How To Set Up an Effective CPA or Accounting Website
Ranked #7,292 in Business & Work, #197,849 overall
Things You Need To Know About Building A Website for your Accounting or CPA firm
OK, this is going to turn into a bit of a monster. I wanted to do this in bite-sized nuggets, but Squidoo wants me to pack modules together so... here we go.
First things first...
This lens is designed for people who intend to build an accounting website, so It's written for a small audience. Squidoo doesn't like small audiences, so PLEASE... if you find it helpful take a moment to "like" it!
There are a lot more than ten things you need to know about CPA and Accounting Website Design, but we're going to start with 10 suggestions that will help you avoid the most common pitfalls that you're likely to encounter.
First things first...
This lens is designed for people who intend to build an accounting website, so It's written for a small audience. Squidoo doesn't like small audiences, so PLEASE... if you find it helpful take a moment to "like" it!
There are a lot more than ten things you need to know about CPA and Accounting Website Design, but we're going to start with 10 suggestions that will help you avoid the most common pitfalls that you're likely to encounter.
10 Tricks of the Trade
The Age of the "Novelty Website" is over and the "Status Website" will scare off more clients than it converts. Design Your Website To Convert Accounting Prospects Into Clients!
Once upon a time in the ancient past (you know, like, ten or fifteen years ago) a single web page with your address and phone number was enough to impress the heck out of your prospects.
Those days are over. Websites and internet users alike have become a lot more sophisticated. Advances in web technology have raised expectations. There is nothing novel about websites any more. A CPA or accounting firm without a website is behind the curve and is alienating an increasingly large segment of the market. This "wired" segment of the population has become so large, in fact, that a "lame" website will likely do you more harm than good.
Unfortunately many firms have overcompensated. I call these "status sites". These sites are so professional, so slick, so smart that they actually scare prospects away. These "Status" sites are usually designed to appeal to the firm owners, not the firm prospects. Making your visitors feel inadequate or even stupid isn't the best way to convert them.
This list will help you navigate the fine line between professionalism and accessibility. I'll show you how to use your site to actually convert prospects. I'll also show you how to decrease your operating costs, and improve both client retention and billable hours by exploiting the full potential of your website.
Sound like a lot to offer with a single lens? Well... read on. You won't be disappointed.
Those days are over. Websites and internet users alike have become a lot more sophisticated. Advances in web technology have raised expectations. There is nothing novel about websites any more. A CPA or accounting firm without a website is behind the curve and is alienating an increasingly large segment of the market. This "wired" segment of the population has become so large, in fact, that a "lame" website will likely do you more harm than good.
Unfortunately many firms have overcompensated. I call these "status sites". These sites are so professional, so slick, so smart that they actually scare prospects away. These "Status" sites are usually designed to appeal to the firm owners, not the firm prospects. Making your visitors feel inadequate or even stupid isn't the best way to convert them.
This list will help you navigate the fine line between professionalism and accessibility. I'll show you how to use your site to actually convert prospects. I'll also show you how to decrease your operating costs, and improve both client retention and billable hours by exploiting the full potential of your website.
Sound like a lot to offer with a single lens? Well... read on. You won't be disappointed.
-
Keep it professional, but not too smart.
Professionalism inspires confidence, but be careful not to talk down to your visitors or over their heads. Good marketing copy should not written above a 6th grade level. You can write concisely and professionally, but don't use a four syllable word if a two syllable word will do the job. Anyone smart enough to understand "heady" marketing copy is probably too smart to be influenced by it anyway. -
Keep It Friendly.
Be careful not to spook your visitor. As a rule people are afraid of strangers and they don't like change, so you're in an uphill battle. You can level the playing field by keeping your website friendly. Rather than trying to dazzle the visitor with slick images and stock photos of beautiful people being beautiful, try offering the prospect familiar comfortable images. A picture of a local park, maybe, or main street on a sunny day, kids playing outside the public library... If the initial impression on your site is one of comfort, safety, and best of all, recognition your retention of new visitors will go up more than 30%. -
Don't get bogged down by aesthetics.
