PSPINC Official Company Blog

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 170 “What is Content Marketing?”

6月

2日

Unlike traditional marketing efforts, content marketing doesn’t promote by directly selling to potential customers. Instead, it pulls people in with educational and entertaining content. This content can be through blog posts, social media posts, videos, and email content among others. With content marketing, you aren’t trying to sell anything; instead, your goal is to educate and entertain people, hoping they’ll be interested in buying something from you later. But your content can’t just be random, otherwise, there won’t be any connection between your content and your company.

Content marketing helps establish your brand as an authority in the field and helps with audience retention. The more high-quality educational content you have for potential customers to find, the more authority your company will have in their eyes. If your content is relevant, informational, and interesting to potential customers, they’ll likely stay on the page for longer. And they’ll come back for more. But regardless, producing high-quality content consistently while juggling other business tasks is difficult. But the effort will be well worth it in the end. For more marketing help, reach out to our experts at PSPINC.

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 #businesstools #contentmarketing #digitalmarketing #emailmarketing #marketing #marketingtips #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #searchengineoptimization #seo #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #web #website

Meta’s New Text-Based Twitter Competitor App

5月

31日

Ever since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, many users have been itching to find a viable replacement. So far, some have found solace in Mastodon and Bluesky, a newer app launched and endorsed by co-founder and former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey. But now, Meta’s thrown its hat in the ring with its upcoming text-based app. It currently doesn’t have an official name, but internal Meta staff members call it either “P92” or “Barcelona”. There also isn’t an official launch date released just yet. But digital media marketing expert Lia Haberman, who first reported on this new app, says it could launch as early as the end of June.

Regardless, Meta granted early access to high-profile influencers and celebrities, which will only encourage more people to join the platform. While this new app will be in direct competition with Twitter, it’s not why Meta’s working on this new app. Or it’s at least not the only reason. Social media platforms have switched their focus toward direct messages (DM) over the last few years based on user behavior. And it also explains why Meta reintegrated Messenger back into the Facebook app and the thought behind Instagram Channels.

What Makes It Different

a phone open to twitter on a table next to a mug of coffee

Meta’s new text-based app will eliminate major obstacles that have prevented others from fleeing Twitter. With Facebook and Instagram under their belt, users can log in with their Facebook/Instagram credentials, keep their Instagram username, and keep their verification status (if applicable). It’ll also encourage their Instagram followers to follow them on the new platform, and carry over blocks and hidden words, optimizing the overall transition.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Meta’s new text-based app will be decentralized, much like its competitor, Mastodon. According to Haberman’s sources, each post has a limit of 500 characters, and much like tweets and Facebook posts, users can include links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long. Based on the only screenshots we’ve gotten of the new app (via a slide Haberman received and posted to her Twitter page), it’ll have a feed where users can like, reply, and share others’ posts.

What This Means

someone using a laptop that has facebook open on it

With the reported instability on Twitter recently, the market for Twitter alternatives is rife with opportunities. However, there hasn’t been one clear contender that users have flocked to. And the fatigue of setting up a new account on a new, unpopulated platform has become more apparent, which only further deterred users.

Meta, however, has the tremendous advantage of integrating their already-popular apps, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, which boasts a network of billions of users. With that also comes the ease of setting up a new account and keeping your followers. But Meta also has a history of releasing apps that don’t gain traction, especially those that copy other already-popular apps. So, only time will tell how Meta’s new text-based app performs in the social media space.

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 #business #businesstools #digitalmarketing #directmessaging #dm #elonmusk #facebook #jackdorsey #marketing #marketingdigital #messaging #messenger #meta #news #socialmedia #tech #technology #twitter #web #website #whatsapp

Facial Recognition: How it Works and the TSA’s Pilot Project

5月

24日

Facial recognition technology identifies and confirms someone’s identity using their face. Along with fingerprint validation, DNA matching, eye recognition, hand geometry recognition, voice recognition, and signature recognition, facial recognition is a type of biometric identification. And it’s growing in popularity, as we see via the TSA’s new pilot program, where they use facial recognition technology to confirm people’s identities.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a rise in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and with facial recognition technology becoming more popular, this is no exception. Additionally, the pandemic expedited contactless technology to minimize touch between merchants and customers. But the expansion of biometric identification and AI technology only raises concerns over data security among customers.

