Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionized businesses around the world, it has also created significant challenges and opportunities for the accounting sector.

Challenges Accounting And Financial Businesses Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, find new clients, and retain current business. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and figuring out better ways to market your business services online.

As well as spending money advertising offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be allocated towards the development and management of a website that brings in prospects, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and gives your business a wider degree of marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change over time and many areas may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accounting organizations (and all other businesses) face, is that your site has only around 30 seconds to give users what they need 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 The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can adapt to meet digital economy challenges and who can think strategically when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will learn about ways to attract more visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what content you need, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need help with website planning, see this article: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All websites need several essential pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products Page

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

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate finance
• 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. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, supported community projects, etc.

Remember to mention any business awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote the company and set it above other competitors.

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

Core Team

Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be that 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 that will allow your site visitors to follow selected staff members on their social pages.

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

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add a list directory of staff or team members to your website without using code, see this tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within the organization. This page could include training provided, benefits, professional development, social activities promoted or encouraged by your firm, etc. You can include case studies of graduates who have worked their way up in your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain 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 your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

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

(Add a page with case studies and reviews from clients. Image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively about using testimonials, case studies and user reviews get better results online. For more details, go here: How To Improve Your Conversions With Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information:

• Company Name
• Location
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Social media URLs
• Online chat

If your business operates from different locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news, product updates, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will deliver targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(WordPress can drive new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Web Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s important to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website 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 Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content has become one of the key business differentiators.

You will want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your visitors to share your content and come back for more information. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit & loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your articles that readers 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 you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your site.

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

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows for subscribing
• A feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

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

You can find RSS feeds with useful content by searching online for relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you may want to add 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 feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Provide Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to perform a necessary task. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

You can provide forms and checklists (or links to these) 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
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are some of the most popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

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

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This is the end of section one of this comprehensive article on ways to build your accounting business online.

To view Part 2, click this link:

• A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Successfully Grow An Accounting Website – Part 2

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