Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face growing challenges.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Today, more than ever, accountants must work harder and find smarter ways to remain competitive, source new business, and retain current clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and searching for smarter ways to market your business online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated towards developing and managing a website that can bring in prospects, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and create wider exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change in time and some areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.

Another problem that accounting businesses (and other businesses) face, is that they have around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find what they are searching 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

Online Opportunities For Accounting Businesses

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can adapt to meet digital economy challenges and can think outside the box about marketing their business better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will discover new ways and opportunities to find new potential clients and build more online credibility for your business.

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 the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Potential Clients And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing A Successful Small Business Online Using A WordPress Blog

Tips To Improve Your Website

This section covers how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, ways to improve your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, go here: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Comprehensive Primer For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s go over these.

Products And Services

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

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

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community participation, etc.

It’s important to also list any accounting awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

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

Team Profile

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online and get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each person’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 team profile page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily add a simple and easy-to-update simple staff directory to your website without coding skills, see this tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within the firm. It could include training offered, employee benefits, professional development, etc. It should include stories of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. By adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies, you are also helping to will also be providing social proof.

(Add a page to your site with testimonials and case studies. Image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written a detailed article about using testimonials and client reviews improve your business online. To learn more about this go here: Learn How To Improve Your Sales Using Powerful Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Online Chat/Skype

If your business services several locations you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.

Consider also including links to commonly-asked questions, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as company news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your company.

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

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin driving an ongoing stream of new visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can drive new traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this: Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into An Automated Traffic Machine

Legal Info Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever your do business in.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• 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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website here: Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your visitors sharing your content with others online and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services and products.

For example, topics for an accounting business could include the following:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your articles that your readers 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 web site, save money creating useful content for 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 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides plenty of benefits for your business.

If you provide useful content, other businesses may 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 feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable information on your website from other websites, 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 respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few RSS feeds 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

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Downloadable Forms & Checklists

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

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

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

In the next section, we will look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your accounting or financial services site that improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section one.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• How To Successfully Grow Your Accounting Website – Part 2

Subscribe Using The Form Below And Get Notified Of New WordPress Tutorials!

***

***

***