Now is not the right time to indulge in artistic expression. Graphic design changes can drive your costs right through the roof. Trying to find the perfect shade of blue in a world where every monitor on the planet displays colors differently is not an effective use of your time. There are a lot of much more important things that need doing. The site needs to be nice, yes, but the overall look is really a very small part of the design process. In fact, some very effective and profitable websites are just plain ugly. While it's important for your site to represent your tastes don't get stuck on creating the "perfect" look. Even if you succeed it won't be worth the time and money you just spent. All you will have accomplished is creating a site style that appeals to you. This is one of the most fundamental mistakes in advertising. Advertising should not appeal to the advertiser. What you want is a site style that appeals to your prospects.
Personally I recommend getting a template rather than investing in custom design. You're going to be up to your eyeballs creating content for your site. Don't make the process harder and more expensive by obsessing on the appearance of the site. If you really want a custom site hire a skilled and experienced designer who shares your basic vision and try to trust his or her process. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to get the job done in two or three drafts. -
Don't wait until the site is finished to publish.
Your site will never be finished. Website development is an ongoing process. If you wait until your site is "finished" before taking it public you are going to have one of two problems. Either your website will never get published, or it's going to suck. The sooner you publish the site the sooner you will begin to accumulate domain authority with the search engines. Your first priority should be getting the site in good enough shape to post. All you really need is a Welcome page with contact info. Once this is done you should map the domain and continue to add new content. -
Most of your visitors aren't looking for a new accountant... yet.
Your website is going to be an extension of the network marketing strategies you already use every day. Fill your website with a wealth of content that will draw even non-prospects to the site. Add an extensive library of free reports, interactive calculators, and tax forms. Set up and maintain a monthly Email newsletter. Even if the visitor is already happy with her CPA we still want her visiting your site. Remember, the average life expectancy of a client/accountant relationship is 6 years. That means statistically speaking just about everyone visiting your site is a long term prospect. In a few years her accountant may retire. Or get married. Or take a job with a large firm. Whatever. Even if the visitor is dirt poor there's no telling what the future may hold. You get a couple of raises. Get married. Next thing you know you're buying a house. I'll never forget the panic I felt the first time I laid eyes on a 1040 long form and knew I needed to fill it out. By providing a wealth of useful content you're keeping your brand in front of the prospect, and by keeping your brand in front of the prospect you become the likely beneficiary of these changes. -
Cross-sell your off-season services.
Most of us have plenty of work around tax time. The real key to growing and accounting practice is getting your clients to utilize your off-season services. Keep this in mind while you're working on your service pages. Concentrate on the benefit of services like compilations and reviews to the customer.
Don't bore the prospect with the details. He doesn't care how you're going to help him, he just wants to know how much! -
Distribute your Tax Organizer online.
How much do you spend every year packaging up 16 page tax organizers and mailing them to your clients? If you said more than $0 you've missed the boat! Post your Tax Organizer online in PDF format and you can spare your staff hours of copying, collating, stapling, and envelope stuffing (not to mention postage). Also, post links to commonly used tax forms available from the IRS and state revenue office sites. -
Use your website to relieve yourself of unbillable time on the phone.
Three simple features added to your website can relieve you and your staff of hours per year of unbillable phone time. Make sure your site includes a 1040 Tax Estimator, a Payroll Tax Calculator, and a "Track Your Refund" link. You also need to make sure your staff, especially your gatekeeper, knows to how to direct these kinds of "casual inquiries" to the appropriate web pages. -
Get the domain name yourself.
The only way to be absolutely certain that you own your domain name is to get it yourself. When I get a domain name for a client I set it up in a retail account in the clients name, but I don't know any other designer that does this. Most put it in a wholesale account in their name. A domain name is a business asset. You are about to spend a ton of time and money adding value to that asset. YOU need to OWN it. -
Don't expect any love from the search engines.
The process building a website is almost completely divorced from the process of getting a good listing in the search engines. It doesn't matter how search engine friendly your site content is. Even if your Meta Tags, Keyword Density, and Keyword placement is perfect Google probably won't rank you very well at the start. If you want to do well in the search engines don't kid yourself that the job is done when the website is 'finished': The process of Search Engine Optimization is only just beginning, and is really never truly complete.
Take A Look At Website Templates
Using templates was once a real problem in terms of getting your website listed in the Search Engines. This is no longer true. Newer templates have overcome these technical issues and now offer a high quality, low cost alternative to custom design...
