If you take a look at our blog in the top right area we have a place to vote on what we should write about.

We thought this would be a fun way to find out what you would like us to write about. What kinds of information would you like to see more of? If you take a moment you can vote.

Any suggestions you have are always looked at here at CPA Site Solutions. We want all of the websites we create for accountants to be the best. That said there are always constant improvements we are working on.

Taking a moment now to vote is one way you can alter what we write about with this blog. It only takes a moment and yet will help us keep you better informed in the future.

You can keep up-to-date with all the improvements we make to you site and any blog or news service when you read your email.

The Workteam Collaboration Suite included with your CPA Site Solutions website allows you to displays news headlines, sponsored links, blog posts and RSS feeds when you’re reading your email online.

Do you see the “CPA Site Solutions Improvements – Choose a Secure Password” link in the blue bar on the image above?

That’s where you can get all of the latest breaking news.

Here’s how you change your webmail settings to get the news you want to appear.

To manage your Web Clip bar, simply log into your Workteam Collaboration Suite , click the settings link on the upper right. And on that Settings panel, you’ll see “Web Clips” as an option.  Click that link to manage your Web Clips.

To add the CPA Site Solutions Improvments Blog, simply type http://www.cpasitesolutions.com /improvements/feed in the text field marked ‘Search by topic or URL.’ Then just click the Add button to include CPA Site Solutions Improvements Blog in the rotation of your Web Clips.

From the Web Clips settings, you can also manage the default web clips by adding other URLs in the field, or clicking the ‘remove’ link on the list of web clips. You can also search for other terms through the same field to find usefull feeds for other providers. Try searching for something like “Accounting” or “QuickBooks” to find other interesting or useful feeds.

Once you’ve added CPA Site Solutions and added or removed any other clips, just navigate back to your inbox, and you’ll see the newest CPA Site Solutions headlines whenever you check your mail.

This is just one of the many great features included with your site’s Workteam Collaboration Suite . Check our our previous posts on Calendar Sharing and publishing your calendar on your site or building a Wiki to share content and collaborate with your firm.

Remember, we’re always here to help you make the fullest use out of all the tools and features included with your CPA Site Solutions website. Just give us a call, email or use our Live Help Chat and we’re happy to help.

In part 1 of this series we talked about the initial creation of a blog. Once you have created a blog and  some ideas start flowing, the next question is how can you efficiently manage the process?

There are many different ways to organize your blog’s flow. Whatever process you use the key to keep a readers trust is by having consistently good information. Even if you were to have a few posts with so-so content, that can be somewhat forgiven, but you will always want to be consistent.

If a reader has come to rely on your blog and to checking it on a regular basis then you want to always have something written for them to look at. If you ever fail to write a blog post it won’t be long before they start looking elsewhere with their mind hungry for information. So rule number one is, above all else, be consistent.

The next step is to come up with a system that allows you to write without pain. One of the best ways to do this is by staying organized. If you have done the brainstorming exercise then you should have a good list of ideas to work from.

Having this list of ideas makes it easier to just sit down and write when you have some free moments. You might consider coming up with a blog calendar that lays out when those ideas will ideally be published. This gives you a guide to work from and allows your blog flow to remain consistent.

Another way to organize is to figure out what sort of messages you want to convey. You might gear your postings to changes that are happening in your firm. You could keep some postings light hearted with pictures of a recent trip you took.

Whatever you post in your accountant blog it is of benefit to your site overall. The more you blog the more fresh content you have for your accounting website. When you mention what you are doing in your firm, some tips and tricks for your clients, that also can help for search engines.

Managing your blog is an ongoing process. If you organize what you want to say, keep the posts relatively short, and consistent you will be amazed at easy it can be to maintain. The key is to start now, start small, maybe one post a week, and go from there. Good luck and happy blogging.

It’s commutes like this that remind me how lucky I am to live and work in Vermont. I love riding my bike into the office on beautiful days. I take the most scenic, round-about, route covering 20 miles through old forests, along the shores of Lake Champlain and the Winooski river.

Today, I came across these cows getting a drink down by the river.

As I took this picture I realized it’s 10:30 in the morning and I’m almost finished my 2 hour and 15 minute bike commute. I feel so lucky and thankful to have such a great team taking good care of our clients while I’m out on my bike.

