Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face a growing number of challenges.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a website and figuring out better ways to market your business services online.

In addition to investing money advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be allocated to developing and managing a website that brings new prospective clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to increase your marketing reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that accounting organizations (and most professions) face with their websites, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to give users what they need or they will leave and go 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 Web Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and think progressively when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

The article below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to drive more web traffic 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 website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Prospective Clients
• Learning WordPress – The Small Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by reviewing some basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content works best, tips for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, visit this page: How To Plan A Website: A Money-Saving Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites require some basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products

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

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

• Business accounting – business planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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 businesses, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, community contributions, etc.

This page should also list any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help prospective clients get to know you and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not 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 site visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s qualifications, how their skills add value to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-update list directory of staff members in WordPress using free WP plugins, see this step-by-step tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site: Tutorial

Work With Us

List any career opportunities within the company. This page would include training, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include case studies of recruits who have risen within your firm and information about additional career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Maintain 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 newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to show potential clients what type of solutions you are capable of implementing to help them solve their problems. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also helps your accounting or financial services site to provide social proof online.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials and client reviews get better results online. Learn more here: Learn How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Compelling Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is essential.

It should provide some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Chat feature (optional feature)

If your business services multiple areas you should make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

You could also include a few links for commonly-asked questions, main pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like announcements, company updates, training articles, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your business website and business blog.

Not many people know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin to attract new visitors to your website, simply by adding new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new traffic automatically to your site)

If you are interested in learning more about this here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Increase Your Website Visitors For Your Business

Legal Information Pages

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws or regulations wherever your do business in.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and 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 Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve The Content On Your Site

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

You want to provide great content with useful information and tips that will get your visitors to share your content online and come back for more. Content marketing 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 include the following:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

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

Remember to include the same keywords in your content that your readers will be searching for online.

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 site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 completely FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

If you provide valuable content, other businesses may 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• Allows for subscribing
• A feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing valuable information on your website from other sites, 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 respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that 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 provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Provide Online Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your visitors and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. Checklists and forms can also be great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can include topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

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

In the next section of this guide, we discuss a several WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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

Click here to read Part Two:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic

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