CPA Websites Marketing Tips

Don't waste your money on a CPA website design.

The best way to get a CPA website design is to get one for free.

But how do you get anything for free these days?

I’m not sure about other products, but to get a free web design, go with Ready-To-Go designs from a service like CPA Site Solutions.

Other services charge up to $2,000 just for the design – and using a local designer could cost you up to $7,000.

Ready-To-Go designs with CPA Site Solutions cost you nothing. They’re included with the price of your service.

Save money, save time – and get the same high quality.

A Lot of Work – and Expense

Tons of Decisions. Have you ever had your house renovated? You know how there are tons of decisions to make about every little thing? “What knobs would you like on these drawers?” “Large tiles or small tiles?” “Which shade of off-white?”

Designing a website is a lot like that.

More Than Having a Good Eye. You might have a strong idea about what you like – but do you know how to get what you like? Design is more than just rubber stamping. You need to be able to communicate your likes and dislikes to your designer and guide her along the way.

You’re Locked In. If you pay a web designer or buy a design from a web development company, the design is static. Once it’s done, each and every adjustment costs money. And sometimes, you can’t just tweak the design. You have to pay for a whole new one, a $2,000 cost.

Ready-To-Go Designs Are an Impressive Value

A Ready-To-Go design is just as professional as a custom-built style.

For the same level of professionalism, you get the site for free, you get it fast, and you get the benefit of our frequent updates.

1. Free. At CPA Site Solutions, your monthly fee includes the price of your design – making the design essentially free.

2. Instant. Ready-To-Go designs are named to reflect how ready they are to go! After you pick one you like, you see it up on the Web in 1 business day. Compare that to the weeks or months it takes a web designer to build you a site from the ground up.

3. Constant Improvements. Our team of designers are constantly updating our site styles. Last year alone, we created 107 new designs. That means that when your site starts to feel out of date – or you’re just ready for a change – you get an upgrade to a current look.

To switch designs, just give us a call and let us know which style you like. It costs nothing to switch designs.

Why You Don’t Need to Worry About Uniqueness

You want your design to be unique so it doesn’t look just like Jim CPA or Bob CPA’s site.

But here’s a secret: your design only needs to be unique in your region.

Don’t worry if your site looks like an accountant’s on the other side of the country or 300 miles south. Your competition is the CPAs within 50 miles of you.

If you want to know whether another accountant in your region has the same design, just ask us. We have that information in our database.

Leverage Your Skill Set

The best way to grow your business is to build on your skills. Your education and experience are in accounting – not web design.

Leave the design to the folks who’ve been doing it for years. Save your efforts for the work that brings in revenue: accounting services.

How Do You Get a Ready-To-Go Design?

When you sign up with CPA Site Solutions, you pick a Ready-To-Go design and see it in action within 1 business day. Try us for free for 60 days.

Already have a website with us? Feel free to pick a new design. It costs nothing to switch. Just give us a call at 1-800-896-4500 or email support@cpasitesolutions.com.

And don’t forget about our referral program. When you successfully refer a colleague to CPA Site Solutions, we give you $100.

Have you paid for web designs in the past? Share your story below.

The easier it is to do business with you, the more business you have.

It sounds simple – and it is, with CPA websites from CPA Site Solutions.

When you have a website with our service, you get Online Appointment Scheduling. This feature means prospective and current clients book appointments right on your website. They don’t need to pick up a phone, call you during business hours, or hammer out a time with your receptionist.

This improvement might seem minor – but clients love it.

It makes it easy to do business with you – which means more client work, and higher profits.

Booking Appointments the Easy Way

Online Appointment Scheduling allows people to view your calendar and request an appointment by filling out a simple form.

Here’s how it works:

1. Your clients see when you’re available right from your website.

Your calendar shows your busy times and times you're free.

2. They pick a time that’s most convenient for them and request an appointment online.

Clients explain why they want to meet in the "Comments" section.

3. Your calendar is updated, immediately reserving that time on your calendar.

4. You receive an email about the appointment request.

5. An appointment reminder is emailed to your client.

6. An appointment reminder is emailed and/or SMS texted to you 30 minutes before the meeting.

Giving Clients What They Want

A certain number of clients avoid the phone. If they have to call you to make a time to meet, they put it off – resulting in less work for you.

They are much more likely to set up an appointment if they can do it right on your website, without having to dial you up.

Even if they don’t mind the phone, all your clients love the convenience of booking an appointment whenever they have the time. If they’re up at 2:00 a.m., worrying about their taxes, they go right to your site to set up a meeting.

Let your clients control their appointment scheduling experience. It increases their comfort and satisfaction.

Give clients what they want, so they give you more business.

Included with Your Website

Online Appointment Scheduling is part of your Workteam Collaboration Suite. You don’t need to do anything to activate it or get it going.