Website templates are web designs that are made by professional designers who provide the templates to other companies. There are tons of sites that sell templates, and nearly all web hosts offer them free bundled into their basic plan (or at an extremely low cost). They are commonly displayed with dummy text on the sample which gives viewers a good idea of what the finished website would look like.
One of the chief decisions that you will have to make when setting up a website will be whether or not to use a template, or create from scratch. A template is quick, easy, and inexpensive. It also gives you the ability to then customize a few things, here and there, to make it more personalized. Custom website design is expensive. For some uses this expense is justified, but for most small or medium sized accounting firms this cost is exorbitant. The custom design process can drag, and this can really drive up your expenses. If you weigh the benefits and decide to take this route be aware that each time you redraft or add to the site your costs are going to rise significantly.
This is why, for most firms, it best to use a template from a company that specializes in designing websites for accountants. These sites are usually very attractive. They often include premium design features like flash animations and almost always include third-party plugin and HTML support.
Remember, before selecting a template, you will need to identify the goals for your website. What do you want the site to look like? How do you want it laid out? Look at some websites and grab some ideas from them. What type of content would you like on there (pages, images, and stuff)? Planning is key. The more organized you are when you begin the design process, the less time and money you will need to spend implementing your ideas.
Here are some typical advantages of using a template...
1. Templates provide the basic page and navigation layouts.
2. Design consistency can be a real problem for do-it-yourselfers. It can be hard to develop different pages with different content and at the same time keep a similar look and feel. Templates take care of this problem for you by offering standard content pages.
3. Templates include professional graphics. Filling a site with professional photos can be expensive and time consuming. The alternative, looting the internet for images, is usually illegal. Templates also allow you to customize those graphics to a more personalized look.
4. It is usually easy to edit the content on the template by using almost any HTML editor.
Other advantages of using a web template are being able to receive regular updates that can keep your site compatible with others. Of course these changes are particularly relevant if your website template is provided by an industry specific host. There are a lot of companies that specialize in websites for accountants and CPA's. These companies usually offer website packages that include tools particularly useful to CPA and accounting practices like file transfer portals and newsletters. They also automatically update pages that are generally specific to websites for accountants like tax due dates and accounting specific "free reports".
Like everything in life there are some possible limitations you need to keep in mind as well:
A. Graphically templates usually come "as is" unless you can code in HTML and have access to graphics software like Photoshop. Some providers will make changes for you (for an added fee) but in most cases you'll need to hire a web professional to make graphic changes to a template.
B. Depending whether or not your template includes an editor it sometimes becomes difficult to make text content changes unless you are skilled at HTML. These templates can still significantly reduce your costs, but you may still need a website professional to set up and maintain it.
C. Any interactive features have to be integrated into the template, unless the provider has built it in.
D. The right to use a template does not imply ownership. Unless you specifically buy the copyright to the template the designer will be able to sell the same template to other website owners.
Of course you want your website to stand out. Using pre-designed templates is one way to accomplish this; you can get a good looking site with an established layout and structure. Even if it's not quite "perfect" it's still cheaper to modify an existing template than it is to build a new site from scratch.
Weigh the purpose of your site against what you want it to do and how much you want to spend. You'll need to decide for yourself whether to use a template or to build a custom site.
If you choose to use a template take the time to choose a good one. Templates come in all kinds of styles and colors. You should have no trouble finding one that suits your firm. The template provider also matters. Find a provider that specializes in websites for accountants and includes fitting content and updates instead of making yourself purchase each feature separately. This will save you a lot of money, to be sure. More significantly, however, it will save you time and aggravation.
One of the chief decisions that you will have to make when setting up a website will be whether or not to use a template, or create from scratch. A template is quick, easy, and inexpensive. It also gives you the ability to then customize a few things, here and there, to make it more personalized. Custom website design is expensive. For some uses this expense is justified, but for most small or medium sized accounting firms this cost is exorbitant. The custom design process can drag, and this can really drive up your expenses. If you weigh the benefits and decide to take this route be aware that each time you redraft or add to the site your costs are going to rise significantly.
This is why, for most firms, it best to use a template from a company that specializes in designing websites for accountants. These sites are usually very attractive. They often include premium design features like flash animations and almost always include third-party plugin and HTML support.
