Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face many new challenges in the web economy, especially when it comes to growing a successful business online.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

CPAs today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having a website and figuring out better ways to market your business services online.

As well as investing money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be assigned to develop and maintain a website that attracts new prospective clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give them wider reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to 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 will need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that CPAs face (as do all other professions for that matter), is that your site has an average of 30 seconds or less to help users find the information they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 The Accounting Profession In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and can think strategically when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

This comprehensive article will help you uncover new opportunities to attract more visitors and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting business website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Money
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Business With WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what content works best, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, see this guide: Planning Your Website - A Cost-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require a number of basic pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Products And Services

You need to include a page that explains your products and services.

This page will include services such as:

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. 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 involvement, etc.

It should also include any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote the company and position it above the competition.

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

Core Team

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not that well-versed in accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each person’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills and knowledge 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 to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

For a detailed tutorial about how to easily create and add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory to your web site using free plugins, go here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff List To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your company. It would include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted or sponsored by your firm, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your firm and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show potential clients what kind of accounting solutions you can implement to help them solve problems. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials also establishes social proof.

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

To learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews, see this article: How To Achieve Better Results Online With Highly Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following information:

• Business Name
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Online chat feature

If you operate out of different locations you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

You should also include links to an FAQ page, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as industry news, product releases, useful articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something few people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that can help attract new targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing new content to your website on a consistent basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Grow Your Web Visitors For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Pages

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a compliant website is really important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Adding the legal pages below to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• 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
• and others

Go here if you want to learn more adding legal pages to your website: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, engaging in the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your web pages and coming back for more information. Publishing content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about doing business with your organization.

For example, topics for an accounting or financial services business can cover the following:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring 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 prospective clients understand your services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers will be searching 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 site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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 Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides plenty of benefits for your accounting business.

If you provide valuable 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 kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of useful RSS 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

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can provide step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Checklists and forms are also great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Online Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this detailed article, we will look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your accounting or financial services website that can help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To continue, click here:

• Tips For Certified Public Accountants – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins & Themes

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