PSPINC Official Company Blog

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 206 “Evaluate Your Website for Free!”

Feb

8

We’re happy to announce that we’ve released a new website evaluation tool, free for everyone to try out! While many business owners today know how important having a good website is, it isn’t always easy to assess how secure and optimized for search engines your site is. Now, with our new website evaluation tool, you can!

Just enter your website URL in the text box and click on the Start Evaluation button and you’ll get an evaluation on your site in minutes! With our website evaluation tool, it’ll look at:

SSL certificate: without one, users will probably encounter an error page that encourages them to leave your site.
Mobile friendliness:if your site doesn’t look good on all devices (including mobile devices), search engines won’t make it as easy for users to find via search.
Title tag: having a title tag is vital to good SEO, which affects how search engines populate your site in their search results.
Meta tag: a website without a meta tag doesn’t look good in search results, making it less likely people will click on it.
Header tags: headings won’t just make your content look nicer to users, they’ll also help with your site’s SEO.
Sitemap: a file that lists all your website’s pages and how they relate to each other and another influential factor in SEO.
Page load time: if your site takes too long to load, search engines will rank it lower in the search results.
Image alt attribute: another SEO factor that tells the “why” of an image and is an important accessibility feature.

Check out our new free website evaluation tool by going to our Web Design page to try it out for yourself! If you want to know more about how to fix any issues your site may have, enter your email in the text box below and you'll receive your diagnostic results with more information.

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 #cybersecurity #ecommerce #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #mobile #newsletter #pspinc #searchengineoptimization #security #seo #smallbusiness #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #websites

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

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 205 “PSPINC /Apps Now Available!”

Feb

1

To better manage your PSPINC web apps, we're happy to announce that we've released PSPINC /Apps, an all-new multi-service login! With PPINC /Apps, you no longer need to remember every login to your multiple PSPINC accounts. Instead, they’ll all be in one place for you! All you have to do is sign up by clicking on Products on our website and clicking on the PSPINC /Apps banner on the right side. After signing up, you can connect your PSPINC web apps’ accounts, including:

Then you can log into any of these accounts with just one login with PSPINC /Apps. And to make your accounts even safer, add an extra layer of security with two-factor authentication (2FA) to your PSPINC /Apps account:

Log in to your PSPINC /Apps account
Click on My Account
Connect your account to your choice of authenticator app by either scanning the QR code or manually entering the key. Although PSPINC /Apps should support all authenticator apps, we recommend:

Enter the code displayed in your authenticator app to confirm the connection.

Get started today to make it easier to manage your PSPINC accounts all in one place with one login.

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.

#app #b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #cybersecurity #data #digitalmarketing #newsletter #officetips #pspinc #pspincapps #security #smallbusiness #tech #technology #update #web #websites #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 204 “Dreamersi Web and Email Hosting”

Jan

25

The first product we created as a company was web hosting. Before 1996, PSPINC focused on growing the Japanese market with already-popular software technology from the U.S. But in 1996, we introduced our premiere web hosting, Dreamersi, which we created in-house, and our customers still use today. Over the years, we’ve continually updated and improved our software and eventually introduced email hosting as part of Dreamersi services.

Even all these years later, Dreamersi is still our biggest selling point because of how much control our developers have over the system, making it easier to customize it toward our customers’ needs. We also offer even more specialized web hosting with VPS packages. In addition, we also sell SSL certificates, which everyone needs for their website today. Learn more about our Dreamersi web hosting plans by going to our Dreamersi 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.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #dreamersi #email #emailhosting #marketing #newsletter #officetips #pspinc #smallbusiness #ssl #sslcertificate #tech #technology #vps #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webhosting #websites #webtools

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. 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.