Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for accountants.

Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession

Now, more than ever, accountants must work harder and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, source new clients, and keep their current clients. Not only do you have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to spending dollars advertising offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be allocated towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract leads, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help to create wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and many aspects will need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a sound web and content management strategy.

Another challenge that accounting businesses face with their websites (as other businesses do for that matter), is that your site has an average of 30 seconds or less to provide users with what they need or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 Accounting Businesses In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to adapt to meet online economy challenges and think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about a number of ways to increase traffic and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see the articles below:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Business Online

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

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

If you need assistance or help planning your website, see this article: Planning Your Web Site: A Cost-Saving Blueprint For Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

Professional websites need several basic pages. Let’s go over these.

Services And Products Page

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

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

• Business – planning, company formation, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

Remember to mention any CPA awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above the competition.

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

Your Staff Page

Are you searching for simple ideas to sell more products online? Then help prospects get to know your organization better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each person’s qualifications, how they contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-manage list of staff members in your site without coding skills here: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory To Your Site

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities within the firm. It should include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include stories of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and 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 contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what kind of solutions you can implement to help them solve their problems. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also provides social proof online.

(Add a page to your site with testimonials and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews here: Achieve Better Results Online With More Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is essential.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Chat feature (optional)

If your business operates from multiple locations you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news and events, company updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation machine that will begin delivering targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

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

For more details, go here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Generate More Web Traffic For Your Business

Legal Info Pages

It’s extremely important for accounting and financial services organizations to ensure they have a compliant website, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your business is located.

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 legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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.

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

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about using your services and products.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Tips on structuring 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 your readers understand your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

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

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful information, 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 in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by searching online for finance-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are a few feeds you could add to your 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 (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a task. They are also great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) 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 to add to accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

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• Grow Your Accounting Website – Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using Plugins

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