Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed business around the world, it has also created many challenges and great opportunities for accounting businesses.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic web presence and searching for smarter ways to grow your business online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned to developing and managing a website that brings new clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and increases their presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and many areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting firms face with their websites (and other professions for that matter), is that you have only around thirty seconds to give visitors what they are searching for 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 CPAs In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting firms that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and can think strategically when it comes to marketing their services better online.

In this guide, you will learn about new opportunities to attract more visitors 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 or financial services business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see these articles:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Potential Buyers
• Learn How To Grow Your Business With WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

This section will show you ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages a financial services site needs, what content works best for accounting websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, see this detailed step-by-step guide we have written: Planning Your Business Website: A Basic Blueprint For Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require several basic web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need to have and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Services

You need a page that describes your products or services.

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

• Business – planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, 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 a business, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what your services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

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

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

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

Core Team

Are you looking for simple ideas to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with 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 even include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social networks.

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

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to easily add a simple and easy-to-update simple team members directory to your website using a free plugin here: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

Recruitment

List any career opportunities within the company. This page should include type of training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include information about upcoming career opportunities in the accounting 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 contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show potential clients what type of accounting solutions you will implement to help solve their problems. Adding a web page with testimonials and case studies also helps to provide prospective clients with social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using client testimonials and client reviews get better results online. To learn more about this go here: Turn More Visitors Into Prospects Using Highly Effective User Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is essential.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information:

• Name
• Location of office
• Telephone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Interactive chat

If your business services different locations you want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

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 promote your business by publishing timely content like announcements, company updates, useful articles, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin to deliver new targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate new traffic automatically to your site)

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

Legal Info Pages

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, having a compliant website is really important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional and federal laws or regulations in whichever region you do business in.

Depending on the services you provide, adding the following legal pages to your accounting site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal 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
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your site here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

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

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit & loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your readers understand your services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terms in your articles that readers would search 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 that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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!

Ways To Improve User Experience

Improving website user experience (often referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Syndicating Content Using 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 may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links to your site
• Your 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 feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing great 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 many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding 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 (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Checklists and forms can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) 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 applications can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we look at a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins that can improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

To view Part Two, click here:

• A Complete Guide On How To Grow Your Accounting Online Presence With WordPress – Part 2

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