PSPINC Official Company Blog

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 155 “Google Ads”

Feb

16

The biggest ad network today on a global scale is Google, which makes sense because it’s also the most popular search engine. But the fact that the Google Display Network (Google’s advertising network) reaches over 90% of worldwide internet users isn’t the only reason advertisers love it so much. It’s also the fact that Google Ads can fit with almost any budget. And Google specifically designed its algorithm to help marketers accomplish their marketing objectives.

For a small business, Google Ads is arguably the best way to increase brand awareness. Google’s Display Network reaches over one billion users every month, which is a testament to how much potential reach your ads could have. An effective Google ad campaign is highly dependent on two things: overall budget and effective ad copy and graphics. But striking the right balance between the two isn’t a skill every small business owner has. That’s why we offer marketing services to those who could use a little more help with their marketing strategy. And that, of course, includes helping you create an effective paid ad campaign on Google.

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 #googleads #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #web

How To Market Your Business with QR Codes

Feb

14

Within the last few years, QR (quick response) codes have become more popular, serving as a contactless, and therefore, sanitary, way of providing customers with information in person. A QR code is a graphical representation of digital data like a barcode. However, the difference between the two is that people can use a smartphone to scan QR codes because most have a QR reader built in.

Engineer Masahiro Hara first invented QR codes in 1994 to track vehicles and assembly line parts, but they didn’t become popular until the invention of smartphones. But even then, users still had to download an app to scan the QR code, crippling its adoption. Then, there was another surge in 2017 when Apple integrated a QR reader into their phones, and other smartphone companies followed suit. But that also died out shortly afterward. Then, the popularity of QR codes returned in 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marketing with QR Codes

One of the most popular use cases involves companies marketing their business with QR codes. For businesses with physical locations, QR codes bridge the gap between digital and non-digital marketing efforts. Not to mention, they’re generally free or inexpensive and easy to use. With QR codes, marketing to customers in person becomes much easier to track and measure. Some marketing examples of QR codes in use include:

QR code menus. They lead users to digital menus online, providing a touchless option for health-conscious restaurant-goers.

business card front and back with a qr code on the front

Business cards with QR codes. They quickly guide users to someone’s website, online portfolio, or social media pages.

someone scanning a qr code from an in-store sign that a retail worker is holding up for them

Retail store signage encourages shoppers on the go to check out your loyalty programs, review storefronts and overall customer experiences, or view online catalogs when pieces go out of stock or are no longer available in store.

Museum, library, and/or park brochures. They provide visitors with additional information on displays and exhibits.

a woman scanning a qr code on a package while sitting in the front seat of a car

Audio QR codes. They help brands personalize their messaging on product packaging or greeting cards.

The adoption and popularity of QR codes have wavered in the past but grew exponentially within the last three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. And the trend only continues today. The reasoning behind why is simple: they're fast, easy, sanitary, and inexpensive. And it's exactly why businesses like ours continue working in QR code software development.

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.

The term "QR Code" is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

#app #apple #blog #branding #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerservice #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #mobile #officetips #sales #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #web

How to Set Up a Facebook Ad

Feb

7

One of the easiest ways to increase visibility online as a small business is through paid ads. As we’ve mentioned before, organic social posts have a limited reach. One of the easiest and most affordable paid advertising options is Facebook ads.

Facebook makes it easy for marketers to create and run ads. After logging into Facebook, you’ll find the Meta (Facebook’s parent company) Business Suite on the left navigation bar, which is where you’ll be able to set up, monitor, and review your Facebook Ads. After opening Meta Business Suite, you can start by clicking on Ads on the left-hand side after selecting the Facebook page you’d like to run ads from. Then, click on Create Ad in the top-right corner. From there, you have three different options:

From There, You Can:

meta business suite create ad screenshot

Create Automated Ads

Facebook offers this option to make it easier for beginners, as it adjusts over time based on its algorithm. However, automated ads don't give marketers as much control over their ads to make them as specific as they might like them to be.

Boost Existing Content

If you already have a well-performing social post on either Facebook on Instagram, this option lets you boost that post. Boosting essentially helps that post be seen by more people, increasing the likelihood that users will take whatever action you'd like them to, whether it's engaging with the post or clicking on a link.

Start a New Ad Campaign

This option lets you choose a specific goal that you'd like your marketing campaign to accomplish. To start, you'll choose a goal, which could be:

· Getting more website visitors.

· Promoting your post.

· Promoting your business locally.

· Getting more leads.

· Getting more messages.

From there, you'll input the information to create the ad, which could include targeting options, ad copy, images, ad scheduling and duration, placements, and payment information. Then, clicking on "Promote now" will start your ad campaign.

