Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done globally, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for accounting and financial services businesses.

Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants

Today, more than ever, accountancy firms must work hard and find smarter ways to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and retain current clients. Not only do they have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business online.

As well as spending dollars marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be allocated towards the development and maintenance of a website that will attract new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help give you wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change in time and some aspects will need to be updated often. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting firms face with their websites (and most professions for that matter), is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to help users find what they are looking for or they will leave the site.

“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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing many challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting companies that can evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think progressively when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will discover opportunities to attract and engage more visitors and improve your business online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your accounting or financial services website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see these articles:

• Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Small Business – An Online Guide To Growing Your Small Business With A WordPress Blog

Tips To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Site

This section looks at how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages an accounting website needs, what type of content works best, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, check out the article we have written here: How To Plan A Website - A Cost-Saving Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Services

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

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, 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 a business, 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 book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Staff Page

If you are searching for simple ways to grow your business online or get people to interact more on your site, then make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization 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 mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms it 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 so your visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your 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.

(Make sure to add an employee page. Image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain list of employees to your web site using a free WordPress plugin, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within your company. This page would include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your firm, etc. It should include case studies of trainees who have worked their way up in your organization and information about upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, join your updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your company. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof online.

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

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews, refer to this article: Discover How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Knockout User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include the following information:

• Name
• Your physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat feature

If you operate in different locations you will want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like industry announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your organization.

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

You are probably not aware of this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that will begin to drive targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing content on a regular basis to your website.

(WordPress can generate new traffic automatically to your site)

For more details, go here: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Website Traffic Automatically

Legal Info Pages

It’s crucial for accounting and financial services firms to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws or regulations wherever your business services clients.

Depending on what services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of 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 Links Policy
• Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, having a sound content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

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

For example, topics for an accounting business could include:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords in your articles 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 show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides many benefits for your business.

If you provide information 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 updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing information 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 loads of useful content by searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could 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

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

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists covering areas such as:

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

Provide Other Tools

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

In the next section, we look at a number of WordPress plugins you can use in your accounting or financial services website that improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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

Click here to keep reading:

• Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Web Traffic

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