Remember, before selecting a template, you will need to identify the goals for your website. What do you want the site to look like? How do you want it laid out? Look at some websites and grab some ideas from them. What type of content would you like on there (pages, images, and stuff)? Planning is key. The more organized you are when you begin the design process, the less time and money you will need to spend implementing your ideas.
Here are some typical advantages of using a template...
1. Templates provide the basic page and navigation layouts.
2. Design consistency can be a real problem for do-it-yourselfers. It can be hard to develop different pages with different content and at the same time keep a similar look and feel. Templates take care of this problem for you by offering standard content pages.
3. Templates include professional graphics. Filling a site with professional photos can be expensive and time consuming. The alternative, looting the internet for images, is usually illegal. Templates also allow you to customize those graphics to a more personalized look.
4. It is usually easy to edit the content on the template by using almost any HTML editor.
Other advantages of using a web template are being able to receive regular updates that can keep your site compatible with others. Of course these changes are particularly relevant if your website template is provided by an industry specific host. There are a lot of companies that specialize in websites for accountants and CPA's. These companies usually offer website packages that include tools particularly useful to CPA and accounting practices like file transfer portals and newsletters. They also automatically update pages that are generally specific to websites for accountants like tax due dates and accounting specific "free reports".
Like everything in life there are some possible limitations you need to keep in mind as well:
A. Graphically templates usually come "as is" unless you can code in HTML and have access to graphics software like Photoshop. Some providers will make changes for you (for an added fee) but in most cases you'll need to hire a web professional to make graphic changes to a template.
B. Depending whether or not your template includes an editor it sometimes becomes difficult to make text content changes unless you are skilled at HTML. These templates can still significantly reduce your costs, but you may still need a website professional to set up and maintain it.
C. Any interactive features have to be integrated into the template, unless the provider has built it in.
D. The right to use a template does not imply ownership. Unless you specifically buy the copyright to the template the designer will be able to sell the same template to other website owners.
Of course you want your website to stand out. Using pre-designed templates is one way to accomplish this; you can get a good looking site with an established layout and structure. Even if it's not quite "perfect" it's still cheaper to modify an existing template than it is to build a new site from scratch.
Weigh the purpose of your site against what you want it to do and how much you want to spend. You'll need to decide for yourself whether to use a template or to build a custom site.
If you choose to use a template take the time to choose a good one. Templates come in all kinds of styles and colors. You should have no trouble finding one that suits your firm. The template provider also matters. Find a provider that specializes in websites for accountants and includes fitting content and updates instead of making yourself purchase each feature separately. This will save you a lot of money, to be sure. More significantly, however, it will save you time and aggravation.
What are the Minimum Content Requirments for a Decent CPA Website?
I've had a lot of Do-It-Yourself types ask me this question since I got into the design business, and it makes me wince every time. I don't advocate doing a DIY job on a company website, but if you do it right it's better than no website at all.
Your accounting website can at least make it easy for prospects who are searching for you, so you absolutely, positively must add the following pages:
Contact Page: This page will display your basic contact information; name, address, telephone number, email address, a map, and office hours. If possible add a contact form to this page.
Our Services: Details about your core and added value services, plus contact names for your in-house staff specialists. If possible throw a contact form at the bottom of the page.
Staff Pages: The purpose of this page is to help your visitors feel like they've gotten to know you a little bit. Tell them a little about the firm and the people in it.
Firm Page: The firm profile is more formal and professional than the "About Us" page. The purpose of this page is to show off your professional accomplishments and experience so don't hesitate to claim your bragging rights.
You should have no trouble creating this content yourself. This is what we call a "brochure site". You don't need an accounting website designer to have a site like this. All you need is a domain, a site host, and a CMS (a content manager that can help you add content to your site without making you learn to code). A service like GoDaddy can provide everything you need.
The Brochure Site
This bare-bones type of site has very little real marketing value. It won't help you with your networking, lure new clients into the firm, help you cut your operating costs, or help with client retention. What it will do is keep you from looking like a dinosaur when you're doing your traditional marketing, and it will make it easy for your current clients to find your office and phone number when they need it.
If you're looking for more than that; if you want a site that will really help you with your network and online marketing efforts, you'll need more than a brochure site. You're going to need to add content to the site that your visitors will want to come back and revisit frequently. Content like tax due dates and information, financial and business planning articles and blogs give your site depth, extra value for clients and a reason for visitors to return to the site. Unfortunately features like this also require frequent updates and, to varying degrees, real design skills.
