PSPINC Official Company Blog

Enter to Win One Year of Pass Wizard Pro for Free

2月

14日

Fill out this Pass Wizard survey to enter to win one year of Pass Wizard Pro for free. With this information, we’ll be able to improve our customers’ experiences and get a better idea of what features we should prioritize in our future development work.

To enter this giveaway, users must already be a Pass Wizard user (free or Pro), fill out the survey, and enter their Pass Wizard email at the end of the survey. This contest ends at 11:59 pm PST on Thursday 3/9.

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 #cybersecurity #giveaway #mobile #passwizard #passwordmanager #pspinc #security #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #survey #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #webtools

The Difference Between Building a Site from Scratch Versus Using a CMS

2月

1日

As of November 2022, there are nearly two billion websites on the internet, according to How to Geek. Before content management systems (CMS) existed, users created sites from scratch, which took a considerable amount of time. But it gave web developers a lot more control over all elements of a website, and that continues to be the case today. But creating websites with a CMS is even more popular today. In fact, more than 84 million websites are built with a CMS. The reason why is simple: it lets anyone create a website easily. Web developers have knowledge of coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, among others. With a CMS, users can create websites without the need for a web developer or designer.

While using a CMS can be easier and faster, there are still reasons why some may prefer to build a site from scratch. A CMS will generally offer a free plan, but they’re relatively limited feature- and storage-space-wise unless users upgrade to a paid account. Building a website without one gives developers more control over the hosting environment, giving them more freedom to add unique features to their site. Templates featured on a CMS are attractive, but it also results in multiple sites with the same or very similar site designs. Starting from scratch results in a much more unique site design as well as the ability to add other features that may not be available through a CMS.

Building a Website from Scratch

To create a website from scratch:

Add text, images, navigation bars, and other site building blocks with HTML

Add styling elements with CSS to design your site. A business site should match the look and feel of your brand.

Add more advanced functionality to your site by writing some JavaScript.

Upload the HTML file to your server to be filed away in your database.

From there, you can update the content or make other changes by downloading the files from the server and changing the HTML code by hand. Then upload the files back to the server after checking to make sure the code changes you made don’t result in an unexpected or undesirable result, like breaking a link.

Building a Website with a CMS

A CMS, or content management system, allows users to create, edit, and publish content online without any coding knowledge or experience. To build a site using a CMS:

Create an account on a CMS platform. We recommend WordPress or WebdeXpress, which is free with our Dreamersi web hosting.

Open the content editor to create and edit the content on your site. Without needing to write out any code, you can bold text, add links, and insert images among other things by dragging and dropping blocks or clicking a few buttons.

When you’re done creating or editing content, click on the Publish button and the CMS will display it for your website visitors.

To customize your website even further with unique features or design elements, invest in custom development or custom design services. For more informational videos, check out our "What Is" series on our YouTube channel.

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 #cms #contentmanagementsystem #dreamersi #hosting #seo #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #websitebuilder #websites #webtools #wordpress

Why Your Website Needs an SSL Certificate

1月

11日

If you don't already know, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and protects your privacy when you surf the internet. Especially when you're entering sensitive data. So, if you’re shopping online, an SSL certificate is designed to protect you from hackers getting your credit card number as you’re entering your payment information. SSL certificates do this in a matter of milliseconds in a process that’s sometimes referred to as an SSL handshake.

The process consists of a browser asking for a site to identify itself only for the site to send back a copy of the SSL certificate. After confirming that the site is trustworthy, only then can the server start sharing encrypted data with the website. To check if a website has an SSL certificate and will therefore protect your sensitive data, just check the URL for “HTTPS” at the start of the link. For sites that don’t have an SSL certificate, you’ll see a red padlock symbol or a warning triangle, signaling that this site isn’t safe for you to use.

Different Types of SSL Certificates

Extended validation (EV SSL) certificates: the most secure, but also the most expensive certificate typically reserved for high-profile websites that collect data and payment information.

