Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only revolutionized businesses worldwide, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for accountants.

Online Challenges For The Accounting & Financial Services Profession

Now, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, source new business, and keep their current clients. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as spending money advertising offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that they will need to delegate a greater amount of their budget towards developing and managing a website that will drive new clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help create wider exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs 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 difficult challenge that certified public accountants face online, as do all other professions for that matter, is that you have only around 30 seconds or less to give users the information they are looking for or they will look 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 The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to accounting businesses that are willing to evolve to meet digital economy demands and think outside the box when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover a number of ways to attract more visitors and create significant improvements in your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your website, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your accounting website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), go here:

• Learn How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow Your Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section explains how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what content works best for accounting and financial services sites, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, visit this page: The Website Planning Process Explained - A Useful Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All business websites require several essential web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of Services

It’s essential to include a page that explains your products and services.

It will include all the services and products you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – planning, formation, 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 the benefits of using these services and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also mention any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and position it above the competition.

(List all of your industry awards recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in your About Us page. Image sourced from: deloitte.com)

Staff

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online or increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for prospective clients to get to know your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not that 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 that will allow your site visitors to follow some of your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline your team member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

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

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about how to add an easy-to-maintain list of employees in WordPress with no coding skills required, go here: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site: Tutorial

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within the firm. This page can include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include stories of trainees who have worked their way up in your company and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting industry.

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

Case Studies And Testimonials

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to provide visitors social proof.

(Add a web page with testimonials from past clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online here: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Compelling Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is essential.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Company Name
• Address of premises
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat/Skype

If your business operates in different locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

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

Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as announcements, company updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation system that can help deliver a stream of targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing new content to your website on a regular basis.

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

Go here to learn more about this: Website Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Increasing Your Web Traffic Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Info Pages

It’s vital for accounting organizations to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions 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.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

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

Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your readers to share your content and come back for more information. Using content is a great way to educate site visitors and prospects about your business.

For example, topics for an accounting business can cover:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your 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 your prospective clients understand your services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 User Experience

Improving your user experience (known as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Add RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable content, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing information on your site 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.

Here are some feeds you could 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

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

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. They are great planning tools.

Forms and checklists can cover topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2, we take a look at a number of WordPress plugins you can use in your site that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

***

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

To keep reading, click here:

• The Step-By-Step Guide To Successfully Building And Growing Your Accounting Web Presence – Part 2

Get Notified When New WordPress Tutorials Get Published – Subscribe To WPCompendium.org!

***

***

***