Standard Content Package Features
Buying content in packages from accounting website design firms is the best way to upgrade a "brochure" or "novelty" site. A content package will include tons of content. These features have evolved over the years to maximize the marketing potential of your website.
Your content package will include a financial news page that will update automatically, and a broad selection of tax and financial articles designed not only to draw visitors to the site but to cross-sell your off-season services. It's important to have your content change from time to time. In geek-speak we call this "dynamic" content. Search engines and clients alike love to see sites that get updated regularly. Websites that try to DIY their news page almost always fall behind. It's vital to keep your news page current. You're better off deleting your news section than you are letting it slide into obsolescence. Your firm looks lazy and unreliable if the most recent news update is weeks, months, or years ago.
Financial calculators, downloadable forms, and useful links are pretty much standard elements of a modern accounting website. These interactive elements offer visitors lots of great reasons to keep coming back to your site and really boost the marketing value of your site.
Another standard feature that will really help with client satisfaction and retention is a "client portal" or "secure file transfer" system. These systems allow a client to send large files securely over the web and will have a profound impact on your efficiency and expenses when the tax crunch hits.
Sooner or later you're going to want a big-kid's site. When that time comes you're going to need to find a real CPA site designer. If you try to produce this much content yourself it's going to cost thousands of dollars and gobble up scores of work hours. Luckily there are several designers that specialize in building content for CPA websites. They will be able to provide you with affordable content packages.
Contact Page: This page will display your basic contact information; name, address, telephone number, email address, a map, and office hours. If possible add a contact form to this page.
Our Services: Details about your core and added value services, plus contact names for your in-house staff specialists. If possible throw a contact form at the bottom of the page.
Staff Pages: The purpose of this page is to help your visitors feel like they've gotten to know you a little bit. Tell them a little about the firm and the people in it.
Firm Page: The firm profile is more formal and professional than the "About Us" page. The purpose of this page is to show off your professional accomplishments and experience so don't hesitate to claim your bragging rights.
You should have no trouble creating this content yourself. This is what we call a "brochure site". You don't need an accounting website designer to have a site like this. All you need is a domain, a site host, and a CMS (a content manager that can help you add content to your site without making you learn to code). A service like GoDaddy can provide everything you need.
The Brochure Site
This bare-bones type of site has very little real marketing value. It won't help you with your networking, lure new clients into the firm, help you cut your operating costs, or help with client retention. What it will do is keep you from looking like a dinosaur when you're doing your traditional marketing, and it will make it easy for your current clients to find your office and phone number when they need it.
If you're looking for more than that; if you want a site that will really help you with your network and online marketing efforts, you'll need more than a brochure site. You're going to need to add content to the site that your visitors will want to come back and revisit frequently. Content like tax due dates and information, financial and business planning articles and blogs give your site depth, extra value for clients and a reason for visitors to return to the site. Unfortunately features like this also require frequent updates and, to varying degrees, real design skills.
Standard Content Package Features
Buying content in packages from accounting website design firms is the best way to upgrade a "brochure" or "novelty" site. A content package will include tons of content. These features have evolved over the years to maximize the marketing potential of your website.
Your content package will include a financial news page that will update automatically, and a broad selection of tax and financial articles designed not only to draw visitors to the site but to cross-sell your off-season services. It's important to have your content change from time to time. In geek-speak we call this "dynamic" content. Search engines and clients alike love to see sites that get updated regularly. Websites that try to DIY their news page almost always fall behind. It's vital to keep your news page current. You're better off deleting your news section than you are letting it slide into obsolescence. Your firm looks lazy and unreliable if the most recent news update is weeks, months, or years ago.
Financial calculators, downloadable forms, and useful links are pretty much standard elements of a modern accounting website. These interactive elements offer visitors lots of great reasons to keep coming back to your site and really boost the marketing value of your site.
Another standard feature that will really help with client satisfaction and retention is a "client portal" or "secure file transfer" system. These systems allow a client to send large files securely over the web and will have a profound impact on your efficiency and expenses when the tax crunch hits.
