In today’s electronic world, a website is a no longer considered a luxury, but is now a necessity for just about every business, including accounting firms. But it’s not enough to simply have a web presence. In order to stay competitive, a firm’s website should have certain components that will work to enhance its success. These components may vary, but most likely will include some of the following:
- An attractive, eye-catching home page. Much like a well-designed book cover, a well-designed home page is often the very first thing a potential client sees. It doesn’t matter if your firm offers top-notch professional services. A potential client may never know that if they don’t get past the home page.
- An easily located list of services provided by your firm. The days of picking up the telephone to get information is over. Make sure you have an easily accessible list of services offered, as well as an easy way for potential clients to contact you, such as a request information form that potential clients can fill out on directly on the website.
- A client portal. Offering a secure, confidential method for exchanging documents is a valuable tool to offer both current and potential clients.
- Good customization options. No one wants their website to look like everyone else’s. While using standard templates can be a valuable tool for firms when creating a website, the ability to customize those templates to give your website a unique look and feel is just as important.
The web-building products that we looked at in this issue offer a wide variety of features and options. Because of the variety of features included, it was impossible to assign a star rating to each product. While each product accomplishes the end result well: creating a website designed for accountants, they all arrive at the end result in different ways, making it impossible to rate one product against another. The products did seem to fall into one of two camps: a template approach, where users can create their own website by choosing from a variety of templates with differing styles, and those that create custom websites and make all subsequent web changes.
2015 Reviews of Website Builders
- AccountantsWorld Website Relief
- BuildYourFirm Websites
- CCH Site Builder
- CPASites.com
- CPA Site Solutions
- GetNetSet for Accounting Firms
- Tenenz AFSB Site Builder
- Thomson Reuters Web Builder CS
This is perhaps the most important aspect to consider when choosing a web building product. If your firm is always updating content, it may be better to be able to make changes in-house. For those that have fairly static content, hiring a firm to create and manage website content may be better. Work force is important when considering this as well. If your firm has a small staff, it may be difficult for someone to find the time to make changes on a regular basis.
One of the best ways to find the product that may be a good fit for your firm is to visit the websites of these products. Most of them offer a free trial ranging from 30 to 60 days; more than enough time to determine if the product and the features are a good fit for your firm.
While web-building products have certainly been around for a while, the products we looked at in this issue offer a level of features and functions that are unprecedented. Take a look at the products, try a few out, and be on your way to your new website – a lot faster than you may have imagined.
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Tags: Firm Management, Technology
