Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed the way business is done around the world, it has also created significant challenges and great opportunities for certified public accountants.

Online Challenges For Accounting Businesses

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

As well as spending dollars marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed to developing and managing a website that brings in clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps 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 your site’s needs may change in time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires having a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.

One other problem that accounting firms face, as most businesses do for that matter, is that your site has only about thirty seconds to provide users with what they are searching for or they will go 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 Accounting Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for accounting firms that can evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and can think progressively about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn ways to source more business and establish online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress platform to power your accounting website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Prospective Buyers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow Your Business Online With A WordPress Site

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Website

Let’s start by going over some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what type of content you need, suggestions for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, visit this page: A Cost-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s review these.

Your Services

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

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

• Business – business planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, 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 should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, community events, etc.

This page should also mention any accounting awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above your competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know 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. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in accounting terms it 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 prospective clients to follow your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline your team member’s experience, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff members in your site using a free WP plugin here: How To Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work For Us

List any career opportunities available within your company. It could include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored by your firm, etc. You can also include case studies of trainees who have risen within your organization and information about new career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Maintain 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 And Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your company. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you are also helping to provide social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews here: Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions Using More Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Physical location
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Live chat

If your business operates in different locations you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

You should also include links to the most commonly asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using content such as announcements, updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that will begin driving an ongoing stream of new visitors to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

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

For more details: Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Generate More Website Traffic For Your Business

Legal Info Pages

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vitally important, not just for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being breached in whichever area or location you provide services to.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting website 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
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here to learn more about adding legal pages to your website: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers to share your content and come back for more information. This is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your products and services.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• 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 informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content that readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for your 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your user experience (generally referred to 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.

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable content, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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.

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

For example, here are some feeds 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

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

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are also great planning tools.

Forms and checklists could include subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Online Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.

To continue, click this link:

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

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