Sooner or later you're going to want a big-kid's site. When that time comes you're going to need to find a real CPA site designer. If you try to produce this much content yourself it's going to cost thousands of dollars and gobble up scores of work hours. Luckily there are several designers that specialize in building content for CPA websites. They will be able to provide you with affordable content packages.
CPA Websites and Hosting
If you follow the tips above you'll have a good website, but there's some things you need to know about hosting. Most people will only see the body of your website. It doesn't matter how sleek and sexy your car is if you don't have anything under the hood
If you've never really set up a website for a CPA or accounting firm before the minutiae can become a bit frightening. There are a few key tricks that will make your trip into the 21st century a great deal less complicated. Building accounting websites is like any skill. It's easy once you understand how to do it. There are a few companies that have spent years developing websites for CPAs, and they have a few practical insights for your consideration...
Hosting and Content :
Many web hosting companies will throw in other features such as a free domain name or free email hosting along with the website hosting. Of course I don't need to tell you that nothing is really free, only bundled into the service offering, so don't buy a package with features you don't need. Search engine submission is a popular offering that NOBODY needs any more (search engines no longer use submissions to rank pages), and features like shopping carts may be useful to retail businesses but it's useless for a professional service like an accounting firm. Take some time to shop around a little. You'll find it's pretty easy to get a lot of solid comparative information by doing a few simple Google searches for keywords like "website hosting".
You'll find that if you arm yourself with some basic information choosing hosts for accounting websites isn't nearly as scary as it might seem. One of the oldest and most reputable Web Hosts, for example, is Network Solutions. They have excellent service and online tools, but they a grossly overpriced compared to their biggest competitor, GoDaddy. Network Solutions, while more expensive, offers packages that include a domain name. Other packages frequently offered by website hosts include Google advertising credits, File Transfer options, and other features.
One bundled hosting feature that seems quite useful is Email, but many users don't really need it. A lot of accountants ultimately choose to use a "freemail" account, or a more sophisticated free solution like Google Apps.
Do a little homework. It will make the decision making process a LOT easier for you.
What's in a Domain?
Picking a good domain name is key for your business. A good domain name should be short, easy remember, easy to spell, and should reinforce your name and/or the name or function of your firm. Using important keywords in your domain name can be helpful in getting your website a better ranking in the search engines. Keywords such as your location (FL, Florida, Tampa, etc) or words that explain your service (accounting, CPA, or even very specific keyword combinations like AtlantaConstructionAccounting, etc). Always use a ".com" domain name, and if you must use punctuation to break the words up know that dashes are better than underscores. You do not have to get your domain name through your website host, and there are even risks in doing so. Get the domain name yourself using a service like GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions. There is even a domain registrar specifically oriented towards tax professionals called at DomainsForCPAs.com. Fee's vary. GoDaddy is a pretty cheap option, and Network Solutions is at the high end while smaller specialty registrars Domains For CPAs tend to take the middle ground. As a rule domains bill annually. Don't confuse this expense with your monthly hosting costs.
Be cautious if a company allows you to register your domain name as part of a package with your web hosting. Make sure that the domain is registered in your name and that, if you ever leave the hosting company you'd be able to retain ownership of the domain name.
What the Heck is a CPanel?
A cPanel is a control panel where you'll be able to make many advanced settings changes to your various web hosting features. Your cPanel is your domains central nervous system, and it's vital that you be able to access it. It maps the domain to your website and your email to your inbox. You can also use this area to redirect pages of your site and "park" additional domain names so that more than one domain name will go to your one main website. Many web hosting companies have the cPanel system integrated into their products. Either way you'll probably never need to access it, but it's vital that you be able to. If you can't access you cPanel whoever does has de facto control of your website and your email, and this can really put you over a barrel.
Online Security:
This is something the beginner-user may not be concerned with, but if you're going to be storing QuickBooks files online, or accepting credit card payments, then you'll want to listen up. An SSL certificate is more than an assurance that files and information being transferred to and from your site is secure. It's also an integral part of a sophisticated online encryption protocol (Secure Socket Layer) that actually protects the information. A lot of companies offer SSL certificates. GoDaddy, VeriSign, and DigiCert are the largest. Visitors sometimes look for an SSL Certificate (ordinarily indicated by a little lock symbol in a corner of the internet browser) when they're making a purchase over your site. Failure to adequately protect your client's private data won't just cost you clients, it can also get you into grave legal trouble. Accounting firms are financial institutions according to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and are required by law to take proper steps to protect their clients' confidential information.
