Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face a number of challenges in the web economy, especially when it comes to growing a presence online.

Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants

Now, more than ever, certified public accountants must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, find new business, and keep their current clientele. Not only do you have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and searching for better ways to market your business services online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they need to designate a bigger part of their marketing budget to develop and maintain a website that can bring in clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and give their business a wider degree of marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change in time and many aspects may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accountancy firms face (as other professions do for that matter), is that your site has around thirty seconds to give visitors the information they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for 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 The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and think progressively in terms of marketing their business better online.

The guide below will help you uncover new ways to increase web traffic and improve your business results online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Potential Clients And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow A Successful Small Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

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

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, read this detailed step-by-step guide: The Website Planning Process Explained - A Useful Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Your Services And Products

You need a page that lists your services and products.

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

• Business accounting – business planning, company formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, 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 businesses, 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 what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

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

It’s important to also mention any industry awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote the company and position it above your competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction with your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow your team members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight your person’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your website with no coding skills required, see this tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your WordPress Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Work With Us

List any career opportunities available within your organization. It could include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your firm, etc. You can include information about additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients businesses minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also helps to provide visitors social proof online.

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

We have created a detailed article on using testimonials, case studies and client reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Standout Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a functional contact page is essential.

It should provide the following information about your business:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Address of office
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business services multiple locations you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

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

Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as news, product updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will attract targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing new content on a regular basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate web traffic automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Increase Your Web Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Pages

It’s extremely important for accounting firms to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of legal threats and 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
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. For more details, go here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• 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
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s 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 your readers understand your accounting services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, 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!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides lots of benefits for your accounting business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses 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
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

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

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by searching online for tax-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some useful RSS feeds you could 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 feeds to improve your site’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can give them useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we take a look at a number of online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your accounting business web presence.

Click here to continue reading:

• How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence With WordPress – Part Two

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