If you’ve never really set up a website for a CPA company before the details can be a bit frightening. There are a number of straight forward secrets that will make your trip into the present day a great deal easier. Creating accounting websites is like any other professional skill. It’s easy if you understand how it’s done. There are a variety of website hosting companies that have spent years developing websites for accountants, and they have a few practical standards for your consideration…
Hosting and Content :
Keep an eye out for a good package deal. Lot’s of companies provide features like free domain names registrations or email hosting when you host your website with them. Some of them throw in tons of features you don’t need, just to up their prices. Shop around by doing a Google search for “web hosting” and research the top few results.
Determining which package is best for you can be daunting but if you break down the elements of your site you can ensure that you’re picking the best option for you. For example, most GoDaddy web hosting plans come with email and a certain amount of server space that you can store your data on (images, videos, etc). Network solutions offers a free domain name registration with their package. Godaddy charges extra. Other packages frequently offered by website hosts include Google advertising credits, File Transfer options, and other features.
Keep in mind how much media you’re going to be putting onto the site. Videos, large images, and high resolution color portable document files (PDFs) use up a lot of memory. If you plan on storing your client files online for remote access you’ll need even more space. If the plan you’ve selected only gives you 10GB of space you may run out of room to upload all of your files and will want to consider a plan with a higher storage space.
One bundled hosting feature that seems quite useful is Email, but many users don’t really need it. A lot of accountants ultimately choose to use a “freemail” account, or a more sophisticated free solution like Google Apps.
Your Web Address:
Picking a good domain name is key for your business. You don’t want something that’s too long, because then people won’t remember it and it may not fit on business cards if it’s too many characters long. Using important keywords in your domain name can be helpful in getting your website a better ranking in the search engines. Keywords such as your location (FL, Florida, Tampa, etc) or words that explain your service (accounting, CPA, or even very specific keyword combinations like AtlantaConstructionAccounting, etc). As a rule “.com” domain names are superior to alternate domain extensions like “.biz”, “.net”, “.us”, “.org”, etc. Try to avoid breaking the keywords up with dashes and underscores, but if you can’t get a decent domain name without doing so avoid using underscores. You do not have to get your domain name through your website host, and there are even risks in doing so. Get the domain name yourself using a service like GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions. There is even a domain registrar specifically oriented towards tax professionals called at DomainsForCPAs.com. Fee’s vary. GoDaddy is a pretty cheap option, and Network Solutions is at the high end while smaller specialty registrars Domains For CPAs tend to take the middle ground. As a rule domains bill annually. Don’t confuse this expense with your monthly hosting costs.
If you allow your host to register your domain name for you there are some precautions you need to take. Make sure that the domain is registered in your name and that, if you ever leave the hosting company you’d be able to retain ownership of the domain name.
cPanel:
A cPanel is a control panel where you’ll be able to make many advanced settings changes to your various web hosting features. For example, your cPanel can be used to change where your email is routed and which web site it directs to. You can also use this area to redirect pages of your site and “park” additional domain names so that more than one domain name will go to your one main website. Most web hosting companies give you cPanel access, but some don’t. Even though you may never need to use a cPanel, it’s a good idea to find out if your web hosting company has one and if you’re able to access it.
“S” is for Secure Socket Layer:
This isn’t an issue for most site owners, but security is exceedingly important to accounting websites. If you plan on storing sensitive client documents like tax returns and QuickBooks files online, or if you intend to accept payments through your website, you need at least a passing understanding of how online security works. Having an SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer Certificate) can ensure your site visitors that any confidential information they submit through your site will be handled securely. A lot of companies offer SSL certificates. GoDaddy, VeriSign, and DigiCert are the largest. Visitors often look for an SSL Certificate (commonly denoted by a little padlock icon in one corner of your web browser) when they’re making a purchase through your site. Accounting websites are legally compelled to protect uncompromisable client information, so failure to look after client data with an SSL certificate can cost you a lot more than a few clients.