Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face many new challenges in the digital economy, especially in terms of growing a business presence online.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, certified public accountants must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, obtain new business, and keep their current business. Not only do they have to be fully involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated towards the development and management of a website that will attract leads, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give your business wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change over time and some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires a sound web and content management strategy in place.

One other difficult challenge that accounting firms face online, as most other businesses do for that matter, is that your site has only about 30 seconds to help users find what they need or they will look 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 Accountants

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn about a number of ways to attract new visitors and create significant improvements in your business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting or financial services website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), go here:

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• The Complete Guide To Growing Your Business Using WordPress

How To Improve Your Website

This section covers ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, suggestions for improving navigation structure, etc.

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

How To Improve Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services And Products Description Page

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

This page will include services such as:

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

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 why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, community participation, etc.

It’s important to also include any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote the company and set it above other competitors.

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

Staff

Are you searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online or get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust 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 staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be 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 that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each staff member’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a team profile page. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory to your web site without editing code here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. It could include training offered, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews 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 testimonials from previous clients and case studies also provides social proof online.

(Add a page with client reviews and case studies. Image source: pcg-services.com)

To learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews, see this article: How To Get Better Results Online With Profit-Boosting Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is essential.

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

• Business Name
• Your address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Live chat feature (optional)

If you have different locations you should make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to the most commonly asked questions, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as industry news, company updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that can help begin to drive targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can generate new visitors automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important for accounting and financial services businesses to ensure they have a compliant website, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being breached wherever you provide services to.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. To learn more, go here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers to share your web pages and come back for more information. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• Structuring a 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 informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving User Experience

Improving your user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Add RSS Feeds

Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in many ways.

If you provide valuable information, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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.

To find useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of feeds you may want to 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

(Using RSS feeds can help to improve your accounting site’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide useful instructions and resources to perform a task. Forms and checklists can also be great business planning tools.

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

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

Unique Tools

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

In the next section, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that improve search engine optimization, improve 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 build your accounting business web presence.

Click here to continue:

• The Complete Guide To Building And Growing An Accounting Or Financial Services Website – Part 2

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