Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/255988
January/February 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 5 FEATURE A nswering some basic questions about your existing website or about your plan for a new website will help you start the process of creating or upgrading your site. If you already have a website, ask yourself and your coworkers, what purpose does your website serve today? Some basic reasons for having a website include: • Providing contact information about your frm • Introducing your staf • Branding • Selling your services • Selling products • Atracting new business • Providing a secure site for document exchange • Demonstrating your expertise • Establishing credentials • Expanding your geographic reach • Recruitment Make a list and include all of the reasons that apply to your current site. In a separate column, list all of the things that you want to accomplish with your new website. Tis new list will give you a foundation for creating or upgrading your site. Check back with this list frequently to make sure you are meeting all of these goals as you plan and change your site. It can be useful to ask some of your clients about their experience with your site. Is the site easy to fnd? Is it easy to use? What do they fnd worthwhile about the site? Remember the Basics There are some basic features that s h o u l d b e i n c l u d e d w i t h a n y accounting f irm website. Use this preliminary checklist to make sure you don't le ave of f a ny of t he se essential elements: • Company name • Address (consider including a map or a link to an external map) • Names and titles of contacts • Phone number(s), fax number, afer hours number (if applicable) • Email contact information • Hours (if appropriate) • Basic information about the services you provide Navigation Sit e n av i g at ion s hou ld b e u s e r- friendly, and the easiest way to judge this is to ask some of your clients or some friends who don't work for your company about their experience in nav igat i ng t he site. Give t hem a checklist of items you'd like them to fnd on the site and then ask if they had difculty in fnding any of those items. Some important features to consider about navigation include: • Menu should appear on every page • Link to contact information should appear on every page • Link to Home page should be easy to fnd • Design should be consistent through- out site so these items appear in same place on every page • Hyperlinks should be obvious (diferent color from text, and underlined) • Include a search box Regarding the search fea- ture, you can write your own program, have one written for you, or use a third-party program. You can use a Perl search engine script or a PHP search engine script if your site is set up to run this type of search. Your webmaster will know the site capabilities. Having your own pro- gram is ideal because you can cus- tomize the search results and make sure site visitors are are landing on exactly the right page. Alternatively, you can use a free third-party search program, however keep in mind that many free search ser v ices include some advertising and might limit the frequency with which your site can be re-indexed, thus the results might not always be the most current. Te most important thing to keep in mind regarding the search feature you use on your site is that you need to monitor the searches. Don't think of the search as just a tool for your site v isitors. The information you can a c q u i re f rom t he s e a rc h c a n b e extremely useful. You'll fnd out what your site visitors want to know and can customize the site to fit those needs. Collect the search terms that visitors use on your site and try those searches yourself to make sure that you r site v isitors a re get t i ng t he results that you want them to see. Calls to Action One way to keep visitors involved and engaged in your website is to provide calls to action. Give them a reason to be there, a reason to stay, a reason to use the tools you are providing, and a reason to recommend that others come to your site. Descriptions of why to execute the calls to action will help v isitors understand your ex pecta- tions. Here are some sample calls to action that you could include on your website: • Call us today for a free review of last year's tax return • Email us if you would like more infor- mation about the types of services we ofer • Leave a message with questions, com- ments, or requests for more information • Click here to download our year-end planning checklist • Click here to download our whitepaper on tax rules for the home ofce • Enter your email address to receive our free newsleter Consider using live interaction on your site if you're trying to drum up business directly from Internet visi- tor s . T h i s c ou ld me a n add i ng a pop-up live chat window or instruc- tions for accessing a call center. If these options aren't available at all times, either remove them from the site when they are not being manned, or post the hours when your visitors can expect to receive an immediate response. Document Sharing If you are using your site as a secure portal for sharing information and documents with your clients, be sure to make the access to this portal easy to f i nd . One of t he A A M judges mentioned, "The most important thing on my accountant's site is the Client buton." Include instructions so your clients know how to use the portal, and include reassuring lan- guage describing the security of the portal. 2014: The Year of Your Firm's Website By Gail Perry, CPA, CPA Practice Advisor Editor-in-Chief E a c h y e a r , t h e A s s o c i a t i o n f o r Accounting Marketing holds an awards ceremony at its annual confer- ence, honoring outstanding achieve- ments in the areas of accounting marketing and communications. I've atended some of these ceremonies and have always been intrigued with the awards for best accounting frm websites. I contacted the judges of the website competition and discussed the criteria used for determining the best sites. Whether you're creating a website for your frm for the frst time, upgrading an existing website, adding new features, or trying to improve your search rankings, you'll fnd the judges' tips to be useful. cpa_5_WebsiteFeature.indd 5 2/5/14 11:40 AM