Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face significant challenges.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop an active web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your business online.

In addition to investing money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned to develop and maintain a website that will drive clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and help create wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change in time and many aspects may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting businesses face with their websites (as most businesses do for that matter), is that you have only about thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they need or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 Accounting Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover ways to source new potential clients and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your accounting website.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Money
• Understanding WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Site

We’ll start first by reviewing the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages an accounting website needs, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services websites, useful tips for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: A Comprehensive Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional business websites require some essential pages. Let’s review these.

Your Services

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

This page will include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, 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 a business, 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 these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

(List all of your industry awards accreditations, recognitions, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in your About page. Image sourced from: deloitte.com)

Team Profile

If you are searching for simple ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know your business 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 or team members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms your 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 so your prospective clients can follow your team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight 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 an employee description page. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

For a detailed tutorial on how to add a simple team members directory in your web site, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within the firm. It can include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include 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 contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your organization. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you will also help to provide social proof online.

(Add a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies. Screenshot image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online here: Improve Your Conversions With Sales Boosting Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is essential.

It should provide the following information about your firm:

• Name
• Physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Interactive chat (optional)

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as company announcements, company updates, educational information, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your services.

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

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can help begin delivering new targeted traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

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

Legal Information

It’s very important to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever you service clients.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding the following legal pages to your accounting website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• 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.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the practice of content marketing has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content with others online and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with you.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics can cover the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers understand your services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

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

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful 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!

Tips For Improving User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your accounting business.

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

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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 visiting sites of relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some 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 (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s UX.)

Adding Downloadable Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Forms and checklists are also great planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are some of the most popular tools for accounting websites. Other applications can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we discuss a several online tools you can add to your accounting website using WordPress plugins that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to grow your accounting web presence.

Click on this link to view Part 2:

• Your Accounting Website – How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation With Plugins & Themes

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