Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital business age has not only revolutionized the way business is done around the world, it has also created significant challenges and great opportunities for accountants.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Now, more than ever, CPAs must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, obtain new clients, and retain current clientele. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your business online.

In addition to spending money in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they need to allocate a greater part of their budget towards developing and maintaining a website that can attract new leads, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and help increase their reach online.

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

One other challenge that accountants face, as other businesses do for that matter, is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to help visitors find what they are searching for 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 new business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to accounting businesses that can evolve to meet online challenges and can think progressively when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover new ways to find more clientele and establish 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 WordPress to power your accounting or financial services website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see the articles below:

• Learn How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Money
• Understanding WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Ways To Improve Your Website

This section explains ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content you need, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Essential Pages

Professional websites require some essential web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to structure your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that lists your services or products.

Your page should include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, forecasting, financing, 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. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

Remember to mention any awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and set 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)

Meet Our Team

If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

People need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be very well-versed in accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons so your site visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’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 staff page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage list of employees or team members in your WordPress site using free plugins, go here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Work With Us

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your organization. It could include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your organization, etc. You can include stories of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting 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 contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what type of financial solutions you can implement to help them solve their problems. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also provides visitors social proof.

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

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online. To learn more about this go here: How To Get Better Results Online With Profit-Boosting Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is essential.

It should provide visitors with some or all of the following:

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Interactive chat

If your business operates out of several areas you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content like announcements, company updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

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

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 act both as your business website and your blog.

You are probably not aware of this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that will begin driving new targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new traffic automatically to your site)

You can learn more here: Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Attract More Web Traffic For Your Business

Legal Pages

It’s very important for professional firms to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential 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 Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your site here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

In today’s highly competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content online with others and coming back for more. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about your business.

For example, for an accounting business, topics could cover:

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers understand your accounting services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality 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!

Improve Visitor Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (known as UX) will help keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your website.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are multiple ways readers can receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable content on your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by searching online for finance-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of 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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your website’s user experience.)

Add Forms And Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are also great business planning tools.

Forms and checklists can address areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Other Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed guide, we look at a number of online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

Click here to keep reading:

• Online Business Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic

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