Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today are facing significant challenges created by the web economy.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Today, more than ever, accounting firms must work harder to stand out from the competition, find new clients, and retain current clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and searching for smarter ways to market your business services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned to develop and manage a website that will bring new prospective clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help give their business wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website will change in time and many areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires a sound web and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accountants face with their websites, and other professions for that matter, is that they have an average of 30 seconds or less to provide visitors with what they need 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 Accountants In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting firms that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover new opportunities to source new business and create significant improvements in your business online.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, see the articles below:

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• WordPress In Business – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing Your Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

This section covers ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what type of content you need, tips for improving your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, see this detailed guide: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites require several essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need to have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Description Of Products And Services

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

It should include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical programs, etc.

It should also list any accounting awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

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

Your Staff

Are you looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction on your site? Then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be that 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 also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your person’s expertise, why they are an invaluable 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. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily create and add an easy-to-update list directory of employees or team members to your site using free WP plugins, go here: How To Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site

Recruitment

List any career opportunities within the organization. This page could include training, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your firm, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also a positions available section in this 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.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your company. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also provides visitors social proof online.

(Add a page to your site with client reviews and case studies. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively on using testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online. If you are interested in learning more about this here: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Profit-Boosting Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is essential.

It should include the following information:

• Business Name
• Physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Online chat

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

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

Add A Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news, updates, training articles, discussions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that can begin delivering a stream of web traffic to your website, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

For more details, go here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your Website Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws and regulations in whatever region you service.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help keep you out of trouble 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
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. For more details, go here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, having a sound content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

By committing to providing great content with useful advice and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your web pages online and coming back for more information. This is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s 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 prospective clients understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords in your content that your prospective clients would search for.

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

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your website’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 user experience.

Using RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide valuable content, other sites 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 in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable information on your website 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, visit sites of relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some RSS feeds containing useful information that 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

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

Add Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. They are great planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms covering topics such as:

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

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets 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 applications would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part two, we will look at a several WordPress plugins you can use in your accounting website that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business online.

Click here to access Part 2:

• A Practical Step-By-Step Guide On How To Build And Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part 2

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