Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only revolutionised business around the world, it has also created difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Online Challenges For The Accounting & Financial Services Profession

Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and searching for better ways to promote your business services online.

As well as spending money advertising offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned towards developing and managing a website that will bring new prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and create wider marketing exposure online.

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

One other difficult challenge that accounting firms (and other professions) face online, is that your site has an average of thirty seconds or less to give visitors the information they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for elsewhere.

“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 CPAs In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting firms that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business better online.

This guide will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to increase traffic and improve your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Potential Customers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow Your Business Online With WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

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

If you need help with website planning, read this detailed guide: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

You need to include a page that lists your services and products.

Your page will include all the services and products you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It should include any industry awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online and get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team 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 employee’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add an updatable list directory of employees to your web site without coding skills, go here: How To Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your company. This page could include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include case studies of recruits who have risen within your company and information about 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 this page, join your announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also provides prospective clients with social proof.

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

If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews, refer to this article: How To Create Better Results Online With More Effective Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is essential.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Business Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Social media links
• Online chat

If you operate out of different areas you should make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as news, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your business.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting site is hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act both as your website and blog.

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin attracting an ongoing stream of targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate new traffic automatically to your site)

For more details, go here: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Drive More Website Visitors For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever you provide services to.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site. For more details: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your visitors to share your web pages online and come back for more. Publishing content is a great way to educate site visitors and prospects about your business and about doing business with your company.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics can cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit and loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your readers understand accounting services, such as finance accounting, small business accounting, office accounting software, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for.

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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site 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 user experience (generally referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing information on your website from other sites, 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 key industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of feeds you could add to your 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Add Online Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. They can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms (or links to these) covering topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that can improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to improve your accounting web presence.

To view the rest of this guide, click this link:

• Your Accounting Website – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With Plugins

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