Other companies provide this service as a standalone – but they charge you. Web-appointments charges $9.90/month for online booking;  Ebookaplace charges $22.33/month for its standard service and $111.69/month for its advanced service.

To get started with Online Appointment Scheduling, just let your clients know they can book appointments with you without the phone.

And don’t be surprised when you see an increase in business.

Have you been using Online Appointment Scheduling? What’s the response? Let us know with a comment.

You have a blog on your CPA website. You have published a couple of posts. However, your CPA blog just sits there in the back of your mind as something that should be done. What should you write about? How much should you write? Here is a perspective on how to answer both of those questions.

CPA Blog Content. Where is all the content for your new CPA blog going to come from? One place is from your clients and the other is from various online sources of inspiration. The key is to leverage the time you have by getting into the habit of skimming sources.

CPA Sample Blog

Tools. You can use Evernote as a way to keep track of ideas for later. That way you can highlight particular quotes out of an article for use later. Come back to those quotes and expand on the ideas. Do this in small chunks of time and eventually, over the week, you have enough content to write a post.

Come Back Later. Get the notes and ideas down so you have some outline of what you want to write about. Write for a small chunk of time with the mind of coming back later. Only have 10 minutes? Perfect. Set the timer, write until the time is up. Come back later to edit and expand. When you come back later you have a fresh perspective and the timer keeps it short.

Blog Frequency. Web Worker Daily has a great article on how often to blog. The reason you write is often tied into the question. In order to get the most out of the content for your CPA website overall then you should write at least once a week. Whatever the amount you should always be consistent.

When to Stop. Some recommend at least 300 words to be worthwhile for your CPA website and search engines. Is your message clear? Have you said what you wanted? Then you are doing both yourself and reader a favor by stopping. The value isn’t in the length but the message and clarity.

Even if you don’t have a lot of time to write a post for your CPA blog, write something. Be consistent and get in the habit. The source of content over time can be of benefit to not only your CPA website, the readers, but also to yourself in ways you might not recognize at first.

Have a CPA blog? How often do you write? Where do you find your motivation? Comment below and share with other readers.

More and more CPAs are taking the steps towards becoming a paperless office. The goal is not just to save paper. As a recent article from Accounting Web points out, you save money as well. The further you embrace cloud computing, the more you can save.

Cloud Computing. Wikipedia defines cloud computing as, “ Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility.” Basically it is changing from using software on your own computer to using browser based software.

Wikipedia on Cloud Computing

Applied to Your CPA Website. You already have some of these tools in place. Take a look at the first part of a series about going paperless that looks at the Vault system. There is also the Workteam Collaboration Suite that gives you online document capability.

Motivation. The second part of the going paperless series looks at motivation.  The collaborative nature of most online tools makes it a time saving element. Getting other people in your firm and clients to use some of the tools can take time. After that first step, most see the obvious benefits of cloud computing.

Adding Other Tools. There are always more cloud computing tools you can add. Some of the more popular online tools are:

• Online Photo Editing
• Online Chat
• Screencasting
• Translating Your Website
• Screensharing
• Meeting Scheduler

Always Updated. One of the best features is that online tools are always the updated version. You don’t have to download anything. You use online tools wherever you have access to a browser.

Cloud computing offers a bit of freedom. Once you start using online tools, especially with mobile devices, you easily become a fan.

Have your own favorite online tools you use? Share with other readers in comments below. You get a link back to your CPA website for added SEO benefit.

You have a CPA website with outstanding content and tools for your firm. You have the expertise behind that website when someone contacts you. You know that getting yourself on Google local is a powerful way to advertise your firm. The Workteam Collaboration Suite gives you easy email contact, but what about your phone? Web Work Daily recently had an article on Phonebooth. Here is how the service applies to CPAs.

If you are a smaller company or just starting out, what phone number should go on your CPA website? Phonebooth is a free solution that offers you a bit of flexibility without detriment to your CPA firm’s professionalism.

Phonebooth. A local phone number without a land-line for free? Now you can be on the go and still manage to be right in your local office without giving out your personal phone number.

Auto-Attendant. You can direct your phone calls to specific lines. Even if you are a smaller firm it can be great to organize incoming calls to the clients concern. For example: are they calling about Individual Tax Services or Business Services? You can set up a line for each of these with the auto-attendant.

Click-to-Call Widget Free with Phonebooth

Read Your Voicemail. The service sends up to 50 messages direct to email. This gives you the chance to read your messages from just about anywhere. It also makes it easier to pick out the key details and see the immediate reason for the call.

Contact Us Widget. There is a great widget all ready to place on your CPA website. Any potential client can click to call or email. They even get a choice of who to call. Instead of just calling the main line, the choices for different people are all right there.

Although there are other online solutions available, Phonebooth is easy and free (although there is paid service). Just keep in mind that it does advertise itself as being in Beta. Beta means the although the business has tested the service, it is still fairly new and under development.

