Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face significant challenges.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Today, more than ever, accountants must find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, source new clients, and keep their current business. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning better ways to market your business services online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be assigned towards developing and managing a website that can bring new clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help increase their reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and many areas will need to be updated often. This requires a well-planned web and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that CPAs face (as most other professions do for that matter), is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to help users find what they are looking for or they will find what they are looking for 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 Accountants In The Web Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that can adapt to meet online challenges and who can think strategically in terms of marketing their business better online.

In this guide, you will learn about new opportunities to find more clientele and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Potential Customers
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what content works best for accounting and financial services websites, tips for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this guide: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Practical Blueprint For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Products And Services

You need a page that explains your products or services.

It should include services such as:

• Business – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

This page should include any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

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

Staff Page

Are you searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to sell more products online or get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your employee’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add an updatable simple team members directory in a WordPress site using a free WordPress plugin, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within the organization. This page should include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored by your firm, 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show potential clients them minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to establish social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and user reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: How To Get Better Results Online Using Awesome Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Business Name
• Location
• Phone
• Fax
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Chat (optional)

If you operate out of several locations you want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

You should also include a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using content like news, company updates, training information, 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 firm.

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

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that will begin attracting targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

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

Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Increase Your Website Visitors For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Info Pages

It’s very important to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

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

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, content generosity has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

You will want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides many benefits for your business.

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

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to 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 for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Provide Online Checklists

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

Forms and checklists could cover topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other applications can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two, we will be discussing a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

To view the rest of this article, click this link:

• How To Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online Successfully With WordPress – Part 2

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