Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face a growing number of challenges created by the online economy.

Online Challenges For Accounting Firms

Now, more than ever, accountants must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, obtain new business, and retain current clients. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as investing money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be allocated to develop and manage a website that can attract new prospects, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and help you gain wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change over time and some aspects may need to be updated frequently. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accounting organizations (and all other businesses) face online, is that they have around 30 seconds to give visitors what 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

Online Opportunities For Accounting Services

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that can adapt to meet online economy demands and who can think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will discover a number of ways to source new clientele and establish online credibility for your business.

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

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

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Prospective Customers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Small Business With A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

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

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, check out the article we have written here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require several basic web pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Products And Services Page

You need a page that lists your services or products.

This page will include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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 a business, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

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

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community activities, etc.

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

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

Staff

Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in 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 even include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social networks.

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

(Add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-update simple team members directory in your web site without coding skills, see this tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

Recruitment Page

List any career opportunities within your company. It could include training offered, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities encouraged or sponsored by your organization, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also 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 updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your organization. Adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies also provides visitors social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online here: Create Better Results Online With Captivating Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

It should include:

• Name
• Location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Live Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business operates in different areas you should make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You can also include links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news and events, company updates, educational information, opinions and discussions, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your services.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting or financial services website is hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin delivering a stream of targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create An Automated Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress

Legal Pages

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever your business is located.

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

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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, content marketing has become one of the key success factors for businesses selling similar products or providing similar services.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords in your articles that your readers will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, 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 completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

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

Add RSS Feeds

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

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing content on your website from other sites, 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 finance and tax-related government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are some useful RSS feeds you could consider adding 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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your accounting site’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. They can also be great planning tools.

Forms and checklists can include subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and add value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we discuss a number of WordPress plugins you can use in your site that improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

Click on this link to continue:

• Online Business Tips For Accountants – How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Website Generation Using Plugins

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