How it Works

photo of a woman in a coat using her cell phone

We can break the overall process of facial recognition down into three steps: detection, analysis, and recognition. Starting with detection, facial recognition finds a face in an image by using computer vision, which uses AI to identify people, places, and things in images quickly and accurately. With computer vision, machines can analyze image data in multiple different formats, including single images, video sequences, views from multiple cameras, and three-dimensional data.

In the analysis stage, the machine looks at facial geometry and facial expressions. It then converts that data into what’s called a faceprint, a unique data string of numbers or points. Lastly, there’s the recognition stage. This is where the machine will compare two or more images by looking at the faces to identify if it is, indeed, a face, or if it matches a face from a government-issued ID like a passport. And that’s exactly what the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to use it for.

TSA’s Facial Recognition Pilot Project

Using facial recognition technology, the TSA has started a new pilot project to confirm a traveler’s identity. All people do is present their ID card into a slot, look into the camera, and the screen will flash “Photo Complete”, which allows travelers to walk right through. The overall project is still in the early testing stages, as only 16 airports use this technology. But there are already early concerns and critiques over the new project. With some even comparing it to government surveillance. An open letter to the TSA from five senators even goes as far as saying it “represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights”, as an open letter from five senators to the TSA states.

There’s also the question of storing that data. The TSA says they’re not currently storing travelers’ biometric data, but that could easily change. And when it does, there are concerns over hackers who will try to steal it for nefarious reasons. Travelers also currently have the choice to opt in or opt out of this pilot project, but David Pekoske, head of the TSA, said it’ll eventually be a requirement. When that will happen is still unclear, however. And lastly, the algorithm facial recognition technology uses often struggles to recognize the faces of minorities, raising concern over bias.

What This Means

While many believe facial recognition technology impedes their privacy, technologists, like those at the TSA, boast its accuracy and efficiency and say it enhances overall security. It’s also important to realize we already use facial recognition technology with our personal devices, like enabling face ID on our phones. So, despite concerns, it’s clear that technology is here to stay.

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 #artificialintelligence #blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerservice #customersupport #cybersecurity #facialrecognition #facialrecognitiontechnology #security #smallbusiness #tech #technology #transportationsecurityadministration #tsa

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 168 “Business Uses for Web Forms”

5月

19日

Online forms, or web forms, allow customers to enter valuable information. It could be as small and simple as their name and email address, or it can include payment information. Regardless, businesses can use online forms for multiple reasons:

· Sell products.
· Onboarding new employees.
· Capture new leads.
· Create an email mailing list.
· Gather feedback from customers.
· Collect information to provide a service.
· Many more!

In return, businesses can gain insight into their customers while also configuring, sharing, and managing those forms to optimize them for their business needs. Creating them, however, can be as easy as signing up for InforMakers, our online form builder! Get started for just $8/month.

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 #ecommerce #informakers #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #newsletter #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #website #websites #webtools

Getting Verified on Social Media

5月

17日

Verified users on social media have been a thing for a long time. Since 2009, to be specific, when Twitter introduced the blue checkmark shown next to a user’s profile name. After that, other social platforms followed suit. Prior to Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the checkmark beside someone’s name online became a symbol of authenticity to signify the user was whom they said they were.

After Elon Musk bought out Twitter for roughly $44 billion in October of last year, the verification process changed the following month. Now, $8/month is all you need to get verified on Twitter, ultimately meaning anyone who can afford to spend $8 a month can become a verified user. Regardless, other social platforms also have verification systems in place that aren’t solely based on financial means. But that may change once Meta rolls out their new verification service to Facebook and Instagram on a wider scale.

Meta’s New Verification Service

In February, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced they’d be rolling out their own verification service for Facebook and Twitter. According to his statement, this new system will aim to better protect people from fraudulent users. Although, the platform’s inspiration seems obvious as Twitter’s verification system has continually changed and become a frequent subject of ridicule since Musk’s takeover.

Meta first tested their new verification service in New Zealand and Australia in February, but they’ve since opened it up to the U.S. in March. However, we haven’t heard reports about it yet. All we really know about Meta’s verification service is that it takes a government ID to verify the account and getting verified on Facebook and getting verified on Instagram are two separate processes. And paid verification costs $11.99/month on the web or $14.99/month either on Apple’s iOS or Android.