Monitor Your Ads

meta business suite ads summary screenshot

After setting up your ad campaign, you can continually monitor it as it runs as well as after it ends. To see how your ads are performing, check Ads Summary, which is the default screen you'll see when clicking on Ads on the left navigation bar. From there, you'll see the Advertising Summary, Recent ads, Recommendations, and Audience sections.

The Advertising Summary shows you:

Overall reach: the number of people who saw your ad. This, however, doesn’t include multiple views from the same people.

Post engagement: the number of engagements people made involving your ad. This could include liking, commenting, sharing, or clicking on the link included in your ad.

Link clicks: the number of clicks your ad received.

Page likes: the number of likes your Facebook page gained because of your ad.

Recent ads will show you your most recent ad campaigns, with the option to view all ads if you’d like to see how a past ad performed. Recommendations, as the name suggests, show suggestions Facebook recommends to help you improve your overall ads. And lastly, Audience gives you more insight into your audience, i.e. your Facebook page followers and those who interacted with your past posts and/or ads. That information includes demographic data like age, gender, and location as well as where your ads were placed.

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.

#ads #advertising #b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #facebook #facebookads #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #meta #metabusinesssuite #smallbusiness #socialads #socialmedia #tech #technology #web #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 153 “Lead Generation with Online Forms”

Feb

2

While increasing overall sales is the ultimate goal for small businesses, working to generate leads is just as important. Lead generation involves generating customer interest for a product or service, hopefully resulting in a sale. It’s an important part of conducting business because it helps your company continue to grow and expand as time goes on. And it’s even more important for those selling products and services to other businesses. If you nurture your leads well, it’ll increase the chance of customers coming back time and time again, resulting in a steady flow of business for your company.

In marketing, lead generation usually involves collecting your customers’ or web visitors’ information (a lead) through some kind of form. Within that form, it usually asks for basic customer information and a way to contact them. That way, even if users don’t immediately purchase from you, businesses can reach out to them to drive interest, hopefully inching them closer to the purchase stage. So, create and embed an online form easily with InforMakers. No coding necessary!

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 #digitalmarketing #form #forms #informakers #leadgeneration #leadnurturing #leads #marketing #marketingtips #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sales #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web

Social Media Marketing: Paid Versus Organic

Jan

24

Over the last few years, research found that people spend even more time on social media now than in the past, making your business’s potential audience even larger. And it makes it more likely that they’ll convert as well. However, social platforms’ algorithms are constantly changing, and many now make it hard for brands to increase their exposure through organic methods. As an example, Hootsuite reported that an organic post on a Facebook page gets an average reach of 5.2% in 2021.

But despite organic social’s decline in reach, it still has its place in an effective marketing strategy. While paid efforts will help reach more people, organic social helps establish your brand’s overall reputation and can be a way to connect with your audience. It also is a great way to test content to see which ones are more effective before using them for a paid campaign. So, it’s important to employ paid and organic social efforts to get the most out of social media marketing.

Why Your Business Needs Both

Women typing on the notebook laptop open to Facebook

While reach can be fairly limited, organic social media marketing can still give businesses a good idea of who their audience is and what they’re interested in. Plus, it’s great for businesses that are just starting and may not have funds to pay for advertising. Through organic social posts, you can build out your community and demonstrate your brand values and tell your brand story, which will reach the growing number of customers who prioritize buying from companies whose values align with their own. It may not directly lead to sales, but it will help establish trust and transparency. And it’s a good opportunity to see how effective different kinds of content perform.

Paid social ads, however, will help immensely in increasing the overall reach of your marketing campaigns. With how algorithms on social media work today, businesses can’t rely on organic efforts alone to market their products. Paid social ads, unlike organic posts, can break through the algorithm to be seen by more users that probably wouldn’t discover them otherwise. But other than increasing visibility, paid social ads also allow brands to target their audience to reach the right customer at the right time. With the increase in online shopping, it makes it even easier for brands to integrate ads into users’ timelines without disrupting a user’s overall experience. Paid social ads can also further enforce the messaging and values your organic social posts release. you can even convert your best-performing promotional organic content into a paid social ad, increasing the likelihood that they’ll perform well. So, employing both organic and paid social media efforts will let you take advantage of everything social media marketing has to offer.

If your business needs any digital marketing help, our team is standing by to help you increase your business’s visibility online.

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.

