Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital business age has not only transformed business worldwide, it has also created a growing number of challenges and opportunities for businesses in the accountancy profession.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do they have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as spending dollars marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated to developing and maintaining a website that will attract new clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and create wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to 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 may change over time and some aspects will need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that accountancy firms face online (as all other professions do for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to provide users with what they need or they will go away.

“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 many business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet digital demands and think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to attract and engage new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting business website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, see these articles:

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Learn How To Grow Your Small Business With A WordPress Site

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what pages an accounting website needs, what type of content you need, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, visit this page: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

Professional websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

You need to include a page that describes your products or services.

Your page should include all the products and services you offer, such as:

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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

It should also include any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

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

Staff Page

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online, then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you and 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 bio. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline your team member’s qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in a WordPress site using free plugins, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Work For Us

List any career opportunities within your organization. It can include type of training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information about 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show prospective clients businesses minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to provide social proof.

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

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews get better results online, go here: Achieve Better Results Online Using Powerful Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide some or all of the following information about your organization:

• Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Chat feature (optional)

If your business services multiple areas you should make that clear when showing the address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, main pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like industry news, company updates, useful articles, discussions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that will help attract targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into An Automated Web Traffic Machine

Legal Information Pages

Having a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions 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

Go here for a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

You will want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Publishing content is a great way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• 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 your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords in your content that your prospective clients will be searching for online.

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

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your website.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing content on 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 tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few feeds you may want to consider adding 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

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.

Forms and checklists could address topics such as:

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

Adding Online Tools

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

In part 2, we discuss a several online tools you can add to your accounting or financial services site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve your seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your accounting business presence online.

Click on this link to continue:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation

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