Verification on Other Social Platforms

someone holding a phone with the youtube app opening

So far, Meta isn’t the only platform that’s followed Twitter’s example by charging for verification status. After Twitter’s new verification system went live, Tumblr took advantage of the public ridicule that came with it by advertising its own $7.99 verification status. But unlike Twitter, it was a one-time fee (Twitter’s is monthly) and you get two checkmarks. From the description, it’s very clear that it’s a joke. But despite that it’s a parody of Twitter’s checkmarks and holds no real value on the platform, it still earned a 125% boost in in-app purchase revenue by February after releasing it in November, according to TechCrunch.

But YouTube and TikTok don’t currently charge for verification. Instead, YouTube has a whole process where users can request verification, which requires user accounts to be public and active, have at least 100,000 subscribers, a profile photo, a banner image, a description, great content, and represent a real person, brand, or identity. On TikTok, verification exists, but it’s unclear how it’s done.

Regardless, verification used to authenticate users, especially public figures, on social media. But now, it just means that the user paid for that checkmark (or checkmarks, in Tumblr’s case). Even though Twitter and Meta claim this new process aims at bulking up protection against fraudulent users, it doesn’t seem to be helping as much as they said it would.

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 #blog #business #businesstools #cost #digitalmarketing #facebook #instagram #marketing #marketingdigital #mobile #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #technology #tiktok #tumblr #twitter #verification #verifiedusers #web #webtools #youtube

WebdeXpress: New Privacy Policy Feature Available!

5月

17日

We’re happy to announce that WebdeXpress, our web-building tool, now has a new feature! Now, while building your website, you can add a privacy policy notice above the contact form submission button. You can create this new privacy policy in English or Japanese and add a title, description, and an agreement checkbox description.

For website owners, privacy policies help set data privacy expectations with your website visitors. Adding one will give users an idea of what kinds of data you’re collecting from them, why you’re collecting it, and how they can contact you if they have any questions or concerns.

When you add your privacy policy form field, it’ll look like this:
privacy policy settings in wdx

Once you complete your privacy policy contents, it’ll appear on your contact form at the bottom like this:
privacy policy checkbox contact us form in wdx

privacy policy checkbox contact us form in wdx

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 #businesstool #dataprivacy #ecommerce #feature #newfeature #pacificsoftwarepublishing #privacypolicy #pspinc #smallbusiness #tech #technology #wdx #web #webbuilder #webdesign #webdexpress #website #websitebuilder #websites #webtools

Dreamersi Mail V5: New In-Email Spam Reporting Feature!

5月

16日

We’re happy to announce that Dreamersi, our premiere web and email hosting service, now has a new feature! We will now display an in-email warning for any incoming email that looks suspicious but isn’t caught by the spam filter.

screenshot of new in-email spam reporting feature

screenshot of new in-email spam reporting feature

When you report an email as spam, it will lead you to a page where:

in-email spam email

· The message removal option is checked by default
· You can choose to add the sender to your personal spam filter

When you report an email as not spam (“Looks okay”), it will lead you to a page where:

report email as not spam

· You can click on the “Submit” button to report the email as not spam to help our spam filter system improve its accuracy

In both instances, you’ll also receive a “Thank you for your report” page and a Thank you email.

The 'Report Spam Banner' option is also turned off by default, so unless you manually go in to turn it on, you won't see the report banner. To turn it on, go to 'Spam Filter Settings' and select 'On' in the 'Report spam banner' option at the bottom. Then click 'Save' and you will then see the banner the next time you receive an email that may look like spam.

spam filtering settings in dreamersi

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 #customersupport #email #emailhosting #hosting #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #website

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 167 “Make Calls Easily with Tap-To-Call”

5月

12日

When our CEO, Ken Uchikura, realized his parents were having trouble calling him on their phones, he had an idea. If it was this hard for his parents to call people, it must be a problem other senior citizens face, too. That’s why he created Tap-To-Call. As the name suggests, users can easily make phone calls, as well as video calls, with the tap of a button!

While many senior citizens own a smartphone, about 42% according to Pew Research Center, technology evolves quickly. Even for younger people, keeping up with how fast technology changes can be difficult. Tap-To-Call makes it easier for those who aren’t as tech-savvy. For just $0.99, it’s easy to add, edit, and/or remove contacts. Just download the app on the iOS App Store to get started.

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 #appstore #blog #business #businesstips #call #ios #iphone #mobile #newsletter #phone #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #taptocall #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment

What Goes into an Effective Marketing Plan?

