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Vital Tips In Regards to Hosting Companies and Websites For Accountants
Websites have become rather prosaic and pretty much anyone can easily set up their own. Once the website is up, though, it's time to get a host. Website hosting is a part of of the web that most people, even most website owners, don't truly understand. There are a number of important components you need to look at when selecting a service to host your website. Once you understand what you're looking for you'll discover that hosting isn't actually all that alien. You need to look at storage, support, and cost. You need to be sure that your host will give you enough online storage for all your files, and will allow enough traffic to and from your site. Who will be available to help when you have questions? How much will you have to pay, and what's included in your fee?
Let's take a closer look at these topics one at a time...
Customer Support
What kind of technical support will your new web host offer, and are there different levels of support you can get? A lot of people don't think about support until it's needed and this can be a very expensive mistake. Even if you don't have problems I guarantee sooner or later you'll have questions.
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. Pay attention to time zones. If having that type of support is important, make sure that it's available to you.
Storage Quota
If all you have is a website with a few pages this isn't much of an issue, but for the best websites for accountants you'll need 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.
Most websites for accountants use the bulk of their file storage on client files. Here are some guidelines: You'll store most normal documents like tax returns and forms as black and white PDF files. 35 pages of normal business documents usually use up about 500kb of storage. PDF files get much larger if they have color or are saved at high resolutions. While they're usually smaller than this (and occasionally larger) I recommend allowing about 20Mb for QuickBooks files.
Find out if your web host will allow you to upgrade your storage if the need arises. This is the best possible solution because it allows you to start small and expand your capacity as your business grows. Too much space is better than too little. Most new users overestimate their online storage needs and this can drive up your costs slightly. On the other hand disk space is relatively cheap, so if upgrades are unavailable or if you're staring down the barrel of tax season and you must err it's usually better to pay an extra Jefferson to avoid disrupting your practice.
Bandwidth Limits
Bandwidth is extremely important when hosting websites for accountants, and it often gets overlooked. In essence, the higher the bandwidth allotment, the more visitors that can visit your site during that day or month. Websites for Accountants have much higher bandwidth requirements than most other websites. Most websites only need enough bandwidth to allow visitors to view the actual website. The more visitors they anticipate, the more bandwidth they need. This is still true of accounting websites, but even smaller firms are going to need a lot more bandwidth than a bowling alley or restaurant might need. Accountants send and recieve files over the internet all the time, and this causes their bandwidth needs to skyrocket. Most accountants need at least a Gigabyte of bandwith in the months around tax season. 1.5Gb would be better, and this assumes a smaller firm and average use. Last year my most active client used more than 3Gb in the month of march.
Website Editor
What kind of tools are available for you to create your website? 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 Language / Database Availability
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. If your host is using a Windows server they most likely offer support for .NET and Microsoft SQL databases. On the other hand if it's a Linux server they'll most likely support PHP and and MySQL. Both servers are able to do pretty much the same things, but they do them in different ways.
File Transfer and 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. Do they provide web stats so you can see who is visiting your site? Do you have FTP access for ease of moving files onto and off of your website? What other tools are provided for other advanced features? You may or may not need this kind of thing right now, but down the road they may come in handy.
Security Features
This is absolutely crucial and non-negotiable if you're going to be using the website to transfer sensitive documents like QuickBooks files and tax returns! Does your host provide the ability to add SSL to your site? This will ensure a secure transaction and also verify your company's identity.
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. And similar to the domain registration, what happens if you decide to leave this host? Make sure you've downloaded ALL your emails into an email client before changing email hosts.
There are many considerations when choosing a web host. The nature of the accounting business makes foul-ups on the best websites for accountants a much more profound topic for you than it is for most conventional businesses. Difficulties with disk quota, bandwidth, and especially security can reflect very poorly, and very openly, on your firm's competence. You will probably decide that your ideal host will allow you to upgrade your website with new hosting features as time passes and your practice grows or, if not, they might be willing to provide you a simple method to change hosts when the time comes.