Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face growing challenges.

Online Challenges For Accounting & Financial Businesses

Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, you will need to invest a more significant part of your budget towards the development and management of a website that drives prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps you create wider marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change in time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

Another problem that certified public accountants face with their websites, and all other professions for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to provide users what they are searching for or they will leave the site.

“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 Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can adapt to meet digital demands and think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This comprehensive article will help you uncover new ways to drive more traffic and create significant improvements in your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your website, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Money
• Learning WordPress – The Business Owner’s Guide

How To Improve Your Website

This section looks at ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content works best, suggestions for improving navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, read this article: A Cost-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Pages

Professional websites need several essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need to have and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

You need a page that explains your services and products.

It will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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 a business, 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 book an appointment.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

It’s important to also list any business awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your company and position it above the competition.

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

Team

If you are looking for ideas to sell more products or services online, then help prospective clients get to know your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be 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 even include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow some of your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline your team member’s experience, how their skills add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add a simple and easily updatable simple team directory in your website using a free plugin here: How To Add A Simple Staff List On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your company. This page can include training offered, benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities promoted by your organization, etc. You should also include information about new 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, join your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show potential clients what kind of financial solutions you are capable of implementing to help them solve problems. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also establishes social proof online.

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

We have written a detailed article about using testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Compelling User Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Address of office
• Phone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Online chat feature (optional)

If your business services multiple locations you want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You should also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

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 by publishing timely content like news and events, updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting website is very hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve as both your business website and business blog.

Something few businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin to deliver new targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

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

Go here to learn more: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Drive More Website Traffic For Your Business

Legal Information Pages

As a professional business, having a compliant website is vital, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being contravened wherever you provide services to.

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

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. To learn more, go here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content and coming back for more information. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting business, topics could include:

• 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 advice
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• How to structure a 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 prospective clients gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as finance accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords in your articles that readers will be searching for.

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 website, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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 completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your business.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s 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 loads of useful content for your website, search online for finance and tax-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of RSS feeds you could 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

(Use RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Checklists and forms can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Forms and checklists are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Other Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a number of WordPress plugins you can add to your website that can help to improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting business presence online.

To view the rest of this article, click here:

• How To Grow An Accounting Website – Part Two

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