5月

10日

There can be a lot that goes into marketing for a business. And it can be overwhelming. But having an overarching marketing plan to do so makes it much easier. It’ll outline what needs to be done and what the intended results will be, not just to your marketing team, but to the entire sales team. You might have some initial ideas of what you want to do to market your product, service, and overall brand. But they might not be the best idea. Or it might be a good idea that could use some improvements that a plan could provide.

A marketing plan, for the rest of the sales team, presents an overhead look at your ideas professionally. For the marketing team, it serves as an organized outline for people to fill in throughout the process. But while every brand and plan will undoubtedly be different, there are still fundamental parts of every marketing plan: research, objectives, a strategy statement, a buyer persona, a customer journey, tactics, and mockups. And having them in your marketing plan will help marketers ensure they’re prepared.

Initial Steps

Every marketing plan starts with research. Regardless of your business's industry, it’s constantly changing and evolving. And you’re expected to change with it. More than that, research also helps you as a marketer get a better idea of the company’s overall identity and what you can highlight in a marketing campaign. And it’s important to point out that you may not have discovered this information without doing research to find it.

That research can also include creating a customer persona and journey, which will give you a better understanding of who your customers are and how they interact with your brand. And it’ll make it easier to create your objectives and strategy statement. As we’ve discussed before on this blog, your marketing objectives are essentially like your goals. And remember to use the SMART acronym when you create them. And a strategy statement encompasses those goals into a single statement, one that will guide your overall marketing efforts for your campaign moving forward.

Tactics & Mockups

three people crowded around a long desk with one woman sitting and showing something on a tablet to everyone else

Once you’ve completed the initial steps, it’ll be easier to determine how to achieve the goals you’ve set for your marketing team for your overall campaign. In marketing, tactics are strategic actions that directly correspond to your objectives. And your strategy statement will help guide you in the right direction when it comes to your content. Depending on what you want to achieve during your marketing campaign, tactics can range from search engine optimization, social media marketing, and email marketing, among other things. And to make it easier, creating mockups, or visual representations of what your final product will look like, will help you later when it’s time to prepare assets.

Overall, there are multiple steps in constructing an effective marketing plan. For marketers, having one in place helps immensely in better organizing your marketing ideas for your campaign. For everyone else at the company, it gives them a good idea of what you plan to accomplish and how. And that can be very powerful because often, your marketing team isn’t in charge of how much the company can spend on marketing efforts. The more people know about what you plan to do with the money they give you, the more likely they’ll be open to an increased budget. So, a marketing plan isn’t just a way to organize your thoughts as a marketer, it also serves as a proof of concept for the rest of your team. If you're looking for more marketing help for your small business, contact our marketing professionals at PSPINC. We'd be happy to help!

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 #goals #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingideas #marketingplan #marketingstrategy #marketingtips #mockup #objectives #sales #smallbusiness #smartobjectives #socialmedia #strategy #tactics

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 166 “Web Hosting for Your Website”

5月

5日

For anyone that has a website, you probably know how important web hosting is to your site. Having one is essential for keeping your site online, but it’s also important to have the right kind. The type of hosting you have for your site will dictate how much available space you have, how much monthly traffic can go to your site without it slowing down, and how secure your site is. Every person’s website needs are different, so it makes sense that there are different web hosting plans to fit those needs.

And that’s exactly why we offer different web hosting services, each with unique plans to fit your needs. For those that are looking for a cheap web hosting plan, Parcom is our budget-friendly service with a free plan as well as paid plans where you can get more for less. Or if you’re looking for more robust features, we built our hosting service, Dreamersi, in-house so we can deliver the best service for our customers. You can even get Dreamersi with email hosting, making it easier to manage your inner network. Learn more about our web hosting plans at pspinc.com/hosting.

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 #email #emailhosting #hosting #marketing #parcom #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webhosting #websites #webtools

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PSPINC Official Company Blog

フリースペース

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 170 “What is Content Marketing?”

Meta’s New Text-Based Twitter Competitor App

What Makes It Different

What This Means

Facial Recognition: How it Works and the TSA’s Pilot Project

How it Works

TSA’s Facial Recognition Pilot Project

What This Means

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 168 “Business Uses for Web Forms”

Getting Verified on Social Media

Meta’s New Verification Service

Verification on Other Social Platforms

WebdeXpress: New Privacy Policy Feature Available!

Dreamersi Mail V5: New In-Email Spam Reporting Feature!

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 167 “Make Calls Easily with Tap-To-Call”

What Goes into an Effective Marketing Plan?

Initial Steps

Tactics & Mockups

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 166 “Web Hosting for Your Website”

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