Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only revolutionized business globally, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Online Challenges For Accounting Firms

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning smarter ways to grow your business online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, you will need to delegate a greater portion of your budget towards the development and management of a website that drives new prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and gives your business a wider degree of reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that accounting businesses face online (and most professions for that matter), is that you have around thirty seconds to give users the information they are looking for or they will leave the 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 Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet digital challenges and think strategically when it comes to marketing their business better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover opportunities to attract and engage more visitors and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress platform 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, see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• The Beginner’s Guide To Building A Successful Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, tips for improving your navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of essential web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Services And Products Page

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

Your page should include all the services and products you offer, such as:

• Business – planning, company formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, 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 businesses, asset 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 with you.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Staff

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help prospects 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 will not tend to be that well-versed in accounting terms it 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 so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your team member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily add an updatable simple team members directory to your website using a free plugin, see this tutorial: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory

Work With Us

List any career opportunities within the firm. This page can include training, benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities promoted or encouraged by your firm, etc. It should include information about career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Maintain a positions available section in this 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

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with case studies and reviews from clients also provides visitors social proof online.

(Add a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

We have created a detailed article about using client case studies and client reviews to improve your business results online. For more info, see this article: How To Improve Your Sales With Effective User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is essential.

Your contact page should include the following information about your organization:

• Business Name
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media pages
• Online chat

If your business services different areas you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You should also include links to the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as company news, product updates, training articles and tutorials, informative posts, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

You may not have been told about this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that will help attract new targeted traffic to your website, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

Go here to learn more: Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Create An Automated Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information

It’s crucial for professional firms to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving Your Content

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

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers sharing your content with others and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with you.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics could cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Profit and loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients understand your services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, using office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information 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. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides links back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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 searching online for finance and tax-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of useful RSS feeds you may want to 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 feeds can help to improve your accounting site’s UX.)

Provide Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Checklists and forms can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.

Forms and checklists could address topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this guide, we look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this step-by-step guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence.

Click here to continue:

• Your Accounting Website – Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins

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