Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionized the way business is done around the world, it has also created a number of challenges and great opportunities for the accounting and financial services sector.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountants must work harder to remain competitive, obtain new business, and keep their current clientele. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned towards the development and management of a website that brings in prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps them gain a wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change over time and some aspects may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that CPAs face with their websites, as other businesses do for that matter, is that your site has an average of thirty seconds to provide users with what they need 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 Accounting Professionals

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting businesses that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and think progressively about marketing their business services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn a number of ways to attract and engage 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 recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting or financial services business website.

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

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers
• How To Grow Your Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what content works best, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, see this article: How To Plan Your Website: A Comprehensive Guide For Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All websites require several basic pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services Description Page

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

This page will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, 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

Make sure to 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.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ 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, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote the company and set it above the competition.

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

Team Profile

Are you searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction with your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It 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 also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s qualifications, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to create and add an updatable simple team members directory in your web site using free plugins, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Career Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities available within the firm. It can include training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and 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 newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to show prospective clients businesses minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also helps to provide social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials, case studies and user reviews to grow your business online. For more details, go here: Improve Your Sales With Meaningful Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide:

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live chat feature

If your business operates out of several areas you will want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content such as industry news, updates, training articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that will help begin to attract targeted visitors to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can drive new visitors automatically to your site)

For more details, go here: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important for professional organizations to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content has become one of the key business differentiators.

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

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, using office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to use keywords and terms in your content that your readers would search for online.

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 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 marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

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

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

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• Allows users to subscribe
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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 by visiting sites of finance and tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few feeds you could add 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

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Add Online Forms

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

Forms and checklists can address subjects such as:

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

Adding Other Tools

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

In part 2, we take a look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can add to your site that can help improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To keep reading, click here:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation

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