Round-the-clock access, attracting staff, and building community especially among younger staffers are key points to consider about Web sites for firms, according to Joe Rotella, chief technical officer for Delphia Consulting and speaker at the AICPA Accounting Firm Marketing Forum in New York. He also noted how a firm's technology, often in the form of its Web site, should connect with the desires of staffers at various ages. Noting, for instance, how Gen Yers are comfortable with using credit and receiving quick rewards and how this is the generation you may want to most attract to your staff, Rotella asks, "Do you have immediate rewards in your firm? And if you do, is that mentioned on your Web site? Gen Yers tend to lead socially conscious lives. Does your firm do any community involvement, and is that on your site?"

He also mentions other pointers for firms' sites:

• Write content for the Web and for readers who scan, with no big blocks of text.
• Put contact information on every page of your site, because many who visit your site may make printouts of the pages.
• Use audio and video where possible. PwC, for instance, posted on YouTube one of their interns relating his experiences at the firm, and another firm used video to deliver information on such topics as cost segregation.
•  Podcasts can be marketing additions to a site, on topics like tips for accounting students and using Excel.
• Blogs are also useful, Rotella notes, adding that blog narratives typically "don't have to have a beginning, middle, and end," and should also be short and frequent. He also recommends using an "internal blog" to build community among staffers.
• Alerts are useful to communicate with clients. Rotella cited one firm that sends alerts of changes in tax laws.