Rudimentary Strategies In Regards to Websites for Accountants and Hosting Companies

Almost anyone can create a website these days. They're not expensive, very easy to set up, and there's gobs of software floating about that takes the heavy lifting out of the design process. Hosting, however, is something of an enigma. There are some important factors you need to look at when choosing a company to host your site. Once you understand what you're looking for you'll find that hosting isn't actually all that alien. Does it include adequate storage and bandwidth for document storage and will it support the security needed to transfer QuickBooks files and tax documents? Who will be available to help when you have questions? And let's not forget cost. How much is all this going to cost, and what kind of hidden costs lurk in wait?



Here are some topics to consider when choosing a web host for a CPA or accounting website.



Customer Support



What kind of technical support will your new web host offer, and are there different levels of support you can get? Support is critical, especially if you're not familiar with tools, run into technical issues, or just have questions about what you can do with your new host.



Before committing to a host check out their support by looking an their online support and checking out their support FAQ and contact method. Some support systems are by email/ticket only, while others provide full phone support. If they do take calls, are the calling centers local or will there be a language barrier? Make sure you get a firm written commitment from there in regards to their support hours and costs. Don't forget to keep an eye on time zones. If you have an east coast firm a host out of California may close as early as 2pm! If having that type of support is important, make sure that it's available to you.



Disk Space



The best websites for accountants need disk space to store files. Running out of storage space in the middle of tax season can become an inconvenience, but more importantly it will aggravate your clients. Before you decide on hosting you'll need to decide what kind of file transfer capability your site needs. Permanently storing files for clients online uses much more disk quota than simply transferring them. You'll also need more space if you want to display videos or offer high quality downloadable PDF files on your site. Make sure your host is offering enough file storage for your needs.



Again, your web host may allow you to upgrade as needed, so you may be able to start small and increase your disk space later. Too much space is better than too little. Most new users overestimate their online storage needs and this can drive up your costs slightly. Frankly, disk space is pretty cheap. When tax time rolls around not having enough online storage will disrupt your practice and it's worth a sawbuck or two to avoid this.



Bandwidth



Bandwidth is one of those vital features that is often overlooked by CPA and Accounting firms. Accounting is a very seasonal profession and websites for accountants tend get hit extremely hard during tax season. Bandwidth limits the number of visitors you can recieve in a given time period, and you're website is going to go down in the middle of tax season if you don't have enough. And that's not all. Accounting firms tend to have much higher bandwidth demands than other businesses. Accountants don't use the same "boutique" sites that are adequate for most other businesses. Most business websites only need enough bandwidth to allow visitor traffic. Increases in traffic results in increased bandwidth requirements. As an accountant you'll also be sending and receiving files over your website, and this gobbles up a LOT of bandwidth. Most accountants need at least a Gigabyte of bandwith in the months around tax season. I'd really recommend 1.5Gb, and my most active client consumed more than 3.5Gb last year.



Website Creation Tools



Most hosts won't help you here at all, but all the really good ones will offer tools to help you edit your site. Some sites will only let you upload finished sites that you've built from scratch, others force you to use inflexible templates that cannot be modified at all, and many offer varying degrees of compromise between these extremes. Find out what, if any, editing tools and capabilities your host offers. Your website host may provide you with options to choose the type of package you'd like.



Programming and Databases



OK, this is where things might seem a little intimidating, but it's really not as scary as it sounds. In simple English, you will probably want a website that can support advanced functions. There are limits to what you can do with simple HTML. Find out from your host what options they offer. For example, you may choose to be on a Linux server that supports PHP and the MySQL database, or you could opt for a Windows Server with .NET and Microsoft SQL Server. Both servers are able to do pretty much the same things, but they do them in different ways.



Other Tools



As an accounting firm you'll find that secure file transfer capability is an absolute MUST for your website, but there are some other advanced features to consider. One very important feature is traffic stats. Your host should offer you a report detailing traffic information like number of visits, visitor movement inside the site, and traffic sources. Your host must absolutely offer FTP access to your site allowing you to access, modify, add, delete and otherwise control the files on your website without needing to use the host's editor. And keep an eye out for other goodies, too. You may or may not need this kind of thing right now, but down the road they may come in handy.



Site Security



If you actually want to USE your secure file transfer this becomes extremely important. In order to keep your client's tax returns and QuickBooks files protected you'll need to make sure adequate online security precautions can be put into place. Does your host provide the ability to add SSL to your site? This acts as an encryption key and verifies users' identities in order to ensure that all transactions are secure.



Extras



Most web hosts offer related web services, like email and domain name registration, in addition to their basic service. Sometimes these features are bundled into their basic hosting package, sometimes not. Consider all of a hosts terms and expenses when choosing a host. You can save money this way, but you may just as easily wind up paying for stuff you don't need. Some hosts can be pretty sneaky about using your domain name to strong-arm you into staying with them.



With e-mail, you will also want to find out how you can access that e-mail remotely, if it's compatible with any potential devices (e.g., smartphones) or software (e.g., Microsoft Outlook) that you may use. Using your web host as an Email provider can also sometimes create problems if you ever decide you want to change hosts. What happens to any e-mails you may have on their server?



There are many considerations when choosing a web host. As service professionals dealing with personal financial material accounting firms enjoy a much slimmer margin allowed error allowed to the best websites for accountants than many other types of companies so it's really best to examine your options and discover what other customers of those services think when choosing hosting services. While this post will afford you some helpful information so you can make a comparatively informed choice I would ardently urge making flexibility a weighty element in your final selection. If your host lets you upgrade features as you need them you'll have a substantially easier time building your accounting firm.



Ken Marshall is a consultant and former Officer of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country's leading edge website businesses oriented solely to providing the best websites for accountants.