Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face growing challenges.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, CPAs must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, find new clients, 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 and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and searching for smarter ways to promote your business online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned towards the development and maintenance of a website that can drive new prospective clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to give their business a wider amount of marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site layout 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 some aspects may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed web and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accounting firms (and most businesses) face online, is that they have around thirty seconds or less to give users what they need or they will leave your site 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 Accounting Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting profession that can evolve to meet online demands and who can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover new opportunities to drive more web traffic and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your business online, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting business website.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Prospective Customers
• The Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by reviewing some basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: Planning Your Website - A Comprehensive Blueprint For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

All business websites require a number of essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

It’s essential to include a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

It will include services such as:

• Business – planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, 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 businesses, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical programs, etc.

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

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

Team Profile

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online, then something you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know your business better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in accounting terms your bio 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 visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

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

(Add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add an updatable list directory of employees or team members in your website, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Career Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities available within the firm. This page would include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include information about career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients them minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients also establishes social proof.

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

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews, refer to this article: All You Need To Know To Get Better Results Online Using Profit-Boosting Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Online Chat/Skype

If you operate from several locations you want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for commonly-asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as industry events, product releases, educational articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is very hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and business blog.

Something not many businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that will attract targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding content to your website on a regular basis.

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

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Information

As a professional business, having a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever you service clients.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your site. To learn more, go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content that educates and informs readers has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

By committing to providing great content with useful advice and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your web pages and coming back for more information. This is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords in your content that your 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 and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful 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!

Improve User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your site.

If you provide useful content, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes 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 visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are examples of RSS feeds you may want to 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

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your site’s user experience.)

Provide Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a necessary task. Forms and checklists are great business planning tools.

Checklists and forms can include subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed guide, we discuss a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can help improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To keep reading, click this link:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic Using Plugins

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