Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed businesses worldwide, it has also created a growing number of challenges and great opportunities for accounting and financial services businesses.

Challenges Accounting And Financial Professionals Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountancy firms must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, find new business, and retain current clientele. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better promote your business services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they need to allocate a larger amount of their budget to develop and manage a website that attracts leads, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and creates wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site has to 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 frequently. This requires having a well-planned web and content management strategy in place.

Another problem that accounting businesses face online (as most other professions do for that matter), is that your site has only around thirty seconds to help users find what they are looking 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 Digital Economy

As well as facing many challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet online economy demands and can think strategically when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will discover ways to increase web traffic and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• The Complete Guide To Growing A Successful Business With A WordPress Site

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

We’ll start first by going over the basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what content you need, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, see this detailed guide we have written: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

Professional business websites need some basic web pages. Let’s review these.

Services And Products Page

You need to include a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

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

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

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us Page

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

It’s important to also list any business awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above your competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

Are you looking for ways to grow your business online? Then help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in accounting terms it 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 that will allow your prospective clients to follow individual team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline your person’s qualifications, how their skills add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees or team members to a WordPress site using a free WP plugin here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee List To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

We’re Hiring

List any career opportunities available within the firm. This page can include training offered, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and 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, join your announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show potential clients what kind of solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to provide social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and user reviews to improve your business results online. For more details, go here: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions Using Sales Boosting User Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Company Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Online chat feature (optional)

If you operate in multiple areas you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content like industry events, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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 be used both as your website and your blog.

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can help drive web traffic to your website, simply by publishing new content on a regular basis to your website.

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

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Create An Automated Web Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information Pages

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

Adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Site

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

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

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use keywords in your articles that your prospective clients will be searching 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 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 100% FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your accounting business.

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

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing valuable 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 RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by visiting sites of finance-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed 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

(Use RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Checklists and forms can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

Forms and checklists could include subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Other Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Others can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this detailed guide, we look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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

To view Part Two, click this link:

• A Practical Guide To Growing An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part 2

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