Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face increasingly difficult challenges thanks to the online economy.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Accounting businesses 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 and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better market your business services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed to developing and managing a website that will bring in leads, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and give your business wider exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and your website 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 sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting businesses face online (as most businesses do for that matter), is that your site has an average of thirty seconds or less to provide users with what they need or they will look 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 Web Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn new ways to attract new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting or financial services website.

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

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• The Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Accounting Website

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

If you need additional information about website planning, visit this page: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

All websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s go over these.

Products And Services

You need a page that lists your products and services.

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

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

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also include any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above the competition.

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

Staff

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be that 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. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each team member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add a list of staff or team members to your web site without coding skills here: Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within your firm. It would include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include stories of trainees who have risen within your firm and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also 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 contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

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

(Add a page to your site with testimonials from past clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews get better results online here: All You Need To Know To Start Getting Better Results Online Using More Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide the following information about your business:

• Business Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Chat (optional feature)

If you have different locations you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

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

Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news and events, updates, educational articles, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that will begin to attract targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

If you would like to learn more about this here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Website Traffic For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, having a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever your do business in.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential 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 Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here for a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Content

In today’s highly competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your content online and come back for more. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about your business and about using your products and services.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

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

Remember to include the same keywords and terms 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality 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!

Improve User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses will 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
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides several ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to your site 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, search online for relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that 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

(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s UX.)

Add Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. Forms and checklists can also be great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

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

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

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This is the end of part one.

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

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Visitors To Your Website

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