PSPINC Official Company Blog

Announcement: Click It Audio System Maintenance Downtime

Apr

5

Click It Audio Customers,

Thank you for choosing Click It Audio for your audio embed needs!

We will be performing system maintenance and updates as scheduled below.

Please note that there will be between 5 - 10 minutes of downtime during the update period.

The maintenance window is as follows:

* USA Pacific Daylight Time
- April 6th (Wed) 9:00-9:30am

* Japan Time
- April 7th (Thu) 1:00-1:30am

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-232-3989 or email us at support@pspinc.com.

We would be happy to answer any of your questions by phone or email.

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.

#ClickItAudio #PSPINC

Is Traditional Advertising Still Relevant?

Apr

5

With most of today’s marketing focused on digital efforts, it begs the question, is traditional advertising still relevant? The short answer is yes. Social media and Google Ads have become standard in marketing practices nowadays. And every year, marketers continue learning and adapting to all the intricacies and trends each digital platform has to offer. But there’s still something to be said about traditional avenues, which generally refers to mediums like print ads, TV commercials, billboards, and radio spots.

While many businesses largely write off the prospect of print ads, billboards, and radio spots, it’s a beneficial effort for smaller businesses. For local businesses, marketers focus more on getting customers inside their store, signing up for their service, and buying their products. To do that, they need a more direct approach by emphasizing the store location that runs for a shorter amount of time. Print ads in newspapers and/or magazines, billboards placed around town, and spots on local radio stations are great ways to do that. Especially if they’re trying to target an older audience. And the same can be said with direct mail marketing.

TV Commercials

a family sitting on the couch together with the dad holding a tv remote

As for TV commercials, they’re still largely effective. Despite the growing popularity of streaming platforms, TV commercials are still very relevant. Most streaming platforms even offer a free plan, which comes with ads. Examples include but are not limited to Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV, Tubi, and more. But the same would still be true, even without these free plans. TV is still the best way to increase brand awareness as it can effectively get your product, service, and/or company in front of a mass audience.

There are also times when TV viewership is higher than ever. Holiday specials bring in a sizeable audience, but the annual Super Bowl is the first big event that comes to mind. While sports TV can generally bring in a male-dominated audience, the Super Bowl is a unique opportunity to rope women into the mix as well. And it’s not just because of the halftime show. Super Bowl commercials have become just as popular as the game. They’re not only watched by millions of people but also talked about. Not just through word-of-mouth but on social media as well. From the last Super Bowl, commercials cost an average of $7 million per ad for 30 seconds of airtime. As expensive as that is, it’s worth the effort if you can afford it. In return, you’re not just getting the ad revenue, you’re also getting a guaranteed audience of about 100 million viewers.

Marketing today includes a lot of digital avenues, namely posting on social media and advertising on Google. With everyone already online, it just makes sense. But traditional advertising is still relevant for businesses that know how to use it to their advantage. For smaller, more affordable efforts, print ads, billboards, and radio efforts are a great way to reach local audiences. But for bigger brands who can afford to pay more for a TV commercial, it can be worthwhile.

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 #business #businesstips #commercials #digitalmarketing #directmail #googleads #local #magazines #marketing #marketingdigital #newspapers #radio #smallbusinesses #socialmedia #superbowl #tech #traditionaladvertising #tv #tvcommercials

Announcement: Mail Server Update

Apr

4

Dear valued customer,

Thank you for choosing Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

We are always looking to improve the services we offer you.
As such, we will be conducting mail server update.

You may experience delay in sending emails for a few seconds during the time below.

The schedule is as follows:

* USA Pacific Daylight Time
- Apr 5th (Tue) 9:00 - 9:30am

* Japan Time
- Apr 6th (Wed) 1:00 - 1:30am

PSPINC provides services with uptimes of 99.9%

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-232-3989 or email us at support@pspinc.com .

We would like to answer your questions by phone call.

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.

#Dreamersi #Mail #PSPINC #Update

Announcement: PSPINC Products SMS Service Outage

Mar

31

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for choosing Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

From 3pm PST this afternoon (7AM JST on 04/01), we began experiencing issues caused by a third-party SMS service outage. Currently, processes involving SMS text messages for some PSPINC products has become unavailable. You can still sign up or log in to our services as normal.

We will keep you posted once the outage is resolved.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support!

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.

#PSPINC #SMS

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 109 “Internet Explorer is Coming to an End”

Mar

31

Last year, Microsoft announced they were favoring Microsoft Edge by retiring Internet Explorer after 25 years. The first version, known as Internet Explorer 1.0 was introduced in 1995 alongside Windows 95. However, it didn’t gain much traction because many users preferred using their competitors’ browsers, namely Netscape, Mosaic, Lynx, and/or Opera. In fact, it didn’t become widely popular until Microsoft’s third iteration of Internet Explorer, which came out almost a year later in 1996. While Netscape was a worthy competitor, Internet Explorer ended up winning in the end for one very big reason: it was free, whereas users had to pay for Netscape.

