Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done around the world, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and great opportunities for businesses offering accounting and financial services.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out smarter ways to grow your business services online.

As well as investing money marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, you will need to assign a greater part of your marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to increase your marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web 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 over time and many areas may need to be updated often. This requires a sound website and content management strategy in place.

One other problem that accountancy firms (and most other businesses) face online, is that your site has only around thirty seconds to provide users what they are searching for 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 Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting profession that can adapt to meet the challenges of the digital economy and think progressively about marketing themselves better online.

In this article, you will learn a number of ways to find more potential clients and improve your business results online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow Your Business Online

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by reviewing some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages a financial services site needs, what type of content you need, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this guide: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

How To Improve Your Web Pages

Professional websites require several basic web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need to have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

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

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

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

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, supported community projects, etc.

It should also mention any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

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

Team

Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow individual staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight your team member’s expertise, 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 add an easy-to-manage directory of staff members to your website without using code, see this tutorial: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. It can include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also 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 you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what kind of solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you will also help to provide potential clients with social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using case studies, testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more: Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Knockout Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include the following information about your firm:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your physical location
• Telephone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Online chat feature

If you operate from multiple areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You could also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content such as announcements, updates, useful articles, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.

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

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin to attract web traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

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

Legal Information Pages

It’s important to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever your business services clients.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

To learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

By committing to providing great content with useful information and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your web pages online with others and coming back for more. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, tips on using business accounting software, reducing business debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terminology in your content that your prospective clients would search for online.

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 site, 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 To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in many ways.

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

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
• RSS feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing great content on your site from other websites, 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 finance-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are some RSS feeds containing useful information that 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your accounting site’s UX.)

Add Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide useful instructions and resources to complete a task. Forms and checklists are also great business planning tools.

You can provide online or downloadable checklists and forms (or links to these) covering a range of subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed article, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to build your accounting web presence.

Click here to continue reading:

• How To Successfully Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence With WordPress – Part 2

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