Brian O'Connell, President

Your CPA website exists to bring in more clients – to convert prospects into paying customers.

Websites from CPA Site Solutions come loaded with thousands of pages of Ready-to-Go content, so that when a visitor comes to your site, they’re immediately impressed by your professionalism.

But some people want more than to just read about you. They want to get in there right away and ask questions. And they’re used to doing everything online – they’re not going to pick up the phone .

For those folks, you want Live Chat on your site.

Imagine that a potential client is looking around for a new accountant. They have a question they want answered immediately. They come to your site and see the Live Chat box – and within minutes, they’re chatting with a real accountant, all without picking up a phone or meeting in an office.

That sounds to me like an excellent way to convert a lead into a client.

What Kinds of Questions Do People Ask?

People want to know all kinds of things when they visit your site – questions like:

• What are your rates?
• What are your specialities?
• How much experience do you have?
• How long would it take you to complete my return?
• Do you have time to take me on as a business client?

They also might have specific questions about their financial situation. It can be a bit time-consuming to answer these, but it’s a powerful way to demonstrate your professionalism and caring.

The Meebo Me chat box.

Meebo

Meebo offers a free chat box widget called Meebo Me that you can put wherever you’d like on your website. Any visitor can click on the box and ask you a question.

If you’re not taking chats, simply adjust your status to “offline” and folks can leave a message.

To get the code for your Meebo Me chat box, visit the Meebo website.

If you’re a Gold or Platinum client, take advantage of our We Do It All for You service and ask us to add the code for you. Call us at 1-800-896-4500 or email support@cpasitesolutions.com.

Volusion

Volusion is another free live chat option.

Just like Meebo, Volusion gives you the option to change your status to “offline.”

One advantage of Volusion over Meebo is that it allows you to use your own image in the chat box rather than the stock photo.

Here’s an example of the Volusion chat box, on a Contact Us page:

This is what clients see when you insert the Volusion chat box on your site.

To download this free software, visit the Volusion site.

Again, if you’re a Gold or Platinum client, we help you situate the chat box wherever you’d like on your site. Just call 1-800-896-4500, or email support@cpasitesolutions.com.

Don’t Let a Prospect Slip Away

Your website is a valuable marketing tool. Extend its usefulness by impressing all the potential clients who visit, including those who want to make live contact right away – without picking up the phone.

Even if the chat option converts just two clients a year, it’s a worthwhile investment in time. And because the software is free, it’s certainly worth it in dollars.

If you have any questions about Live chat, let us know! 1-800-896-4500, or support@cpasitesolutions.com

Brian O'Connell, President

Busy season is around the corner. Are you looking to grow your client base this year?

If so, I have two words for you: CPA websites. Having a website for your accounting firm is the number one way you’re going to pull in new clients.

But before the busy season kicks in, make sure you get your site looking and working the way you want. Maybe you need to know how to import contacts into your Email Marketing System. Or you need some help with Search Engine Optimization. Or perhaps you’d like to try out a new design.

Now is the time to ask for our help with your website.

And we offer 6 ways to get that help.

1. Videos

Our website – cpasitesolutions.com – is loaded with helpful videos. Our tutorial videos show you how to perform various tasks, and you can find those in the Help section. Others are more of an overview of various features, like this one about the Workteam Collaboration Suite:

2. Help Section

We have a vast Help section with numerous articles that give you step-by-step instructions on how to tinker with everything on your site – with sections like Modifying Your Site and Interactive Tax Organizer.

To access the Help section, click on the link at the bottom of our home page – as pictured here:

The link to the Help Center is in the footer of most our pages.

3. Leave a Comment

If you leave a comment on one of our Help files or in our Blog, we answer you with an email within 24 hours.

4. Chat Us Up

We have 60 hours of live chat coverage every week – from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

To get to our live chat option, click on the image in the right sidebar on our FAQs page or on About Us (as pictured below on the left). Once you click on the link, you get a pop-up window and a webmaster comes online. You type your question in the box on the bottom (circled in the image on the right below).

