Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised the way business is done around the world, it has also created growing challenges and opportunities for CPAs.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountants must work harder and find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, obtain new clients, and retain current business. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out better ways to grow your business services online.

As well as investing dollars marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated towards the development and maintenance of a website that will attract prospects, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and help them gain a wider amount of exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change in time and some areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that certified public accountants face, as do other businesses for that matter, is that your site has only about thirty seconds or less to help users find what they need or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“Websites have evolved into central information hubs where service information is still present but enhanced with web portals, hyperlinks to state and federal sites, and a variety of free tools.”

Michael Alter, http://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software/tips-for-improving-your-website

Opportunities For Accountants In The Web Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and think strategically when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

This guide will help you uncover new opportunities to attract and engage more visitors and create significant improvements in your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see these articles:

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

All business websites require some basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need to have and how to set up your website for best results.

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that describes your products and services.

It should include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate accounting
• Wealth creation
• Superannuation/retirement plan (401k) advice
• Audit risk assessment and assurance
• Quickbooks – setup, training, tune up, and support
• Specialist services – mergers, acquisitions, information technology, secretarial, rentals, trusts, fiduciary accounting, succession planning, selling a business, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

This page should also list any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

(List all of your awards certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc. in the About page. Image sourced from: deloitte.com)

Meet The Team

If you are searching for simple ways to grow your business online and get people to engage more on your site, then help your visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow individual staff members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your staff member’s expertise, how they contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add a simple and easy-to-manage simple staff directory in your website using free WordPress plugins, go here: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

Recruitment Page

List any career opportunities available within the company. This page could include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted or sponsored by your firm, etc. You should also include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your organization and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show prospective clients what type of solutions you will implement to help them solve their problems. Adding a web page with testimonials and case studies also helps your accounting website to provide social proof online.

(Add a web page with client reviews and case studies. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

We have written a comprehensive article on using client testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With Standout User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is crucial.

It should provide visitors with the following:

• Company Name
• Your physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media profiles
• Interactive chat

If your business services multiple locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as industry events, company updates, educational articles, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your firm.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting site is very hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your business website and business blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that will begin attracting a stream of targeted traffic to your web site, simply by publishing new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Information

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vital, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whichever area you do business in.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, refer to this article: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, the earlier you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers to share your content with others and come back for more information. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your company.

For example, topics for an accounting business can cover the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords in your articles that prospective clients will be searching for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and UX.

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in several ways.

If you provide useful information, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of tax-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are a few feeds you could add to your accounting site:

• Taxation Policy Center: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/press/rss.cfm
• Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/RSS-news-feeds.aspx
• Canada Revenue Agency: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/rssfeeds/
• UK HM Revenue and Customs: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rss/rss.htm
• South Africa Revenue Service: http://www.sars.gov.za/Pages/RSS-Feeds.aspx

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Add Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete tasks. Forms and checklists are great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms covering topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this guide, we take a look at a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins and themes that improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• A Complete Guide On How To Successfully Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence – Part Two

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