Are you a smaller firm or just starting your CPA website? What do you use for your business phone number? Share your own solution with other readers in comments below.

Note: CPA Site Solutions is not an affiliate of Phonebooth. As with other online tools, Phonebooth presents itself as a great tool for CPAs and other tax professionals to use with their CPA website.

Your CPA website has many different marketing options available. You should always use multiple approaches to be effective. Once you have potential clients to your CPA website then you need them to become clients. One way to engage potential clients is through fresh and unique content specifically geared towards your CPA firm. Here are some possible solutions.

Working with Your Freelance Writer

Write The Content. There are even some great posts on what to include. You have the best perspective and natural voice to speak directly to potential clients.

Many CPAs and other tax professionals who are just too busy to write. There are those who find writing a chore. Others would rather leave writing to those who do it on a regular basis.

Hire Another Person. There are places that offer a wide variety of freelance writers to choose from. You can view their content and get an idea of what each one offers. Don’t be afraid of just doing an online search for freelance writers. That said here are three good websites to take a look at for freelance writers.

Constant Content. Look at the popular categories to get an idea of different articles and how much they cost. Obviously you want some custom content so you should submit a request. What is nice is that Constant Content is geared specifically around freelance writers.

Elance. Writing is only one of the freelance categories available on Elance. Scroll down to the bottom of the first page for a full listing. What is nice is that Elance has a user rating system. This way you see how others have rated that specific person’s services. You also get a chance to see their portfolio.

CPAs and other tax professionals can get CPE credit and 10% off an April Jennings Seminar. The topic is Lunch with Bob-Extensions on April 27th and is worth 1 hour of CPE credit!

Limited seating! The seating is limited so you will want to sign up early for this event. Be sure to test your system to make sure that you meet all of the system requirements.

Jennings April Seminar at 10% off!

1 CPE credit hour! This is a great way to get 1 hour of CPE credit. If you attend this event and answer 75% of the polling questions at the conclusion then you will get 1 credit hour for this event. There are no prerequisites for this seminar.

To get your 10% discount: Be sure to use the code aprilcpasite during the checkout process to get the 10% discount. Regular price $49. CPAsitesolutions.com customer price: $44.10

Event Description. “Time to get those extensions done! We will discuss improving efficiency.” This event is worth 1 hour of CPE credit.

Jennings Seminars was founded by Bob Jennings CPA, CFP, CITP, a national and World renowned speaker. Jennings has published articles in such magazines as The Journal of Accountancy and The Practical Accountant along with authoring several accounting and technology seminar manuals.

If you can’t make this event look for another posting in April for a similar offer for a May seminar. Click here to take advantage of 10% off seminar in April.

CPA Site Solutions is fortunate enough to have a guest interview for today’s blog post. Nick Hodges is known online as “The Lazy CPA.” Nick has had a website with CPA Site Solutions since 2007. Although this post is much longer than usual, we are thankful that Nick has taken time out of a busy season to share with our readers. Want to share your own story on the CPA Site Solutions blog? Send an email to blog@cpasitesolutions.com.

Brian: How did you come up with the name The Lazy CPA?

Nick: When my wife became seriously ill in 1998, what I needed most was time to facilitate her recovery.  Part of that care was to move my family from California to Mississippi to be closer to our extended family for support.

I was the managing partner of a thriving tax practice in California, and could not take a sabbatical; I needed to find a way to free up my time while staying involved in the business and continuing to take exceptional care of my clients.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention.  Every activity on my plate was analyzed for value and I discarded many of the old legacy practices associated with our industry.  What I came up with was a new perspective of the value of systems and team-based services that kept me in the role of decision-maker and client manager.  My top clients and partners had direct access to me by cell phone, and all decisions were implemented by my on-site team.

When my wife recovered from her illness, I found I had more free time than ever before and focused on bringing expanded services to my clients. The cycle of free time and new services helped me create a unique and profitable lifestyle within the tax professional community.

I worked with my broker-dealer, Money Concepts Capital Corporation to help develop a series of educational seminars that would help CPAs add financial services to their tax practices the way I had.

Nick Hodges is The Lazy CPA

I spent about five years presenting new methods and concepts to an average of 3,000 tax professionals per year.  At one of the early seminars, I was jokingly introduced by Denis Walsh, the President of Money Concepts, as a lazy CPA – because I lived in Mississippi, worked five weeks a year in my tax practice in California, and took at least three family vacations a year while earning substantial amounts of money throughout the year. As I looked over that group of CPAs sipping their coffee and staring casually out the window, and knowing that CPAs are some of the most over-worked and under-loved professionals, I thought that I needed to catch their attention in a new way.

