Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed business worldwide, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Online Challenges For Accounting Firms

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your services online.

As well as spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television 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 allocate a larger portion of your marketing budget to develop and manage a website that attracts prospective clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to give your business wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your 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 sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-planned web and content management strategy in place.

Another challenge that CPAs face with their websites (as most businesses do for that matter), is that you have around thirty seconds or less to help users find what they are searching for or they will look 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

Online Opportunities For CPAs

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think outside the box about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this detailed guide, you will learn ways to drive more traffic and improve your business online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting business website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Customers
• Learn How To Grow Your Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages an accounting site needs, what content works best for accounting websites, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, visit this page: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Services

You need to include a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

This page should include services such as:

• Business – business planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to 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 your services and why they should book an appointment.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community activities, etc.

Remember to also mention any accounting awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and set it above your competitors.

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

Your Staff

If you are looking for cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then help prospective clients get to know your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your staff members on their social pages.

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 each team member’s experience, how their skills and knowledge contribute to the success of 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 easily add a simple team directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required here: Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Work For Us

List any career opportunities within your organization. It should include training, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can also include stories of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information about upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

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

Testimonials & Case Studies

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients them minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies, you will also help to provide social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using case studies, testimonials and reviews improve your business online. Go here to learn more: Improve Your Conversions Using Engaging Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Address
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Online Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business services different locations you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to the most commonly asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as announcements, company updates, useful information, informative posts, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your business.

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that can help begin driving targeted traffic to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details, go here: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Website Visitors For Your Business Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Pages

Having a compliant website is vitally important, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever your do business in.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting site 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 Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

To learn more about adding legal pages to your site, refer to this article: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Content

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

You want to provide great content with useful information and tips that will get your readers to share your content online with others and come back for more. Content marketing is a great way to educate 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 can include the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure your 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 readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients would search for.

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 or blog, 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 100% FREE!

Improve User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in several ways.

If you provide useful content, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are a number of ways readers can receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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 for your website, search online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few useful RSS feeds you could 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Adding Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Checklists and forms are also great planning tools.

Checklists and forms could include topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing unique tools and applications for businesses is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

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

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to grow your accounting business web presence.

To view the rest of this article, click this link:

• A Complete Step-By-Step Guide On How To Grow Your Accounting Website Using WordPress – Part Two

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