Your CPA website is up and running. You have some fresh content and good blog posts to attract new visitors and interact with your current audience. You have even installed online chat to ensure better conversions. Screen sharing is another step you can take to help existing, new, or potential clients in less time.

Pictures Worth of Help. You might already use a free online presentation tool to help others understand certain concepts. There are times when screen sharing with your client would offer a much easier solution. A view of your computer screen offers more than anything you might say.

Making a Connection. Making the connection to screen share is not always easy. There is always an application your client needs to download. Getting through that process can be a show stopper in making a connection with your client work.

No Download Needed. Web Worker Daily has a great article on a new service called Yuuguu. Although you need to download an application, no download is needed for your client. You can screen share right within the instant messaging window.

Free Screen Sharing

Screen Share. You send a web address to your client via email along with a special pin. The client goes to the web address and enters the pin. You then click on “show” and your client can view your screen. You can then communicate via live chat or voice.

Pro Version. As with many online applications, there is a pro version that offers even more functionality. If you find the free version works but want even more, the extra cost might be worth it.

Potential Clients. You might have an online chat or get an email from a potential client. Convert these prospects by showing how easily you can answer questions with Yuuguu.

Have you ever used screen sharing with your clients? Do you like how it works? Send a comment with the form below.

You can enhance and advertise your CPA seminars with your CPA firm’s website. Here is another way to leverage an audience for what you have to offer. CPA Site Solutions now has an events blog that you can post your CPA seminar on for free.

New CPA Site Solutions Events Blog

CPA Events. Events is a regular updated blog with CPA seminars, events, and webinars that are related to CPAs and other accounting professionals. You can check the events blog on a regular basis or subscribe to the RSS feed and get automatic updates. You can also submit your own CPA seminar or event.

How to Submit. The events blog is soon to have a form to submit your CPA seminar or event. For now just email support@cpasitesolutions.com with your CPA seminar or event details.

What You Can Find. You can find any number of CPA seminars, events, or webinars throughout the country or online all in one location. You can use the search or just look under a category.

iPhone Ready. The events blog and the regular CPA Site Solutions blog can now be viewed on an iPhone or iPod Touch. This makes it that much easier to read about any new tips and tricks for leveraging your CPA website.

Where is your favorite place to go to find CPA seminars, events, or webinars? Send a comment and share with other readers.

You have great content that is also unique. You have leveraged that content with user participation. Now you can help others get to your website even easier. Have anyone share your website with others with just one click of a button.

An Easy Way to Have Others Share Your CPA Website

The Problem. A user comes to your accounting website and finds content they want to share. How can you make it easy to share with just a click of a button?

The Solution. Use AddThis for your CPA website. AddThis is free, customizable, and easy to use. You can even get it as an add-on to your browser if you use Firefox.

How to Get AddThis. Go to the site, choose your customizations and what type of code you want generated. Click on “Get Your Button” and code for your CPA website is generated for you. You don’t even have to register to get the button which is a time saver.

Register for Stats. Register and you can get stats on how your accounting website is being shared. You can then use your traffic stats on your blog, for example,  to understand what your readers enjoy. Then the next post you create can be tailored to fit that and, hopefully, make your blog even more popular.

Website Implementation. Once you have the code, copy and paste it in an email to support@cpasitesolutions.com. Make sure you request where you want the button to appear.

You can add it to your blog from any website hosted by CPA Site Solutions. Just follow the same instructions you would when adding a comments box.

Have your own experience around making it easy for others to share your CPA website? Comment below and share with other readers. There are even SEO benefits to commenting, so go ahead and give it a try!

Just having a CPA website is no longer enough to improve your business. You need to make your website an engaging place for your current, and potential clients, to visit. When you do, you give reasons for others to talk about your firm. This is the best type of advertising out there, that you have to earn, not buy.

Mind Mapping. There is a great article from accountingweb.com that refreshes the use of Mind Mapping. Mind Mapping is a technique used to find solutions to questions by helping to gently guide, but not control, the flow of brainstorming ideas.

Leverage. Any website hosted by CPA Site Solutions has plenty of content, tools, and helpful information that can help your clients. The next step is to to leverage your clients into a community of participants around your CPA website.

You can use Mind Mapping as a step towards finding unique ways to engage your visitors. Engagement is a way of participating with your website rather than just getting content.

Mind Mapping Brainstorm. You can follow the basic premise (see article above for more exact details). Take out a sheet of paper, put your clients at the center, and think, how can I get clients more involved?

For example, do I have a good way to get feedback from them? Do I actively follow-up on that feedback? Are there ways that I could connect client A to client B and have them both benefit?

