Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals face a number of challenges in today’s digital economy, especially in terms of growing a successful business presence online.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, source new business, and retain current clients. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, you will need to invest a more significant portion of your budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract new prospective clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and help you gain a wider degree of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website will change over time and some aspects may need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accountants face online, and all other businesses for that matter, is that they have only about 30 seconds or less to give users what they need 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 Accountants In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting businesses that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and can think progressively when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover a number of ways to attract and engage new visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Customers
• WordPress For Business – The Beginner’s Guide To Building A Successful Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

Let’s start by going over the basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages an accounting site needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process: A Comprehensive Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites need some essential web pages. Let’s review these.

Services Description Page

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

It will include services such as:

• Business – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community projects, etc.

Remember to mention any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your company and position it above the competition.

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

Our Team

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to grow your business online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know your organization better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be that 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 that will allow your prospective clients to follow your team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline each employee’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add an employee description page. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple staff directory to your website using a free plugin, see this tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within your firm. It can include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. It should include information about 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 the page, subscribe to your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show prospective clients what type of financial solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to provide visitors social proof online.

(Add a page with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

We have created a detailed article on using client testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more: How To Create Better Results Online Using More Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide visitors with some or all of the following:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Email address
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat feature

If you operate from several locations you will want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.

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

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin to deliver targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Increasing Your Website Traffic Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding the following legal pages to your website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or 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
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

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

How To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more information. This is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your firm.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos 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 your readers understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, tips on using office accounting software, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terminology in your articles that readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable information, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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
• Allows for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing great 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 loads of useful content just visit sites of relevant government departments or industry bodies.

For example, here are a few RSS feeds you may want to add to your 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

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your accounting website’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

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

Checklists and forms can cover subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) 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 would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we will look at a several online tools you can use in your accounting site using WordPress plugins that can improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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

To view Part 2, click here:

• How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online Successfully With WordPress – Part 2

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