Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress
Accounting professionals face many new challenges in the digital economy, especially when it comes to growing a business online.
Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants
CPAs today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning smarter ways to market your business online.
As well as investing money in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they will need to assign a greater share of their marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that brings in prospective clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give them a wider exposure online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, your web 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 will change over time and some areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy.
One other problem that accounting firms face, and all other professions for that matter, is that you have an average of 30 seconds or less to provide users with what they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.
“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
As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet online demands and can think progressively in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.
In this detailed guide, you will learn ways and opportunities to increase traffic and improve your business results online.
As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, see these articles:
Tips To Improve Your Website
In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what content works best for accounting websites, navigation structure, etc.
If you need additional information about website planning, go here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners
Improve Your Web Pages
Professional business websites require several essential pages. Let’s review these.
Description Of Services
You need to include a page that describes your products and services.
It will include all the services and products you offer, such as:
- Business accounting – business planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
- Taxation – preparing, 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 businesses, transfers, etc.
- Lending and leasing
List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.
About Us Page
The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical programs, etc.
It’s important to also mention any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above other competitors.
(List all of your business awards accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc. in your About Us page. Screenshot source: deloitte.com)
Our Team
If you are searching for simple ideas to sell more products online, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
You want prospective clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should even include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow individual staff members on their social pages.
On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your staff member’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add an employee description page. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)
We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff or team members to a WordPress site without using code here: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory: Plugin Tutorial
Recruitment Page
This is a listing of career opportunities available within your organization. This page can include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You should also include stories of graduates who have risen within your company and information such as the job outlook and additional 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 newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.
Case Studies
Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your company. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials, you are also helping to will also be establishing social proof.
(Add a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)
We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews get better results online. Go here to learn more: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions Using Compelling Testimonials
Contact Us
A clean contact page is absolutely necessary.
It should provide some or all of the following information:
- Name
- Your physical location
- Phone number
- Fax number
- Email address
- Google Map and directions
- Website address
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Social media URLs
- Interactive chat feature
If your business operates from different locations you will want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.
Consider also including links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.
Blog Section
A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as announcements, product releases, training information, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.
If you already have an accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your company.
If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting website is hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.
Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can begin attracting targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your site.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new traffic automatically to your website)
Go here to learn more: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create An Automated Web Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress
Legal Information Pages
Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is essential, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whatever area you service.
Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services site will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:
- Contact Us
- Privacy Statement
- Terms And Conditions
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- etc.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. To learn more about this go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site
How To Improve Your Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
You want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers to share your web pages online with others and come back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.
For example, topics for an accounting business can cover:
- Explanations of balance sheets
- Profit & loss statements
- Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
- How to present accounts for fundraising activities
- Cashflow planning tips
- Maximizing business insurance cover
- Risk prevention
- Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
- Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.
Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers would search for.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content that will add value to 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 100% FREE!
Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience
Improving your user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.
Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds
RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.
If you provide valuable information, 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 content updates are in one place
- your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Feeds can be shared
- Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
- An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
- Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits to providing great content on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
You can find many useful RSS feeds by searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.
Below we have listed some feeds containing useful information that 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
(Add RSS feeds to improve your site’s user experience.)
Checklists And Forms
Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and forms can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are also great planning tools.
Forms and checklists can address topics such as:
- How To Set Up A Company
- Negative Gearing Worksheet
- Fundraising Governance Checklist
- Disclosure Checklists
- Sole Trader Tax Checklist
- Trust Tax Checklist
- Income Tax Variation Forms
Online Tools
Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.
In the next section, we discuss a several WordPress plugins and themes you can add to your website that can help to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.
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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to grow your accounting web presence.
To view the rest of this guide, click this link:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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