Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed the way business is done worldwide, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and great opportunities for the accounting profession.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also maintain a strong web presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better promote your services online.

In addition to investing money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be allocated towards the development and management of a website that will attract prospects, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase their presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website will change in time and many aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires a sound web and content management strategy in place.

Another difficult challenge that CPAs (and most other professions) face online, is that your site has around thirty seconds to give users what they are searching 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 Accountants

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting firms that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this article, you will discover ways and opportunities to find new clientele and build more online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting business website.

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

• Discover How A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Business Online With A WordPress Site

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting websites, useful tips for improving your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Basic Blueprint For Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

All business websites require several basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Your Services And Products

You need to include a page that explains your products or services.

Your page will include all the products and services you offer, such as:

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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Core Team

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to grow your business online or increase user interaction on your site, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t 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. It should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline each staff member’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a team profile page. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team directory to your website here: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities within the organization. It can include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include stories of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information such as the job outlook and 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 the page, subscribe to your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Client reviews and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your company. By adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients, you will also help to establish social proof.

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews, see this article: Learn How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Awesome Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a clean contact page is crucial.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Business Name
• Location
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Contact email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media links
• Interactive chat (optional)

If your business operates in multiple areas you should make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like company news, product releases, educational information, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that will begin delivering web traffic to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details: Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Attract More Traffic For Your Business

Legal Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucially important, not just for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever you provide services to.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• 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
• etc.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site. For more details: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, the earlier you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content online and coming back for more information. Using content is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your company.

For example, for an accounting business, topics could cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content that readers will be searching 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 exactly 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 marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, 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 in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing 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 loads of useful content for your website, visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Here are examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your 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

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

Provide Forms & Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

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

In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your accounting site that improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to grow your accounting business web presence.

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• Grow Your Accounting Website – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic Using WordPress Plugins

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