Organization validation (OV SSL) certificates: similar to EV SSL certificates, but cheaper and less secure. These are generally used for commercial or public-facing websites to ensure customer information will remain confidential.

Domain validation (DV SSL) certificates: the cheapest certificate choice with minimal encryption, which results in a simplified validation process. Despite its low-security assurance, they’re still used largely for blogs and information sites, which don’t require users’ private information.

How to Get an SSL Certificate

Most web hosting services offer SSL certificates in addition to their web hosting, much like PSPINC. We offer all three types of SSL certificates and make them available for purchase in addition to our web hosting or our VPS plans on our website.

For more informational videos, check out our "What Is" series on our YouTube channel.

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 #domainvalidation #dvssl #evssl #extendedvalidation #hosting #organizationvalidation #ovssl #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websites #webtools

What’s New Newsletter Vol. 145 “Holiday Sales”

12月

9日

It’s officially holiday season, which means it’s also the sale season for small businesses. Generally, it’s best to prepare in advance so that your team has plenty of time to get everything ready. Especially since holiday sales seem to start earlier and earlier as the years go by. While big companies have a large budget to spend on marketing and promotions, a small business has the benefit of being a small business. With there being so much content and product out there today, many customers like knowing their money will support a small and independent business. And it’s largely why Small Business Saturday (the day after Black Friday) is so successful.

While we’re on the topic of holiday sales, you should know that our company’s currently running some. For starters, our password manager, Pass Wizard, is currently 50% off your first year when using the code PRO50! Plus, we’re now offering our web hosting service, Parcom Neo, for free! And our Parcom Plus and Parcom Deluxe plans are currently on sale for 25% off for your first two years to celebrate Parcom's 25th anniversary! So, if you want to support your fellow small business, we hope you’ll consider supporting ours.

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 #hosting #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #newsletter #passwizard #passwordmanager #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #technology #webdevelopment #webhosting #websites

Dreamersi UI Update

9月

1日

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve now updated the user interface (UI) user panel for the non-admin users of our web hosting service, Dreamersi.

screenshot of the new user panel in dreamersi that shows the offers and services section and the online tools section

In this update, we've:

Organized and updated the "Offers and Services" section

Added "Web Design"

Added "Custom Development"

Dreamersi is our premiere hosting service that we’ve designed in-house that is perfect for your web and email hosting needs. If you need help setting up your site with our hosting services, 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.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerservice #dreamersi #email #emailhosting #hosting #pspinc #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #tech #technology #update #web #webdesign #webdevelopment #webhosting #website #websites #webtools

Announcement: Spoof Filtering Update

7月

22日

As we announced earlier this week, we have been working hard to fix the issue of email spoofing*. We are happy to announce that we have updated our spoof filtering within our email hosting service, Dreamersi. To enable this new spoof filtering update:

screenshot of spam filtering in Dreamersi

1. Login to your Dreamersi account
2. Click "Spam Filter"
3. Click "Sender Filter"
4. Check "Spoof Filtering"
5. Click "Save" at the bottom

Once enabled, spoofed emails (which appear as emails sent from you but are actually sent by others) will go to your spam folders. You will then see them in you Spam Summary as shown below:
screenshot of spam summary with spoof filter enabled

screenshot of spam summary with spoof filter enabled

Thank you for choosing Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. and Dreamersi for your hosting needs.

*Email spoofing is a form of cyber attack in which a hacker sends an email that has been manipulated to seem as if it originated from a trusted source. Email spoofing is a popular tactic used in phishing and spam campaigns because people are more likely to open an email when they think it has been sent by a known sender. The goal of email spoofing is to trick recipients into opening or responding to the message. (source: techtarget.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 #dreamersi #email #emailhosting #emailspoofing #pacificsoftwarepublishinginc #pspinc #spam #spamfilter #spamsummary #spoofing #tech #technology #tutorial #update #webhosting

Creating a Digital Presence for Your Business

7月

13日

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

Announcement: Dreamersi WebdeXpress Update

6月

24日

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”

6月

10日

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

6月

8日

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.