Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face significant and difficult challenges thanks to the digital economy.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, CPAs must find smarter ways to stand out from the competition, source new business, and keep their current clients. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and learning smarter ways to market your business services online.

In addition to investing money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that they need to delegate a more significant share of their budget to develop and maintain a website that attracts prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps create a wider reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change in time and some areas may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that accounting firms (and all other businesses) face online, is that you have around 30 seconds to provide users what they need 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 Accounting Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to accounting companies that can evolve to meet online demands and think progressively in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

The guide below will help you uncover opportunities to increase web traffic and create significant improvements in your business results online.

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

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Business
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting websites, ways of improving your site’s navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, see this detailed guide: The Web Site Planning Process - A Basic Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All websites require some basic web pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services And Products

You need a page that explains your products or services.

This page should include services such as:

• Business – business planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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 a business, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, supported community programs, etc.

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

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

Your Team

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site, 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. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a mini 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. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected staff members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each staff member’s qualifications, 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 a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple staff directory to your web site, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site

We’re Hiring

List any career opportunities within your company. It would include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include 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 announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a web page with testimonials and case studies also helps your accounting business to provide social proof online.

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

We have created a comprehensive article on using client testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Create Better Results Online Using Compelling Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is crucial.

It should include the following:

• Company Name
• Your physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media networks
• Interactive chat feature

If your business operates from different locations you will want to make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

You could also include links to an FAQ section, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like announcements, updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that will help begin driving targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

You can learn more here: Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Grow Your Website Traffic For Your Business

Legal Information Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucially important, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential 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 Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

Go here if you want to learn more adding legal pages to your site: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your company.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terms in your content 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 easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for 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 completely FREE!

Improve User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (often referred to 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 UX.

Using RSS Feeds

Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

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

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits 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 finance-related government departments or industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of useful RSS feeds you may want to add 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

(Add RSS feeds to improve your website’s UX.)

Provide Downloadable Forms & Checklists

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

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Other Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed article, we will look at a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can help improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this comprehensive guide on ways to grow your accounting business web presence.

Click on this link to continue reading:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Web Traffic

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