Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital business age has not only revolutionized the way business is done globally, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to market your business services online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, you will need to assign a greater amount of your budget towards the development and management of a website that can drive prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase your presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change in time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.

Another problem that accountants face online, and most businesses for that matter, is that they have only about thirty seconds or less to help users find the information they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting companies that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and think outside the box when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will discover a number of ways to increase web traffic and establish online credibility for your business.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see these articles:

• How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will show you ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages a financial services site needs, what type of content works best, useful tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, check out the detailed guide we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

Professional websites require a number of essential web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Description Of Products And Services

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

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

• Business accounting – business planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

Remember to also include any professional awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

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

Staff

If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff 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 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 visitors can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline your employee’s expertise and qualifications, 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 page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-update simple team directory to WordPress using free WP plugins here: How To Add A Simple Employee List To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities within your organization. This page would include training offered, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted by your firm, etc. You should also include information about additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

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

Testimonials & Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also establishes social proof online.

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

For a detailed article on using client case studies and client reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Discover How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Effective Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Name
• Your physical address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business services different areas you want to make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like announcements, product updates, useful information, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your business.

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can help drive new visitors to your website, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new visitors automatically to your site)

For more info, see this article: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Generating More Traffic For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is important, not just for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms Of Use
• 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 comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. To learn more about this go here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Site

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

By committing to providing great content with useful advice and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your content with others online and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

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

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find useful RSS feeds just visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments and industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Add Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. They can also be great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a number of online tools you can add to your accounting website using WordPress plugins that improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

***

This is the end of part 1 of this comprehensive guide on ways to grow your accounting business web presence.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation

Want To Get Notified When New WordPress Tutorials Get Published? Then Subscribe To Our Site!

***

***

***