Drake Technologies ‘ CPAsites.com

CPAsites.com offers web development
services; they do not provide do-it-yourself
tools for web site building and
maintenance/editing. Monthly subscription
costs include a fixed amount of
time for edits, which are performed
by technicians with CPAsites.com
when a customer requests updating
or other changes.

TOOLS – 4 Stars
Web sites created by CPAsites.com
include up to 80 calculators, depending
on the service level customers select.
They include a variety of newsletters
that focus on current issues, business
strategies and personal tax information.
They can also include customized
stock/financial tickers and stock
searching, pre-written content and
news from a variety of sources.
Most accounting firms can get an
‘exclusive’ newsletter
in their area, as well. Firms are
provided with multiple e-mail addresses
at the firm web site domain name,
and can opt to manage their own
e-mail on an Exchange server or
use traditional POP-based e-mail
applications. The e-mail system
enables bulk mailing of newsletters
and firm announcements. The system
does not provide tax organizers
or secure client document transfer
capabilities.

VISUAL QUALITY/USER NAVIGATION – 5 Stars

CPAsites.com produces very high-quality
web sites that are customized to
the specific needs of firms, and
provide excellent navigation methods.
The company is comprised of professional
web developers that can implement
any technology into a web site,
including Flash, animation and advanced
scripting. The Nebraska firm of
Shaw, Hull and Navarrette uses CPAsites.com
(www.shncpa.com).

SITE MARKETING – 4 Stars
CPAsites.com offers web marketing
assistance, including search engine
submission services, and utilizes
inexpensive pay placement services
to maximize web site listings. The
company’s servers provide
some visitor statistics that can
be enhanced with outside services.
Domain name registration and hosting
is included in the price of the
service plans.

PRICING/VALUE – 4 Stars

CPAsites.com’s content and
financial tools can be used by firms
that already have web sites. Setup
fees are $450, $950 or $1,450, depending
on the level of design service needed.
This is the only charge for the
first year. In the second and later
years, monthly hosting/content fees
are $50, $85 or $150, depending
on the level of content chosen.
Pricing for the two design and hosting
services includes domain registration,
web site development, all newsletters,
tools, content and calculators,
and e-mail. The full design and
hosting service also includes 30
minutes per month of updating time.
If more significant web site changes
are necessary, time is billed at
$50 per hour.

SUMMARY
CPAsites.com offers a solution for
firms that don’t want to build
or maintain their web site in-house.
The service costs a little more
than most of the do-it-yourself
web site builders in this review
section, but it provides professional
firms with a virtually hands-free,
professionally designed web site
that costs much less than most web
design firms would charge.

2004
OVERALL RATING: 4.5 Stars

This review looks at several web
builder solutions that are designed
for accountants, tax preparers and
other financial professionals. They
range in cost from free to more
than $1,000 per year and offer significantly
varying degrees of content, tools
and ease-of-use, so firms should
identify the needs that are most
important to them. Based on input
from accounting professionals and
the system vendors, we scored these
systems in the following areas:

Automated Content: This section
looks at the financial content provided
by the vendor, including quality/reliability,
whether it is automatically updated,
newsletter offerings, and other
material that would be valuable
to a visitor of the web site.

Editing/Updating Ease-of-Use: After you build it, you still need to update

contact and service
information periodically. This
section looks at the tools the
vendor provides for creating and
updating the site, which are usually
accessed through a browser. Ease-of-use
is an important factor here, because
users may only work on the site
a few times per year.

Tools: In addition to rich financial content, tools such as financial

calculators, calendars, useful links and online tax preparation keep clients and prospects

coming back to a web site. Additionally, options such as secure file transfer enhance the

client relationship. This section considers such tools as well as e-mail and Intranet

capabilities.

Visual Quality/User Navigation: How a web site looks and whether navigation

is intuitive plays a very large role in whether visitors will return, and can certainly

influence the impression the site has on clients and potential clients. This section also

evaluates the templates used by the system, and how logos and other image files are

incorporated.

Web Site Marketing Tools: If you build it, they still need to find it

before they can come. This section identifies whether the vendor assists in registering the

site with search engines and other directories, as well as other marketing assistance. And

since measurement tells you how you’re doing, the availability of web site visitor stats is

also addressed. Who owns the web site?
Firm’s need to own their
primary domain name (www.firmname.com).

Pricing/Value: Is there an initial setup cost? How much does it cost per

month/year? Are there any other fees?