PSPINC Official Company Blog

What is “Big Data”?

Jul

19

Big data is exactly what it sounds like: an enormous, exponentially growing amount of data. Data versus big data really comes down to three factors known as the three V's: volume, velocity, and variety. Volume refers to the sheer amount of data. Velocity, however, looks at how fast it generates. Lastly, variety includes structured (numerical data), semi-structured (machine-generated documents and data in a no-SQL database), and unstructured data (text and image files). But over the last few years, two more V's have emerged: value and veracity. They involve determining how accurate your data is, how much you can rely on it, and what kind of value you can gather from it.

The Benefits of Big Data

a business woman pumping her fist int the air while holding a piece of paper sitting in front of a laptop

Big data is, like the name suggests, big. But it means nothing if you can’t derive value from it. Cleaning, curating, and preparing data for clients takes up a significant amount of time. But in the end, valuable data remains prime for companies to use to their advantage. So, it’s no surprise that data is behind some of the world's biggest companies' success. Those companies have figured out how to use their data to develop products better, improve customer experiences, and drive innovation.

For example, Spotify and Netflix look at what their customers listen to or watch and use that data to determine what else they might like. Then, they can recommend content based on predictive models created from collected data. Businesses can also gather an immense amount of data from social media, website visits, call logs, and other customer actions to analyze how they interact with the company. Then, they can use it to see where they can improve. And that includes enhancing their overall efficiency and identifying new ways to drive innovation.

How Big Data is Changing

a finger pointing at a dark screen with a bunch of numbers

As great as big data is, the real challenge comes in keeping up with it. Year after year, newly developed technologies emerge to help store all that data. But data volumes continue to increase exponentially. Because of that, organizations struggle keeping up with the accelerating pace. And it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. But when businesses can find relevant meaning behind all that data, that can lead to true success.

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.

#bigdata #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerfeedback #customerservice #data #innovation #marketing #netflix #smallbusiness #socialmedia #softwaredevelopment #spotify #tech #technology #update #web #webdevelopment #websites #webtools

Creating a Digital Presence for Your Business

Jul

12

Today, your business can’t afford to stay offline. Especially with so many small businesses out there. In this regard, it’s hard to believe that about 28% of small businesses don’t even have a website, according to survey data from 2021. And if those businesses don’t have a website, they probably don’t have social media pages either. But not taking your business online can be a real disservice because many people research online before purchasing. It can be the simple act of searching what the best product on the market is or how to get to your physical store, but it happens all the time. But creating an online presence doesn’t have to be hard. At the very least, a business should have both a website and social media pages.

Building a Website

a woman looking at a website on her laptop with a mug of tea on the left and an iphone on the right

With so many web hosting options and website builders today, starting a new website for your business couldn’t be easier. And it's even easier if you’re just using it to provide potential customers information about your company. Basic information includes ways to contact you (a phone number and email) and your store’s physical location (an address). Additionally, you’ll want to add what your business is selling, how much each product is, and how people can purchase them. And you can easily add other pages to your website like an "About Us" section and a blog.

If you want to make it possible for customers to buy products directly from your website, you’ll have to build out your e-commerce site a little more. Features needed for a great e-commerce site take a little more time and effort, but they can be well worth it. But if building a professional website still feels like too daunting of a task, you’re in luck. PSPINC has a great support team that can help you out.

Creating Social Media Pages

a woman open to facebook on her laptop with 2 notebooks, a pen, and 2 small succulent plants placed beside her on the desk

Social media is a great tool to increase overall brand exposure and direct users toward your website. And it’s an easy and inexpensive digital marketing tactic if you don’t want to invest in paid ads. Each social media platform has a purpose as well as its own audience. But the one platform every business should be using is Facebook. Facebook is the largest with about 2.93 billion active users as of March 2022 according to Statista. Therefore, it’s also the most widely used. The immense number of active users alone is enough to argue that every business should be using Facebook to increase awareness online.

But to effectively use social media to your business’s advantage, you’ll need to figure out what kinds of content you’re going to post and how often you’re going to post. The content you post will depend on what kind of business you run but there is one thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media content. There should be a good mix of promotional and non-promotional posts. That way you won’t just sound like a pushy salesperson. As for your posting frequency, each platform has different recommendations, but the important thing to remember is to stick with whatever schedule you decide to use.

