Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face increasing challenges.

Challenges Accounting & Financial Services Face Online

Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and figuring out better ways to promote your business services online.

As well as investing money advertising offline on local 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, you will need to allocate a larger part of your budget to developing and managing a website that can drive clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help increase your marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web 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 in time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting organizations (and most professions) face online, is that your site has around 30 seconds or less to give visitors what they are looking 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

Opportunities For CPAs In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting firms that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think outside the box in terms of marketing their services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about new opportunities to source new potential clients and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see these articles:

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Customers
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Small Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

We’ll start first by going over some 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 a financial services website needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

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

Products And Services Description Page

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

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

• Business accounting – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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 businesses, 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.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

Remember to list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and set it above other competitors.

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

Meet The Team

If you are looking for ways to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms your descriptions 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 so your site visitors can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each team member’s expertise, how their skills and knowledge add value to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add a simple and easy-to-update list directory of staff or team members to your WordPress site without touching code, refer to this tutorial: Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory In WordPress

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within the firm. It could include training, benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You should also include case studies of trainees who have worked their way up in your firm and information about new 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your organization. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to provide social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: All You Need To Know To Get Better Results Online Using Awesome User Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your physical address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Email
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business operates in multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content like company announcements, product releases, educational information, opinions on current topics, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing 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 site is hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your business website and business blog.

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin driving new visitors to your business, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Information

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being broken wherever you provide services to.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

Go here to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving Your Web Content

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, the earlier you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing great content with useful information and tips will get your readers sharing your content online with others and coming back for more information. Publishing content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about doing business with your organization.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure a 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 forensic accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles 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 and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site 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!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your site.

If you provide useful content, 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 updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing great content on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by searching online for relevant government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are a few feeds you could consider adding 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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your site’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Forms and checklists can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete tasks. Forms and checklists are also great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists covering subjects such as:

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

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications for businesses is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

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

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This is the end of section 1.

Click here to keep reading:

• How To Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Web Presence – Part 2

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