Your firm’s accounting website and brochure say a lot about your firm. What would happen if you could combine the two together?

Mueller's PDF of the brochure

The people at Mueller and Co have done just that with their current firm’s website design. They provided our custom web designers with a pdf of their brochure.

Having the brochure our custom designer found that there was some color variations within the pages. These color variations needed to translate into a template design.

What our custom designer needed was one color combination. This color combination would be displayed on every page of the site.

After talking over the color variations with Mueller and Co. our designer then took  color samples from the brochure. These samples then became integrated as an overall site color theme.

Mueller and Co. Website

Our custom web designer then took that brochure and created a template design. He then integrated the images that display on each page of the brochure into the header.

When you go to their website you will see those images change after a period of time. This allows for some variation and the ability to use all the images they wanted.

What is nice about this type of customization is the consistency it provides between what is handed out physically to prospective clients and what they view online. This can often translate into a more comfortable experience.

This of course is only one of many custom design services we offer for any firm’s website.

Do you have a brochure that you think would look good as a custom design? Give us a call at 800-896-4500 and talk it over with one of our website design experts.

Have any comments regarding any of our website templates for accountants or custom designs? Let us know we would love to hear from you.

Getting Listed

Boston, Ma Local Listing Results

Getting started is easy. In fact… your firm’s website may already be listed. First, log into your GMail account. Don’t have one? Got to gmail.google.com and get one.

You just need to login directly to your email account.

Now… go to maps.google.com and look up your city. Then try to find your accounting firm’s website. If you are already listed skip the sign up process and “Edit” your listing. Search a couple of ways to be sure, a double listing can be a real headache. Try finding yourself by your business name and your domain name.

If you can’t find yourself you need to sign up here:

Editing the Listing:

As a part of the sign-up process… or if you are already listed and choose the “edit” option (remember… you must be signed in as a Gmail user or into your Workteam Collaboration Suite in order to see the edit option) you will be prompted to provide a lot of business details. You will be amazed at the amount of information Google will want. Fill it out completely.

There’s a few niceties to keep in mind when editing up your Google listing.

• Use common business names, not official ones that no one would recognize.
• If you can do so logically, integrate keywords and/or phrases that people would be searching for Like “CPA”,”Accounting”, or “Tax Preparation.”
• Include a physical location, not a mailing address.
• Include an Email address, but don’t use a personal one. You WILL get spammed there, so use a generic Email.
• Lastly include a short description.

The more information we give our searchers, the more likely it is that they will be happy with the results. Do it right. Take the time to enter your business hours, and upload a picture of your building, your staff, and/or yourself.

Now don’t go running off to start quite yet… Before Google will accept your sign-ups or edits you need to be able to claim your business.

Claiming Your Business

Once you sign up for a Google Maps account, or if you edit the business details, you will be required to “claim your business”. Google needs to verify that you are authorized to make changes to these listings.

The only way they will allow this is if you have them call you at the currently listed business number or mail you at the postal address on the current listing. Give them a verification method that will be answered.

Google won’t list you or allow your edits if they can’t verify. You can’t verify by phone, for example, if you have voice mail. The phone verification system is automated, and it can’t navigate voice mail. If you don’t have dependable live reception on your phone line you’ll have to verify by snail mail.

Once this is done Google will verify your changes and send you a user PIN by mail. You can use this pin by logging into your Gmail account, going to your Business Dashboard and entering the pin.

Once Google verifies that you are a legitimate business they will add you to their small business listings. This will include a map note on Google Maps and, more importantly, a listing in Google Local Search. This will take some time. Keep in mind this one great truth in all things Google… Google is SLOW.

Now it’s time to get started. Review the post on why local search is important in this series along with this one. Then log into Gmail and do it. Once you get listed the next thing you need to do is work on your rankings, and we’ll talk about this more in a few weeks.

Have any comments about the process of getting listed? Let us know we would love to hear from you.

What’s Local Search?

We often get questions about local search and why it is important for any accounting firm’s website with CPA Site Solutions. This is the first part of a series dedicated to answering some of those questions.

Whenever someone searches on a location and service, such as “Boston MA Accountants”, Google shows the local results for that location. These results will always be above the other “organic listings,” i.e. the results that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements.

The Search Engines like Google,Yahoo, AOL and Bing know how important Local Search is, that’s why they give Local Search the prime spot on the Search Results page. Getting your firm listed in this prime spot can make a big difference in the amount of leads and new clients you get from your website.

The only downside to Local Search is NO MATTER HOW BIG YOUR MARKET GOOGLE WILL ONLY TURN 10 RESULTS ON THE MAIN PAGE. This means an inquiry for “Boston MA Accountants” returns the same number of inquiries as “Big Piney WY Accountants” even though Big Piney has a population of 408 and density of 1 per 1000 miles.

It also means that in order for your listing to be REALLY effective you have to be one of the top ten results in your area.

Getting in the top 10 may not be easy, but the first step to get listed is. In my next article I’ll tell you step by step what you need to do to get yourself included in the local search listings.

