Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done globally, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and great opportunities for the accounting and financial services sector.

Online Challenges For Accounting Firms

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better market your business online.

In addition to spending money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to develop and manage a website that attracts clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and creates wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, 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 in time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting businesses (and other businesses) face online, is that you have around 30 seconds or less to provide visitors what they are looking for 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 Accountants In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting firms that can adapt to meet digital economy challenges and think progressively when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover opportunities to attract and engage more visitors and improve your business online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting business website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Potential Customers
• Learning WordPress – The Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages an accounting site needs, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services sites, suggestions for improving your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: Planning A Web Site - A Money-Saving Blueprint For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

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

Services And Products

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

Your page should include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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, 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 what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

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

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

Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then help your visitors get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One 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 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 networks.

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

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in your site here: Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within your firm. It should include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also helps your accounting site to establish social proof online.

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

We have created a detailed article about using case studies, testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online. For more info, see this article: How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Captivating Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a clean contact page is essential.

It should include the following:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business services different locations you want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You can also include a few links for the most commonly asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like news and events, updates, useful articles, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that can help begin driving targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding new content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Web Visitors Automatically

Legal Info Pages

Having a compliant website is very important, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whatever location you do business in.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, the ability to deliver valuable content at no cost has become one of the key success factors for businesses.

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

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring your 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 informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as forensic accounting, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords in your articles that your readers would search 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 teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for 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 User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide useful information, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

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

There are also a number of benefits to providing great information on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find RSS feeds with useful content by visiting sites of finance-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are some feeds 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

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

Add Online Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a task. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

Checklists and forms can cover areas such as:

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

Provide Other Tools

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

In the next section of this guide, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can help improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your accounting web presence.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• How To Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website – Part Two

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