Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed businesses around the world, it has also created a number of challenges and opportunities for accounting and financial services businesses.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your business online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed towards the development and maintenance of a website that can bring in prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase your reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and some aspects may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accountants face, as do all other businesses for that matter, is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to provide visitors with what they need or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 CPAs

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to accounting companies that are willing to evolve to meet digital demands and can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This detailed guide will help you uncover opportunities to find new clientele and create significant improvements in your business online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your accounting business online, 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 WordPress, see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Customers
• WordPress And Small Business – The Complete Guide To Growing A Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages a financial services site needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, ways to improve layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the article we have written here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

How To Improve Your Website Pages

All business websites require some basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that lists your products and services.

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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

Make sure to 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 your services and why they should book an appointment.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

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

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

Team Profile Page

If you are looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online, then help your prospects get to know your business better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t 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. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow individual team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your staff member’s qualifications, why they are an asset 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 employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to create and add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees to your website with no coding skills required, go here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory For Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities within your company. This page would include training offered, employee benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your firm, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

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

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

We have created a comprehensive article on using testimonials and reviews here: How To Improve Your Sales Conversions With Awesome User Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is essential.

It should provide the following information about your company:

• Company Name
• Location of premises
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media networks
• Online chat (optional)

If you operate out of multiple areas you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for the most commonly asked questions, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content such as announcements, company updates, training information, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting or financial services site is very hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin to deliver new targeted traffic to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Generate More Website Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s essential for professional companies to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever your business services clients.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of 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
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. For more info, see this article: Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, content marketing has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Using content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about your business and about using your services.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s 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 your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology in your articles that 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 show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for your site 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 your user experience (often referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Add RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in many ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to 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 useful content for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments and industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding 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

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. They can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. They can also be great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Online Tools

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

In the next section, we will be discussing a several online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins that can help improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to grow your accounting business online.

Click on this link to continue:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving SEO, Better User Engagement And Generating More Visitors To Your Site

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