Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only transformed the way business is done globally, it has also created many challenges and great opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do you have to actively participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to investing dollars in offline marketing activities, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be allocated to developing and maintaining a website that will attract clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help create wider marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change in time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that certified public accountants face online, as most professions do for that matter, is that your site has around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find the information they are looking 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

Online Opportunities For Accounting Professionals

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and can think progressively about marketing their services better online.

The article below will help you uncover a number of ways to attract and engage new visitors and improve your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your web presence, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting business website or blog.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Prospective Buyers
• An Online Guide To Building A Successful Business With A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

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

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, read this detailed step-by-step guide: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Improving Your Web Pages

All websites need several essential pages. Let’s review these.

Description Of services And Products

It’s essential to include a page that lists your services or products.

This page will include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate finance
• 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 businesses, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

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

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

Remember to also list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above the competition.

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

Your Staff Page

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help prospective clients get to know you, your team and your business better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. 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 site visitors to follow some of your team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to WordPress using a free plugin, go here: How To Add An Employee List Directory

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. This page could include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your firm, etc. You can include stories of graduates who have risen within your organization and information about new career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show potential clients minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to provide prospective clients with social proof online.

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

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews improve your business online, go here: Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Profit-Boosting Client Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following:

• Company Name
• Address of premises
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Online chat feature

If you operate from several locations you want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to commonly-asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news, updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your company.

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

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic system that can help drive web traffic to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more info, see this article: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever your business services clients.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms 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
• and others

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You want to provide great content with advice and tips that will get your visitors sharing your content with others online and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics could include the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Profit & loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords in your content that prospective clients would search for online.

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

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

Improving website user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful information, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

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

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

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing great information on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

For example, here are some RSS feeds containing useful information that you may want to consider adding to your accounting website:

• 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

(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Add Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. They can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and forms are also great business planning tools.

Checklists and forms could address subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business online.

Click on this link to read the rest of this article:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors

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