Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face increasing challenges thanks to the online economy.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, certified public accountants must work harder and find smarter ways to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and retain current clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain a strong web presence. This includes having a website and learning smarter ways to promote your business services online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned to developing and managing a website that drives new leads, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and gives you a wider degree of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change in time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed web and content management strategy.

One other problem that CPAs face (as most other businesses do for that matter), is that you have only about thirty seconds to provide users what they are looking for 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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting firms that can evolve to meet digital challenges and who can think strategically in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to attract new visitors and create significant improvements in your business online.

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

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, go here: The Web Site Planning Process Explained - A Comprehensive Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need to have and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

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

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, community activities, etc.

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

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

Staff Page

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A 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 bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow individual team members on their social networks.

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 person’s experience, how their skills and knowledge 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 page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily add a directory of employees or team members in your WordPress site using free plugins, go here: Adding An Employee Directory In WordPress

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within your organization. It should include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. It should include stories of graduates who have risen within your organization and information about additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 And Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your company. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also helps your accounting or financial services site to provide social proof online.

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

If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews, refer to this article: How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Effective User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Company Name
• Physical location
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Live Chat/Skype

If you operate in different locations you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

Consider also including links to commonly-asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as industry announcements, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.

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 business website and your blog.

Not many people know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin to attract web traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your site.

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

Go here to learn more: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Attract More Web Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s important for accounting organizations to have a compliant website, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws and regulations in whichever region you do business in.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. For more details, go here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You will want to provide great content with useful advice and tips that will get your readers to share your content with others and come back for more. Publishing content is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics can cover:

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as finance accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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!

Improve Visitor Experience

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

Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide useful content, other sites will 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
• 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
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing 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 useful RSS feeds just search online for finance-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to your accounting 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 accounting website’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Forms and checklists can also be great business planning tools.

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

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

Provide Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part two, we will be discussing a several WordPress plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services website that can improve your seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To continue, click this link:

• A Practical Guide To Successfully Building And Growing Your Accounting Or Financial Services Web Presence – Part Two

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