Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face a number of challenges in the web economy, especially when it comes to growing a successful presence online.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must work hard and find smarter ways to remain competitive, obtain new business, and retain current clients. Not only do you have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out better ways to grow your business online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, you will need to delegate a bigger part of your marketing budget to developing and managing a website that will bring in prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and help to give your business wider reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change in time and many aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that CPAs face with their websites (and most businesses for that matter), is that you have around 30 seconds to provide visitors with what they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think strategically when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about ways to attract more visitors and create significant improvements in your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your website, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting website.

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

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow Your Business Online

Practical Tips To Improve Your 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 online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, useful tips for improving your layout and navigation, etc.

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

Your Website Pages

All business websites require several basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Description Of Services

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

This page will include all the services you offer, such as:

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

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, supported community activities, etc.

It’s important to also list any professional awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

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

Staff

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline your employee’s qualifications, how their skills 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 or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory to your web site, go here: How To Add An Employee Directory

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities available within the company. This page should include training, benefits, professional development, social activities promoted or encouraged by your organization, etc. It should include case studies of trainees who have risen within your company and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in your 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.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients businesses minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also helps to provide prospective clients with social proof online.

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

To learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews, refer to this article: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online With Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media pages
• Chat

If you operate out of multiple locations you should make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

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

Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like company announcements, company updates, educational information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your business.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting site is hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your 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 instantly begin attracting targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Create A Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information

It’s essential to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being broken wherever your business is located.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

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

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your content online with others and come back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, topics for an accounting business could cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring 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 informative articles that will help your prospective clients understand accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include 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 actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content. 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 your site’s user experience (often referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide useful information, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing information on your website 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 by visiting sites of relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Provide Online Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and forms can provide useful instructions and resources to complete a task. Forms and checklists are also great planning tools.

Forms and checklists can include areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this detailed article, we take a look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click here to keep reading:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Traffic

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