Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized the way business is done around the world, it has also created many challenges and opportunities for the accounting sector.

Challenges Accounting & Financial Businesses Face Online

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, find new business, and keep their current clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and searching for better ways to grow your business online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete, you will need to designate a greater share of your budget to developing and managing a website that will attract prospects, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and help to give you wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and many aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accountants face online (and all other professions for that matter), is that your site has around 30 seconds or less to give users what they need 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 In The Web Economy

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting companies that can adapt to meet digital demands and can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover a number of ways to attract and engage new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your website, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Business
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Business Online With WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting and financial services sites, navigation structure, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, go here: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites need several basic pages. Let’s review these.

Description Of Products And Services

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

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

• Business – business planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also include any accounting awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above the competition.

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

Our Team

If you are searching for ways to sell more products online, then help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to 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. This page should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social pages.

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

(Add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

For a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an updatable simple team directory in your web site using free plugins, go here: How To Add A Simple Employee List To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

List any career opportunities available within the organization. It should include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities sponsored by your firm, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your firm and information about upcoming 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 this page, join your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what kind of financial solutions you are capable of implementing to help them solve problems. By adding a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof online.

(Add a web page with case studies and testimonials. Image source: pcg-services.com)

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews get better results online, go here: How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Profit-Boosting Testimonials

Contact Page

A clean contact page is crucial.

It should include some or all of the following:

• Name
• Your physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media networks
• Chat/Skype

If your business operates in several locations you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including 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 is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like industry events, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

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

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Website Visitors For Your Business Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Pages

As a professional business, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is important, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you service clients.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions 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 detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. For more details: Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your visitors to share your web pages online with others and come back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, topics for an accounting or financial services business could include:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• How to structure a 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 educational articles that will help your your readers understand your accounting services, such as finance accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality 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 completely FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable information, 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 kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are a number of ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing valuable 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 visiting sites of tax-related government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of feeds 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

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide users with useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Forms and checklists are also great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Online Tools

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

In part 2, we will be discussing a several online tools you can add to your accounting or financial services website using WordPress plugins that can help to improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to continue:

• The Step-By-Step Guide To Growing An Accounting Website – Part Two

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