2012 Review of Thomson Reuters' Web Builder CS, Powered by Emochila

by Dustin Wheeler, CPA
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Email

Web Builder CS offers up to ten e-mail addresses for the firm’s domain with 7 GB of storage each. However, firms using Web Builder CS to host a site aren’t required to use the e-mail service and can maintain their own Exchange or other server.

Newsletter Marketing & Content

Web Builder CS features both a monthly newsletter and a daily news feed. Web Builder CS automatically publishes the newsletter monthly on its firms’ websites and automatically sends the newsletter to all of their clients via e-mail. The e-mail newsletter uses each firm’s header and colors so that the branding matches. Firms can also use their own generated content for the newsletters. Firms can create and manage mailing lists within the program.

Other Features

Web Builder CS includes a proprietary blogging software built into the application. Simple and easy to use, the blogging interface contains options for categorizing posts, formatting text, adding images, and choosing an author name. However, it does not contain features that writers experienced with other blogging software may be used to, such as saving drafts, adding tags, and setting later dates for posts to go live. Web Builder CS users can link to social profiles, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yelp. Firms using the blog software can automatically populate blog posts to any and all social media platforms.

Unique to its competitors, Web Builder CS offers page templates for testimonials and referrals. After a website visitor fills out a testimonial or referral, the administration page collects the information entered and allows firms to have the information sent to an e-mail address. Firms must approve testimonials before they are posted.

Summary & Pricing

It will be interesting to see the Emochila platform develop as it further integrates with the Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite. Its combination of solid web design, marketing tools, and user friendly interface helps thousands of tax and accounting firms build an online presence. Pricing starts at $70 per month, which covers the hosting, content, features and support. There is no up-front setup cost, and the template designs are free. Custom design work ranges from $500 for a logo, $1,250 for a custom designed site, and $2,000 for a fully animated designed site. Interested users can try the product free for 30 days.

 

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