Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face increasingly difficult challenges brought about by the online economy.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Now, more than ever, accountancy organizations must work harder to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and retain current clientele. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to spending dollars marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated to developing and managing a website that will attract clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help increase their reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change over time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accountancy firms face, as most other businesses do for that matter, is that they have an average of thirty seconds or less to give users what 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

Online Opportunities For CPAs

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting profession that are willing to adapt to meet online challenges and can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to increase traffic and improve your business online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services business website.

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

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Business – A Beginner’s Guide To Building A Successful Business Using A WordPress Site

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by covering the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what content works best for accounting and financial services sites, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, go here: The Web Site Planning Process: A Practical Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites need several basic web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Services Page

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

It will include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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 businesses, 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.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical activities, etc.

It should mention any accounting awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

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

Meet Your Staff

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. 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. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your employee’s qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-manage list of staff or team members in a WordPress site, go here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. It would include training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and additional 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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

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

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

We have written extensively on using client testimonials and user reviews improve your business online here: Discover How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Knockout User Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide:

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Chat/Skype (optional)

If your business services several areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your 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 is a powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as industry events, product releases, training 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 business.

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

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin to drive web traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

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

For more details, go here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into An Automated Web Traffic Machine

Legal Information Pages

As a professional accountant, having a compliant website is crucially important, not just for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being breached wherever your do business in.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here for a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

You want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers to share your content and come back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

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

Remember to include keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients would search 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 exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. 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 user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful content, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides links back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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 for your website by visiting sites of finance and tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few useful RSS feeds 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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Add Checklists

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

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

In part 2, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins that can help improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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

To continue reading, click this link:

• How To Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence Successfully – Part Two

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