By the time I got into the office I was happy and charged up… and noticed that everyone in the office was happy as well. They are always happy. I think it’s because we all truly love what we do.

Thank you for letting us help you with your website… it’s fun for us.

Blogging is a great way to let your clients know a little more about you and your personality. It helps your clients connect with you. And the search engines love it.

Create your own blog with the new blog feature on your web site. Here’s the instructions on setting up you blog . Please give us a call if you need help.

Your Firm and Client Portal and its included Secure File Exchange is extremely secure. With 14 full layers of security, your clients’ sensitive files are safe behind the Portal’s walls.

Your clients’ files are completely encrypted during storage and backup in our SAS 70 Certified Datacenter where they are protected from hackers through, among other security features, brute force login protection, forced SSL transfers, SQL injection protection, a cutting edge firewall and virus scanner, and an award-wining intrusion prevention system. However, despite all the security features included with the Secure File Exchange, your clients’ files are only as secure as their account’s password.

If one of your clients chooses a weak password, the security of the files stored in his account can be compromised, but if a Firm or Admin user’s password is compromised, all of your clients’ files are at risk, and an Administrative user can lock you out of your portal completely- so it’s very important that your users’ passwords are as secure as possible.

What makes a password secure?

Make them long
If you do nothing else, make your passwords long. Each extra character in your password increases your protection many times. Firm Portal passwords require a minimum of eight characters and the Client Portal requires a minimum of six. Fourteen characters or more is even better.

Combine letters, numbers and symbols
The greater variety of characters there are, the harder it is to guess a password or systematically try every possible password.  Try inserting numbers or symbols in your password. Additionally, your Portal recognizes the difference between capital and lowercase letters, which doubles the number of possible letters you can use in your password.

Avoid real words
Using common password cracking tools, an attacker can quickly try every common word, name and phonetic pattern.  Your portal is protected from these brute force attacks through the use of a CAPTCHA to discourage automated login attempts. Still, a secure password is an obscure password, so it’s best to avoid real words or names whenever possible.

Do not use personal information
If someone who knows you is trying to guess your password, he’ll likely know your name, the name of your CPA or Accounting firm,  your pet’s name, children, date of birth, or other personal information. Leave that info out of your password to prevent a lucky guess.

Don’t repeat passwords
Your portal is secure, but if another online web service isn’t as secure and you’re using the same password for both, a security breech for the other service would also compromise your Firm Portal account. Use a unique, secure password for every login.

Change your password
The longer you use a password, the more likely it is that it will be lost, stolen or compromised. By occasionally choosing a new password, you’ll reduce the chance of a stolen password being used by an attacker.

Check your password:
Microsoft.com provides a great password checker. By simply entering text into the field, it will rate the security of your password. If your password isn’t secure enough, PCTools.com offers a free secure password generator.

By using your Firm Portal and Secure File Exchange you can rest assured knowing that your site, and your client’s files are secure from prying eyes and safely stored. We’ve gone overboard with security on our end, but by being aware of password security on your end, you can ensure that your clients’ data is as secure as possible.

If you’d like more information on the extreme measures CPASiteSolutions takes to ensure the protection of your clients’ data and our clients’ sites, please take a look at our CPA Website Security Precautions page.

One of the great features we offer with our web sites is the Workteam Collaboration Suite which has the ability to create a wiki.

A wiki is a web site that uses software which allows you to collaborate upon anything from different ideas to full blown projects.

As we have detailed on our website you can use a wiki to do things like build a CPA and accounting procedure manual. This can help keep the team up to date and offers the ability to not only collaborate more efficiently but also more effectively. So how can you create a wiki and make your websites and office run more efficiently?

If you have our Workteam Collaboration Suite you can get started by following the steps below:

•  Log into your email account
•  Click on Sites which is just above the search box.
•  Choose a site name, category, site description, who to allow to
collaborate or view the site, and the site theme.

Once you have a wiki site activated you can then create pages. The most common page to create is a web page .

Having this established allows you to collaborate with your team. You can invite other people to edit the page and several other page actions .

