Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face significant challenges thanks to the web economy.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, CPAs must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, obtain new business, and keep their current business. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries you serve, you must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your business services online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract new prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and help them gain a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-planned web and content management strategy in place.

One other challenge that accountancy firms face online (as most businesses do for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to give users what they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 Accounting Professionals

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting companies that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover new ways to attract and engage more visitors and build more 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 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, see the articles below:

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Customers
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow A Successful Small Business

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

We’ll start first by covering the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, visit this page: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Cost-Saving Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

All websites require several essential web pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services

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

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

• Business – business planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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 businesses, 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 your services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also mention 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 industry awards accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc. in the About page. Screenshot source: deloitte.com)

Team Profile Page

Are you searching for ideas to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be very 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 even include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

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

(Add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Image source: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to create and add a list directory of employees in WordPress using free WP plugins here: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Work With Us

This is a listing of career opportunities within your organization. It can include training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your company and information about additional 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 the page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your organization. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also helps to provide social proof.

(Add a page to your site with testimonials from past clients and case studies. Image source: pcg-services.com)

We have created a comprehensive article on using testimonials, case studies and user reviews to improve your business results online. For more info, see this article: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Profit-Boosting Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

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

• Company Name
• Street address of office
• Telephone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Online chat feature (optional)

If you have several areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as announcements, updates, training articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your business website and blog.

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin attracting targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your site)

For more info, see this article: Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Increase Your Web Visitors For Your Business

Legal Info Pages

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vitally important, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being breached wherever your business services clients.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website 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 Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

By committing to providing great content with advice and tips, you will get your visitors to share your content online and come back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your organization.

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
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terminology in your articles that readers would search for.

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 you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for 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 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your user experience (known 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

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

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

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
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides links to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also 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 many useful RSS feeds by visiting sites of relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of feeds containing useful information that 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. They can give them useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. They are also great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable checklists and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

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

Add Online Tools

Providing unique tools and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2, we will be discussing a several WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your website that can help to improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section one of this guide on ways to grow your accounting web presence.

To continue, click this link:

• How To Successfully Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence Using WordPress – Part Two

Get Notified When New Tutorials Get Published – Subscribe To Our Site!

***

***

***