While creating and maintaining a digital presence for your business may seem daunting, it is essential to effectively compete with other small businesses. But if this all still feels like too much work, contact our amazing support team if you’d like our help in growing your business 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.

#blog #business #businesstools #customerservice #customersupport #digitalmarketing #ecommerce #facebook #socialmedia #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #websitebuilder #websites #webtools #wordpress

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 123 “Turning Frustration Into a Successful Business”

Jul

7

When marketing your business, a lot of business advice tells you to stand out among your competitors. After all, you want to give potential customers a good reason to choose your product over another. Especially if there are numerous like-products already out there. One thing entrepreneurs might want to consider when developing products is finding a solution to something frustrating.

For example, have you ever tried to attach a file to an email only for it to say that your file’s too big? Every email provider has a file size limit. But for users who need to send over large files, it’s a frustrating experience. It’s why PSPINC created MegaMail, which allows us and users alike to send or transfer large files to anyone. If you’re frustrated about something, odds are other people feel the same way. If you can create a product that does it better than anything else on the market, you’ve got yourself a successful 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.

#b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #newsletter #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web

Announcement: Dreamersi WebdeXpress Update

Jun

23

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve now updated the admin panel within WebdeXpress that encourages customers to switch over to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) from Universal Analytics (UA). Earlier this year, Google announced they’d phase out UA. Because of this, it’s recommended for website owners to switch to GA4 sooner rather than later. That way, users can start accumulating data as your historical data from UA won’t move over to the new system.

screenshot of the new google analytics panel in dreamersi webdexpress

In line with this, we updated the WebdeXpress admin panel, a website creation tool our hosting service provides. The new changes are as follows:
• Added GA4 as an option.
• A notice on the side encouraging UA users to switch over to GA4 if they haven’t already.

screenshot inside data streams settings in ga4

screenshot inside data streams settings in ga4

To switch over from UA to GA4, you’ll first need to open Google Analytics. Then, you’ll see GA Setup Assistant under the Property column. From there, it’ll give you instructions on how to set up your GA4 for your website. After that, you’ll want to find the tracking ID on your newly updated GA4 property. To do that, open your new GA4 property in Google Analytics and go into the admin settings. Then, click on Data Streams which you can find under the Property column. After that, click on the web data stream icon (looks like a white globe against a blue background). Once you do that, you’ll see the measurement ID in the far right with a G in front of it. To add it to the new admin panel update, copy and paste that code and put it in the Tracking ID input box.

How to configure settings in WebdeXpress:
1. Click on “Site Settings Management” on the WebdeXpress admin panel.
2. Click on “Basic Settings” and then “Google Analytics”.
3. Select “Google Analytics 4” from the “Analytics Version” drop-down menu.
4. Enter the measurement ID for your website in the form of "G-XXXXXXXXX" in the input form.
5. Click “Save” at the bottom of the page.

If you’re not a Dreamersi WebdeXpress customer but need to update your embed code to support GA4, we have an incredible support team who'd be happy to help. To contact our support team, you can call us at 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.

#b2b #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerservice #customersupport #dreamersi #googleanalytics #marketing #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #universalanlytics #update #web #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #webtools

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 119 “ShopSite Plans on Sale for New Customers”

Jun

9

YourHost is PSPINC's easy and reliable e-commerce hosting solution. With the power of ShopSite, customers get resourceful e-commerce tools to help build and maintain your online store. We’re excited to announce that we’ve just reduced our price plans specifically for new customers! For the first two years, new YourHost ShopSite customers can start selling online with an impressive e-commerce site starting at just $15/month! After the first two years, standard rates will apply.

shopsite plans with pricing and features included in all 3 plans

shopsite plans with pricing and features included in all 3 plans

With our ShopSite plans, customers get incredible web hosting features! All ShopSite plan customers get access to our YourHost Neo web and email features, an SSL certificate, an initial setup by a trained technician, over 50 themes to choose from, over 25 payment methods, and U.S-based support from our team! Those who choose our Pro plan will also get many more features such as:

• Unlimited products
• Store search
• Real-time shipping rates
• Coupons
• Quantity pricing
• Cross-selling
• Product reviews
• Facebook store

This will be an ongoing promotion for new customers, and the new prices will be in effect for customers’ first two years on one of our YourHost ShopSite plans. Plans are billed monthly. Grow your online business by creating a stunning e-commerce site with one of our YourHost ShopSite plans.

