Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face a number of challenges.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, CPAs must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, source new clients, and retain current business. Not only do they have to actively participate in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better promote your services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated towards the development and management of a website that attracts new leads, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps increase your marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires having a well-planned web and content management strategy.

Another challenge that accountancy firms (and all other businesses) face, is that you have only about 30 seconds or less to help users find what they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for 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 Professional Accountants

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting profession that can evolve to meet digital demands and think outside the box about improving their online business marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover a number of ways to find new accounts and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your accounting website or blog.

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

• How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow A Successful Small Business Online

Ways To Improve Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services sites, navigation structure, etc.

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

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

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

Products And Services Description Page

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

It should include all the services you offer, such as:

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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.

About Us

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

It’s important to mention any CPA awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and set it above your competitors.

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

Meet Your Staff

Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products online? Then help your visitors get to know you 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 team 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. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline your person’s expertise, how their skills and knowledge add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-manage list of employees or team members to your website without editing code here: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site

Recruitment

List any career opportunities available within the organization. This page can include training, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your company and information about additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also 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 updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show potential clients what kind of solutions you are capable of implementing to help them solve problems. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you are also helping to provide social proof online.

(Add a web page with testimonials and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

For a detailed article on using testimonials, case studies and reviews get better results online, go here: How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Powerful Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A clean contact page is crucial.

It should include some or all of the following information about your firm:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media profiles
• Online chat (optional)

If your business operates in different locations you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content like company events, product releases, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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 giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your website and your blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can instantly begin delivering targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

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

Legal Pages

As a professional business, having a compliant website is essential, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being breached wherever your do business in.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential 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 Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your readers to share your content and come back for more information. Using content is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords in your articles that readers will be searching 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. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

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

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing valuable information on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just search online for relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of RSS feeds 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Forms and checklists are also great business planning tools.

You can provide forms and checklists covering a range of areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools 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 popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can help improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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

Click on this link to continue reading:

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

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