Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done globally, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for CPAs and financial service providers.

Challenges Accounting Businesses Face Online

CPAs today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to actively participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated to develop and maintain a website that attracts new prospective clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and gives you wider exposure online.

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

One other problem that accounting organizations face online (and other businesses for that matter), is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to provide users with what they are looking for 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

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think outside the box in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will discover opportunities to source new potential clients and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your accounting website, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting business website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Money
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing A Successful Business Online Using A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

This section explains ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages a financial services website needs, what content you need, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

Professional websites need several basic pages. Let’s discuss these.

Products And Services

It’s essential to include a page that explains your services and products.

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

• Business accounting – business planning, company formation, general 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 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It’s important to mention any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your company and position it above your competitors.

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

Team

Are you looking for inexpensive ways to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know you and your business better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms it 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 that will allow your site visitors to follow your team members on their social pages.

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

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable simple team members directory in WordPress without coding skills, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within your firm. This page should include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. You can also include information about new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

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

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

To learn more about using client case studies and client reviews to grow your business online, go here: Learn How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Sales Boosting Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Name
• Location
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Chat feature (optional feature)

If your business services multiple locations you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You should also include links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content such as company news, product releases, training articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin driving web traffic to your site, simply by adding new content to your website on a regular basis.

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

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

Legal Information Pages

It’s vitally important to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats or 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
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here if you want to learn more adding legal pages to your website: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Ways To Improve Your Content

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

By committing to providing great content with useful information and tips, you will get your readers to share your web pages with others online and come back for more information. This is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos 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 your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, office accounting software, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for online.

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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality 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!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your business.

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

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of 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.

To find useful RSS feeds just search online for tax-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Here are some feeds you may want to 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Provide Online Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. They are great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can include areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools you can add to accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this guide, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click on this link to keep reading:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic

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