The link for our live chat option is in our right-hand sidebar.

Once a webmaster comes online, you just type your question into the box at the bottom.

5. Email

Many of our clients ask questions through email, and that works very well. Just send your question to support@cpasitesolutions.com and a webmaster will reply. If you have a Dedicated Webmaster that you prefer to work with, just email him or her directly (e.g., Allison@cpasitesolutions.com or Rikk@cpasitesolutions.com).

Our goal is to answer all support requests within 24 hours – and it’s usually much quicker than that.

6. Just Make a Call

Our webmasters are available by phone all day Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, at 1-800-896-4500.

This is probably the most popular method for getting help – and it works great. Just give us a call and let one of our friendly and knowledgeable webmasters work with you to get your site where you want it to be.

Get Help Now – Then Get Clients

To attract more clients, you need your primary marketing tool to be in tip-top shape.

Your service pages should be updated; you should be thrilled with your design; and you should understand how all your tools and features work.

We can help you get your site just where it needs to be, in time for the busy season. We’re here to help!

You can get plenty of visitor data for any accounting website hosted by CPA Site Solutions via the webalizer. Wouldn’t you rather be able to chat with these potential clients? There is a way to have live chat for free on your CPA web site. Here is a breakdown of how that can work.

Download the software. The company is called Volusion and the download is free. Although you are limited to one operator, for most CPA firms this shouldn’t be an issue. If it is you can check out their Premium Edition and the comparison chart to the free service.

Free Online Chat Service

Very easy set-up. Once you install the software, you then enter an email address and password. A verification email is sent to the email address you used.

Install the code. Code is generated to be used on any page of your CPA website. Just copy and paste it into the page you want to use it via the source view in the site editor. Alternatively you can email the code to support@cpasitesolutions.com and indicate on what page the icon should appear.

Start it up. Now when you want to chat you just open the Volusion software, sign in and your set to go. Although you are limited to one operator, that operator can have up to five chats going at once.

Works offline. They system even works when you are not logged into the account. When a user clicks on the icon they can send an email with their question. You then get an email to the email account you registered with.

Create a custom email. One way around having only one operator is to create a custom live chat email account. If you have the password available to people in the firm then anyone can manage the account.

Volusion’s free live chat feature is fairly quick to set up and use right away. Although you could spend a lot of money per month for a more robust system, for the a lot of CPA websites this service fits the bill quite nicely.

A lot of times you may want to communicate with someone in your accounting firm but know they are busy on a website project or you are busy and just need a quick confirming detail. You could send an email but lets say you need the information sooner.

Normally this would be a situation where you might pick up the phone or walk over to the person’s desk. This option though can create an interruption both in your and the other person’s work flow. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to get the information quickly but without that drawback?

There is a way of doing all of this by using Instant Messenger or what some people call Live Chat. Instant Messenger provides a way to relay a message without the drawback of a phone call or walk over. It does this by allowing the person to answer it in the moment but at their own pace.

Think of getting a phone call, you have to stop what your doing and answer the message right then. The same goes for a walk over, it is an interruption that requires immediate attention.

Instant Messenger on the other hand, can be answered soon but also allows the person to complete a thought. They can incorporate the question into their own in the moment work flow. This allows the brain the shift gears in another direction without having to fully stop.

Answers can be answered and the person can get right back on track with what they were doing. If chat is used this way, for quick answers to in the moment questions, it can actually serve to increase efficiency.

If you have never used Instant Messenger you can be surprised on how it can be made as an efficient tool for your accounting firm. If you have our Workteam Collaboration Suite then you already have instant messenger and can start using it today.

If you have your own or our older email solution then you may not have Instant Messenger. If your in doubt or would like to switch, then give us a call at 800-896-4500 or email support@cpasitesolutions.com and one of our website account managers will be happy to assist.

Take a new look at Instant Messenger, we think that you will be pleased by some of the potentials that it can offer your accounting firm.