Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized businesses around the world, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for accountants.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, find new business, and retain current business. Not only do they have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your services online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, you will need to assign a bigger share of your budget to develop and manage a website that drives leads, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to increase your presence online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change over time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting firms face, as most professions do for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds to give visitors what they need or they will leave 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 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 evolve to meet online challenges and can think progressively when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

The guide below will help you uncover ways to attract and engage new visitors and improve your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your accounting website, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow Your Small Business Online

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

This section covers how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages your site needs, what content works best, ways of improving your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Useful Guide For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All websites require several basic web 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 describes your products and services.

This page should include services such as:

• Business accounting – planning, company formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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 a business, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

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

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

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

Team Profile Page

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online, then help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust 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. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be 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. This page should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each staff member’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage list directory of staff members to WordPress using a free WordPress plugin here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within your organization. It should include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and upcoming 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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to show prospective clients minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you are also helping to provide social proof.

(Add a page with client reviews and case studies. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively about using client testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Highly Effective Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

It should include the following information:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media web addresses
• Interactive chat

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like news and events, company updates, useful articles, opinions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that can instantly begin driving an ongoing stream of web traffic to your website, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

If you are interested in learning more about this here: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Website Visitors Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Info Pages

It’s really important for accounting companies to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential 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
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

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

Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your readers to share your content and come back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services.

For example, for an accounting business, topics can cover the following:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your content that your readers would search 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 or blog, 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!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.

If you provide valuable content, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other sites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• 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 useful RSS feeds just search online for finance-related government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of feeds containing useful information that you may want to 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 accounting website’s user experience.)

Adding Downloadable 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 step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. They are great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools you can add to accounting websites. Others could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we will look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your accounting web presence.

Click here to view the rest of this article:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website Using WordPress Plugins And Themes

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