Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress
Accountants face a number of challenges in today’s digital economy, especially in terms of growing their business online.
Challenges Accounting And Financial Services Face Online
Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, find new clients, and retain current business. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and searching for better ways to market your business online.
In addition to spending dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, you will need to delegate a greater share of your marketing budget to develop and maintain a website that will drive new clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and help you gain wider marketing reach online.
This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website will change in time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.
One other problem that accounting firms face, as most other professions do for that matter, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to provide users what they are searching 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 Certified Public Accountants
As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that can evolve to meet online economy challenges and think progressively in terms of marketing themselves better online.
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn new ways to attract more clients and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.
As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting or financial services business website.
To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:
- Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
- WordPress For Small Business Owners – The Complete Guide To Building Your Successful Small Business With WordPress
How To Improve Your Accounting Site
We’ll start first by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what content works best, layout and navigation structure, etc.
If you need website planning assistance, check out the detailed guide we have written here: The Web Site Planning Process: A Cost-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners
Essential Website Pages
Professional business websites need some basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your need to have and how to set up your accounting or financial services website for best results.
Your Services
It’s essential to have a page that explains your services and any products that you offer.
Your page will include services such as:
- Business – planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, 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 a business, asset transfers, etc.
- Lending and leasing
List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.
About Us Page
This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.
It’s important to also include any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your company and position it above the competition.
(List all of your awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc. in the About Us page. Screenshot source: deloitte.com)
Meet Our Team
If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know you and your business better.
Potential clients need to relate to your business. One 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 won’t be that 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. This page should even include social buttons so your site visitors can follow your team members on their social networks.
On this page, make sure to highlight each team member’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Image source: deepsky.com)
To learn more about how to add a list of staff or team members in a WordPress site using free plugins, go here: Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory To Your Site
Career Opportunities
This is a listing of career opportunities available within the company. It could include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information about career opportunities in the accounting industry.
Also include a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.
Testimonials & Case Studies
Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your organization. Adding a web page with case studies and reviews from clients also provides prospective clients with social proof.
(Add a page with testimonials and case studies. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)
We have written extensively about using testimonials, case studies and reviews to improve your business results online. If you would like to learn more here: Create Better Results Online Using Knockout Testimonials
Contact Page
Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.
Your contact page should include the following:
- Business Name
- Physical address
- Telephone
- Fax number
- Contact email
- Google Map
- Website URL
- Contact form
- Name of person to contact
- Social media links
- Live Chat/Skype
If your business operates out of different locations you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact info.
Consider also including links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.
Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section
A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as industry news, company updates, training articles, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.
If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your organization.
If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting website is very hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your business website and business blog.
Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that can begin delivering a stream of web traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.
(WordPress can drive web traffic automatically to your website)
Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create An Automated Traffic-Getting Machine
Legal Information
As a professional business, having a compliant website is really important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever your business is located.
Adding the legal pages below to your accounting website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Financial/Health Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- etc.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. For more details, go here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Tips On How To Improve Your Content
In today’s ultra competitive online economy, content generosity has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.
By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your visitors to share your web pages online with others and come back for more. Content marketing is a great way to inform and educate site visitors and prospects about your business and about using your services and products.
For example, for an accounting business, topics can include:
- How balance sheets work
- Understanding profit & loss statements
- Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
- Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
- Business cashflow planning
- Maximizing business insurance cover
- Protecting revenues
- Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
- Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.
Remember to use relevant keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients will be searching 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 teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for 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 Experience
Improving your website’s user experience (typically referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.
Content Syndication – RSS Feeds
RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.
If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites 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
- Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
- Allows for subscribing
- An RSS feed provides links to your site
- Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
- RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also benefits when it comes 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 tax-related government departments or industry bodies.
Here are some useful RSS feeds you could add to your accounting 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
(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your accounting site’s UX.)
Adding Online Checklists
Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. They are also great business planning tools.
You can provide a range of online or downloadable checklists and forms covering subjects such as:
- How To Set Up A Business
- Rental Property Checklist
- Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
- Disclosure Requirements
- Sole Trader Tax Checklist
- Capital Gains Tax Checklist
- Income Tax Variation Forms
Provide Unique Tools
Providing useful tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools to add to accounting websites. Others would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.
In part 2, we look at a number of online tools you can add to your accounting or financial services website using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.
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This is the end of section one of this guide on ways to grow your accounting web presence.
Click here to read Part 2:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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