Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals face many new challenges in the digital economy, especially when it comes to growing a successful business online.

Online Challenges For Accounting And Financial Firms

Today, more than ever, CPAs must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, obtain new business, and keep their current clients. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries you serve, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your business services online.

As well as investing money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they need to allocate a more significant portion of their budget towards developing and maintaining a website that drives leads, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps create wider exposure online.

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

One other challenge that certified public accountants face, as most other businesses do for that matter, is that you have only around 30 seconds or less to provide users with what they are looking for or they will 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 CPAs In The Web Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover ways to find new clientele 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 (CMS) to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, go here:

• Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing A Successful Small Business Online With WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

Let’s start by covering the basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages a financial services website needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, suggestions for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, read this detailed guide: The Website Planning Process: A Comprehensive Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s review these.

Services And Products

It’s essential to include a page that describes your services and products.

This page should include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

It should also list any professional awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your company and position it above your competitors.

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

Your Team

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a mini 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. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow some of your 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 qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to create and add an updatable list directory of staff members to WordPress using free plugins here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff List In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

We’re Hiring

List any career opportunities within the company. This page should include training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and 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, join your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show potential clients what type of financial solutions you are capable of implementing to help them solve their problems. Adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also helps your accounting business to provide potential clients with social proof online.

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

To learn more about using client case studies and reviews, see this article: Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Compelling Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is crucial.

It should provide visitors with some or all of the following information about your organization:

• Company Name
• Your physical address
• Telephone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Interactive chat feature

If your business operates in multiple locations you will want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

You can also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like industry announcements, updates, useful articles, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an existing site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your business website and blog.

Something not many businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that can begin to deliver targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding new content on a regular basis to your website.

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

If you would like to know more here: Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Attract More Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucially important, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting website will help keep you 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
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Content

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

Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your firm.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• How to structure 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 prospective clients gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, tips on using small business accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to include keywords 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses 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
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• 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
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• 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 or respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of useful RSS feeds you may want to add 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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your accounting site’s UX.)

Provide Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide useful instructions and resources to perform a task. Forms and checklists are also great business planning tools.

Forms and checklists could include areas such as:

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

Other Tools

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

In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that can improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

To continue reading, click this link:

• How To Grow An Accounting Online Presence Successfully – Part Two

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