Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress
Accounting professionals today face difficult challenges created by the digital economy.
Online Challenges For Accountants
Now, more than ever, CPAs must work harder to stand out from the crowd, source new clients, 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 presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your services online.
In addition to investing money in offline marketing, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned to develop and manage a website that can attract new prospects, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help create wider marketing reach online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and many aspects will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy in place.
Another difficult challenge that accountants face, and most other professions for that matter, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to help visitors find the information they need 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
Opportunities For CPAs
As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting companies that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and can think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.
In this comprehensive guide, you will discover a number of ways to attract and engage new visitors and build more online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.
As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services website.
To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, go here:
Tips To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website
This section will show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting websites, layout and navigation structure, etc.
If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process: A Practical Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners
Basic Pages
Professional websites need some basic pages. Let’s review the pages your should have and how to set up your website for best results.
Services And Products Page
You need to include a page that lists your products or services.
Your page should include all the services and products you offer, such as:
- Business accounting – business planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
- Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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
List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.
Who We Are
This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.
Remember to also mention any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote the company and set it above your competitors.
(List all of your industry awards certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc. in your About page. Image source: deloitte.com)
Your Staff
If you are looking for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to grow your business online or increase user interaction on your site, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Prospective clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be 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. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow individual team members on their social pages.
In this page, make sure to outline each team member’s experience, 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 an employee description page. Image source: deepsky.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-update list of employees or team members to your web site using free plugins here: Adding A Staff List Directory To WordPress
Career Opportunities Page
This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. It should include training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted or encouraged by your firm, etc. You can include case studies of trainees who have worked their way up in your company and information such as the job outlook and 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 newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.
Case Studies
Case studies and testimonials are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof online.
(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Image source: pcg-services.com)
We have written extensively on using testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: Achieve Better Results Online Using More Effective Customer Testimonials
Contact Us
A functional contact page is crucial.
It should provide visitors with the following information about your firm:
- Company Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Facsimile
- Email address
- Map and directions
- Website address
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Links to social media profiles
- Online chat feature (optional)
If your business services multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.
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 is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content like announcements, updates, training information, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, infographics, etc.
If you already have an existing accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.
If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting or financial services site is hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and your blog.
Very few people know that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that will begin delivering a stream of targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding new content on a regular basis to your website.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)
Learn more about this here: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Grow Your Website Visitors For Your Business
Legal Information Pages
It’s vital for professional companies to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws and regulations wherever your business services clients.
Adding 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, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Statement
- Terms And Conditions
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Financial Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- and others
If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website
Ways To Improve Your Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.
Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your visitors sharing your content with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your company.
For example, topics for an accounting or financial services business could cover:
- How balance sheets work
- Overlooked tax deductions
- Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
- How to present accounts for non-profit activities
- Cashflow planning advice
- Maximizing business insurance cover
- Protecting revenues
- Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
- Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)
You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your prospective clients understand your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.
Remember to include the same keywords and terminology in your content that readers would search for online.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips 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 marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
Tips For Improving Visitor Experience
Improving your user experience (known as UX) will help keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.
Content Syndication – RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in many ways.
If you provide content that adds value to others, 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 in one place
- Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Your feed can be shared online
- Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
- A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
- Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- RSS provides several ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
- RSS is built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits to providing content on 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 search online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.
Here are examples of feeds containing useful information that you may want to 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
(Add RSS feeds to improve your accounting site’s user experience.)
Checklists & Forms
Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.
Checklists and forms can cover areas such as:
- How To Set Up A Company
- Negative Gearing Checklist
- Fundraising Governance Checklist
- Disclosure Checklists
- Company Tax Checklist
- Trust Tax Checklist
- Income Tax Variation Forms
Unique Tools
Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.
In part 2 of this guide, we will look at a several WordPress plugins you can add to your website that can help improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.
***
This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.
To view the rest of this article, click here:
Want To Get Notified When New Tutorials Get Published? Then Subscribe Using The Form Below!
***
***
"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
***