC software from the US to Japan. Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. started its Internet hosting business in 1996. Currently they host over 45,000 corporate domains with over a quarter of a million email accounts at their own datacenter in Seattle, Washington.

Media contact:
Ken Uchikura
425-957-0808
230428@email4pr.com

Related Links
https://www.pspinc.com
https://www.dreamersi.com

SOURCE Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.pspinc.com

#blog #businesstips #computers #diskspace #ennews #opinionstand #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #smallbusiness #technology

Print or Send Last-Minute Gift Cards

Dec

5

image source: pexels.com

Tis the season of giving, but sometimes shipping deadlines get in the way. If you’re in a time crunch to give gifts to friends and family, you’re still in luck. We tech-forward elves at PSP have created a list of great gifts you can easily download and print. That’s right, you don’t even have to leave your house – and who wants to brave the crowd of last-minute shoppers anyway? Not us.

Here’s a pro tip: You can still wrap a printed piece of paper in a bag or even a box. It’s a great way to put some more thought into your gift. After all, what’s represented on a small piece of paper is still a great big gift someone’s going to love. If you’re not going to see your gift recipient in person, pick a gift card you can email direct to their inbox!

The Gift of Entertainment

For the movie enthusiast who needs to see new releases on the big screen, give the gift of Fandango. If your recipient prefers a night in, Netflix might be a better choice. And for the gamer in your life, an Xbox (or other console) gift card might be the perfect fit.

The Gift of Transportation

Especially this time of year with holiday parties, merry celebrations and forthcoming New Year’s Eve gatherings, which often involve drinking, give the gift of convenience and safety with an Uber or Lyft gift card.

The Gift of Travel

Give the gift of adventure and travel, but let your recipient pick the destination and accommodations with a gift card from Airbnb.

The Gift of Dinner Delivery

This time of year there is so much cooking and entertaining to be done. Give your recipient a break from it all with a gift card from Postmates, dinner or grocery delivery in most major cities.

The Gift of Something Artisan

You can’t send your recipient something handmade in time for Christmas, but you can send them a gift card to pick out something handmade on their own time. Etsy is an online mega mall of artisan retailers from all over the world. There is something for everyone.

Since we’re on the topic of ‘click and send,’ PSP offers professional email marketing complete with analytics and templates so your company’s email blast can be sent in a matter of minutes! Check out NewsMAIL for your e-marketing needs, and start by sending a holiday greeting or a special discount exclusively for your email subscribers.

#Blog #BusinessTips #Christmas #Christmas2019 #ENnews #GiftCards #Holidays #NewsMail #Newsletter #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #eMarketing

What to Know about New TV Technology

Nov

21

image source: pixabay.com

According to statista.com, 220 million TVs are purchased globally in one year! And right now we’re in prime purchasing season. It is said the best time to buy a TV is between November and January. But when it comes to TVs, deciding which one to purchase comes down to size and picture quality. We know the higher the resolution, the better and more expensive they come.

All the images on a TV screen consist of small dots called pixels. Nowadays these dots are displayed using LCD and LED. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display and LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. LCD displays need lighting, which is where LED comes in. LEDs are used to illuminate the screen. The goal is to make images sharp and colors vibrant, therefore you will see different types of LED TVs on the market; one of the expensive ones being OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode).

When you shop for TVs, size matters. Basic high definition (HD) means the resolution is 1280 horizontal x 720 vertical pixels for 921,600 total pixels. The upgrade from that is called Full HD offering 1920 x 1080 pixels in the screen for sharper picture quality. Now we have Ultra HD TVs, also called 4K, at about 4 times the pixels than Full HD, and the newest 8K TVs at 7680 x 4320 pixels, which is a whopping 33 million pixels in one screen!

You should note, however, you can only get the benefits of the newer 8K screen if you’re looking at 8K video quality. In other words, the movies and shows you watch have to be filmed for these standards. Until all films are made in 8K video, you don’t really need an 8K TV screen just yet. When buying a new TV, you should note a higher resolution on a smaller screen will provide sharper picture quality. And also be aware that viewing TVs in a large, open, well-lit store may look different once in your home or office space.

#4KTV #8KTV #Blog #BusinessTips #ENnews #HD #HDTV #PSPinc #Pixels #SmallBusiness #TV #Technology

PSPinc Ranked #38 Among Largest Minority-Owned Companies in Washington State

Nov

15

We are proud to announce that we have been ranked #38 on the Puget Sound Business Journal's list of the "Largest Minority-Owned Companies in Washington State".

The qualifications to be considered for this list as outlined by bizjournals.com are as follows:

"To qualify for The List, companies must be headquartered in Washington and should be at least 51 percent minority owned. Companies must have recorded revenue of at least $500,000 in 2016 and operate as an independent, privately held corporation, proprietorship or partnership (not a subsidiary or division of another company)."