Write the ideas down and then keep the paper next to you. Make yourself notice the paper throughout the day and more ideas are bound to appear. Below is a primer for how to think about client participation on your website.

Online Community. Here is an example. In general people like to feel special or that they are a part of something, not just a customer. You can do this with your website by using some of the online tools like, for example, adding comments to your blog.

The more people can interact with your accounting website, the more it becomes something they use rather than just visiting. When they engage with you and other users of your website, they are part of an online community.

Online Communities Make People Feel Connected

Your CPA Website. Take a look at your current accounting website. How could you socially engage them more in your firm? By answering these questions, and incorporating them, you make your website more of a destination.

More Ideas. If you have a CPA website hosted by CPA Site Solutions, you could talk to your account manager. If you know what you want, the account manager may be able to inform you on how to do it.

You can create an online community around your CPA website. Your firm can be part of your clients conversations. Those social conversations are worth more for advertising than you can ever get through traditional means.

Have your own experience to share involving Mind Mapping or creating an online community? Send a comment below and share with other readers.

If you have a CPA website hosted by CPA Site Solutions then you probably have multiple clients to manage. Keeping track of the amount of time spent with each one can be a task in and of itself. Here is a quick and easy solution that works automatically in the background so you don’t have to.

Chrometa. Although Chrometa does cost $99 it is worth the money considering the time saved doing things manually. There is a 30 day free trial that gets most hooked on how easy it is to use.

Automatic Time Tracking

All Automatic. After you download and install it, Chrometa works entirely in the background logging everything that you do and how much time you spend doing it. Although there are previous posts on a free time tracker, the problem still remains in terms of remembering to start and stop the feature.

Going Away. If you step away from your desk you can actually pause Chrometa while you are gone. If you forget then there is a box that automatically pops-up recording the amount of inactive time. You can type in exactly what you were doing, for example talking on the phone with a particular client.

Export Excel Document. You can even export a report to Excel that tells you the activity, what application you were using, and the time using it down to the second. This can give you great historical data that can be printed out if needed.

Training Videos. You can get off and running with Chrometa without doing anything but installing it on your computer. However if you really want to get the most out of what it holds then you might consider the free online training video.

When your CPA firm gets busy, keeping track of how much time you spend on each client can get tricky. Every minute you don’t have to spend logging your actions, you can spend on work that directly generates revenue for your company.

Have a comment? Fill out the form below.

If you have a website hosted with CPA Site Solutions at the Gold or Platinum level then you have access to a great critical file backup feature. Although there is a great previous post and help section on how the file backup feature works to back up files, what about recovery? Here are some quick reasons to use the feature and how to easily recovery files.

Your Firm, Your Clients, Your Business. All of these elements rely upon consistent use of data over time. Your firm has a legal and business obligation to make sure that data is kept safe. Your clients, and therefore your firm and business, rely on you to make informed choices on how that data is maintained on a daily basis.

Automatically Off-Site. One of the best choices you can make is to have your data in another location than your main business. This is traditionally called Off-Site Backup and has been done in the past with tapes. The beauty of current technology is that you can do the same Off-Site Backup with less hassle and much faster recovery time.

Critical File Backup

If you take a look at disasters like Katrina, it becomes obvious that having data backed up at your office isn’t going to help if everything is under water. Being able to communicate effectively with your clients during a disaster and still have access to all your data, is key to keeping business alive.

Recovery. One of the key elements to backing up data is testing to make sure it is available when you need it. Not only that but how easy and fast is it to get the files back in place?

The FileVault application keeps all of your critical files backed up to where you specify. You can create a backup folder within your My Documents area to put the files. Then when you need them you just login to that folder and download making it a fast and easy recovery solution.

Critical Files Versus Whole Computer. Although the FileVault application does a great job of backing up critical files if you need to back up more you should consider using Mozy. If you just need a little more space you can always purchase more for the Vault at $9.95 a month for two gigs of extra storage.

Have a question regarding the Vault or want to increase storage? Send an email to support@cpasitesolutions.com or call 800-896-4500 with your question or request.

In a previous posting there was an offer for 10% off a February Jennings Seminar. As promised CPA Site Solutions is offering 10% off a Jennings Seminar for March. This time the topic is Lunch with Bob, The BIG 1040 Push, is scheduled for March 16th and is worth 1 hour of CPE credit!

10% off Jennings Seminar in March through CPA Site Solutions

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.

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 marcpasite during the checkout process to get the 10% discount. Regular price $49. CPAsitesolutions.com customer price: $44.10

Event Description. “The big 1040 push – dealing with the big balance due returns and problem clients.”

