Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face a growing number of challenges created by the web economy.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must work hard to remain competitive, find new business, and keep their current business. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to investing money marketing offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that will drive new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help you gain a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and 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 frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting businesses face with their websites (as most professions do for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to provide visitors with what they need or they will 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

As well as facing many challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to adapt to meet digital demands and think strategically about marketing themselves better online.

The article below will help you uncover ways and opportunities to drive more web traffic and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Business

Tips To Improve Your Accounting Site

This section looks at ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages a financial services site needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the article we have written here: The Web Site Planning Process - A Money-Saving Primer For Business Owners

How To Improve Your Web Pages

Professional business websites need some basic pages. Let’s review these.

Services And Products

It’s essential to include a page that lists your products and services.

Your page will include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

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

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

Team

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you and your organization better.

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

In this page, make sure to highlight your person’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a staff page. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your website without coding skills here: How To Add A Simple Staff List To Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within your organization. This page would include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should 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 this page, subscribe to your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what type of financial solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. Adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies also provides visitors social proof.

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

To learn more about using testimonials and client reviews, see this article: Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions With More Effective Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Online chat feature

If your business operates out of multiple locations you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You can also include a few links for commonly-asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content like industry announcements, company updates, training articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing accounting or financial services website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting or financial services website 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 blog.

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can help begin driving a stream of web traffic to your business, simply by adding new content to your website on a regular basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Create A Web Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Pages

It’s vitally important to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever your business is located.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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
• and others

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, having a content marketing strategy 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 with others and coming back for more information. This is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, topics for an accounting business could cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• 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 readers understand your services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords in your articles that your 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 easy-to-digest 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 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!

Tips For Improving Visitor Experience

Improving your user experience (generally referred to 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.

Add RSS Feeds

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide information 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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.

To find useful RSS feeds just visit sites of relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to your 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 site’s user experience.)

Add Checklists

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.

Checklists and forms could cover topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

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

In the next section, we will be discussing a several WordPress plugins you can use in your site that can improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of part one.

Click on this link to continue:

• Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins That Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation

Subscribe To This Site And Get Notified Of New Tutorials!

***

***

***