A special thank you to our customers, colleagues, and employees who continue to make it possible for us to be ranked as one of the largest companies in this category. We are largely staffed by a diverse mixtures of cultural backgrounds that make up the very fabric of who we are. Not only do we value our organizational diversity, but we celebrate it.

#Blog #BusinessTips #CelebrateDiversity #Diversity #ENnews #Inclusion #MinorityOwnedBusiness #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology

Why you Should Know Bits versus Bytes

Nov

14

Bits and bytes are the units to measure computer data. Bit is short for “binary digit,” the most basic unit of computer data with a value of 0 or 1. On their own, these values are meaningless, but 8 bits grouped together form a byte. Basically, 8 bits equals 1 byte, and 1 byte represents 1 character, such as one letter or one symbol. All those bytes add up to a file size, for example, my running Word Doc is currently at 167 KB (167,000 bytes).

So why do you need to know bits versus bytes? Because the speed of data transfer is measured in bits and the amount of data storage is measured in bytes. Having this knowledge will help you make wiser tech purchasing decisions. What you need to know first, because you’ll see it in advertisements or on the packaging: a byte is represented with an uppercase B while a bit is represented with a little b.

When talking about bits and bytes you’ll also see the terms K for Kilo (thousand) or M for Mega (million) or G for Giga (billion). If you see Gb or GB, now you can identify whether it means Gigabits or Gigabytes by the lowercase or uppercase letters.

The latest iPhone advertises 64GB (64 billion bytes). That’s a lot of storage, but consider how many photos you take on your phone. If just one picture has a file size of 2 MB (and some files are much larger), that storage could fill up fast. That’s not even considering the size of apps and other files.

Think of it like a closet. The more space you have, the more clothing you can store. The more you fill it up, the slower it may take you to find an outfit. Well, similarly, the more you fill up the storage in your device or computer, the slower applications or files might transfer, upload or work.

#Bits #Blog #BusinessTips #Bytes #Computers #Data #DataStorage #DataTransfer #ENnews #FileSize #FileStorage #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology

Distinguishing Hard Drive versus RAM

Nov

7

image source: pixabay.com

When talking with my dad recently, I realized he doesn’t understand the difference between a computer’s hard drive versus a computer’s memory. How can I blame him? Computers came into existence later in his life, plus we in the computing industry haven’t done a great job of distinguishing the two components. This month, let’s cover some computer basics and put an end to the confusion.

Our computer’s permanent storage:

When you store files such as a Word Document or photos, you’re storing them on your computer’s hard drive,or permanent storage. Back in the good old days, you might save these files onto something called a floppy disk, and later a USB flash drive, but your computer’s internal disk space is often referred to as the hard drive. More recently SSD (Solid State Drive) is becoming affordable and therefore replacing hard drives.

Our computer’s temporary storage:

You have probably heard the term RAM which stands for “Random Access Memory.” RAM is where data is stored or used temporarily in order for a program to work. When you use a computer application such as Excel or open a file or an email, those programs are all running on RAM. How much RAM your computer has determines how many applications it can run at one time. When you close a program, you’ve just freed up more RAM and your programs may respond faster. More RAM means you can run more programs at once without slowing things down.

#Blog #BusinessTips #Computers #DiskSpace #ENnews #HardDrive #Memory #PSPinc #RAM #SmallBusiness #Technology

Happy Halloween

Oct

31

Beautiful team.

#blog #businesstips #ennews #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #smallbusiness #technology #webhosting #website #webtools

5 Frightening Web Design Mistakes

Oct

31

image source: pixabay.com

Happy Halloween! To honor this frightfully fun day, we thought it would be a good idea to continue our website tips by giving a list of frightening design mistakes you should avoid. Let’s begin:

1. Confusing message. If your customers can’t tell who you are and what you do within the first few seconds visiting your site, why would they stick around? Make it clear right away what you do and what you sell.

2. Too much text. Okay too much of anything is bad. You can have too much text, too much white space, too many images, too many fonts, too many colors. This is where templates come in handy. A template can guide you in the fonts and spacing; you just need to add some high-quality content and imagery.

3. Hidden contact info. Your email, phone, address, or a contact form should be easy to find and readily available to people. If not, you may lose their trust.

4. Not mobile-friendly. A responsive design is a must-have. Your website should be easily viewable on all devices. Don’t expect that people are only searching and viewing your website from a PC.

5. No privacy policy. People may not take the time to read it, but for many of them, it’s a comfort just to know you have a plan in place for keeping their data secure. Get a GDPR approved privacy policy on your site asap.

Hopefully you’ve come away this month with some great ideas for designing or refreshing your company’s website. If you’d like to talk to the professionals, give us a call at PSPinc about customizing a site to your needs. We are here to make sure you have a great experience and come away with a BOO-tiful website!

#Blog #BusinessTips #ENnews #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebDesign #WebHosting #Website