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 March for a similar offer for a April seminar. Click here to take advantage of 10% off Jennings seminar in March.

Every website hosted by CPA Site Solutions comes with access to the Workteam Collaboration Suite powered by Google Applications. You can have an appointments page on your CPA website that clients can view and request appointments. Here is another solution for those wanting to leverage even more out of the Workteam Collaboration Suite.

Managing your firm’s calendars and meetings can be a full time job. You can shorten the time it takes by allowing the Tungle.me system to do some of the work for you.

Free Sign-Up. Tungle.me is free to sign up and use. Once using it you can have your own Tungle.me page that others can visit or you can just rely upon email.

Tungle Meeting Scheduling Multiple Times

Pick Times. When you schedule a meeting multiple times are given to the participant(s) via email. They are taken to the meeting page where they can choose the best time that works for them.

Once they decide and click on the one they want,  an email is sent to both you and your participant. The best part is that your calendar is automatically updated.

No Conflicts. If you have multiple appointments there is bound to be a conflict in times at some point. These types of conflicts are avoided by the system as it automatically updates meetings as they are booked so you don’t have to.

Your Personal Page. You have a personal page that can be linked to from your CPA website. Anyone can then organize a meeting complete with multiple times to choose from.

Once the time is accepted then the meeting is automatically added to your calendar. You can even personalize your page as much as you want.

Mobile Devices. The system works with mobile devices, Outlook and more. You can do everything on the go easily because if you have access to email you have access to your calendar.

During the busy season it can be a chore to get the right appointments in place. When you  use the Workteam Collaboration Suite alongside Tungle.me you can reduce meeting confusion and stress.

Have a comment? Fill out the form below.

If you have a meeting with a new client for your CPA firm or are considering a new hire, you might find it valuable to have data collected automatically on a person, group, or company. Here is a breakdown of using Gist, an online service that compiles information on contacts in one handy location for easy reference.

Contact lists and keeping track of the information from those you know is an ongoing project. Even though you may have a person’s basic information, you may not know much else about them unless you take the time to look. Gist not only does all of this for you but also keeps the information organized and updated.

Free Sign Up. Gist is free and easy to sign up for. Once your CPA firm starts using it you might wonder how you did without it.

Communications. Once you connect Gist to your email service then it keeps all the emails and attachments for a particular person or company. The information is available alongside all the other data on that same company making it easier to get an overview before a meeting.

Gist

Blog Posts and Tweets. All related blog posts or tweets are easily referenced. This gives you a quick idea of what a potential accounting client might be considering and a way to automatically connect and break the ice if this is your first meeting.

News About. Gist gathers all relevant articles or news on the client or company. You may need to look closely at this type of information to make sure it is accurate for the client. There are times when it might pull in news that seems like it is for that person but in fact it has no connection.

Automatically Updated. All of the information on all your CPA contacts is automatically gathered in one handy location and updated regularly. This makes it so easy to look at if you have only a bit of time before a meeting and want something good to start the conversation off with.

There are all kinds of details on potential or existing clients and companies that can be gathered. Gist makes it easy to keep updated information all in one place.

Have a comment? Fill out the form and get a response within 24 hours.

Video has increasingly become a lot more commonly used on any website to help give users a quick and easy way to connect with what your website is about. There are some previous posts on how to use video to promote your CPA website.

One of the keys behind using video are the many different video sharing websites that can be used. Using these websites ensures that your message is seen by a lot more people along with being able to have it shown on your own accounting website.

Inspiration. One of the more common questions when using video is when to use it. If your looking for inspiration Proactive Tax Solutions uses video on many pages on of their website in a short yet informative way.

Georgia Rogers from Proactive Tax Solutions

Short Yet Informative. One example of a short but informative video is found on their Engagement Letter page. The points are reinforced via text, the voice is varied for interest, and the user is talking directly to the viewer.

Use of Clients. Another great way that Proactive Tax Solutions uses video is by adding in one of their clients Chuck. Chuck was audited by the IRS and was helped by the firm’s services.

Length. There are any number of thoughts around the best length of a video to use depending upon your content and the people watching. In general if you keep the video to 1-2 minutes in length then you can keep people from being distracted by something else.

Know What You Want to Say. At the very least you should have a list of of points you want to make that you can refer to during the filming. You can also set up your own tele-prompting via a computer screen off camera. Either way try not to make it obvious that you are reading or checking these points.

Video is a great element to add to any CPA website. If you do post it to video sharing sites you can also help to advertise your accounting firm.

Have a comment you want to share? Fill out the comments section below.