2016 Review of CPASites.com

• Every website is custom designed; with no two sites alike
• The product is scalable, with 4 subscription levels available
• All website articles are written by CPAs

Potential Weaknesses

• Website changes can only be made by CPAsites

PRODUCT OVERVIEW
CPAsites is owned and managed by CPAs. Started in 1997, the company bills itself as the original CPA website firm. Services are available in four levels; Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The Platinum level subscription offers the following options:

1. A newsletter written by CPAs
2. A resource section with useful links and tax rates
3. Financial calculators
4. Search engine optimization
5. A secure client portal
6. One hour of website editing each month
7. A newsletter that is exclusive in a particular area

The Gold level subscription includes 1-5 above, the Silver level includes 1.4, and the Bronze level subscription allows users to choose from one of the options listed.

All websites created by CPAsites are completely customized; as they company offers no template websites at all. Because of this, the entire website creation process is very different from other website building products. Firm users will need to sign up on the CPAsites website, and provide designers with a current firm logo, as well as company brochures, bios, staff and partner profiles, services provides and any other marketing materials.   Potential clients can also provide CPAsites with examples of websites or any other particular wants or desires.

Once the information is received by CPAsites, designers typically complete a construction page for clients to review within 5-10 days. There is also an option for a quicker turn-around time, if firms are in a hurry to have a website in operation. Once the client receives the construction page, they review it and provide CPAsites with any edits needed. If the client does not like the website, CPAsites will simply scrap the design and design a new site. There is a Website Management feature that allows users to make basic changes to the site once it’s completed, such as uploading new pages and graphics, but any major changes to the site have to be completed by CPAsites web designers.   Most changes are included in the cost of the client’s subscription, but if a requested change requires more than an hour of work, they client will be charged $50.00 per hour. If a firm already has a website that they like, they can choose to have the site hosted by CPAsites, in order to have access to subscription benefits.

Because the site is fully customized, CPAsites requires all new users to sign a one-year contract. At the end of that year, accounting firms are free to discontinue the service. Although the website will be owned by the firm, content such as newsletters, calculators, and articles are considered proprietary and cannot be copied to another server.

CPAsites offers a good variety of content for accounting firms, including newsletter articles written by CPAs, including detailed information on new tax laws and their implications. CPAsites also offers a list of archived articles, so clients searching for a particular topic can easily download the desired article. Links to local business news in a specific geographic area is also included as is a national business news feed, along with any IRS news or bulletins. Firms can also provide CPAsites with their own newsletter, which will be uploaded to the site as well. Firms can also choose to simply subscribe to the content pages, where they can simply download the content they desire and edit them in order to better match their site.

Our secure client portal allows you and your clients to upload, store and download files in a 128 bit encrypted format that complies with all regulatory privacy requirements. You simply set up each client with a storage area complete with user name and password. All files are stored in encrypted format on the server so you can rest assured that all of your files will remain private at all times. CPAsites also offers links to federal and state tax form, and other tax related data such as current tax rates, mileage rates, and retirements. A tax calendar is also available so firm clients can easily track current due dates.

CPAsites offers a variety of financial and tax calculators that are branded with the firm name and logo. The calculators are available directly from the website and do not link to a third party website, keeping clients on the website longer.

Firms can easily link the completed website to social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. A secure client portal is also available that allows firms to easily share confidential documents with their clients in a secure manner.

While some firms may prefer to edit their own pages, for busy accounting firms that do not have the time, or the staff to edit webpages, using CPAsites will help to ensure that content is constantly fresh, with newsletter articles, stories, and news being updated constantly.

SUMMARY

Mentioned earlier, CPAsites is available in four versions. The Platinum level provides complete website management services, is available for $150 per month. The Gold level subscription is $85 per month, the Silver level is $50 per month, and the bronze level is $300 per year. With flexible subscription options, and a custom design, CPAsites is an excellent solution for the firm that wants to stand out from the crowd at a reasonable price.