The latest version of Internet Explorer is from 2013, which Microsoft released in 2013 and is the final version of the browser. After that, the company turned its attention to developing a new web browser, Microsoft Edge. And since then, Microsoft has been trying to get users to leave the Internet Explorer browser behind, guiding them towards Microsoft Edge instead. On June 15th, 2022, certain Microsoft operating systems will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 the latest version of Internet Explorer. Instead, Microsoft Edge will be the alternative moving forward.

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 #browser #business #businesstools #internetexplorer #lynx #microftedge #microsoft #mosaic #netscape #opera #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #tech #technology #web #webbrowser #webdevelopment #windows10 #windows95

Why your Company Needs a Password Manager with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Mar

29

Over the last few years, cybersecurity has become increasingly important. With more employees working from home, it’s made organizations and their employees even more susceptible to cyber-attacks. Because of this, it’s become increasingly important for companies to protect themselves from potential hacks. According to a 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report, compromised passwords caused 81% of hacking-related breaches that year.

One easy but effective way to protect your company from cyber-attacks is to invest in a password manager, which allows a user or multiple users to store, manage, and share passwords securely using cloud-based software. The best feature a password management system has to offer is the fact that most of them use some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure their safety. For users, this means confirming you are who you say you are through one or more different methods.

Types of Multi-Factor Authentications (MFAs)

man in a suit looking at his phone in one hand and a to-go coffee cup in his other hand

The three most common types of MFAs are knowledge, possession, or inherence MFAs. For knowledge-based MFAs, this includes answering a personal security question (like where your favorite vacation spot is or the name of your first pet). Or it can be an additional password. For possession-based MFAs, this includes using a security card, access badge, or something similar or entering a one-time password (OTP) sent to either your email or your phone via SMS or mobile app. Lastly, there’s inherence MFAs, which includes using something that is uniquely yours like your fingerprint, your face, or your voice.

Other types of MFAs include location-based MFAs and adaptive/risk-based authentication. Location-based MFAs look at your location (as specified) by checking a user’s IP address. If it doesn’t match what’s specified on a whitelist, it can block a user’s access to the account or require an OTP. Adaptive/risk-based authentication is similar except it only requires the use of an OTP if contextual and behavioral clues don’t match previous activity. For example, if a user is trying to access the account in a different location or a different time from the last time you logged in, they’ll send an OTP to the user’s phone in addition to providing a username and password to ensure the right person’s accessing the account.

The Importance of a Password Management System

a man and woman each on their own laptops sitting next to each other as well as another woman

The entire password management system should be a vital part of protecting an organization’s cyber security. With internet hacks becoming more commonplace, Microsoft engineers even stated in March of 2021 that 99.99% of account compromises they deal with could have been blocked by an MFA solution. Plus, password managers help increase productivity and flexibility. While it’s easy to advise employees to choose strong passwords, it’s just as easy for them to forget them. In fact, 50% of helpdesk support inquiries are about resetting passwords according to the Gartner Group. So, it’s not that surprising that a 2020 report from Ponemon Institute claimed 50% of IT professionals reuse passwords across different work accounts.

This is exactly why PSPINC created Pass Wizard. Initially, we released the service for free while it was still in its beta stage. This way, we could test its features and work on implementing payment and strengthening group sharing features for organizations. Since its official launch, Pass Wizard is available for free to store up to 30 passwords. Or users can upgrade to Pass Wizard Pro, which allows users to manage as many passwords as they’d like and share select ones within their organization, starting at just $1.67/month. Sign up for free and upgrade to our Pro account to strengthen your company’s cyber security efforts.

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 #cloudbasedsoftware #cyber #cyberattacks #cybersecurity #hacking #mfa #multifactorauthentication #passwizard #passwizardpro #password #passwordmanagement #passwordmanagementsystem #passwordmanager #passwords #smallbusiness #technology #web

Announcement: LDAP Server Replacement (Part2)

Mar

25

Dear valued customer,

Thank you for choosing Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

We are always looking to improve the services we offer you.
As such, We are replacing our LDAP server due to obsolescence.

During the work, there may be a period of time when you will not be able to operate in Admin panel for a few minutes during the time below.

The schedule is as follows:

* USA Pacific Daylight Time
- March 29nd (Thu) 5:00 - 5:30am

* Japan Time
- March 29nd (Thu) 9:00 - 9:30pm

PSPINC provides services with uptimes of 99.9%

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-232-3989 or email us at support@pspinc.com .

We would like to answer your questions by phone call.

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.