Hosting and Content :
Many web hosting companies will throw in other features such as a free domain name or free email hosting along with the website hosting. Of course I don't need to tell you that nothing is really free, only bundled into the service offering, so don't buy a package with features you don't need. Search engine submission is a popular offering that NOBODY needs any more (search engines no longer use submissions to rank pages), and features like shopping carts may be useful to retail businesses but it's useless for a professional service like an accounting firm. Take some time to shop around a little. You'll find it's pretty easy to get a lot of solid comparative information by doing a few simple Google searches for keywords like "website hosting".
You'll find that if you arm yourself with some basic information choosing hosts for accounting websites isn't nearly as scary as it might seem. One of the oldest and most reputable Web Hosts, for example, is Network Solutions. They have excellent service and online tools, but they a grossly overpriced compared to their biggest competitor, GoDaddy. Network Solutions, while more expensive, offers packages that include a domain name. Other packages frequently offered by website hosts include Google advertising credits, File Transfer options, and other features.
One bundled hosting feature that seems quite useful is Email, but many users don't really need it. A lot of accountants ultimately choose to use a "freemail" account, or a more sophisticated free solution like Google Apps.
Do a little homework. It will make the decision making process a LOT easier for you.
What's in a Domain?
Picking a good domain name is key for your business. A good domain name should be short, easy remember, easy to spell, and should reinforce your name and/or the name or function of your firm. Using important keywords in your domain name can be helpful in getting your website a better ranking in the search engines. Keywords such as your location (FL, Florida, Tampa, etc) or words that explain your service (accounting, CPA, or even very specific keyword combinations like AtlantaConstructionAccounting, etc). Always use a ".com" domain name, and if you must use punctuation to break the words up know that dashes are better than underscores. You do not have to get your domain name through your website host, and there are even risks in doing so. Get the domain name yourself using a service like GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions. There is even a domain registrar specifically oriented towards tax professionals called at DomainsForCPAs.com. Fee's vary. GoDaddy is a pretty cheap option, and Network Solutions is at the high end while smaller specialty registrars Domains For CPAs tend to take the middle ground. As a rule domains bill annually. Don't confuse this expense with your monthly hosting costs.
Be cautious if a company allows you to register your domain name as part of a package with your web hosting. Make sure that the domain is registered in your name and that, if you ever leave the hosting company you'd be able to retain ownership of the domain name.
What the Heck is a CPanel?
A cPanel is a control panel where you'll be able to make many advanced settings changes to your various web hosting features. Your cPanel is your domains central nervous system, and it's vital that you be able to access it. It maps the domain to your website and your email to your inbox. You can also use this area to redirect pages of your site and "park" additional domain names so that more than one domain name will go to your one main website. Many web hosting companies have the cPanel system integrated into their products. Either way you'll probably never need to access it, but it's vital that you be able to. If you can't access you cPanel whoever does has de facto control of your website and your email, and this can really put you over a barrel.
Online Security:
This is something the beginner-user may not be concerned with, but if you're going to be storing QuickBooks files online, or accepting credit card payments, then you'll want to listen up. An SSL certificate is more than an assurance that files and information being transferred to and from your site is secure. It's also an integral part of a sophisticated online encryption protocol (Secure Socket Layer) that actually protects the information. A lot of companies offer SSL certificates. GoDaddy, VeriSign, and DigiCert are the largest. Visitors sometimes look for an SSL Certificate (ordinarily indicated by a little lock symbol in a corner of the internet browser) when they're making a purchase over your site. Failure to adequately protect your client's private data won't just cost you clients, it can also get you into grave legal trouble. Accounting firms are financial institutions according to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and are required by law to take proper steps to protect their clients' confidential information.
My Older Lenses
Back in the halcyon days here on Squidoo it was OK to do lot's of smaller lenses rather than one big one, so below you'll find an index to my older works. I wish I had time to dress them all up for the good folks here at Squidoo, but I just don't. So...
For the most part these articles are accounting related. Other business owners may find them useful, but for the most part you'll need to reconstruct the ideas to better suit whatever business you're in. "Are You Paying Too Much for Your Website" is the one exception to this rule, and I highly recommend it for ANYONE with a website.