Next we’ll talk about claiming your business and editing your content. Then we’ll give you a couple of articles on how to improve your rankings. But let’s start at the beginning… Tune in soon for my next post… Getting Listed.

Have any stories of your own about Local Search? Give us a comment, we would love to hear from you.

It is becoming increasingly common to use video to enhance CPA web sites. You can easily use this technique to increase your CPA Website Design Search Engine Presence and keep your clients informed about your services.

We’re going to start out by showing you how to make your video for your firm’s website.

This can get pricey if you do it wrong so let’s skip the high priced director, expensive cameras and actors. We don’t need to make a commercial here. We just need a video for your firm’s web site.

Get a Screen Capture Video Utility.  The trick to making this into a video is using a screen capture video utility. Camtasia works really well, but the price tag is pretty high.  I found an easy to use screen capture utility on download.com called Easy Screen Capture Video for 10 bucks.

Create Good Content. If you don’t have all the expensive trappings there is still one thing you DO need… good content. Give the viewer something for his trouble. Choose a topic that you know about that other people don’t. Choosing a subject is easy if you consider an obvious source, your clients.

You get questions all the time that serve no useful purpose other than to chew into your billable hours. How can I track my return? How can I change a vendor name in my QuickBooks? There are any number of these types of questions. Still not sure check out the pages of frequently asked questions that are included when you have an accounting website with CPA Site Solutions.

Show the Answer to Common Questions on Your Computer Screen. After you come up with a question, then answer it. Make it a question you can answer by showing me how on your computer. Now all you need to do to make a good and informative video is to use the screen capture utility to record yourself answering the question.

Work Slowly. It is more efficient if you work slowly. It is easier to try to edit chunks of screen time out of your video than it is to stretch them out, and if you move your mouse around too fast the screen capture utility may not track it properly.

Careful of Content Already on Your Computer. Be careful what’s showing on your desktop while you’re recording. You don’t want anyone seeing a social security number, credit card number, email address, password etc.

Write Your Script. It is often easier to write it while you’re doing the task. Think of your initial draft as a guideline as you will be tweaking your script constantly as you record.

Get a Decent Microphone. There are a lot of great microphones out there. Try to look for a Podcasting microphone as a normal mic might not give you the power output you need. You could also record from your webcam as some of them will have decent enough sound quality.

Voice Over Your Video. (Screen capture utilities won’t record sound). I can’t get too bogged down on the niceties of making videos (there are whole books on the topic), but I have three words for you: Windows Movie Maker. If you have a Windows operating system you likely already have this program installed on your computer. If you can’t figure it out turn the job over to any kid older than 12. It really is that easy. You can record your soundtrack right into Movie Maker. Everything you need to know is right here:

If you don’t have a windows operating system you’ll need to find some equivalent application. Apple computers come bundled with Apple iMovie.

In part 2 of this series we’ll take the next step to get video on your accounting firm’s web site. I’ll show you how to submit your new movie to video sharing web sites and talk more about how it can help your CPA website design.

Do you already have video on your website? Let us know how you use video and any tips you’ve learned along the way.

CPA Site Solutions recently added Four Hours of Free CPE Credit for accountants for new sign ups. This is done through our online partner CPE Link.

Now we are offering accountants even more free CPE credit via webcasts hosted by CPE link. These free webcasts are offered between the very end of July and all of August.

Take advantage of these Free CPE’s for your CPA web site design and sign up now. Why spend hundreds of dollars on CPE credit when you can get it free?

Check out the offers below. Hurry and sign up before they “sell out” like the one on  August 6th already has!

Take Advantage of FREE Webcasts this Summer
Our online CPE partner, CPE Link is pleased to offer an amazing slate of FREE webcasts this August. Attendance is limited to the first 100 registrants—so don’t miss out! CPE Link is a registered CPE sponsor with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). View all CPE Link webcasts.

If your accounting firm is located in both Florida and Wisconsin then how would you make your website design work for both locations?

John Marshall CPA’s accounting firm had just this challenge and took our  website design template 230 and did a custom change to make it his own. Lets take a look at the changes that were made.

First John took advantage of the ability for us to change the website header area for a minimal cost. He provided us with some images that brought together both areas his firm is located in, Wisconsin and Florida.

The result after making this change was striking enough but didn’t stop there. He also made some other changes that leveraged the design of the website to further the minimalist theme.

This was done by taking the existing page and paring it down. Doing this allows the content to be displayed upon the page without the need to scroll down further.

An example of this can be found within the Services page. If you take a look at what the sample has, the amount of items being displayed cause the need to scroll down a bit to see it all.

When you take a look at John Marshall’s Services page on his website the content has been taken out. This makes it so, in general, a user will not have to scroll much at all to see the whole page.

The content doesn’t need to actually disappear of course. Some of the less popular pages can be moved into sub-page categories. You can reorganize until you find a good balance between the display of content and how much the user has to scroll down to see it.

Some of our over 200 CPA website designs work better for a custom design than others.  John’s accounting website takes advantage of the minimalist design within website style 230, adding to the flavor of the website overall.

What do you think of your current design? Looking for a change? Our designers are just a phone call away at (800)896-4500.

