Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face many challenges in today’s online economy, especially when it comes to growing their business presence online.

Online Challenges For Accounting & Financial Businesses

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your business services online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they will need to designate a larger amount of their budget towards developing and managing a website that attracts prospective clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and helps give their business a wider marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and your website 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 may need to be updated often. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other challenge that accounting organizations face with their websites (and all other professions for that matter), is that your site has only around thirty seconds or less to provide visitors with what they need 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 CPAs In The Online Economy

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting companies that can evolve to meet digital economy challenges and think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this guide, you will learn new ways and opportunities to drive more web traffic and improve your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your accounting business online, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services 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 Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

We’ll start first by reviewing some basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content works best, navigation structure, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, go here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All websites require several essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

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

Your page will include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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, 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 the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, supported community programs, etc.

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

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

Your Staff Page

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

You want potential clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not very 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 individual staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of 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 source: deepsky.com)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees or team members to your site using a free plugin, go here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Job Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your company. This page could include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information about new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also 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 announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show prospective clients them minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with case studies and client reviews also helps to provide social proof.

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

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials and client reviews get better results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Standout User Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide visitors with some or all of the following information:

• Name
• Street address of office
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Chat/Skype

If your business services multiple areas you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news, company updates, educational information, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Very few businesses know that WordPress can become an automated traffic machine that can help begin to drive targeted traffic to your web site, simply by publishing content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your Website Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important for professional firms to ensure they have a compliant website, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being broken in whatever region you service.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. For more details, go here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site

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.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your content online and come back for more. Using content is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services and products.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s 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 readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your articles that 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 actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, 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 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (known as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your site.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing great information 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 searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that 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 (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to perform tasks. They are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Other Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools you can add to accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this guide, we will look at a number of online tools you can use in your accounting or financial services site using WordPress plugins that can help to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to read the rest of this article:

• A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence – Part Two

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