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 108 “Choosing the Right Hosting Service”

Mar

24

Dreamersi is Pacific Software Publishing Inc.'s (PSPINC) premiere web and mail hosting software and one we built in-house. We designed the mail server program, spam prevention measures, web environments, admin interfaces, and other tools that come with our hosting packages. When customers purchase one of our Dreamersi hosting packages, our server team is given full control over the digital environment as well as the features built for it. Therefore, we can provide the highest level of customer service and support with this web hosting platform.

Next are Parcom and YourHost, both of which are cPanel hosting options. cPanel hosting is one of the most popular control panels among web developers and hosting companies. Parcom is the cheapest hosting service that PSPINC has to offer, so because of this, server specs may differ from our other hosting services. But it’s also always something we can customize for our customers. YourHost, however, is a pre-packaged server software that thousands of hosting companies install on their servers and offer their customers. On PSPINC, we've paired YourHost with ShopSite, a shopping cart software system and it is now a National Hosting Partner for ShopSite.

Good web hosting is very important to have for your website. Even more so now that the internet gives people an infinite number of possibilities and opportunities. PSPINC has built its successful business with its great web hosting services. So please consider using one of PSPINC's excellent web hosting services.

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.

#dreamersi #ecommerce #hosting #internet #parcom #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #shopsite #software #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websitedevelopment #yourhost

Announcement: Pass Wizard Service Downtime due to System Maintenance

Mar

22

Dear valued customer,

Thank you for choosing Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

We will do the system maintenance for Pass Wizard as scheduled below.

Please note that there will be a few seconds downtime during the update period below.

The schedule is as follows:

* USA Pacific Daylight Time
- March 23rd (Wed) 9:00-9:30am

* Japan Time
- March 24th (Thu) 1:00-1:30am

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-232-3989 or email us at support@pspinc.com.

We would like to answer your questions by phone call.

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.

#Maintenance #PassWizard #PasswordManager #Security

How You Can Improve Your Site's SEO Through Content

Mar

22

For anyone who’s ever helped develop a website, search engine optimization (SEO) is very important. Optimizing your site for SEO helps better position your website and its pages in organic search results. For people who use website builders, many of those plans include an SEO tool. The best one, in our opinion, is the Yoast SEO plugin from WordPress, but there are many others out there. And it’s partly why PSPINC offers an easy WordPress install with both our Dreamersi, YourHost Neo, and Parcom web hosting plans. However, users can only use those tools with paid plans. So, here’s some SEO advice you should keep in mind when building and creating content for your site.

Adding Effective Keywords

people sitting together at a conference table, some of which are on laptops as they all work together

When you think about SEO, you might think about keywords first. Keywords are just words and phrases that users will enter into their search engines. So, choose your focus keyword wisely. You want it to be a word you know you’ll use a lot because it’ll be what you want a page to rank for most. But you also want to make sure it’s one that people will search for. An easy way to figure this out is to make a quick Google search with the keyword you want to use and see how many results come up. If it comes back with thousands or even millions of search results, you’re on the right track.

The same process goes with your keyphrase, which is like your focus keyword. The only difference is that it’s a phrase instead of just one word. To better optimize your content for SEO, try to use your keyphrase in your subheadings whenever possible. When you repeatedly use your focus keyword and keyphrase within your web content, it tells Google that you’re using relevant keywords. Google then rewards you by pushing your page higher up in the organic search results.

Improving Readability

a woman typing a document on a laptop while she sits on the couch

This should go without saying, but if your content isn’t written well, people won’t want to read it. Besides the obvious revisions in capitalization, grammar, and overall syntax, there are a few other things to be wary of when creating written content for online users. For starters, try to avoid using passive voice. Instead, use active voice. Passive voice happens when the subject of the sentence is acted upon whereas, in active voice, the subject completes an action. For example, instead of saying “The speech will be made by the mayor tomorrow”, say “The mayor will make a speech tomorrow”. If it’s a situation that can’t be avoided, use the passive voice. Just try to keep it to a minimum.

Additionally, avoid consecutive sentences (starting sentences with the same word) and limit your sentence and paragraph length. Sentences shouldn’t have more than 20 words each while paragraphs shouldn’t exceed 200 words. Between paragraphs, you should also distribute some subheadings and perhaps some images to break up blocks of text. Because no one wants to read paragraph upon paragraph without a break. At least not when they’re reading something online. Also, make sure to link some of your text to other pages on your website as well as other websites.

So, when you’re building and creating content for a website, there are two things to keep in mind in terms of SEO. Firstly, you’ll want to make sure you’re using effective keywords so your web pages will rank higher in Google’s organic search results. While Google Ads guarantees a top spot in the search results, using the right keywords will be vital in determining where on the list your site lands after that. Lastly, your content needs to be well-written, keeping in mind that it’ll be seen by internet users. The language should be conversational but still grammatically correct. Do all that and your site will be in pretty good shape for SEO. And as helpful as paid tools like Yoast SEO are, they’re unnecessary if you already know what to look out for.

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.