I responded to Denis’s introduction by saying that I was not just A lazy CPA, but I was THE Lazy CPA! We had such a great reaction to it that we just continued introducing me that way.  Many times an attendee would call my office and ask for “that Lazy CPA guy” because they couldn’t remember my name.

Brian: What sort of responses did you initially get from the name?

Nick: Continuing education courses are typically an opportunity for tax professionals to be out of the office and kick back for the day, detached from the presentation. After being introduced as THE lazy CPA, all eyes would be on me, suspicious and looking for any mistakes I might make in the presentation.

The point is, the moniker worked: everyone in the room was engaged, albeit angry at first.  That involvement created discussions that were lively and honest, with the attendees thinking about how my systems might work for them.

By the end of the presentations, many would come up and ask how we might create some sort of partnership.  This was, of course, impossible due to time constraints, but I felt good about being able to deliver new concepts and systems to them that would help them create better lives.

Brian: How have things changed (in the industry) since you started?

Nick: I’ve been sharing my story nationwide for about 10 years now.  When we first started providing seminars for adding financial services to the tax practice, we used to spend an hour or more on the question of the conflict of interests.

Since the AICPA has clarified this position, there is very little conversation on this topic any more.  Five years ago, the questions were about how to manage a tax practice to create more time; the result was my tax practice manual and training programs. Now, we are hearing directed questions about the practical application of HOW to add financial services to the tax practice.  We are seeing more and more CPAs adding financial services as a way to retain clients and improve their firm’s profitability.

At present, I am spending more of my time mentoring young CPAs in how to seamlessly provide tax, accounting, and financial services to our clients in line with what I’ve learned over the past decade.

Brian: What are some of the best tools you use for your practice?

Nick: Of course, I LOVE the tools provided by CPA Site Solutions!  I am happy with my website options, and have received positive comments of the professional look of the pages.

My clients use the calculators and enjoy reading the professionally prepared articles. We have been delivering our clients’ tax returns electronically through the on-line vault for years.  This means that we no longer print tax returns and we use a fraction of the toner, paper, and labor costs during tax season.

With the newsletter feature, I keep in touch with each and every client monthly. In addition, during the recent economic downturn, I was able to create and send a personal messages to them each week at no extra cost.  My clients loved it.

We also use their online Quickbooks and Payroll for many of my small business clients.  It has substantially streamlined how we deliver our bookkeeping services.

Other tools I use are Emoney Advisor as the platform for my financial planning operation.  I use Jennings Seminars live and streaming continuing education.  Money Concepts is my broker-dealer and delivers key online resources and other training in delivering financial planning to my clients. In addition, I have an internal operations manual that we keep in a constant state of update and revision as we refine our methods and systems.

Brian: Advice you would give a fellow CPA?

Nick: I am reminded of the scene from Alice in Wonderland when she meets the Cheshire Cat at a fork in the road.  She asks, “Which road do I take?”  He responds, “Where do you want to go?” When Alice answers, “I don’t know,” the cat replies, “Then, it doesn’t matter.”

My advice to my fellow CPA is to have a bold vision for not just your practice, but also for your lifestyle.  To challenge you to understand that the only one preventing you from living the lifestyle you truly want is you – trapped in old ways of thinking.  That there is always room for improvement in your systems and methodologies.  I’m hoping that like my moniker, The Lazy CPA, that readers will be upset and engaged enough after reading this to rethink what they’re doing and why.

You have a blog and have thought about writing topics. Still there are times when you need a fresh perspective. Here is a way to leverage the pool of your clients needs along with making your CPA website blog even more interactive.

Get Writing Ideas. Regular visitors to your CPA website, both clients and potential, are a great resource of ideas. Requesting ideas from them on what they want to hear about is a great way to leverage that resource.

Writing Feedback Direct from Your Clients

Free Blog Writing Ideas. Skribit is a free solution that can be integrated within your CPA blog by just signing up. Any reader is able to type in suggestions that you translate into a blog post.

Website Integration. You can customize how the widget or feedback box displays on your CPA website. After making your choices, copy and paste the code. The code needs to be inserted into each blog post, just like the comments box (see link for how to insert the code).

Sidebar or Suggestions Tab. You get the choice of a sidebar display or a suggestions tab. The sidebar display actually shows at the bottom of your post. Most readers won’t fail to see it. The suggestions tab is off to the side and could be missed however it also is less obtrusive.

Just like what type of background color, text color, or font which way to display the widget is up to you. You do get a visual preview making it easier to decide.

More Ideas. See what other CPAs are writing about. Try tweaking what another blogger is talking about to your own audience or brand. Skribit also has a section full of random suggestions made by other members to pull from.

Skribit helps to leverage your particular audience while also allowing for a bit more interactivity. Visitors like to a chance for website interactivity. Giving that to them helps expand your audience and, ultimately, your client base.

Have your own experience about interacting through your CPA blog? Send a comment below and remember, you comment, we follow.