Website Design and Marketing Tips for CPA and Accounting Firms
Are You Paying Too Much for Your Website?
Beyond Websites for Accountants: Professional Services & Doing Business Online
Use Accounting Website Design to Increase Your Off-Season Billable Hours
Showcase Your Accounting Website with Google Pay-Per-Click Ads
This lens is where I put stuff that isn't exactly specific to designing accounting websites, or even business for that matter. Biking, running, even the weather. It's really just something I do for fun...
Brian's Fun Stuff
Website Design and Marketing Tips for CPA and Accounting Firms
Are You Paying Too Much for Your Website?
Beyond Websites for Accountants: Professional Services & Doing Business Online
Use Accounting Website Design to Increase Your Off-Season Billable Hours
Showcase Your Accounting Website with Google Pay-Per-Click Ads
This lens is where I put stuff that isn't exactly specific to designing accounting websites, or even business for that matter. Biking, running, even the weather. It's really just something I do for fun...
Brian's Fun Stuff
Who's Brian O'Connell?
CEO and Co-Founder of CPA Site Solutions
CPA Site Solutions is a website design and internet marketing support firm that works exclusively with accounting firms in the US.
A Few Flickr Photos
Some Old Favorites
A few of CPA Site Solutions' 200+ site styles.
Guestbook
submit
-
Reply
-
PTurner56
Oct 18, 2011 @ 2:24 am | delete
- Brian, good basic info here, thanks! I wonder if you would be OK with taking a look at my Web site and let me know what you think. I'm just getting started, so I'd really appreciate some objective advice. If you have a few minutes, take a look and send me some comments through my Contact Us page: http://www.betterbusinessenterprises.com
I realize that my business name may be a bit long, but I plan to expand eventually to include more services such as Legal Document prep and filing.
Looking forward to hearing from you, if you can spare a moment or two. Thanks, again!
Peggy
-
-
Reply
-
CPA_Site_Solutions
Oct 18, 2011 @ 11:37 am | delete
- Hi Peggy! Thanks for reading! I don't expect you to share me with your competitors, but please tell your out of town friends about me!
I have a blog, too, if you're interested. You can read it here...
http://www.cpasitesolutions.com/cpa-websites/
Sign up for my RSS feed!
OK... Now let's talk about you for a few minutes. :)
I've taken the liberty of checking out your website. I didn't have time to examine it too closely, of course, but after a cursory look I do have some advice.
The first thing I noticed was your Logo. Gif files don't downsize well. In geek speak... downsized gifs don't have anti-aliasing, but in plain English, that's why your logo looks all choppy. Take the time to use a properly downsized image. It will look much smoother.
Your meta tags need to be more specific. What words do you think people will type into a search engine to find you? These are the words that you should have in your page titles. Don't forget to include your market. It's nearly impossible to rank for "accounting" but you have a good shot at "Cucamonga, CA accouting".
I LOVE "Start a business" and "Advertising Tips". You need a LOT more content like that. You need content that will keep prospects coming back again and again. Most people who find your site won't be ready to hire you on the spot. You need to keep them coming back for months, sometimes years, before they are ready to contact you. Content like this, we call them "financial guides" or "free reports" is a great way to do that, but you need LOTS of it to keep them interested. Another great tool for attracting return traffic is interactive financial calculators.
Email Newsletters serve a very similar function. They reach out to prospects and keep your brand in front of them. You absolutely MUST add a newsletter. You can link articles back to free reports, blog posts, and new content.
Contact me if you need content like this. My firm, CPA Site Solutions, offers affordable content packages and email marketing tools that can be easilly incorporated into an existing website.
Lastly... "Time to log, time to blog."
Keep up on the blog. Post once or twice EVERY week. There's a saying in the food service industry, "Time to lean, time to clean". The same is true with a blog. If you ever find yourself with time on your hands... gooofing around on facebook or twitter or playing World of Warcraft... you should be blogging!
-
by CPA_Site_Solutions
CPA_Site_Solutions
Brian O'Connell is the owner and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country's largest web design firms oriented exclusively to designing websit... more »
- 2 featured lenses
- Winner of 2 trophies!
- Top lens » How To Set Up an Effective CPA or Accounting Website
Feeling creative?
Create a Lens!
