Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized business worldwide, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and great opportunities for accountants.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

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

In addition to spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated to develop and manage a website that can attract prospects, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help increase their marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-developed web and content management strategy in place.

Another difficult challenge that accounting organizations (and other businesses) face, is that your site has only around thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they are looking for or they will go away.

“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 significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting businesses that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think progressively about improving their online marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover new opportunities to drive more web traffic and create significant improvements in your business online.

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

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

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress In Business – The Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Successful Business With WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

Let’s start by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages your website needs, what content works best for accounting websites, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this article we have written: How To Plan A Web Site - A Practical Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites need several essential web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products Page

You need a page that lists your services and products.

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, financing, 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, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

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

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

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to sell more products or services online and get people to engage more with your site, then make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow 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 highlight your team member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add an employee page. Image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily create and add an updatable simple employee directory in your web site using a free WP plugin, go here: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory To Your Site

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within the company. This page would include type of training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities encouraged or sponsored by your firm, etc. You can include case studies of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to 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 this page, join your updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients businesses minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof online.

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

We have written a comprehensive article on using case studies, testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Learn more here: All You Need To Know To Get Better Results Online With Effective Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide the following information:

• Business Name
• Your physical address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live chat

If you have several locations you will want to make this 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.

Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as industry news, updates, useful articles, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that can instantly begin to attract web traffic to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate web traffic automatically to your site)

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

Legal Info Pages

It’s crucially important for accounting and financial services organizations to have a compliant website, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s highly competitive global economy, content generosity has become one of the key business differentiators.

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

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords in your articles that readers would search 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 that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for 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 completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving user experience (known as UX) will help to 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

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

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

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to 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 just search online for tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of RSS feeds you may want to consider adding 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 feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Add Online Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. They can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. Checklists and forms are also great planning tools.

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

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

Add 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 users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this detailed article, we will look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your accounting website that improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this step-by-step guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.

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

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

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