Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for businesses in the accounting industry.

Online Challenges For Accountants

CPAs today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to actively participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and searching for smarter ways to grow your business services online.

As well as investing money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed to developing and managing a website that brings new clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and gives them a wider reach online.

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

One other challenge that accounting firms face (as most professions do for that matter), is that they have around thirty seconds to give visitors what they are looking for or they will go 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 Web Economy

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and can think strategically in terms of marketing their services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn ways to find more accounts and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your accounting business online, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Money
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Business With A WordPress Site

Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how 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, navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed guide: How To Plan Your Small Business Web Site: A Comprehensive Blueprint For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

All websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Your Products And Services

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

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

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

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

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

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

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

Team Profile

Are you looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online and get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a mini biography. 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. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow selected staff members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to highlight your employee’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-maintain list of employees or team members in your WordPress site without coding skills, go here: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities within the firm. This page could include training offered, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting 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.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your company. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you are also helping to provide social proof online.

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

To learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews, refer to this article: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions Using Highly Effective Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Company Name
• Physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Live chat feature (optional)

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

You can also include links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like industry events, product releases, educational articles and tutorials, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your company.

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin to deliver new visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create A Web Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s crucially important to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

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

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

Go here for a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, content marketing has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses.

By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your readers sharing your web pages online with others and coming back for more. Using content 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 can cover the following:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your accounting or financial services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, using office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your articles 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 and practical tips 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 site’s user experience (often referred to as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and UX.

Add RSS Feeds

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

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

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other websites using RSS feeds, include:

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

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing great 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 RSS feeds with loads of useful content just search online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are some useful RSS feeds you may want to add 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 UX.)

Adding Downloadable Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. They can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

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

In part two of this detailed article, we look at a number of online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to 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 of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.

Click here to access Part Two:

• A Complete Guide To Successfully Building And Growing Your Accounting Website – Part Two

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