Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today are facing difficult challenges created by the web economy.

Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession

Now, more than ever, accountants must find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, source new business, and retain current business. Not only do you have to actively participate in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop a strong web presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they will need to designate a greater share of their marketing budget to developing and maintaining a website that attracts new prospects, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give them a wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and many areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that certified public accountants face, as most other professions do for that matter, is that your site has only around thirty seconds or less to provide visitors what they need or they will leave your site 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 Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that can adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think strategically about marketing their business services better online.

In this article, you will learn about ways to increase traffic and establish online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Clients And What To Do About It
• The Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Accounting Website

We’ll start first by covering some basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting and financial services websites, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: How To Plan Your Small Business Web Site: A Basic Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

How To Improve Your Website Pages

All websites need some basic web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that explains your services or products.

It should include services such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, 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 a business, 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 book an appointment.

About Us

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

It should also list any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and set it above the competition.

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

Staff

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online? Then help your visitors get to know you and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected 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 your employee’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add a simple staff directory in WordPress, go here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within your organization. This page should include training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. It should include stories of recruits who have risen within your company and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Maintain a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also helps your accounting or financial services website to provide social proof online.

(Add a web page with testimonials and case studies. Image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written a comprehensive article on using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. To learn more about this go here: Learn How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects Using Compelling Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide visitors with the following:

• Business Name
• Location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media networks
• Interactive chat (optional feature)

If you operate from multiple locations you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You should also include a few links for commonly-asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like news, updates, useful articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your services.

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

You may not be aware of this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that will help attract targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

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

If you would like to know more here: Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create An Automated Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Pages

As a professional business, having a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever you service clients.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services 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 Policy
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here for a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s highly competitive online economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

You want to provide great content with useful information and tips that will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more information. Using content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, business accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terminology in your articles 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 and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for your 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 your user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Adding 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 feed can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes 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.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just visit sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of RSS feeds you may want to consider adding 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your accounting website’s UX.)

Add Online Forms And Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great planning tools.

Checklists and forms could include topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

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

In part two, we look at a several online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section one.

To continue reading, click here:

• Online Business Tips For CPAs – WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Visitors

Subscribe To Our Site And Get Notified When New WordPress Tutorials Get Published!

***

***

***