Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed the way business is done worldwide, it has also created difficult challenges and opportunities for accountants.

Challenges Accounting & Financial Businesses Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and keep their current clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop a strong web presence. This includes having a website and searching for better ways to market your business services online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, you will need to designate a more significant portion of your budget to develop and maintain a website that will attract new clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase your marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your 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 may change over time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting organizations (and most other businesses) face, is that you have only around thirty seconds or less to help users find what they are looking for or they will go away.

“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

Online Opportunities For Accountants

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for accounting firms that can evolve to meet digital economy challenges and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn about new ways to attract new clients and create significant improvements in your business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your accounting website, 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.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, go here:

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

Useful Tips To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

This section covers ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what type of content you need, suggestions for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, visit this page: How To Plan A Website: A Money-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

All websites require some basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

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

Your page should include services such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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, asset 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 your services and why they should choose you.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community activities, etc.

It’s important to also mention any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above the competition.

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

Your Staff Page

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products online or get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help your prospective clients get to know you and your business better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One 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 are probably not that 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. It should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight each staff member’s expertise, 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 ‘meet the team’ page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to add a simple team members directory in your web site using a free plugin here: Adding An Employee List Directory In WordPress

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within your organization. It should include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. You should also include case studies of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your firm and information about career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

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

Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with client reviews and case studies also helps your accounting or financial services business to provide social proof online.

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

We have created a comprehensive article on using client testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online. For more details, go here: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Captivating Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your address
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media web addresses
• Chat feature (optional feature)

If you have multiple areas you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

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

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like industry news, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

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

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Traffic For Your Business Automatically

Legal Information Pages

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a compliant website is extremely important, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional and federal laws and regulations in whatever location you do business in.

Depending on what services you provide, adding the following legal pages to your accounting site will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or 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 detailed article on adding legal pages to your site here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improving Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, engaging in the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your web pages online and come back for more. Publishing content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about doing business with your organization.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (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, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your content that your readers 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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for 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 completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your website.

If you provide useful 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 kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Allows for subscribing
• A feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits 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 visiting sites of tax-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

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

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

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. They can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique 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 useful tools to add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we look at a number of online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click here to keep reading:

• How To Successfully Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Web Presence Using WordPress – Part 2

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