Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionised business globally, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and great opportunities for accounting businesses.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must work harder to stand out from the competition, find new business, and keep their current clientele. Not only do they have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out smarter ways to market your business services online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned towards the development and management of a website that attracts new prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give your business a wider amount of marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accountancy firms face with their websites (as most other businesses do for that matter), is that you have around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find the information they need or they will find what they are looking for 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 many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think strategically in terms of marketing their business services better online.

This guide will help you uncover ways to drive more web traffic and create significant improvements in your business online.

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

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Business
• Understanding WordPress – The Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

In this section we’ll show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages a financial services site needs, what type of content you need, suggestions for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

How To Improve Your Website Pages

Professional websites require a number of essential web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need to have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Products And Services Description Page

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

Your page should include services such as:

• Business – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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

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 why they should book an appointment.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community events, etc.

It’s important to also mention any industry awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

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

Staff Page

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction with your site, then one of the things you can do, is help prospective clients get to know your organization better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not very well-versed in accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each person’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

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

If you need help how to easily create and add an easy-to-update simple staff directory in WordPress using a free plugin, refer to this tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory In WordPress: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Work With Us

List any career opportunities within your organization. This page would include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted by your organization, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients also helps your accounting website to provide visitors social proof.

(Add a web page with case studies and reviews from clients. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Create Better Results Online With Profit-Boosting Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information about your business:

• Business Name
• Location
• Phone
• Fax
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Interactive chat feature

If your business services several locations you want to make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like industry announcements, company updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting site is very hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your website and your blog.

You may not have been told about this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can begin to drive targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more info, see this article: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Increase Your Website Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

Having a compliant website is very important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations in whichever area you service.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site 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 or inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• 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
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

You want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more information. Publishing content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about your business and about using your products and services.

For example, topics for an accounting or financial services business can include:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful 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!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving website 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 UX.

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your accounting business.

If you provide useful content, other sites may 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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, search online for relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed some RSS feeds you could add 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

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

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can provide useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. They are also great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can address topics such as:

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

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are some of the most popular tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a several online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that can improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

To view Part Two, click here:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic

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