Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital business age has not only revolutionized the way business is done around the world, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and opportunities for the accounting and financial services sector.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to actively participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and searching for better ways to promote your business services online.

As well as investing dollars marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they need to invest a bigger portion of their budget towards developing and managing a website that can attract new prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and create wider marketing exposure online.

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

One other challenge that accountancy firms (and most professions) face, is that they have only around thirty seconds to provide users with what they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for 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 Certified Public Accountants In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can evolve to meet online economy challenges and think strategically when it comes to marketing their services better online.

The article below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to attract more visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting or financial services website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, go here:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Customers
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow A Successful Small Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section explains ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what type of content you need, tips for improving your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, see this detailed guide we have written: A Money-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites need several essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need to have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Products And Services Page

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

This page will include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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 businesses, 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 why they should choose you.

About Us

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

Remember to list any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote the company and set it above other competitors.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help visitors get to know your business better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. 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 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. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should even include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each 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 staff page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees in your website without coding skills, see this step-by-step tutorial: Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities within the organization. This page would include training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain 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 & Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to provide social proof online.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials from past clients. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively on using client testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions Using Compelling Client Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email address
• Google Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Online Chat/Skype

If you operate from different areas you should make that clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You should also include links to commonly-asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content like company news, company updates, training information, informative posts, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin driving targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details, go here: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Information Pages

As a professional accountant, having a compliant website is vital, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws or regulations wherever your business services clients.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting site 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 Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, content generosity has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

You will want to provide great content with useful advice and tips that will get your visitors sharing your content online and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about using your services and products.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• 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 understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords in your content that readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

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

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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 many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of feeds you may want to consider adding 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

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to complete a task. Forms and checklists can also be great planning tools.

Checklists and forms could address areas such as:

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

Add Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this guide, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your accounting website that can help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

Click on this link to continue:

• The Ultimate Guide On How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Web Presence – Part Two

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