Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionised business globally, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses in the accounting sector.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having a website and searching for better ways to market your business online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities like advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned to develop and manage a website that drives new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps you create wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a well-developed web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accounting firms face online (as all other professions do for that matter), is that you have only about thirty seconds to give users the information they are looking for or they will leave and 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 Accountants In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to accounting businesses that can adapt to meet digital challenges and think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn new ways to increase web traffic and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS) 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 Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Potential Buyers
• An Online Guide To Growing A Successful Business With A WordPress Site

How To Improve Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages an accounting site needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, useful tips for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, check out the guide we have written here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to structure your website for best results.

Your Services And Products

You need a page that describes your products and services.

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

• Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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 businesses, asset 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 direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

Remember to also include any business awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and set it above the competition.

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

Your Team

Are you searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini bio. 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 that will allow your site visitors to follow your team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline your team member’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills and knowledge contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to easily add a simple employee directory to WordPress without touching code here: Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within your firm. It can include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your firm, etc. You can include information about upcoming 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, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what kind of financial solutions you will implement to help solve their problems. Adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also provides social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews improve your business online here: Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Knockout Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

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

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business services multiple locations you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

You can also include a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content like announcements, updates, useful articles, informative posts, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

You may not know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin attracting web traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Generate More Website Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Information

Having a compliant website is crucially important, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being broken in whatever area you do business in.

Adding the legal pages below to your website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial 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 The Content On Your Site

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your readers to share your web pages online and come back for more. Content marketing is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics could include:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your accounting or financial services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients will be searching 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 high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

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 different ways to improve your visitor engagement and UX.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide valuable information, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS 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 the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing valuable information on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few useful RSS feeds you could 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

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

Add Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. They can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete a task. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

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

In the next section of this guide, we will look at a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that can help improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

Click on this link to continue:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Traffic

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