#ads #advertising #blog #business #businesstips #digitalmarketing #facebook #instagram #linkedin #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #organicsocialmedia #paidads #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #twitter #web

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 148 “Custom Web Development”

Dec

29

With so many web builders out there today, you may be asking yourself, why do people pay for web development? Well, the biggest difference between using the available web tools out there today versus paying a developer to create your site is simple: customization. When using popular web builders, you’re stuck with whatever themes and templates they offer. And they may be nicely designed and easy to use, but it might not be enough. Over the years, we’ve learned that every small business is different. And that means their needs are different, too. While there are a lot of intuitive tools and resources out there, they can’t meet every business’s needs.

Sometimes, businesses want unique features that aren’t readily available or easily created by generic web builders. That’s where custom web development comes in. And that’s why we offer it as a service. PSPINC’s web development services have a long and successful history creating unique features for small businesses that need them. To see some examples, head over to our custom development page on our website. And if you’re looking for custom web development services, look no further!

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 #business #businesstips #businesstools #customersupport #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingtips #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #searchengineoptimization #smallbusiness #tech #technology #webdevelopment #websitebuilder #websites

Click It Audio Free Plan Updates

Dec

22

Starting today, our free Click It Audio users will now be able to replace their audio content as many times as they want! Previously, users could only replace audio up to three times, but we've removed the limit altogether.

With unique audio QR codes and audio embeds, you can market to your customers uniquely and personalize your marketing efforts. Add them to product packaging, business cards, greeting cards, or even blog posts to grab your audience's attention and provide more valuable information to your customers. Sign up for Click It Audio for free today or upgrade to our Standard plan to unlock an ad-free experience.

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.

The term "QR Code" is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

#audio #audioembeds #audioqrcode #b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #clickitaudio #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #pspinc #qrcode #smallbusiness #tech #technology #update #webdevelopment #website #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 147 “Search Engine Optimization”

Dec

22

One of the best ways to get potential customers to see your business website is through search engines like Google. With so many websites out there, it can be hard to rank higher in search results. But that’s why it’s important to optimize your site for search engines. The way search engines work is they’ll scour the web for content and rank them based on relevancy according to their algorithm. The more relevant the algorithm deems your site, the higher it’ll appear in the search engine results.

If you’re unsure if your site’s well-optimized, there are plenty of free search engine optimization (SEO) tools available online. And most of them will even give you tips on how to improve your overall SEO score, as it’s usually called. If your score is low, it may have to do with your website’s content or how long it takes site pages to load. But fixing these problems will not only help you rank your site higher in search engine results pages, but also more website traffic, and hopefully revenue. PSPINC also provides support for SEO. Please feel free to contact us.

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 #ecommerce #google #marketing #marketingtips #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #webdevelopment #websites #webtools

Our Pass Wizard Plans are Changing!

Dec

19

Starting next week on December 27th, we’ll be making the following adjustments to our Pass Wizard plans:

We will be changing our free plan to store up to ten passwords for new sign-ups. As an existing user, you will continue to store up to 30 passwords.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) will become an exclusive feature to Pass Wizard Pro.

For users purchasing in Yen, Pass Wizard Pro will be available for ¥250. But the price isn’t changing for those paying in US dollars. But the price isn’t changing for those paying in US dollars.

Our ongoing 50% off discount will only apply to free users upgrading to the Pro plan.

Adding additional members to your group plan will permanently become just $5 per year (a 75% discount). Combined with our 50% off discount, it’s even cheaper to upgrade to Pro and start sharing select passwords securely within a group.

What This Means for You

someone with pass wizard open on their laptop

As a loyal Pass Wizard user, rest assured you’ll still be able to store and manage up to 30 passwords. Even if you haven’t reached the 30-password threshold. You will continue to have access to your secure password generator and AES-256 encryption. If you want to take advantage of multi-factor authentication, you can upgrade to Pass Wizard Pro for 50% off using promo code PRO50.

Keeping your passwords secure has never been cheaper or easier, making Pass Wizard the most affordable password manager on the market.

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.

#aes256encryption #announcement #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #cybersecurity #marketing #mfa #passwizard #passwordmanager #pspinc #sales #security #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #tech #technology #update #web #webdevelopment #website

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 146 “Ditch Perfection”

Dec

15

Being perfect is overrated. In a business setting, trying to make everything you do perfect won’t work in the long term. But it’s only natural to want to do well and limit the number of mistakes. Especially in a professional setting. But trying to be perfect can be exhausting. And it can hurt your business more than you realize. For example, perfectionists are typically slower at accomplishing tasks, which can also increase stress levels because of how much work piles up and how slowly everything goes about.

With an attitude like that, very little will get done in the end, which isn’t ideal. Especially for a small business that always has ideas on how to better their business, all of which they’d like done in a short amount of time. So, don’t worry about being perfect. There’s no use in trying to be perfect all the time because it’s impossible to always be perfect. Mistakes happen, and when they do, you’ll grow from them.

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.