Today I want to cut away from the usual blog topics concerning websites for accountants and write a little about the state that we consider ourselves lucky to live and work in. As some of you may already know CPA Site Solutions offices sit atop a bluff overlooking the Winooski River in downtown Winooski, Vermont.

The word Winooski comes from Abenaki work meaning “where the wild onion grows”. Winooski is an old mill town and in the colonial days was a center for wool processing in the area.

Most of the original mill buildings have been fully restored including our offices. I don’t mean to sound like a spokesperson for Vermont Tourism but if you have never visited Vermont may I suggest that you add it to your list of “must visit places”.

From the Burlington waterfront with all of it’s shops and eateries to the to the remote mountain wilderness of the Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont has it all. If you are an outdoor enthusiast like most all of us here at CPASiteSolutions you will never run out of things to do.

Vermont’s many lakes, rivers, streams and wildlife preserves offer excellent flat water Kayaking and Canoeing.  Hiking, Mountain Biking and camping are very popular activities as well, along with fishing, boating and sailing on Beautiful Lake Champlain. So come visit Vermont and by all means stop in and visit us at 130 West Canal Street, have a cup of coffee and meet the team.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a virtual notebook that could be accessed anywhere, anytime within multiple devices(PC, Mac, Phone)? Imagine being able to track time spent on a project, sync up all information gathered and search for whatever data you needed anywhere, anytime.

Although there are many answers as to how this can be done, Evernote is one solution that has gained our attention here at CPA Site Solutions. Not only does it work from any computer but also an iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, or Windows Mobile.

Firefox users have a plugin that allows it to work seamlessly with the browser. In order to have full functionality and be able to access the notes from anywhere you will need to register. All that is needed is an email address,user name, and password.

Once that is done, get a quick idea on how to use Evernote by watching some of their video tutorials. Evernote has all the details needed on how to use it. Instead of duplicating that here lets take a look at some of the best uses for any accountant.

Time Tracking

• Write down how many hours are spent with any particular project. If you’re out of your office and suddenly have inspiration, you can take out your iPhone and track that time spent.
• Keep a line containing a date, description of what you have done, and amount of time spent upon it.

Bring Material from Multiple Sources Together

• If you’re researching a particular issue you can bring snippets from multiple sources (PC,Mac, Internet, Mobile Phone) all together easily. The information can be synced up so you’re not grabbing notes from multiple places and trying to patch them together, this is done for you.
• Take a photo, scan a document, type a note, write on a tablet, you name it, all of these can be brought together into one area for use anywhere, anytime.

Sharing Notes with Others for Full Collaboration

• If you decide to opt for the premium edition then not only can others read what you have but also edit. This makes for a great multi-platform way to collaborate.

All the Content is Search-able

• Everything you add is search-able if you have added text a quick and easy thing to do. This can save you loads of time if you’re looking for a bit of information for your client.

Time is valuable and Evernote makes it that much easier to virtually leverage what is available. Think of it as that notebook in your back pocket that collects all kinds of details that can be retrieved anytime, anywhere with a few quick searches.

Evernote is a great way for any accountant to save time and it is free. Give it a try and let us know what you think. Send us a comment on what you like to use to keep track of research notes and random snippets of information.

One of the most overlooked and under-considered aspects of an accountants website are the colors behind it. Usually the colors on a web site correspond to some personal preference, but each color has a unique psychology and emotion behind them, which you can use to produce a reaction in your website visitors.

Here is a breakdown of each of the colors along with their corresponding emotional ranges. You can use this to reference the next time you are tweaking your accounting firm’s website. If you have any comments we would love to hear them.

The color red is considered intense and powerful. It can be used to create a sense or urgency in people, so they will make quick decisions. It is also a highly visible and very attention-grabbing color, so use it to make key pieces of text, links, or buttons stand out from the rest of your accounting firm’s website.

Similar to red, orange is another color that will highlight important parts of the web site and catch people’s interest, but can do so without the aggressive urgency that the color red provokes. If you want to give some significance to a section of your website, but keep the mood calm, consider using orange.

Yellow is all about invoking pleasant, cheerful, and happy emotions. It’s been shown to increase mental activity and jovial feelings, so use it for playful endeavors and leisure activities. Be careful and judicious with the color yellow, though, since duller shades of yellow can also represent caution.

On the calmer end of the spectrum, green is widely considered to be the most restful color for the eye. The color of nature, it brings about feelings of growth, harmony, and safety, making it great for sites with emphasis on finance. Use green to put your clients as ease.

Popular with corporate America, blue symbolizes trust, stability, and intelligence. Deep blue tones will produce a calming effect on your website visitors and also reflects feelings of confidence. Blue is often associated with authority and expertise, so it’s perfect for giving your accounting website a professional look.

As part of our continuing quest to assemble the most attractive selection of accounting websites on the internet, our designers have finished another pair of templates for your firm’s website. Take a look at the new accounting website designs below, and if either of them catch your eye, just give us a call with your selection, and we’ll give your web site a complete makeover in minutes and at no additional cost.

Style 550286 – Gold

Style 842287 – Gold