A wiki works especially well for documenting office procedures. You can easily systematize and share your accounting, billing, and marketing procedures with your entire office. It also works great for training new team members. You’ll be able to easily on-board any new CPA you have hired by having a centralized easy to access and edit training manual.

You can also use a wiki to brainstorm ideas. For this you can jot down ideas in the wiki and share them with your team. Your team can also comment on any documentation you’ve made and make suggestions for improvements.

The key to the collaboration is that it is ongoing. This means the wiki pages are living documents, always adapting to your CPA and accounting needs.

Don’t hesitate to contact your web designer about how CPASiteSolutions uses their wiki and how it can work for you!

If you are a regular reader of our blog or newsletter you know that we have added the capability of adding a blog to your own website. Although you may have read blogs doing one of your own can bring up a lot of questions. The aim of this two part series is to give a quick introduction into creating and managing your own blog with the first part being on creation.

There are many benefits to starting a blog but one of the primary questions that can come up is what to write about. In general any information that pertains to who you are or what you do is fair game.

Really you can write about just about anything but what you really want to do is write something that will motivate your readers and get them coming back to read more. The more they read of your blog, the more you become a true voice and resource. Beyond this it can be fun to teach or share what you know or what you are doing.

Think of how many times you want to share what you have just read about with others. It is fun to share news or information. If you keep the blog interesting it becomes information or news that people will want to share.

Keeping people informed will help them stay connected to you especially in the “off season”. The more you’re in peoples minds the more they are apt to recommend you when asked by others.

So what motivates you in your daily business? This may be something you could write about. What new things are you doing this coming fall? What kinds of changes might you be making to your business? What about other people in your organization? Many might not only have ideas but also be willing to write about them.

If your having a hard time coming up with some ideas here is a quick exercise that can yield some unexpected results:

1. Take a piece of paper, pencil and timer.

2. Set yourself down and give yourself just five minutes, ignore the clock and let the timer tell you when to stop.

3. The key to this is to not think but just write, unedited content, without stopping for the whole five minutes.

Sounds easy enough right? Well it is and it isn’t, it depends on how much is on your mind at the time. If you start to think about something during this time instead of writing just take a deep breath and keep writing.

What your looking for is to come up with as many ideas you or those you know would find interesting to read about. Don’t worry if the ideas don’t connect to your business, you can figure that out later, in this part all your doing is writing.

When your done take all of those ideas and figure out how many of them you could really write about. Remember that many blogs are meant to be informative but relatively short.

Most of the time readers are looking for interesting or useful information. Blogs are typically written in an informal writing style so you don’t have to worry as much about being a great writer. As long as the ideas or information are useful to your readers your fine.

Even so you may want to consider creating some short guidelines for yourself, and other writers if you have any, to follow. Having a guide that lays out what font to use and such is for consistency rather than having to do with any official rule with how you blog.

If your still looking for inspiration you might try looking at the following resources:

Top 50 Accounting Blogs

95 Accounting Firm Practice Blogs

Accountants Round Up

Visit your site as if you just found it by doing a search on Google and you know nothing else about the company. What is your first impression? Does your site convey anything about you? Would you call yourself?

As an accountant, you are asking new clients to reveal to you very personal information. Your web site needs to convey a certain level of comfort with you, so that potential customers are willing to take the first step and open a dialog with you about your services.

Many of your customers will come to you because a friend or colleague of theirs recommend you. That recommendation is simply a vehicle that conveys trust in your firm. Your web site can also be that “friend” or “colleague”, and convey trust, albeit in a more subliminal fashion.

One way to convey trust is to make your site personal. Add a Meet The Team page, or Partner’s Bios section, complete with photo’s and descriptive paragraphs of each person’s professional history. But don’t stop there, we’re just getting started.

How about if each person shared their favorite books and movies? (Don’t forget to put those books on your recommended books online bookstore page!) While you are at it, talk about each person’s favorite sport or activity. Did anyone win a recent award, get married, have a baby? Anyone in your firm involved in community activities like coaching a little league team, volunteer at local shelters or organize charity events?

By showing your prospective clients a little about your personality, hobbies, and values you give them a chance to identify with you. Once potential clients feel comfortable with you they’ll take the next step and call, and you will already be one step closer to closing the deal.