Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face a number of challenges in today’s online economy, especially when it comes to growing a presence online.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, source new clients, and keep their current clientele. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and searching for smarter ways to promote your business online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be allocated to develop and manage a website that attracts leads, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give their business a wider exposure online.

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

Another challenge that accounting firms face (as all other professions do for that matter), is that you have only about thirty seconds to give visitors what they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 The Accounting Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for accounting companies that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

This guide will help you uncover opportunities to attract new visitors and create significant improvements in your business online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Small Business Owners – The Beginner’s Guide To Growing Your Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the article we have written here: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Practical Blueprint For Business Owners

Essential Pages

All business websites require several essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Your Services

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

It should include services such as:

• Business accounting – planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, 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 businesses, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

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

It’s important to mention any industry awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote the company and set it above the competition.

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

Your Staff

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

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

On this page, make sure to outline your staff member’s experience, 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 staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add an easy-to-update list of employees or team members in your website using a free WordPress plugin, go here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within the organization. It would include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your company. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to provide potential clients with social proof.

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

We have created a comprehensive article on using testimonials, case studies and client reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: Learn How To Improve Your Sales With Engaging User Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media profiles
• Online Chat/Skype

If your business operates in several areas you will want to make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

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

Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content like industry events, updates, training articles and tutorials, informative posts, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin attracting targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Learn more here: Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s very important to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being breached wherever you provide services to.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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 detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

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

You will want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers to share your web pages online and come back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• 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 informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, tips on using business accounting software, reducing debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that readers 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 that will show you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality 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 100% FREE!

Improving User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful content, 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 kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are multiple ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes 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.

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, search online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you may want to 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

(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s UX.)

Adding Downloadable Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. They can provide step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. They are great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists covering subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools you can add to accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this guide, we take a look at a several online tools you can use in your accounting or financial services site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To continue reading, click this link:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic

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