Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face increasing challenges.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that drives prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and increases your presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and many aspects may need to be frequently updated. This requires a sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that accountancy firms (and other professions) face, is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to help visitors find the information they are looking for or they will leave and 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 Certified Public Accountants In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting firms that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and think strategically when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover new ways to attract more accounts and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

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

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

This section will show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting websites, suggestions for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of basic web pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Products And Services Page

You need to include a page that describes your products or services.

It will include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and why they should choose you.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community projects, etc.

Remember to also include any professional awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

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

Your Staff

If you are searching for simple ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow your staff members on their social pages.

In 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 each 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 team to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an updatable simple employee directory to your WordPress site using a free plugin here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Work For Us

List any career opportunities available within the firm. This page can include training offered, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You should also include stories of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also 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 updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also helps to establish social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews improve your business online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Get Better Results Online With Meaningful User Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email
• Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Chat (optional)

If you have multiple locations you should make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for commonly-asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like news and events, company updates, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established accounting or financial services website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your company.

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can begin to drive web traffic to your website, simply by publishing content on a regular basis to your website.

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

If you are interested in learning more about this here: Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into A Web Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being contravened in whatever location you do business in.

Depending on what products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your accounting website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Web Content

In today’s ultra competitive online economy, the practice of content marketing has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers to share your web pages and come back for more. Publishing content is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos 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, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients will be searching for online.

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 website, 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 completely FREE!

Tips For Improving User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide useful content, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your site 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 searching online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are examples of feeds you could add 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.)

Adding Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add 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, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your accounting or financial services site that improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this comprehensive guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.

To continue reading, click this link:

• How To Build And Grow An Accounting Website Successfully With WordPress – Part 2

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