For some time I have been thinking about how to create a presence for myself and my practice on the web. I receive all sorts of junk mail from vendors trying to get me to use their website template. It certainly seems tempting. Just pay someone else a fixed fee and 'Poof!' your on the web. While these website peddlers promise to give you a presence to differentiate yourself from the rest of your peers, the exact opposite happens.
The CPA firms end up with a product that is identical to every other CPA firm. A recent Yahoo! search yielded the following information:
121 CPA firms are currently running the exact same article about how to secure a commercial loan. Not only is the article not creative in the sense that the firms are left with word-for-word what everyone else has, but also the article is not very timely. The last thing small businesses need to be told in this market is to put together a 'smoke and mirrors' method of convincing a lender of your credit worthiness. That's essentially what all the 120+ firms are advising under the sub-heading 'Realize the Value of Schmooze'!
Even in Cartersville, GA there are two members of the local Chamber of Commerce who are running this article as well as other identical articles in the same newsletter. You go to the first firms site and the welcome page tells you, "Our high standards, responsive service and specialized staff spell the difference between our firm and the rest."
You then go to the second firm's website and they proclaim, "Our high standards, responsive service and specialized staff spell the difference between our firm and the rest."
I guess the definition of specialized staff includes: Opening your checkbook and purchasing a 'canned' website chock-ful of information of which you're unqualified to develop yourself.
If this is what differentiation is all about, no thanks! I prefer not to receive 'cookie-cutter' advise in the financial services arena and I don't want to be one dispensing it.
The CPA firms end up with a product that is identical to every other CPA firm. A recent Yahoo! search yielded the following information:
121 CPA firms are currently running the exact same article about how to secure a commercial loan. Not only is the article not creative in the sense that the firms are left with word-for-word what everyone else has, but also the article is not very timely. The last thing small businesses need to be told in this market is to put together a 'smoke and mirrors' method of convincing a lender of your credit worthiness. That's essentially what all the 120+ firms are advising under the sub-heading 'Realize the Value of Schmooze'!
Even in Cartersville, GA there are two members of the local Chamber of Commerce who are running this article as well as other identical articles in the same newsletter. You go to the first firms site and the welcome page tells you, "Our high standards, responsive service and specialized staff spell the difference between our firm and the rest."
You then go to the second firm's website and they proclaim, "Our high standards, responsive service and specialized staff spell the difference between our firm and the rest."
I guess the definition of specialized staff includes: Opening your checkbook and purchasing a 'canned' website chock-ful of information of which you're unqualified to develop yourself.
If this is what differentiation is all about, no thanks! I prefer not to receive 'cookie-cutter' advise in the financial services arena and I don't want to be one dispensing it.
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