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 #ecommerce #hosting #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sale #shopsite #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websitebuilder #webtools #yourhost

What Makes a Great E-Commerce Site

Jun

7

For small businesses that sell online, a great e-commerce site is essential. While there’s still something to be said for brick-and-mortar stores, the ease of purchasing online is unmatched. And it’s only become more popular during the last few years as online shopping revenue grew by 20% in 2021 (according to Retail Insider). It’s also important to acknowledge that much of that website traffic comes from a mobile device. The number of people shopping online with a mobile device increased by more than double since 2018 according to a 2021 survey of global consumer insights. This only means that creating effective and user-friendly e-commerce sites is even more important today than ever.

While every e-commerce site builder is different, there are still a handful of features that every good e-commerce site needs. Without them, it’s unlikely that users will complete the entire purchase cycle. For a customer, these aren’t things they actively seek in an online shopping site. Rather, they’re what they expect to see. Without them, customers find it blatantly obvious and if it’s an important enough feature, they may find the site unreliable. So, here’s everything you need to create an exceptional e-commerce site.

Necessary Features

someone holding a phone open to an e-commerce site

First and foremost, making sure the interface is user-friendly is the most important aspect of any website. But even more so for a shopping site. What this entails is a simplistic as well as responsive navigation menu. Especially given that so many website visitors will be using a mobile device. Users expect to see categories with some subcategories, all of which should be clear as to what they mean. The last thing you want is to confuse your customers all because you wanted to use a more creative yet unhelpful category name. Your navigation bar should also include:

• A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page
• A Contact Us page
• A way for shoppers to view their cart, which not only incudes product names but also an image with it

Additionally, with it being a site where payment’s involved, the checkout process shouldn’t just be streamlined but also secure. The easiest way to ensure this is by purchasing an SSL certificate, which PSPINC offers in addition to our web hosting. Other vital security features include an address verification system (AVS) and a credit card verification value (CVV).

Regarding the purchase process, additional costs, shipping details, and return instructions should be clearly outlined before users check out. And they should have multiple payment options as well. While product pages should include images of the product itself, they must be high-quality images. And seeing products from different angle as well as how it works in action through multiple photos or even a video will make them more attractive to customers. Lastly, product descriptions shouldn’t just include physical attributes but also the benefits they can provide your customers.

Additional E-Commerce Features

a woman at her laptop while holding a credit card

From a marketing perspective, there are also some other features worth adding. If a product isn’t exactly what they’re looking for, they may want to find something similar. Putting recommendations makes it that much easier for customers. Plus, you can create targeted newsletters based on what customers looked at and/or bought previously. Allowing users to create a wish list of items they want but aren’t ready to purchase yet as well as a guest account option will also result in a better user experience.

A wish list persuades users to come back to purchase later while a guest account allows them to bypass the longer account registration process. There’s also the option of adding newsletter pop-ups or even in-browser notifications to encourage brand loyalty. Lastly, there’s the abandoned cart reminder. About 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned, according to Shopify. To take advantage of that statistic, creating a reminder that sends an email out afterward can be a way to get those users to come back. As popular as e-commerce sites are for businesses today, building them can be a hassle. Luckily, PSPINC has an easy and reliable e-commerce hosting solution, YourHost, to help build your e-commerce site.

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 #crm #customerservice #ecommerce #marketing #marketingdigital #mobile #onlinebusiness #onlineshopping #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websitebuilder #yourhost

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 117 “The Value of Teamwork”

May

26

At PSPINC, we work in teams. Over the years, it’s proven to be helpful in all business tasks. At the end of the day, everyone works together to get the job done. That includes processes from creating a new product or service to marketing it. For example, every new product or service we create must go through a launch checklist before we release it to the public. This ensures that it goes through multiple hands before we publicly release it to the market.

While PSPINC started as a one-man operation in 1987. But the company only became the success that it is today thanks to all our employees. At the start, PSPINC only developed and sold software to a few clients. Since then, the company’s evolved to include web design services and marketing solutions, all to tens of thousands of clients. And that only became possible by creating teams that each have a specific purpose and goal in mind. So, if you need any help with your business website, please don't hesitate 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.

