Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face growing challenges.

Online Challenges For Accounting Firms

Today, more than ever, accounting firms must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, find new clients, and retain current clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your business services online.

In addition to spending money in offline marketing activities like advertising 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 remain competitive, you will need to invest a larger share of your marketing budget to develop and manage a website that attracts new clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and increases your marketing reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that accountants face (as most professions do for that matter), is that your site has only about thirty seconds to give users the information they are looking for or they will leave and 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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

The guide below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to find new accounts and create significant improvements in your business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your accounting business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), go here:

• How A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Prospective Clients
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

How To Improve Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, go here: A Comprehensive Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional business websites need some basic pages. Let’s review these.

Your Products And Services

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

This page will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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 a business, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

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

It should include any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your company and position it above the competition.

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

Your Staff

If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms it 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 visitors can follow individual team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise and qualifications, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple employee directory to WordPress using a free plugin, refer to this tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your organization. It could include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can also include case studies of trainees who have worked their way up in your organization and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, join your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to show potential clients businesses minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you are also helping to provide visitors social proof online.

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

If you would like to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews to grow your business online, go here: Create Better Results Online With Meaningful User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

If you operate out of different areas you want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

You should also include links to commonly-asked questions, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as industry announcements, company updates, training articles, opinions and discussions, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing accounting or financial services website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.

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

Something few people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin to attract targeted visitors to your website, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Attract More Web Traffic For Your Business

Legal Pages

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 you are not breaking local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services 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 Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms 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.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages online with others and coming back for more information. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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 non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your web 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 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Experience

Improving user experience (typically referred to as UX) will help 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 your visitor engagement and UX in several ways.

If you provide valuable content, other sites will 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 kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website 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 by searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could 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

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

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Forms and checklists are also great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Others would include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we look at a several online tools you can add to your accounting or financial services site using WordPress plugins that can help improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to read Part 2:

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

Get Notified When New WordPress Tutorials Get Published – Subscribe To Our Site!

***

***

***