#b2b #blog #business #businesstips #hosting #newsletter #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #team #teamwork #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #website

Upgrading to Google Analytics 4

May

24

If you’re a small business owner or a digital marketer, you’ve probably seen the top banner in Google Analytics telling you that Google Analytics will be phasing out Universal Analytics (UA). Additionally, it tells you to switch and set up Google Analytics 4. Simply put, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a new version of Google Analytics that uses machine learning. By mid-2021, users already started switching over to GA4, less than a year after Google first announced it in October 2020. In fact, 60% of marketing professionals already updated their Google Analytics account by May 2021 according to databox. And an additional 22.7% said they hadn’t done it yet but planned to.

So, why the switch? Other than Google phasing out UA by July 2023, GA4’s use of machine learning allows it to offer new and attractive features. It’s also important to note that GA4 doesn’t use historical data, i.e., all the data users have built up over the years. But it can use data it’s gathered over time, so switching over to GA4 sooner is better than later. That way, it’ll start accumulating data in the new system before the old one gets shut off. Plus, it means you won't be starting from scratch when setting it up after support for Universal Analytics ends. And GA4 will improve over time, resulting in more accurate results when using its new predictive modeling features.

Google Analytics 4 Features

someone pointing a pen towards a tablet with google analytics open

GA4 uses a more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI), which allows it to provide better insights into understanding the data moving forward. And it uses historical evidence it’s gathered over time to predict future outcomes. But GA4’s use of machine learning is continually evolving so it’s likely that it’ll introduce more AI tools in the future. The hope is that GA4 will eventually allow marketers to identify which users are more likely to convert based on specific website interactions. Other additional features GA4 offers include funnel analysis, tree diagrams, overlapping audiences or segments, and many more.

For users with multiple Google Analytics properties, it can be difficult to track individuals across multiple properties. And if you’ve ever used Google Analytics in a high-traffic area, you’re probably all-too-familiar with the loading bar, which can take several minutes to load. Google has made the process much faster by redesigning it from the ground up instead of relying on what was a 10-year-old data mining process. Additionally, tracking visitors’ overall customer journey as they travel between multiple channels is much simpler with GA4’s “Information Streams” feature.

To switch, all you have to do is connect Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 in the admin panel. Or you can switch by replacing an embed code. If the embed code is particularly old and doesn't reference gtag.js in it, the code will have to be replaced.

If you need any help in switching over to Google Analytics 4, please don’t hesitate to 800-232-3989 or emailing 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.

#ai #analytics #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #crm #digitalmarketing #google #googleanalytics #googleanalytics4 #machinelearning #marketing #tech #technology #universalanalytics #update #web #webdevelopment #website #websites #webtools

Japanese Version of the DENREI App Now Available

May

18

Following last month’s release of the English version of our new DENREI app, we’re pleased to announce that a Japanese version is now available! With this new update, people in Japan can now try our app, DENREI.

With DENREI, users can only exchange messages with other DENREI members. Using the power of email, DENREI is the securest way to send and receive messages. We designed DENREI specifically to prevent the abundance of spam issues traditional email faces as well as non-delivery. Currently, the app is limited to iOS users, but it’s now available for our customers in Japan through the Japanese app store. Download the app and sign up for DENREI 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.

#app #appdevelopment #apple #blog #business #businesstools #denrei #ios #japan #japanese #mobile #pspinc #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #tech #technology #update #web #webdevelopment #websites

Announcement: Dreamersi Admin Panel Updates

May

18

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve updated our admin panel for our premiere web hosting service, Dreamersi! As a big thank you to our loyal customers, Dreamersi users will now see that their admin panel now includes a link to a special promotion. When you sign in to your account, you’ll now see a banner at the top for an exclusive opportunity to save more on one of our other online tools. Currently, our Dreamersi customers can save up to 45% on a new eCommerce site with one of our YourHost ShopSite plans:
dreamersi admin panel with promotional banner

dreamersi admin panel with promotional banner

Additionally, this new update also makes it easier to sign up for our other various online business tools. These products not only go well with our web hosting, but they’ll also make it easier to grow your business online.